Love & the Zombie Apocalypse (Book 1, Zombie Apocalypse Trilogy) Read Free Page A

pressed her forehead against the glass, half-expecting to see a bunch of Erik’s friends horsing around, but she couldn’t see the front porch or the driveway from this angle.
    The noise on the front lawn escalated, despite the dog yapping in the backyard.  Valerie’s rat terrier wasn’t deterring whoever was outside and if the trespasser wasn’t a friend of Erik’s, then he was going to blow a gasket.  Her foster brother had a notorious temper. Rachel went to the living room to try to be the voice of reason and save the mystery groaner’s butt.
    Erik was barefoot in the recliner.  He wore his old Detroit Lion’s t-shirt and faded basketball shorts.  He lowered the footrest and strained to listen to the strange sounds.
    “Someone -” Rachel started.
    “ Shh!”  Erik tilted his head in disbelief.  “Is that moaning?”
    A man crashed through the front door, ripping the screen, and fell onto the dingy carpet.  Erik bolted from the recliner and yanked the intruder by the collar.
    The man’s eyes were an icy shade of blue.  The whites surrounding the iris were bloodshot, so it was a freaky combination of blue inside of red that didn’t look natural. His skin had a sickly gray pallor that resembled cement and an open gash snaked across his cheek to his jawline.  His eyes flickered around the room erratically.  This guy was on something serious.  Meth?  LSD?  Bath salts?
    Erik held the intruder by his neck like a crocodile wrangler.  It was ironic, because the man snapped his jaws like he wanted to take a bite out of him. Erik made a face at Rachel.  “Do you see this?  Or am I hallucinating?”
    “No, I see it.  What do you want me to do?”
    “Grab the bat.”
    “Maybe we should call the cops.”
    “This prick broke into my house.  It’s not even dark out.  Get the bat Rachel, I’m going to teach him a lesson.”
    Erik kept his aluminum baseball bat in the corner behind the TV for break-in scenarios exactly like this one. The man’s head twisted in Rachel’s direction.  His eyes were completely devoid of any rationality.  “What’s wrong with him?”  She gripped the heavily taped bat handle.  “He looks like a zombie.”
    “A zombie?”  Erik made a face. “Are you crazy?”
    “What’ s all the commotion out here?”  Valerie stumbled into the living room.  “Who in the hell is that?  And what happened to my door?”
    Th e man, still on his knees, whipped his head around at Valerie.  She jumped.  “Jesus!  What’s he on?  Is he a friend of yours, Erik?  I told you I didn’t want any drugs in this house.”
    The man thrashed his arms and legs.  Erik punched him in the face, but he didn’t flinch.  The man was unfazed by the blow even though his nose was clearly broken.  His lack of a reaction was more terrifying than his appearance. 
    I ce blue eyes locked onto Valerie. The man snapped his teeth.  Erik raised his hand to punch him again, but the man lunged forward.  Erik lost his grip on the man’s neck and the zombie rushed Valerie. 
    The man grabbed Valerie by the shoulders. He opened his mouth.  Rachel and Erik stood dumbfounded.  Surely, he wasn’t going to….
    He bit Valerie.
    His teeth sank into the sensitive area where the neck sloped into the shoulder.  Blood, tissue, ligaments and all kinds of stuff you weren’t supposed to see stretched away from Valerie’s throat and dangled from the man’s mouth.  She unleashed an ear-piercing scream.
    Erik ripped the man from his mother.  Valerie’s hand shot to her neck as blood streamed through her fingers and down her arm.  She collapsed and crawled to the kitchen, leaving a trail of blood behind her.  The man seized Erik and they fell to the floor in a rolling heap, wrestling on the carpet.
    Valerie pressed a dishtowel to her neck.  She leaned back against the kitchen cabinet, her eyes rolling into her head.  The color drained from her face as blood ran down her arm and pooled onto the tile