This Dying World: The End Begins by James Dean Read Free Book Online Page B

have been asking the same questions I was.
    Of course the biggest question at the moment…what the hell was happening?
    We sped down the smaller residential streets towards the main streets.  Everywhere we looked there were groups of the dead feasting on the masses of fleeing humanity.  The growing blaze had forced people from their homes where they might have had some chance to hide and hold out.  We were the lucky ones; most didn’t make it past their own front yards.
    When we hit the main road, we found they were barely passable.  Static vehicles in the middle of the roadway forced us to slow to avoid collisions.  Many others were not as careful, slamming into the unmoving cars.  More than once we bore witness to life and death struggles.  Victims were locked inside with the things that must have started out their trips as living people.
    “It can’t just be the bites,” I thought out loud.  “There’s too many of them too fast.”
    I watched a group of zombies that had gathered around an old Buick that had crashed into the side of a Wendy’s restaurant.  The driver’s window was shattered, trails of blood streaking the door panel.  They huddled close together near the car fighting over the last few scraps of the driver’s skeletal remains.  They were like animals, positioning themselves around a kill.  Stragglers would attempt to move in only to be pushed aside by the largest of the creatures.
    “Pack mentality,” I said under my breath as we drove past the carnage.  “No real leader though.  More like a feeding frenzy, sharks or piranha, biggest eats first.”
    “Ahem!” Abby glared at me.  “You want to stop playing Wild Kingdom and help me figure out what we are doing?”
    “You never did like nature shows.”
    “Dan!”
    “Sorry.”
    “Can you please be serious for a little while?”
    I raised an eyebrow at her.  “I never really have a good answer for that question.  I mean can a fish survive on land?  It can for a little while, but does it really want to?  I suppose I could…”
    Her fist had already connected with my arm before I had seen it leave the steering wheel.
    “Ahh shit!  Message received!” I said rubbing my bicep.  I had no doubt that there would be a bruise waiting for me before the sun came up.
    “Good.  What were you mumbling about?” she asked.
    “I was trying to see how they behave.  If we can figure that out we may be able to avoid them.  Or at the very least out maneuver them.”
    “Makes sense,” Abby said as she swerved around another crash, this time a utility truck had gotten intimately close with a light pole.
    “Then why did you hit me?” I asked.
    “You yelled at me.”
    “What?  When did I yell at you?” I demanded.
    “When I woke up, you yelled at me before coming up the stairs,” she replied.
    “Are you serious?  You’re going to bring that up now?!”
    “Want me to hit you again?” Abby glanced at me.
    “I’ll be good,” I said covering my arm.  I didn’t think I deserved to be held accountable for my actions while getting sized up for a zombie snack, but Abby has a mean right hook.  My arm still ached from the last one, and I thought it may be better to live to fight another day and not start an argument.
    “So, are we headed to Chris’ farm?” she asked.  She cut the wheel sharply to the right to avoid another mass of wreckage.
    “You were paying attention after all!” I beamed.  “And here I thought you were just humoring me.”
    “I was, but you really never shut up about it.”
    “Fair enough,” I said.
    Abby slammed on her brakes as the sudden appearance of a Lexus SUV threatened to shear off our front end.  The Lexus shot out of a driveway, tires screaming as the occupant tried to veer away from us.  He over steered and sent the vehicle into a spin that careened into a tree.  Spinning tires spit dirt and rock upwards as the driver tried to gun the engine forward, but the car was not going