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

out
of her throat, and I was again reminded of a wounded animal. There
was pain in her eyes, which I expected, but also a hurt expression
of betrayal, which I hadn't expected. Did she care that much for
Rivet?
    "It's okay, don't
try to talk. Just try and stand up. Let's get to the bathroom."
    I didn't hear Rivet
get off the ground, but I saw a shadow flash across Jennie's eyes
just before they went wide with terror. I spun, throwing an arm up
to guard my face out of reflex, and Rivet's teeth tore into the
meaty flesh of my forearm. Pain lanced up my shoulder, all the way
into my gut, and I cried out and got a mouthful of Rivet's fingers.
His hands clawed and slashed at my face, ripping for my eyes. I
shut them tightly and we went down in a heap over the glass coffee
table, shattering it into a thousand winking suns. Ribbons of glass
flew around us, slipping across my hands and arms and chest with
teeth.
    The force of the
fall wrenched Rivet's teeth loose from my arm and I planted my hand
on his face, flattening his nostrils with my palm and digging my
nails into his forehead just under the hairline. I locked my elbow.
Even at arm's length, his nails still scraped across my own face,
tearing stripes into my cheeks. His teeth gnashed below my palm,
bloody and putrid. My cheek was pressing into something sharp in
the carpet—glass, I suppose—but I couldn't break free, so we
struggled like that, side-by-side on the floor.
    His legs came up
and wrapped around my torso. It was getting harder to keep my arm
straight. I tried to grab at him with my other hand, but he
squirmed out of my grasp like an eel.
    "Rivet!" I shouted.
"It's me!"
    No use. He wrenched
sideways and my hand slipped off his face. He lunged into the gap
and brought his teeth within inches of my neck before I could clamp
both hands around his head. I felt his hot breath under my chin,
smelled the reek of fresh blood, felt wet spittle spray across my
Adam's apple.
    He jerked closer
with raw, dumb, animal strength. More strength than I had. His
chattering teeth were practically scraping the nape of my neck.
    I'd have to break
his neck to survive. Just a twist; my hands were already in
position. Amazing how survival instinct makes it so easy to kill
your best friend.
    I tensed my biceps
and dug a fistful of hair into each hand, ready to twist his head
and snap his spine, when all of a sudden he went limp. Just like
that, the fire left Rivet's body and he slumped in my arms.
    I shoved him off me
and clambered to my feet. The thin clear body of a hypodermic
syringe stood erect on the back of his shirt, right at the base of
his neck above the shoulder blades. The plunger was pressed in all
the way. Behind him, Jennie, shivering and hugging her shoulders.
She was dressed only in a pair of blue panties and covered in blood
all down her left shoulder. In the struggle, I hadn't seen her
leave the couch and sprint to the kitchen.
    I bent over with my
hands on my knees to catch my breath and looked up at her.
    "How much was
that?"
    "I don't know." She
was shaking. "Maybe like, half the bag? I just sort of dumped it
out. Barely cooked it."
    "Jesus..." I
muttered, looking down at Rivet's inert form. He was sprawled
across the carpet like a murder victim. Which he very well might be
now, I reckoned. The bag in question had been a fresh gram baggie,
minus the pinch we'd used last night, so dear old flesh-eating
Rivet now had something close to 500 milligrams of Mexican
black-tar heroin coursing through his veins. Unless it hadn't
cooked. Was he breathing? I couldn't tell.
    I sat heavily on
the couch, unable to tear my eyes from Rivet's body, then
remembered myself and stood back up.
    "Come on, Jen.
Before we do anything else about..." I nodded in Rivet's direction.
I couldn't form the words. "...let's get a bandage on your
head."
    I put an arm around
her shoulder and together we shambled into the half bathroom just
down the hallway from the living room. I flicked the overhead