Zombies Ever After: Sirens of the Zombie Apocalypse, Book 6 Read Free Page B

there were still microscopic
traces of blood, but he hoped there wasn't enough to infect him.
    With his shirt back on and the gun in his pocket, he ascended the
stairs and went back to the ground floor window. He studied the
outside for a couple of minutes until he'd convinced himself it was
safe enough to make a run for it.
    The door opened outward and was silent. His shoes were also quiet,
but he couldn't stay out of the zombie's line of sight. The call went
up from a few zombies on the ground floor lobby, which was echoed by
a greater number of the infected up on the second level.
    He avoided a couple of clumsy zombies near the broken glass window
where he'd entered the building earlier that day, and ran into the
bright light of the afternoon. Across the street, he could see the
much larger hole where his mom drove the Tiger tank through the front
lobby of that skyscraper. He feared there would be government
agents—or even zombies—but the street was surprisingly
empty.
    The zombies followed him in the windows of the lobby, rather than
exit through the broken glass. They were nice enough to box
themselves in and give him a head start.
    He took off at a jog.
    Only six easy miles to Victoria.
    Seemed simple, which was why he was on the lookout for anything
that would cost him time.
    The rhythm of the run soon captured him. He relaxed as he found
his pace, and hit his stride running down the middle of the narrow
urban street. His father, the marathoner in the family, had run these
streets many times—and he'd been there to cheer. His current
fears were the potholes and many open manhole covers, along with
numerous corpses littering the route.
    He breathed in and out, as evenly as possible. Nearly three weeks
of poor diet and no sleep almost made him forget these basic things,
but they came back soon enough. The pack and rifle made things a bit
tougher, but it was a small price to pay for the ultimate protection
on these streets.
    Running by the glass frontage of a newer building allowed him to
see himself in profile. Unless it was his imagination, he looked
older, now. He appeared more competent in what he was doing. Running.
Fighting. Thinking. He was sixteen, calling himself seventeen, and
going on thirty. Dog years of the Zombie plague.
    And what was behind those glass windows? As he ran by, he tried
not to think about or look too closely in the windows. There had to
be both survivors and zombies in most of the buildings around the
city. His sincere hope was that all the buildings were locked, just
like the one he'd exited. But, if zombies did run out, he was ready.
His pace would keep him ahead of them.
    He looked up. An irrational part of his mind pictured zombies
falling from high up the canyon of skyscrapers, but there were none
in the air.
    “Just everyone stay inside, m'kay?” he said quietly,
over his heavy breathing. The pack and rifle, and the uncomfortable
way the Glock sat in his front pocket, had an effect on his
endurance. He considered stopping for a quick break.
    Four weeks of hard living and my base is gone...
    At that moment a white drone buzzed by him from behind, about ten
feet over his head. It drew his attention ahead, where he saw
evidence of more zombies. A small park sat nestled along the street,
between a large Greek-looking building and a row of parking
structures. The drone made directly for that area and hovered and
rotated among the zombies there.
    He ran up to a newspaper kiosk—long since looted—and
waited to see what was happening. Alternate routes formed in his
head.
    The drone was bigger than most drones he'd seen of late. It was
about the size of a refrigerator, and looked like a small helicopter,
rather than the style with fans on all four corners. It was very
agile and seemed to work its way through the small crowd, avoiding
the many trees with ease. After a few minutes, it raced off toward
another block.
    He took off at a run again. He stayed on the broad street but
crossed to