The Real Night of the Living Dead by Mark Kramer, Felix Cruz Read Free Book Online Page A

him. He said, “Come on, doc. Shuffle them paws faster. I know that one ear ain’t keepin ’ you from gettin ’ a move on.”
    Haas said, under his breath, “Shut up.”
    I couldn’t help but notice the hard rain beating on the windows as we ran, trying to make our escape of N-3.  
    We reached the first floor entrance and could hear moans echoing in the hallway. We all looked at each other, all of us showing fear, even Billy. We weren’t sure what to expect on the other side. But we had no other choice, it was either fight our way to the tunnel, or wait here to get ripped apart by the mob coming from the second floor.
    “This is suicide,” said Melvin, beads of sweat running down his face.
    Haas said, “Suicide is standing here, waiting for them upstairs to bring us our death.”
    “ Dumbo’s right,” said Billy. “Now let’s stop actin ’ like a bunch a goddamn queers.” He held up his broom, a grip so tight around the handle that his knuckles were white, pushed past me and shoved the door open.
    We followed him through and were met with a crowd of diseased patients, about ten (maybe two or three nurses and attendants were part of the crowd), at one end of the hallway. At the other end, five patients, some of their arms covered in blood up to their elbows.
    A few of them held torn bloody body parts in their hands and were still eating them. I almost threw up, but had to swallow it down hard. We saw two of these creatures fighting each other over the leg of a woman. Unimaginable.
    The ones who weren’t busy eating had been standing, staring at the walls. Billy, busting through the door, got their attention. Now they were closing in on us from both ends of the narrow hallway.
    Our heads swung side to side, watching as they cut the distance between us and them.
    “There’s no way we’re getting past that,” I said, I knew the entrance to the tunnel was just around the corner from where the ten creatures stood. We had to make a decision. And fast.
    That’s when Billy dropped to the floor. My initial thought was that he slipped again. But I looked down and saw Doctor Haas on top of him.

 
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Eleven
     
     
    He was on Billy’s back and was screaming as he ripped his shirt open, wanting to bare flesh before taking a bite.
    Billy was trying to turn over, but the doctor’s weight was too much for him (Billy was about 120lbs compared to Haas’ 200lbs.)
    It all happened so fast that me and Melvin didn’t have time to react. I had no choice but to use the revolver on Haas. I pointed the gun at his head and was about to pull the trigger, but then I realized that the bullet could possibly exit Haas’ and hit Billy.
    I hesitated.
    The infected people from either side were closing in.
    Melvin said, “Hurry!”
    As Haas’ moved his mouth to Billy’s bony shoulder, I grabbed Haas by his hair, pulled his head back a few inches, and fired a bullet through his temple. There was a little explosion on the other side of his head and bits of flesh and brain mixed with blood shot out like a volcano eruption.
    He dropped dead on top of Billy.
    Billy rushed to shove Haas’ body off.
    I turned to Melvin. We were in trouble. He was busy swinging his mop handle at the crowd of ten that had closed in on his side.
    I picked up the mop that Haas wouldn’t be using anymore, and one of the infected patients from the other side, the smaller group, grabbed my wrist.
    Billy was swinging his broom like a madman, trying to help Melvin.
    I shoved off the patient. Had the gun in my right hand and the mop in my left, fighting to stay alive. Out of the five patients that I was fighting off, three of them were men and the other two, women. But with those stale yellow eyes and distorted screams, they were all the same to me.
    Between Melvin and Billy swinging at their group, they were able to kill two. But they were growing more tired by the second. “We gotta go back,” said Melvin, breathing heavy. “Back