The Reanimation of Edward Schuett Read Free Page A

toward the light where Edward could see it. Yet he wasn’t as afraid as he thought he should have been. He couldn’t explain it, but some deep part of him felt excited.
    Edward heard another moan, one from outside, and he turned on the smashed-in entrances. Whatever was coming from out there wasn’t in sight yet, probably just around the corner from the entrance, but he got the feeling that it had heard him. There was another noise outside, a distant rumble, but he couldn’t quite place it yet. That noise didn’t seem as important right now, anyway. That was something far off, and whatever or whoever was approaching him from all sides was much closer. He could even hear the slow shuffle of feet coming down the aisle. He wasn’t sure what he expected to see when he turned to look, but it sure wasn’t the putrefied walking corpse that moved toward him.
    Edward screamed and stumbled backward, this time not catching himself, and falling flat on his back. He flailed helplessly for precious seconds, unable to get up off his back, before his hand found the doorframe of the Hummer and he could pull himself back up into a sitting position, then back up on his feet.
    In the time he’d been on the floor the dead thing had come closer and was now only about fifty feet away. There was no denying that it had been human once, probably female, but he could only recognize that by its humanoid outline. The skin was dark, almost black, and it had no more hair on its head. It reached out in his direction, and at this distance Edward could see that its fingernails had long ago fallen off. A few scraps of cloth still clung to it over the shoulders and at the waist, but the rest of its clothing had rotted away long ago, revealing patches of flesh stretched tight over its bones and what little muscle it still had. It moaned as it came closer, and again the sound was echoed by both something somewhere in the store and another one from outside.
    Another memory suddenly came to him as the adrenaline started pumping through his veins. This wasn’t the first time he had seen a creature like this. The first time had been on the day of the cookout. He’d seen one coming across the neighbor’s yard. Julia’s scream and Dana’s crying at the sudden noise had attracted more of them, and soon waves of the things had been coming at their house. He’d seen other people, people that were still living, also running and screaming down the streets. He even remembered seeing one of the creatures bite James Rohmer from across the street, and James had fallen to the ground immediately, twitching and foaming at the mouth. Edward hadn’t seen what had happened after that, because he’d grabbed Julia and Dana to pull them back into the house and lock the doors after them.
    These things might not be fast, but he had seen what could happen when a lot of them grouped together for an attack. He couldn’t be sure now if the moaning noises were an accurate indication of how many of the undead things were in the area, but there had only been one moan that he could hear from outside. He stood a better chance of escaping with his life if he ran (or did the closest he could manage) for the entrance than if he stayed in here and tried to elude however many might be hiding in the shadows.
    He turned and did a staggering, stumbling jog for the light. The tingling feeling had mostly left, but the pain stayed, growing more pronounced in his knees with the sudden motion of his legs. After only a few steps his lungs burned with the effort. Running, apparently, wouldn’t be an option yet. When he turned to look at the thing following him, however, he saw that even at his slow speed he still moved far faster than the creature ever could.
    He made it out the door and stopped just long enough to get his bearings and try catching his breath. He wheezed, and his lungs felt like there might be fluid in them, but he thought maybe he could force himself to keep up his run if it