The Hungry by Steve Hockensmith, Joe McKinney, Harry Shannon, Steven Booth Read Free Book Online Page A

gotten your sorry ass squared away."
    "Just fix me up, you smug bastard." Miller tried to sit up. She longed to stare him in the eye, but didn't get but an inch off the mattress.
    "Whoa, there, cowgirl! You aren't going anywhere just yet." He shoved her gently back onto the bed. "Now stay still." He spread a blanket over her goose-bumped flesh. The warmth felt good. She closed her eyes. Miller lay still, just thinking. What was happening to folks out there? How the hell had this started? She really didn't have the energy to fight any more. She opened her eyes again and stared at the ceiling.
    "Ouch!" Something pinched her arm, a sharp sting. Miller tried to pull away but it was over before she could flinch.
    "There you go," Terrill Lee said. "That'll help you relax and ease the pain a tad. Now I'm going to stitch you up. All you have to do now is just lie there and try not to bleed to death."
    "I see your bedside manner has greatly improved," Miller heard herself saying. The dope was topnotch. The ceiling turned in a lazy circle. She found herself sinking into an abyss, fading to black right there on their old marital bed.
    … Miller was back in the station, a rifle in her hands. Zombies surrounded her on all sides. But now instead of Wells manning the shotgun on the other side of the station, it was Terrill Lee. She turned to watch as he systematically took the heads off of three successive zombies. He turned and shouted, but Miller couldn't make out what he was saying. He turned the gun on her, aimed, and fired. She could see the scattershot racing towards her, always approaching in slow motion, but never arriving. Out of the corner of her eye, Scratch appeared, a zombie now with a hideous countenance and wild eyes. He was holding her pistol. He turned it on Terrill Lee. Scratch shot her ex-husband in the forehead. Unlike the shell fired at her, this one met its mark. Terrill Lee's head vaporized in a volcanic eruption of dark blood and brains. Scratch dropped the weapon, turned to her. Miller raised her .30-06, but it wasn't in her hands anymore. Scratch was bloody, his eyes blank and white, his skin and clothes torn and ragged. The stench was nauseating. Miller wanted nothing more than to empty her stomach. He moved in for the kill. As Scratch approached, the urge to retch overpowered Miller. She had no will to run. He touched her with one decaying finger. It was done. She watched as her own skin began to slough off, maggots crawling from open sores. She could feel the bile well up in her mouth and she…
    And then Miller was leaning over the side of the bed, vomiting all over Terrill Lee's worn work boots. She knew there wasn't much in her stomach to begin with. She hadn't had a meal since before the zombies came, but that didn't seem to curb a newfound enthusiasm for voiding her insides.
    "That's just great!" Terrill Lee said, dryly. Miller continued to retch. "You could try to warn a man."
    Miller shivered under the blankets. She hugged herself. He'd dressed her and she was now wearing an old Dallas Cowboys T-shirt. It seemed to cover her enough to satisfy what was left of her modesty. What the hell difference does it make? It ain't like he's never seen my honey pot before.
    Miller motioned for water to rinse out her mouth. Terrill got some towels from the bathroom and a small cup of tap water. He let her sip a bit and went about cleaning up the mess she'd made. The stench was ripe. Miller swallowed and sighed. She looked out the window. It was still morning, but which day?
    "How long was I out?"
    "Only about an hour," Terrill Lee said. He gathered up the mess and headed for the laundry room. She heard the washer start up promptly so the power was still running. At least they would have lights come dark. Thank God for his tender mercies.
    Terrill Lee slammed a door. He came back into the room with a spray bottle and some more rags. He scrubbed the floorboards. "I had just come in to check on you when you decided to