Free Verge of Extinction (Apex Predator Book 3) by Glyn Gardner

yelled down the stairwell.  Then he began dragging the bodies out of the doorway.
    Mike charged past the soldier.  As he reached the next landing, he turned to see where everyone else was.  Theresa was right behind him, shotgun at the ready.  SSgt Brown, Jen Kerry, and Josiah were just passing Jackson, one landing below.  Good.  He began climbing the last flight of stairs.
    As he reached the second step, three zombies burst through the third floor door.  One was a young man in a white coat.  He wore black slacks, and leather shoes.  Mike was sure he had been a doctor before he died.  The second was an emaciated looking old woman.  It looked to Mike as if she hadn’t had a good meal in months.  Her grey hair was so thin he could see her pale-grey scalp.  Her eyes were a pale blue.  She turned her head and seemed to sniff the air.  It was almost as if she were blind.  But, she knew exactly where he was.
    The third zombie was a little boy.  Mike thought he looked to be about eight.  His long scrawny limbs were pale and covered in dried blood.  An IV line was still taped to the boy’s arm and was dragging the ground behind him.
    As one, the trio turned and began tumbling down the stairs.  Theresa fired once before she was knocked backwards by the weight of the emaciated woman.  Mike fired a wild shot as he tried to back away.  Missing the step, he fell backwards onto the landing, now occupied by Theresa, and all three zombies.  The girl was screaming.
    The doctor-zombie landed on top of him.  He used his rifle to keep the zombie’s face as far away from him as he could.  He tried kicking, but something was holding his legs.  He tried desperately to shift the zombie’s weight off of him.
    Suddenly pain shot through his right leg.  The pain was sharp and intense.  Franticly, he kicked with his left foot.  As he concentrated on his feet, his strength in his arms began to diminish.  Suddenly, the man’s hands grabbed him by the head.  It became a contest between the zombie’s ability to pull and Mike's to do a push-up.  Unfortunately, Mike hadn’t done a push-up in years.
    Shots began to ring out.  The zombie’s head snapped back.  Dark black blood poured down onto Mike’s face.  He began to gag.  Suddenly another wave of pain shot from his leg.  He had almost forgotten about the zombie on his legs.  He jerked the rifle from under the doctor-zombie and fired into the boy’s head with one hand.  Black and pink mist sprayed the wall as the boy collapsed in a heap over his legs.
    He dropped his head and looked to his right.  Beside him Theresa was laying under the emaciated woman.  The palm of her hand was shoved under the woman’s chin.  Wait, he thought.  It was in her mouth!  He began to panic.  Not Theresa!  Suddenly a flash of steel and the woman stopped struggling.
    Theresa withdrew her hand.  There wasn’t any blood.  Where was the blood?  What blood?  I don’t see any blood?  The voices he heard were echoing his thought.  All but one, one voice kept yelling his name.  He couldn’t see it, but he could here that voice.
    Who was it?  Mom, is that you?  I can’t see you mom!  Where are you?  He could hear the voice saying something about being bitten.  “No mom,” he croaked.  “It didn’t bite me.  It bit Tommy.”
    Suddenly his mind drifted.  He was standing in a hospital room.  His best friend Tommy was there in the bed.  He was ten, and he had been bitten by a snake.  He looked bad today.  He wasn’t breathing well.  The doctors had said something about the antivenom causing a reaction.  “It’ll be ok Tommy.”  His voice cracked with tears.  He was remembering what happened next.  Tears ran down his cheek.
    The scene changed.  They were at a funeral home.  There was a casket.  He walked to it.  He knew what was there.  It was Tommy.  He couldn’t look.  Bang!  Someone was banging.  Who?  Who would do something like that at a