Stopping the Dead by Cy Gunther Read Free Book Online Page A

you at the gate.  Be careful, they seem to be getting a little thicker since you left.”
    “Got it.”
    Adam put the radio back onto the dash and avoided a large Hispanic man who was missing half of his face.  The Garand spoke, and the corpse dropped.
    Adam followed the now familiar path to the warehouse, and in a moment he saw what Ernst had meant.  Forty or fifty of the dead had gathered out in front of the gate, Lee pointedly ignoring them while she sprayed down the humvee.  Ernst stood behind the gate, smoking a pipe and waving at Adam.  Adam shook his head, trying not to laugh.
    Fucking absurd, he thought.  Just absurd.
    He watched as Ernst brought his .22 up and began to fire.  Master Guns said something to the twins and in a moment the A4s and Garand joined in.  Adam watched, fascinated, as the bodies dropped.  Some of the dead tried to turn and face the truck, but the whole affair was over in a matter of moments.
    Ernst stepped out as the gate opened, slinging the rifle and pulling on a pair of gloves.  He started dragging bodies out of the way, Lee joining him.  They cleared a small path for the truck, Lee waving them forward.
    When the gate was closing behind them Adam shut off the engine, smiled at the nervous woman and her children, and climbed out.
    Ernst nodded.  “We’ll need to find a place to burn those later today.  We can’t have them there.”
    Jack and Diane came padding out of the warehouse, tails wagging.  The mother and her children shied away from the dogs.  “It’s okay,” Adam said, “they’re good dogs.”
    Master Guns translated, the woman nodding but still holding onto her kids.   Adam sighed and pulled his and the old man’s bags out of the bed.
    “Come on,” Ernst smiled, “let’s get out of the sun and get some introductions made, okay?”
    “Lead the way,” Master Guns said, “we’ll follow.”
    Ernst turned away, the old man walking stiffly behind him, the women and children close on the old man’s heels.  Lee glanced once at her humvee, then , she went towards the warehouse entrance as well.  Brian took the Master Guns’ bag from Adam, and Corey fell in beside him.  Adam and the dogs brought up the rear, listening to the moans of the dead echoing off of nearby buildings.

Terrence
     
    “I live, or lived, above the bookstore,” Terrence said, holding the cup of coffee with both hands.  “I knew Sally the owner well, and I’d open the place for her when she was running late .  My back stairs led down into the hallway where the store’s back door is.  The morning after it all started I took my rifle with me and went down to make sure Sally was alright.”  He shook his head.  “I still don’t know if she is.  When I went to the front Emily and her kids were trying to get in.  They were being chased by her husband.
    “I put two in his chest, realized that he wasn’t stopping, and put the third through his eye.
    “We locked the door and hid after that.”
    Terrence looked at the others and asked, “What is going on?   Do any of you know? ”
    Adam, who sat on the floor of the small room on the first sub-level with his dogs, nodded.  “Did you ever see the movie ‘Night of the Living Dead’?”
    “That black and white about the dead coming back to life?” Terrence asked.
    “That’s the one.”
    “Why?”
    “That’s what happening, Terrence,” Adam said. 
    The man’s eyes were steady, and there was no sign of humor in them.
    “Well,” Terrence said, sitting back in the chair, “that’s a little bit of crazy.”
    “No,” Ernst said, “that’s a whole lot of crazy. ”
    Terrence nodded, turning his attention to Emily and saying in Chinese, “The dead are walking.”
    Both of the children were asleep on her lap as she looked at him.  “That would explain the things that we saw, wouldn’t it.”
    “Yes.”
    “Will the children be safe here?”
    Switching back to English, Terrence said, “Emily wants to know if her