Neighborhood Watch Read Free Page B

the sky was so dark, so sickly black, that you couldn't even see the rain; you simply felt it, everywhere, almost inside of you—like the darkness itself was reaching out and pushing through you.
    For some reason it helped. Maybe it was the adrenaline, but my asthma attack had come and gone.  So now I had just one choice: to keep pedaling.
    It was an easy choice. I was not going to take these things head-on. It made little sense. And I certainly wasn't going to wait in my house.
     
    They seemed keen on finding the humans.
     
    Whatever they were. I did know one thing though—these were not your typical walkers. And although I had read that 'fast zombies' were easier to take down, something told me this was not the case. That thing back at the cul-de-sac had been full of veins and stuff. It had these weird misshapen muscles that had incredible power.
    I swallowed at the thought of the policeman... 
    I had to find my brother and Sam, and I knew where they were. Sams's house was probably the biggest in suburban Dansbury. It was like a mansion, a palace, up all those hills in the woods with its own gate. You could see all of my neighborhood from his backyard.
    The perfect stronghold
    I thought back to that zombie. It was like a super zombie, a zombie/rabies-man on steroids. It was something out of a Hollywood blockbuster, but worse. It was terrible and deadly, and the thought of it enough to make your head swim. And if there were more than one... what could we do? What could we possibly do? Sam's air-soft guns, even the top ones—what were they going to do? Nothing. They probably wouldn't even slow the thing an inch.
    Something was bursting through the dark. I looked up as the orbs, white dazzling orbs, pierced my eyes. They grew bigger and brighter and then the red/blue appeared above. I pressed harder against the pedals, calves burning, lungs on fire. The cop car came to a slow and the window came down.
    I could barely hear the officer speak over the roar of the rain.
    “Where you headin, kid?”
    The man looked older but I wasn't really sure. His hair was black and I could see two glints for eyes and something of a larger figure.
    “Hop in! I'll give you a ride, don't want you out in this!”
     
    I shook my head.
     
    The officer must have smiled because I  could see the white in the dark. “Come on now, your bike will fit—hop in!”
    A second later I was inside, cramming my soaking bike and bottom into the corner. It felt weird being in the back of a police car like this, with the grate separating me from the officer. Suddenly I felt incredibly claustrophobic. I could imagine the zombie plunging through the side of the door, right upon me as I sat trapped, in this man-made mobile prison.
    “Little wet back there, huh?” asked the cop. “What's your name, son?”
    “Bill.” I stared out the window, nothing but grey. The occasional outline of a mailbox, house or parked car surfacing from the murk.
    “We're on pace for a record storm, I hear.” The officer eyed me through the rear-view window. I could tell now that he was a heavier guy with a handlebar mustache. Something of a walking, talking stereotype.
    “3.6 inches an hour, can you believe that?”
    I continued to stare out the window. Was it worth telling him? Should I tell him?
    The man cleared his throat. “Alright kid, where do you live? I'll drop you off, your parents are probably worried si—
    “Where were you heading when you saw me?” I blurted.
    The officer frowned. “What's that?”
    “When you saw me? Did you get the call?”
    The man was still frowning. “Did I get what call?”
    I knew I should have kept my mouth shut, but my mouth was already running faster than my mind. “There's something out there. Another officer went to check on it, gunshots probably...” My mind fell dark. “And then it got him...”
    The officer looked like he was getting confused but I didn't know what to think. I couldn't help it at this point. I had to