Mortal: Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse Read Free

the infected pilot?”
    “Unless you’ve been under a rock the past three weeks,” the
shadowy form said, “you know what must be done. But first things first. My foot
is trapped, so I’m going to need your help in here. Then I’ll see to Durant’s
condition and do what’s necessary.”
    “He could turn any second,” said Jasper excitedly. “His
fingers are beginning to twitch.”
    Hearing this, Ari’s head again levered sideways and his entire
body went rigid. He mumbled something indecipherable and shot his gloved hands to
the safety harness suspending him at a precarious angle mere feet from harm’s
way. “ Durant’s hurt ...” he called out frantically, eyes fixed on his
good friend to his left. “I need to help him. I think he’s bleeding out ...”
    “Ari , stand down ,” the shadowy form bellowed. “Durant
is gone . He’s infected, and if you unbuckle yourself now you will be too.”
    “Do something then,” Ari said sharply.
    “He’s beyond our help,” answered the voice from within the
helicopter.
    Nodding in agreement, Jasper flashed the inconsolable pilot
an empathetic look, and once again performed the sign of the cross.
    Apparently resigned to the fact that he wasn’t going anywhere
anytime soon, Ari composed himself and reached down near his feet, manipulating
something there. He hinged back up, swiveled his head left and yelled back into
the cabin, “I took care of our leaking fuel problem.”
    Not gonna help us much now, Jasper thought to himself,
looking at an ever-widening moat of fuel and other viscous fluids forming around
the aircraft. He backed up a step and shifted his gaze to the right, spotting
the body of a man lying several yards away. The prostrate form was wedged up
against the iron fence surrounding the cemetery, but didn’t look to be in an
advanced state of decay like the infected citizens of Draper that Jasper had
been depositing here for days. This one looked newly dead and was wearing some
kind of tan fatigues that rendered him nearly invisible amongst the sun-scorched
grass. And if it hadn’t have been for the wide-open staring eyes, which were now
merely black dots sunken into a slack ashen face, he would have missed seeing
it entirely.
    Projecting his voice into the fuselage through cupped hands,
Jasper called out, “We’ve got more pressing problems out here.”
    “What kind of problems?” the man asked from deep within the
wreck.
    “Your friend Ari here says he stopped the leak, but I’m
afraid there’s still a fairly deep pool of gas that’s formed up around the
helicopter.” He went silent for a second, took a deep breath. Then, wishing
he’d lugged the shotgun along, added, “Also ... there are more than twenty of
those dead things heading our way, and no doubt more following behind them. I
reckon that’s way more than I can handle by myself ... with only my pistol and
a machete.”
    “How far away are the Zs?” croaked Ari, trying to crane his
head around.
    “Quarter mile ... give or take. I figure we’ve got two ...
three minutes tops to get you two out of there and get around to my truck. But
there’s also something else you need to know.”
    There was a short silence, after which the voice inside the
fuselage said, “Spit it out.”
    “There’s a dead man out here ... and he’s wearing the same
camouflage get up as you. Anybody missing from inside there?”
    There was another short silence.
    Finally the man inside the helicopter replied, “My name is
Cade. And I need you to forget about everything out there for now . I have
plenty of problems of my own and I need your help inside here. Right now I’ve
got a man trying to bleed out on me and three more who are either unconscious
or dead ... hard to tell ‘cause they’re wearing body armor and helmets.”
    After casting one last furtive glance at the approaching
pack of dead, Jasper walked his gaze over the jagged metal edges still dripping
with the zombie’s blood. Then,