The Rising: Selected Scenes From the End of the World by Brian Keene Read Free Book Online Page A

shelves overflowed with books, records, DVDs, CDs, and videos. “Well, as you can see, I like to read and watch films. Don’t you?”
    The zombie sighed. “How many times must I tell you? I am merely borrowing this shell. My host liked to hunt and fish. He never read a book after high school, and he only watched action movies.”
    “I enjoy old foreign and independent films, mostly,” Mike said, ignoring the comment. “I used to go down to the Drexel and the Wexner Center to see them. Books, too. Usually, whatever wasn’t popular. Mystery, horror, non-fiction. Whatever.”
    “Fascinating.” The corpse rolled its one remaining eye. Mike sprayed some more air freshener. “No need to be sarcastic.”
    “Eons spent in the Void, and I am freed only to discuss obscure pop culture with the likes of you.”
    Mike shrugged. “It’s not so bad, is it?”
    The zombie spat out a broken, yellowed tooth.
    “Please, human. I’m begging you, something that the rest of my brothers would ostracize me for doing, if they saw it. Kill me. Dispatch me back to the Void, so that I may get a new body. Shoot me!”
    “I hate guns.”
    “Then crack my skull open and scoop out the brains! Burn me to ashes. Drill through my head. I don’t care how you do it. Just kill me!”
    “And miss all this great conversation?” Mike chuckled. “No. Afraid not. Your predicament reminds me of a good book, though. Cold As Ice by Adam Senft. Did you ever read it?”
    “I told you—”
    “He was a mystery writer. Went insane a few years ago. Didn’t get popular until after he’d killed his wife.”
    “Death? Now you have my interest, human.”
    “Anyway, the book was about these two guys—lovers. They’d been partners for over thirty years. Then, one of them got cancer. It was terminal, but slow. I remember the character described it as creeping death.”
    “There is a demon known to me that has the same name,” the zombie said.
    “So the guy is dying of cancer. It’s bad. Ravaging his body, just eating through him until there’s nothing left. He’s in a great deal of pain.”
    The zombie grinned. “Sounds beautiful.”
    “It’s horrible,” Mike argued. “It was really brutal and sad, the way the author wrote it.”
    “Did this character linger with this pain?”
    “Yes, he did. And that’s why this situation reminds me of the book. He keeps begging his partner to kill him. To put him out of his misery.”
    “And does he?”
    Before Mike could answer, there was a loud crack. Splinters of wood exploded from the front door as an axe head battered through it. He dropped the can of air freshener and screamed. A chainsaw stuttered, then roared to life. Within seconds, the front door was gone and four zombies rushed into the room. They shot Mike in the back as he ran for the back door. He tried to crawl away, but his legs didn’t work anymore. Then the creatures fell upon him and slit his throat.
    “You’re free,” shouted one as it cut through the chains binding its brother to the chair.
    “It’s about time.” The zombie tried to stand, but fell to the floor. More fluid drained from its body.
    “He’s had me trapped here for the last five days.”
    “That’s not long, considering how long we’ve been imprisoned inside the Void.”
    “No, it’s not. But the indignity of it all is what really angered me.”
    “Come, brother. Let’s go hunt some more.” The zombie with the chainsaw started towards the damaged front door. “Or would you prefer we destroy your current form so that you can find a more mobile body?”
    The freed zombie scuttled forward on its bloody stumps, then pointed at Mike’s corpse. “Wait until one of our brothers has inhabited his shell.”
    “Why? There is much to be done.”
    “He was telling me about a book, before he died. Once his body has been possessed by one of our kind, I want to know how the book ends.”
    * * *

THE MAN COMES AROUND
    The Rising
    Day Eleven
    Fort Bragg,