Voyage of the Dead - Book One Sovereign Spirit Saga by David Forsyth Read Free Book Online Page A

Much faster than Carl thought zombies were supposed to be able to move.  
     
                Carl realized that he didn’t have time to open the ladder, so he made a split second decision to throw it over the fence and reached for the bolt cutters.  He raced to the chain link gate and shoved the bolt cutter at the pad lock.  For a moment he thought he was toast, but then his adrenaline kicked in and the cutters snapped the lock like a matchstick.  Carl got through the gate, closed and latched it again with almost two seconds to spare before the first zombie crashed into it.           
     
                He stood there face to face with the monster as its companions arrived and they shook the gate and fence fiercely.  Carl studied their behavior for at least twenty seconds before he raised his axe.  Using the pick end he systematically brained each of them in turn as they pressed their faces against the chain link.   After tying the latch on the gate he turned to retrieve his folding ladder.  He would need it to reach the first rungs of the ladder on the water tower.
     

 
     
    Chapter 3: Networking Nightmares
     
    “Plan your evacuation route. When zombies are hungry they won’t stop until they get food (i.e., brains), which means you need to get out of town fast! Plan where you would go and multiple routes you would take ahead of time so that the flesh eaters don’t have a chance!”   Center for Disease Control official website, “Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse” May 16, 2011. http://emergency.cdc.gov/socialmedia/zombies_blog.asp
     
                Mitch Franklin and Billy Allen left the meeting in the main lounge together and walked back towards the Internet Cafe.  They were both engineering students at Cal Tech and had wondered why their internet connections hadn’t worked that morning.  Now they knew that the Captain and Billy’s dad had cut-off the server until after the meeting.
     
                “I guess that was a good idea,” said Mitch.  “We would have freaked out if we saw that stuff on You Tube, you know?  Might have started a panic.”
     
                “So it’s okay to panic now?” asked Billy.
     
                “You heard your old man and the Captain.  We’re safe here.  Right?”
     
                “Yeah,” conceded Billy.  “I guess so.  Safer here than most places.  But everyone we know back home and at school are totally fucked!  I’ve gotta check my email and Facebook, man.  We could have missed something important.”
     
                “Relax, Billy.   Whatever was posted will still be there.”
     
                “Sure, but the people who posted it might not be,” Billy said.  “We might have missed our last chance to communicate with some of them.  They could have lost their internet connections, or be on the run, or dead, or a God-damned zombie by now.”
     
                “You think that’s really what’s happening to everyone?  Zombies?  No shit?!” exclaimed Mitch.
     
                “What else would you call them, dude? They eat people and those people turn into more of them .  I don’t care if they are dead or alive; they’re friggin zombies all right.”
     
                “Hey!  Wait up guys,” called Justin Wade from behind them.  Justin was one of Billy’s friends from back home in Malibu.  He was walking quickly down the passage with his girlfriend, Beth, who was hanging onto Justin’s arm like a scared kitten.  “Where are you two going?” he asked.
     
                “The Internet Café,” replied Mitch.  “We’re gonna surf the net for news and see if we can get hold of people back home.  Wanna help?”
     
                “Hell yes!” said Justin.  “This is some freaky shit, man.  The news is just crazy.  Maybe we’ll find more answers to what’s