Zombie Fallout 8: An Old Beginning by Mark Tufo Read Free Book Online

main floor yielded nothing more than two steak knives. Desperation was beginning to set in. When he opened the door off of the kitchen, he was immediately assailed with a smell he knew all too well.
    “Zombies,” he said as he stared down into the murkiness of the basement.
    He would have just closed the door if not for the white, cowhide-covered ball at the foot of the stairs. Where there were baseballs there were bound to be baseball bats. “I don’t really like zombies,” he said softly as he descended down the stairs, still favoring his right leg.
    Two zombies, a male and a female, were both staring out a small window set high in the concrete wall. Soft groans emanated from each as they watched their brethren walking back and forth outside. Small piles of various animal bones littered the floor. Tommy thought it would be better if he didn’t try and figure out what they once belonged to.
    He sighed when he realized the two zombies were right next to the shelving that housed all manner of sporting goods—from tennis racquets to bocce balls. In addition, two wooden bats and one blue-painted aluminum one were hanging from a frame specifically designed to hold them in place by the handle. The male zombie was so close that he could have handed it to Tommy, if he was so inclined. Tommy was eyeing the route to the bat that would allow him to grab it without any further conflict when the female sniffed the air. She turned quickly, her lips pulled back in aggression as she moved. Her hands came up and she growled as she ran toward Tommy.
    “It’s just a girl,” he said sadly as the teenager ran at him.
    As her foot caught the first step of the stairs, she fell over, her head and mouth coming dangerously close to Tommy’s feet. She was pushing up with her arms as Tommy brought the heel of his foot down on the base of her skull. The noise of the bones snapping got the attention of the male. Tommy’s heart sank, even through the purple and blue hues the disease caused in the skin; it was easy enough to see the familial relationship as the boy ran toward his sister’s killer. In a normal world, he may have done this to avenge her death. In this world he cared little as he stepped onto her still flailing limbs. He wasn’t sure where the zombies ended up when they were finally killed. He could only hope that this boy ended up with the rest of his family. It was impossible to tell if they still had their soul in this state. Did it move on when their consciousness was taken? He hoped so, otherwise did they have to pay for the sins this reanimated puppet performed?
    Tommy waited until the boy had made it up the first couple of stairs before he moved quickly to the side, grabbing the side of the boy’s head as he did so. Then he smashed it against the cement wall three times. On the third attempt he was rewarded with a spraying of black matter on his lower arms. He let the body drop, the boy falling protectively over the body of his prone sister. Tommy quickly went to the bat rack. One of the wooden bats had a longer reach, but he knew that it would eventually crack and splinter. He grabbed the aluminum bat, smacked it against his hand once, and headed back upstairs. 
    His leg wasn’t quite a hundred percent, and his ribs still ached—not to mention his tender skin—but it was now or never. He debated getting onto the roof and jumping down past the zombies, but he wasn’t sure if his leg could take it, especially before he got a feeding. He did a quick three-sixty around the house to see where the zombies were least concentrated and decided his best bet was to head out the back door. Zombies were in the backyard, but once he fought through them and over the privacy fence, he should be free of the main herd. The back door swung inwards and the storm door out. The thin, steel-framed door bent as he pushed two zombies off the small landing. Three more behind them kept them from falling completely backwards.
    The bat rang