The Swiss Family RobinZOM (Book 5) by Perrin Briar Read Free Book Online Page A

difference does it make who he was?”
    “It makes a difference because he was a zombie, and we killed him,” Bill said.
    “What do you mean?” Liz said. “When did we kill him?”
    “Soon after we first arrived on the island,” Bill said. “He’s buried in our graveyard!”

Chapter Four
    The graves stood open like sardine cans, the dirt forced out, lying in ordered mounds. Scruffy trails ran from the inside of each one, the scuff marks of clawed hands and dragging feet.
    “This is great,” Fritz said. “We kill them, bury them, and then they come back stronger and worse than they were before!”
    He threw up his hands.
    “That’s just great!” he said. “All this time we thought we were wiping them out, when actually we were incubating them to become even more dangerous! Now we have an island full of mindless killing machines running rampant. A single scratch from which could well infect us with the virus!”
    “We can’t call them zombies,” Ernest said.
    “Why not?” Fritz said. “I don’t think they’ll mind.”
    “But they’re not zombies,” Ernest said. “They’re spinning demons. They’re different entities. We need to deal with them differently.”
    “Let’s call them Spinners then,” Liz said. “Everyone in agreement?”
    They all nodded.
    “I’m not sure if this is the most pressing issue right now,” Fritz said.
    “I’m just glad we didn’t bury every zombie we found,” Ernest said.
    “What do you mean?” Fritz said.
    “We burned a lot of them when the horde came, don’t you remember?” Ernest said.
    “Oh, yeah!” Fritz said. “Small mercies.”
    “How many of them do you think there are?” Liz said to Bill.
    “Judging by the number of re-opened graves, I’d say we have about three to four hundred on our hands,” Bill said.
    “Wonderful,” Fritz said. “Just when I thought it was safe to go for an afternoon stroll again. How many times do we have to kill these things?”
    “Technically they’re already dead,” Ernest said. “But death doesn’t mean what it used to.”
    “Thanks for that, Dr Freud,” Fritz said.
    Bill frowned.
    “I said before that the virus constantly needs new hosts to continue to spread,” he said. “But what I don’t understand is what reanimated these zombies in the first place.”
    “These bodies haven’t had anything to eat in ages,” Ernest said. “They were dead. Really dead.”
    “That wouldn’t matter if there was another source of energy,” Bill said.
    “What source of energy?” Ernest said. “There’s nothing here! Unless you’re talking about worms or maggots?”
    “No,” Bill said. “It would need to be something more substantial than that. They’ve always been infected. But why did they rise again now? What’s so different than before?”
    They were silent a long moment. Ernest cast a look over the heaped mounds of earth. In places they were a deep rich red-brown colour, in others, black. He crouched down and ran his fingers over the soil. His eyes lit up and he turned to Bill.
    “Lightning!” he said. “It was lightning!”
    Fritz looked up at the blue sky.
    “There’s no lightning,” he said. “What are you talking about?”
    “Not now,” Ernest said. “The other night when we had the storm.”
    “Is anyone else lost in this conversation?” Fritz said.
    “I am,” Jack said.
    “There would need to be evidence this place was struck,” Bill said to Ernest.
    “There is,” Ernest said, holding the soil up and letting it run between his fingers.
    Bill’s eyes widened. He turned and ran toward a pine tree. He scaled halfway up it and peered down at the graveyard around them.
    “Yes,” he said. “You’re right!”
    He jumped down from the tree. Liz grabbed him.
    “I enjoy watching you lose your mind as much as the next person,” she said. “But what are you talking about?”
    “I’m sorry,” Bill said. “Ernest’s hypothesis is, what if these inert creatures were