Free Waiting to Die ~ A Zombie Novel by Richard M. Cochran

if
we can get to her. I locked her bedroom door so she should be safe for a
while.”
    Inside,
Johnny can feel his instincts kicking in. He wants run. He wants to get as far
away from this as he can. He wants to forget about the child that he knows is
already beyond help and get April and himself to safety. It’s a burning urge to
be the coward and get away, to survive, to live to fight another day, but he
knows April would never forgive him if he doesn’t try.
    Going
against his instincts, he makes his way back to the house with April close on
his heels. They jump the fence into the yard a few houses down from their own
and cross from yard to yard.
    “There
it is,” he says, looking from the back porch of the neighboring house. “Christ,
April, there’s too many of them.”
    “What if
we go in through the upstairs window? We might be able to get her out that
way,” April says as she glances to the rain gutter.
    “I can
try,” he breathes.
    A set of
hands slap up against the window, startling April. She swallows a scream as she
watches Sarah’s white, lifeless face slap against the glass with jerking
squeaks as the blood smears in its wake.
    “Oh my
God …” she says as she looks away.
    Johnny
frowns and diverts his gaze to the ground.
    “We
can’t leave her like this,” she says with a look of determination.
    “What?”
Johnny asks in shock. “Don’t tell me you’re thinking of going up there.”
    “We
can’t leave her like one of those things ,” she replies, still staring at
the smearing face of the child.
    “Damn
it, April, listen to what you’re saying,” he pleads with her. “She’s already
gone, there’s nothing we can do.”
    “We have
to kill her, we can’t leave her like that,” she says, expressionless.
    “We’re
going to do no such thing,” he says. “We’re going to get the fuck out of here
while we still can.” He grabs her by the shoulder and tries to shake her, but
she pulls away.
    “If
you’re too much of a coward, then I’ll do it myself,” she says and walks toward
the fence.
    Johnny
grabs her and pulls her to the ground. “The fuck you are.” April kicks at him,
but he manages to subdue her. He pins her arms down and looks her in the eyes.
“We haven’t gotten this far for you to go and make some stupid mistake. I would
never forgive myself for letting you go in there and getting yourself killed.”
    April
breathes heavily and begins to cry. Her face wells up and begins to redden
along her cheeks.
    “It’s
okay, let’s just get out of here,” he says as he helps her to her feet.
    “And
where are we going to go?” she sobs.
    “We’ll
head to the coast, steal a boat and see if we can find a rescue ship.”
    She
looks at him, almost convinced.
    “We’re
only a few miles from the beach and unless those goddamn things can swim, we
should be safer on the water.”
    As
Johnny leads her away across the yard to the fence, April looks back at her
sister in the window. The child’s mouth is agape as she stares off into
nothingness. Sarah’s head jerks and she stares directly at April. Even though
the girl’s eyes are already glossed over and turning white, April can’t help
but to think she senses something there; a faint hint of the child that used to
be, a subtle spark of awareness.
    She
tucks her head into Johnny’s shoulder and he holds her tightly as the dead fill
their home. Their howls drown out April’s sobs. Their wails muffle her cries.
The breaking glass and splintering wood stifle her breaking heart.

 
     
    ·7
     
     
     
    Pain nurses away the last bits
of hope from April’s heart as she trudges along behind Johnny, halfheartedly
trying to keep up with him.
    “Come on,” he urges her. “It’s
not much farther.”
    She looks up toward him, her
eyes puffy and red, diverting her gaze from the ground. “Johnny, I’m tired. I
need to rest for a minute.”
    “It’s only another few blocks,”
he says, turning to her. “We can rest once