Free The Saga Of Tom Stinson (Book 1): Summer School Zombocalypse by Eric Johnson Page A

empty house.
    Then Winston screamed. “Dad! NO!”
    Tom ran.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
DADDY ISSUES
    Winston tripped over Emmett as they tumbled down the porch stairs and landed in a heap. The expressions on their faces were painted with fear.
    The screen door was flung open, clacking violently against the handrail of the porch. From out of the house, their dad emerged. He was a tall, thin figure. His skin was chalk white, with purple streaks running up and down his lifeless face.
    The twins scrambled to their feet and rushed to Tom’s side, narrowly evading the grasps of their zombie father.
    Raising the shotgun, Tom stood between the twins and their father. His arms and legs shook.
    “ Don’t shoot him,” Emmett pleaded, holding onto Tom and pulling at his shirt. “Please don’t shoot him.”
    Shooting anyone, let alone the twins’ father, was not what he wanted. Maybe he could reason with him. Tom opened his mouth to speak. The words were there, but they didn’t come out. All he could do was whisper for him not to come any closer. He felt powerless to stop what he knew was going to have to happen.
    “ Dad, Dad, It’s us!” Their voices cracked with hope that what they were seeing wasn’t real. They wanted him to stop, to open his arms, and tell them how much he loved them, to make it all go away, and be alright again.
    “ Stop right there. Don’t come any closer,” Tom managed to get it out finally, but the twins’ father kept on coming.
    The trigger moved easier that he thought. His eyes closed as he squeezed it tightly. The shotgun bucked in his hands and his body recoiled from the kick. He almost dropped the shotgun.
    “ NO!” the twins cried out and rushed to their dad, crumpling on top of him. They held his lifeless body in their arms, looking to and away in denial, hiccuping inaudible words of loss.
    Realizing what he had done, Tom stood still and stared. It wasn’t their dad, but it was, and there was no question as to whether he was dead or not, now. His face flushed. “I. . . I. . . I,” he croaked.
    Emmett’s grief turned to anger and he turned to Tom. “How can you stand there? You did this! What if this was your dad?”
    Tom could barely hear him. His ears were still ringing from the blast of the shotgun. Emmett’s voice was muffled. All that he could get out was, “I protected you,” and he couldn’t tell if they heard him.
    Down the driveways and out of the houses the zombies came, like limping speed walkers. The blast of the shotgun called them to start a race. Tom’s heart pounded in his throat; they weren’t gone after all. He grabbed Winston by the arm and pulled him to his feet.
    “ Oh crap,” Tom said, “we gotta go right now.”
    With a forlorn look Emmett turned to Tom. “It’s no use. They’re going to get us one way or another. Our dad is here. I’m not leaving him.”
    “ What?” Tom said, surprised by Emmett’s decision. “You’re giving up?”
    Emmett was resigned to stay, his dad was dead, and he wanted to end it. You could see it in his eyes. He had given in to despair.
    Tom wasn’t going to let that happen. What Emmett needed was hope, something to make him move, something to want to live for.
    Tom held onto Winston’s arm and knelt down. “You can’t stay here. Think about Winston. He needs you. We have to do something to clear our way through, otherwise we will be trapped here. Can you please come with us?”
    Emmett shook his head. “No.”
    “ Emmett, please,” Winston begged him.
    “ No.”
    “ I’m not giving up,” Tom told him. “I won’t be defeated. Not by you and not by the zombies.” Then to Winston, who didn’t seem as shaken. “Get him to come.”
    Winston wiped the tears from his eyes with his forearm. “Get up Emmett. What about mom? We have to find her. She was at work, we can find her. Come on.”
    “ You love mom more,” Emmett said.
    When Emmett didn’t budge, Tom snatched him by the elbow and pulled. “Help me drag him.