The Dead Rise (Book 1): Zombies and Chainsaws Read Free Page A

ran out of the room. He got the Velcro tight on his He-Man shoes. He sprinted to his bedroom and dug through his toy box until he found his favorite GI Joe action figures. He came out of the bedroom like a kid on a mission. Maria was already standing at the door when he came out. She was tapping her foot and holding a box of animal crackers in one hand and smiling holding out the miniature treats.
    Patrick saw the snack and made a beeline straight for his aunt. He ran straight past her jumping as high as his little legs would take him grabbing the box with one hand while yelling, “thank you!” as he exploded out the front screen door. Maria came out closing the door behind her not worrying about locking it and jumped into the driver's seat. Patrick climbed through his aunt's open driver’s side window and crawled to the passenger seat where he set up on his knees looking out the window chewing happily on animal crackers.
    She started her Thunderbird and was thankful that summer was not here yet because she knew how the red leather seats would be like sitting in a bath of lava. She backed the car out and they drove over to Jude's job site to give him the good news. When they pulled up to the property Jude had his back to them and was facing the tree he was taking down. He was currently in the process of taking down what was left of a very large branch. She could see the jagged piece that had remained after the storm.
    Maria waved to Chuck who was Jude's right-hand man and his best friend. The only reason for that was because he had known Jude longer than she had. They had both enlisted together out of high school neither of their families having any money to send them to college. They had both left Shaw's company at the same time and Chuck had been Jude's first man hired under the new company.
    Chuck saw them pulling in and smiled waving back. When the car came to a stop Patrick swung his legs over the side of the car gripping on for dear life with his hands. He lowered himself down in a very sloppy chin up until he reached the gravel-covered ground below. He didn't wait for his aunt he pumped his legs toward the men and the chainsaws carrying a GI Joe in each of his hands. He’d been out of the car before she could even blink and Maria yelled for him to stop but knew he was gone. Chuck set his saw down walking forward to intercept the kid to keep him from possibly interrupting his dad and getting hurt or worst case earning a spanking.
    Chuck picked up the approaching smiling boy and before he could say anything launched Patrick into the air looking like a rocket, of course, one with chunky legs and arms flailing wildly as he shot up. The boy kicked and screamed as he flew into the air giving his aunt a short heart attack as she watched the spectacle take place. When the tree branch came down Pete pointed in the direction behind him catching Jude's attention. He knew it wasn't often that Maria and Patrick came to the job site and could tell by the look on her face that it was probably pretty important.
    Jude turned around seeing his son in Chuck’s arms and killed his chainsaw setting it down. He removed his ear protection and placed his hands over his ears trying to pop them. He wondered at times why he even wore the damn things. He knew he wouldn’t hear anything once he was an old man. The saws were very deafening but it made ends meet and that was what he cared about over personal health. When Chuck saw it was safe he patted Patrick on the back and put the boy down and he immediately ran towards Jude.
    Jude bent down gripping his son smiling and for the second time in a minute Patrick was on a second flight into the air. Maria came up yelling at Jude and Chuck, “Would you guys quit throwing him in the air for God’s sake! He’s going to be sick, and if he pukes in the car and I have to clean it up we won’t be having a very pleasant conversation afterward.”
    Jude walked up to Maria holding up his hands