Zombie Attack! Rise of the Horde by Devan Sagliani Read Free Book Online Page B

isn't.”
    “You can't just leave me out here in the middle of nowhere
all alone,” Sam protested.
    “I'm fairly certain you wouldn't appreciate the other
suggestions floated for how to deal with this situation,” I said. Sam's young
eyes filled with fear as the meaning of my statement settled over him in a
chilling moment of realization. His eyes flashed from Joel to the gun he was
carrying then back to me.
    “Please don't kill me,” Sam begged as a fresh round of tears
burst out of him. It was taking everything I had in me not to lose it. A tiny
spark of anger at Joel rose up in me but I held it in check.
    “No one is going to kill you,” I promised.
    “What am I supposed to do? Sit out here and wait to die?”
Sam wailed. Benji put his hand on Sam's shoulder, comforting him.
    “Listen, little man,” I said, “this is what you’re going to
do. You're going to turn around and follow the road all the way back to that
set of abandoned houses where we first found you. Got it?”
    Sam didn't answer. He just nodded. I wasn't sure he entirely
believed us. I glanced at Joel and burning hatred filled my guts. It was wrong
to scare this poor kid in his final moments.
    “Don't stop walking until you get back,” I said, reaching
into my pocket and handing over my emergency Snickers bar. “Pick a house you
like, maybe something with a pool, and lock yourself in. Once we find help in
Lompoc we'll come back for you.”
    “How will you know which house I'm in?”
    “We'll search all of them until we find you,” Tom said
softly.
    “What if I get attacked on my way back? I don't have a
weapon to fight off the zombies.”
    “We can't leave him a weapon,” Joel said. “It's a waste.
Chances are we're going to need it far worse than he is. By the time the sun
comes up he won't even know who he is!”
    Sam looked down, afraid to make eye contact with him. The
rest of the group shot Joel dirty looks that shut him up. Tom handed over his
grenade launcher.
    “Here,” Tom said. “Take this. It's only got one good shot
left but it's heavy enough to swing around and use as a club if you get
jumped.”
    “You're going to be all right,” Benji said.
    “He's right,” I lied. “There is less chance of being
attacked during the night so you'd better hurry. You're going to want to get
back before the sun comes up.”
    “Okay,” Sam said, standing up with his new gun. He wiped his
tears on the back of his hand.
    “Good luck,” Tom offered.
    “See you later,” Benji said sadly.
    “Pick a good house,” Tom added with a brave smile.
    “We'll be back before you know it,” I encouraged.
    Joel looked away but the rest of us watched as the young boy
limped away from us along the road in the direction we'd just come from, the
direction we'd been fleeing due to a wild zombie horde. When we could no longer
see him, we turned and continued on down the highway, the weight of everything
that had happened making my feet feel like two blocks of heavy lead.
     

Chapter Five
    We'd been walking in the pitch black for less than an hour
when we saw headlights approaching in the distance. The sound of the truck
buzzing along toward us reached us after we spotted what looked like an insect
glowing in the darkness. I was starting to feel delirious after all the
walking. It was the dead of night, the air was biting cold, and we'd been
walking so long my feet were going numb. I was totally wiped out. A quick
glance around showed me that the others were pretty much in the same state I
was. The incident with Sam hadn't helped with morale either. Aside from the
savage hunger and rotting skin, we weren't all that much different at that
point than the creatures we were fleeing. It took a moment for it to sink in
but when it finally did, I stopped dead in my tracks and just watched the truck
heading our way.
    “That thing is headed right for us,” I mused.
    “Thank God,” Joel coughed. “I'm walking along like one of
the zombies at this point.