The Zombie Saga (Book 3): Burn The Dead: Riot by Steven Jenkins Read Free Book Online Page A

is stopping you.”
    “I’m sorry,” I say to the man, sincerity in my tone. “We’re all just a little freaked out, that’s all. One of our friends was just killed. And the other one is probably dead. We just need a place to hide out until it’s safe to leave. We promise we won’t be any bother.”
    “I’m sorry too,” Natalie says. “My brother and me, we’re stuck in the middle of everything. We barely got out alive.”
    “Yeah, until we saved your ass,” Ginge points out.
    “Shut the fuck up, will you?” I tell him. “You need to drop it. We could have been killed out there but we survived. We made it. So cut the shit, all right?”
    Ginge, clearly pissed off with my outburst, takes a few deep breaths to calm down and then sits on a stool.
    “I’m Natalie,” she informs the couple, “and this is my twin brother, Curtis.”
    Twins?
    The woman stares blindly for a moment as if mulling over whether to offer any welcome at all. And who the hell can blame her? We didn’t exactly give her much of a reason to trust us. A bunch of football hooligans at each other’s throats. Not the greatest of first impressions.
    “I’m Adriana,” she finally answers. She motions to the man. “And this is my husband, Ted.”
    “Hi,” Natalie says with a tight-lipped smile. “Thanks for opening the door. You saved our lives.”
    “It’s fine,” Adriana replies. “The last thing we need is for anyone else to get hurt.”
    Natalie walks over to the bar and sits on a stool. She wipes the sweat from her face and drags her fingers through her long blonde hair.
    “We need to call the police,” I say. “Or those Cleaners.”
    “We’ve tried,” Adriana replies, “but the emergency line is down.”
    “What do you mean it’s down?” I ask. “It can’t be.”
    “It’s probably being overrun with thousands of calls,” she replies. “We need to give it a little more time.”
    I pull my phone out of my pocket and check the signal—there’s barely one at all. The networks are probably clogged up.
    “What’s the point of calling for help?” Curtis asks. “You think they don’t know what’s happened in here? There are twenty-one thousand of us. And they’ve got us on lockdown. Every exit was sealed. Remember?”
    “What are we supposed to do then?” Ginge asks, shrugging. “Just sit here and wait for a hundred zombies to burst through that door?”
    Natalie nods her head. “Yeah. That’s exactly what we do. But if we keep quiet and keep that door blocked off, then we’ll be fine.”
    “You sure about that?” I ask, cynically, imagining how easily a hundred Necs would destroy that door. “There are a lot of them out there.”
    “Yeah, but they’re out there . If they’re Necs, then they won’t know we’re in here. They’re not logical. They’re only attracted to movement, smell and noise.” She pulls her phone out of her pocket. “Make sure all your mobiles are on silent. Or better yet, turn them off. They’re no use to us right now. You don’t want to drain the batteries; we might need them later.”
    Without even questioning it, everyone does what she asks, but I opt to switch mine to Vibrate instead. Even on a day like today I still can’t be without it. Before I slip it back into my pocket, I send a quick message to Wendy telling her not to worry and that I’m alive.
    At least for now, it’s true.
     

10
     
    Silence grips the room as the events only now start to kick in.
    I finally get a moment of clarity to take in the room, and all its beauty; even better in the flesh. I’ve seen it a hundred times before on the website, on YouTube, but being here now seems so surreal. Just wish it were under better circumstances. The rectangular room is about thirty square metres in size, with only one way in or out. There are two high-legged circular tables with two stools next to each one, and a sofa, which is facing a giant flat-screen TV fixed to the opposite wall. I have no idea why a