Nashville Summers Read Free Page A

bed I kept all sorts of shit like trash, comic books, old soda cans, and porn.
    Porn.. .  hmmm...  That made me wonder what was in this box of Andrew’s.  Sure I was being nosy and this was none of my business, but so what?  I had just saved the kid from becoming a one-course dinner for his worm bait sister!  The way I saw it after what I'd been through I had the right to know!  And what harm would it do?  Besides, there was no way Andrew would ever find out.  The hunt for Victoria could wait fifteen seconds.  Once I was through rationalizing I dropped back down to one knee and pulled out the box.
    I glanced worriedly around the room before opening it up, afraid that the sister might have materialized while I wasn't looking.  Convinced that she hadn't, I pulled the top off the box and my eyes were met with a magazine with two large letters ‘XY’ at the top. There were pictures of, I was surprised to see, skimpily clothed guys decorating the cover.  Incredulously I took the first on the top on the box and sure enough, beneath were many others.  Andrew liked this sort of thing?  Alright!  Despite the horrible slaughter, death, and violence that had become a way of life for me, I was starting to feel kind of lucky.
    As I put the top back on the box and slid it back under the bed, a familiar smell began to pervade my nostrils.  Death...  zombies...  here!  I tried to stand up and turn around but it was no use.  I was smacked across the face from behind, the sudden shock sending me sprawling across the room, dropping my axe in the process.  "Liked what you saw there, did you?" came that horrible zombie voice again, ripping up my ears.  I groaned, the pain in my head growing, and reached for my axe. But Victoria had already gotten to it.  "Looking for this?" she asked, and gave me a sickly, undead grin.  "It's mine now."
    As q uickly as I could I jumped up to my feet and backed away from the wide arcs of her axe swings, until I could go no further - I was pinned against the far wall with no escape in sight.  Or was there?  Beside me I saw a large window.  Maybe if I could jump out I could make my escape.  But my hopes were shattered as soon as a glanced outside.  There was quite a long drop down to earth.  There was no question that I would survive the fall, however, fighting zombies is difficult to do with a broken arm or leg.
    With inhuman fury, V ictoria swung the axe at my head again.  But in her scrawny arms the axe became unwieldy, and while her attack was powerful and accurate it was also very slow.  I easily ducked the blow and with a loud thunk and the axe became imbedded in the wall behind where my head had been.  Hissing violently, the zombie tried its best to pull it out, but to no avail; it was stuck.  Now I was back to unarmed combat.  There had to be some way for me to get the upper hand.  Still snarling, the zombie struck, raking its nails across my face before I could deflect the blow.
    Pain shot through my face and I stumbled backwards , blindly grabbing my head in my hands.  Before I had the chance to recoil, it back-handed me, her blow connecting squarely to my jaw.  The taste of blood filled my mouth and the zombie's triumphant cackle filled my ears.  The giddy, gloating, evil laughter was more than I could take. With a sudden burst of anger I swung my right hand back in a powerful punch that connected with its face with a sharp crack.  It stumbled backwards and I swung again with my left fist, sending Victoria sprawling against the window.  Seeing my chance I lined up a powerful kick right to its gut.
    It groaned once the kick connected, and fell backwards with incredible force, shattering the window and falling out the broken hole.  "No!" it screamed as it fell, thrashing its arms and legs about wildly, almost as if that might slow its decent.  With a sickening thud it crashed to the ground where it lay motionless.  I rushed over to the window and stuck my head