Heartland Junk Part I: The End: A ZOMBIE Apocalypse Serial Read Free

he's ready to fight but doesn't know it yet, and me, skinny
and bare-chested in a pair of dirty jeans, hands out like a
cornered felon waiting for the cuffs.
    "Got a hit?" The
anger in Rivet's eyes seemed to fall away like an insect shedding a
skin. It was replaced by a haunted look. Apparently, he had more
important things on his mind than stray affections.
    "Should be
something lying around," I said, happy to take the out. It wasn't
that I was scared of Rivet; more like, in some backhanded way, I
valued his opinion of me, and it set my mind at ease to know he
believed me. "How about some breakfast first, though? Bowl of
cereal?"
    Rivet ignored my
reply and began pacing, tearing at his hair with both hands.
    "They're in me,
man. In my head. I can't...all night, they've been
talking...whispering...telling me things."
    "Who has?"
    "These, I
don't even know, man, these voices . And
like, I'm seeing this darkness. It's so deep . I
haven't touched a needle in two days, but please, Ray, please. You
gotta help me out." He stopped pacing and turned to me, eyes
pleading. He'd burst a blood vessel in his left eye and a tributary
of red ran across the white from the pupil. He looked sick. I
noticed his hands, now held out to me like a beggar's, were shaking
slightly.
    This wasn't the
Rivet I knew.
    "Give him some,
Ray," Jennie's light voice floated up from the couch. I'd almost
forgotten about her, watching Rivet carry on like this. It was
frightening, in a way. "Can't you see he needs it?"
    "I, uh...yeah, yeah
sure, man. Just let me..." I turned to look around the living room,
searching among the overflowing ashtrays and crusted dishes for
that little brown baggie filled with powder. Something pressed at
the inside of my skull, like that feeling right before a killer
headache. It was hard to think. I needed coffee, a cigarette, hell,
a hit of my own wouldn't go down too rough. "I uh...Jen, what'd we
do with it last night?"
    "Kitchen?" She sat
up on the edge of the couch and let the quilt fall to her waist.
She wasn't wearing a shirt or a bra. "Oopsie," she giggled lightly
and bunched the quilt edge up to her shoulders. Rivet had stopped
pacing and was staring at her like a row of corn had sprouted from
her forehead.
    "It wasn't like
that..." I started, hoping to head off another jealous outburst
from Rivet, but he wasn't paying attention. He just kept staring at
Jennie's forehead with that blank, lopsided expression, his eyes
wide, unblinking.
    "...Rivet?" Jennie
said cautiously. "You okay, hun?"
    Rivet licked his
lips. Then he calmly leaned down and bit Jennie's ear off.
    Jennie screamed so
loud it was almost like I didn't even hear it. It was too shrill,
too piercing, and my senses just let it pass over them like a
surfer ducking under a wave he can't take. All I could do was stand
there while blood streamed down Jennie's cheek and ran past the
corner of her mouth. I could only watch while Rivet stood straight
and bit down again on something that crunched like chicken gristle
while he stared blankly at the wall in front of him and Jennie's
blood trickled down his chin and he chewed something that was
exactly what I knew it was but couldn't seem to make myself believe
it. I could smell the blood, but I didn't believe it.
    Then the world took
over again and Jennie's shriek was hammering at my ears and I
lunged forward and pulled Rivet away from her, shouting something
at him that I can't remember now. He just gave me a dumb look while
his jaw kept working up and down and the wet pop of gristle
slithered out of his mouth every time his teeth came together, and
then he swallowed, used his tongue to clean a scrap of Jennie's ear
off his molar, and said, "What's wrong, Ray?"
    I punched him
so hard his nose shattered and sprayed little red droplets over the
gray wall three feet away. I know now that he wasn't completely
gone, because something about that punch knocked him back into his
own head. He writhed on the carpet, screaming again