Running Wild by Kristen Middleton Read Free Book Online Page B

string cheese and there was no flesh left on her eyelids.
    Looking around frantically, I located my war hammer under the seat of the truck. I picked it up and decided it would be wise to leave on foot before Austin came back or more zombies arrived. Plus, I didn’t have the keys and it was pointless to remain in the truck, a sitting duck.
    Scrambling to the passenger seat, I opened the door and jumped out. From there, my situation became worse.
    “Going somewhere?” growled Austin, stumbling towards me with a crazed look; emphasized even more so by the dark shadows under his eyes. A loud howling from the female zombie broke his concentration and as Austin raised the gun to shoot it, I took off running towards a field of corn.
    “So that’s how it’s going to be!” he snarled after his gun went off. “You’re going to be a bitch, after everything I’ve sacrificed for you!”
    The corn stalks weren’t quite as tall as I would have liked and I had to run, hunched over. I glanced back and noticed that Austin was having a hard time moving with his injuries. As long as I stayed hidden, he probably wouldn’t even catch me.
    With a new burst of confidence, I turned my head forward, ready to leave him in the dust. Instead, I tripped over something on the ground and fell, landing flat on my face.
    “There’s… nowhere… to go!” huffed Austin from somewhere in the distance. “Quit… wasting time!”
    I stood back up and moaned in pain, I’d twisted my ankle and it was now on fire.
    “Shit,” I gasped, trying desperately to trudge forward through the stalks. All I could do was limp and pray that he’d pass or zone out before he had the chance to catch me.
    “Cassie!” he yelled, closing the gap between us, with every step he took to my two. “Stop moving. I’m not…going …to hurt you!”
    Then, just like in one of the many horror flicks I’d stayed up late watching, a rickety old farmhouse came into view. It had to be well over a hundred years old, conveniently available, and more than likely, a death trap.
    I pushed myself forward, my ankle screaming in pain the entire way. Just as I made it to the porch, Austin broke through the cornstalks, grinning madly.
    “Well,” he said bending over, his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. “If you… wait for me, I’ll carry you over… the thresh-hold… darlin’.”
    I moved as quickly as I could to the door and breathed a sigh of relief to find it unlocked. I went inside of the house quickly, then slammed and locked the door. As I backed away staring at the only thing keeping Austin from me, my heart stopped. I inhaled something that was now too familiar; the undeniable stench of rotting flesh.
    I whipped my body around and stood facing two previous residents of the farm; a giant zombie in torn overalls and his horrifying bean-pole wife. They stared at me with cannibalistic glee.
    “I’m sorry,” I said in a strained voice. “I should have knocked.”
    I raised the war hammer just as the male staggered towards me, catching him squarely in the skull. As I tried to dislodge my weapon, two things happened at once; the front door burst open and the female flew at me.
    “Zombies!” I screamed at Austin while I attempted to kick the festering female with my tender ankle, which was more painful than anything I could have possibly imagined.
    Austin snickered and fired a bullet into the zombie’s skull. “See,” he said. “That’s why you need protection. You really don’t make the wisest decisions.”
    My war hammer was now free from the zombie’s skull and I held it firmly in front of me. “Austin, just leave me alone. Please.”
    He looked hurt. “You’re not thinking of using that on me now, are you darlin’? I thought we were friends.”
    It was then that I noticed how infected his hand was. “What’s wrong with your hand?” I asked him.
    He looked at it and shrugged. “That little zombie freak, Brooke, she scratched my hand