State of Decay (Omnibus (Parts 1-4)) by Peggy Martinez Read Free Book Online Page A

months and had even gone so far as to pack up all my gear to make my way back to civilization a few times, but each time I stopped myself, came up with an excuse to hold out, to live the best way I could alone in the woods … to survive. It wasn’t until a few days ago that I realized my dad wanted me to survive, but survival meant so much more than just being alive. Survival meant adapting and moving forward. I’d survived, but I wasn’t living or adapting. I’d become stagnant.
    So, here I was out of my element, trying to find some answers. I was feeling way too exposed out in the open. I’d gotten used to being cloaked and hidden in the woods. Now I felt naked and vulnerable, with nothing around me as camouflage. I was no longer used to my old surroundings—civilization. The sounds of the dead shuffling around and moaning in the receding shadows caused a fine mist of sweat to break out on my upper lip as I pressed my back up against the check point building leading into the army base. Decaying bodies that had been left out in the elements since that first day were everywhere. Some hung out of vehicles, some littered the street and walkways, and others were mostly hidden in grass and weeds as they had been strangled and overtaken by nature run-amok. Between the decaying bodies that had been taken out with a bullet to the brain or a knife thrust through the cerebral cortex and the bloated, rotting flesh of the corpses that still lumbered around in search of their next meal, the air was oppressive and stank of things worse than death.
    I tightened the cloth that covered my nose and mouth, repositioned my dad’s M4 rifle on my back, and gripped my twelve inch recon blade tightly in my right hand just before I slipped from shadow to shadow, avoiding as many of the zombies as I could. My feet were light and sure as I made my way onto the base. Months and months in the woods had made me more careful, more alert to my surroundings and any sounds that I might make. I was making pretty good time as I moved stealthily along the perimeter of the property and kept the building I was headed for in my peripheral vision. I had ducked and dodged my way past at least a dozen staggering zombies and was feeling pretty great about myself when I dipped behind a jeep to avoid a cluster of zombies standing in front of the building I needed to get into.
    I lunged quickly to keep from being seen and brought my booted foot directly down into the chest cavity of a legless corpse. Unfortunately, the corpse was of the squishy, animated variety and the forward momentum of my boot, combined with all my body weight caused the chest of the zombie to give beneath me like an engorged, over-ripe melon. Blood, putrid fluids and skin burst from the zombie and exploded all over my leg—I barely reigned in a scream and kept my stomach contents down. Even with my foot crushing its rib cage and squishing its guts all over the place, the zombie lurched forward, its mouth snapping open with a gurgle working its way past his throat—the promise of fresh meat had landed in its lap. Literally. I whipped my arm out, my hand still clutching the recon blade, and drove the sharpened point directly through his eye socket. The zombie’s jaw wrenched open one last time and fetid-smelling fluids seeped out of its mouth and eye. I stood in a crouch and placed my goo covered boot on the head of the zombie to extract my blade.
    “Shit,” I whispered under my breath. The zombies in front of the building were all just kind of standing there, some of them standing pretty still, some of them wavering back and forth as if they would topple over at any moment. I could have used my rifle to take them out and clear my way, but I didn’t want to make too much noise and draw more zombies to the area and make my escape when I was ready to leave harder than it needed to be. I counted about five zombies and figured there had to be two or three more I couldn’t see from my vantage