Free LEFT BEHIND FOR DEAD - Zombie Outbreak by Nathan Kingsley Page B

chest. I lay my head down, too weary to do otherwise, her breasts soft and pillowy, and sleep took me like a wolf takes a sheep.
     
    *  *  *
     
                  I woke with my face squished between Naddy's ample breasts, slobber leaking from the corner of my mouth. Some sound woke me. A scratching sound.
                  I sat up, wiping off my mouth, embarrassed I'd gotten saliva all over the girl. She was awake, staring at me.
                  “I heard something,” I said. “We need to get out of here.”
                  She didn't need prodding. We heard the odd scratching sound again, nails on wood, and she was up, swinging her bag over her shoulder, taking out a sledge hammer to swing in her right hand.
                  I pulled out my machete. It was hard to come by guns and guns were the least effective on zombies anyway. You had to fight them up close and personal, in the face, eye to eye. The trick was not to let them get a bite in. If you were bitten you didn't always change over, but half the time you did. It wasn't worth the risk. We always kept our eyes on the mouths.
                  “I think there's some of them out there.” I got to the closed front door and put my ear against it to listen.
                  Maddy was at the window, looking out from behind ragged curtains.
                  Out of the blue Maddy said, “My birthday's tomorrow.”
                  I looked over at her. Such a slight girl to be so well endowed, short and waifish. Her hair was brilliant red, but kept hidden beneath the cap. “I don't think we can find you a birthday cake.”
                  The scratching came again, a methodical dull sound and it came from the wall nearest the sofa.
                  “Come on, let's roll.” I opened the door, my machete raised and didn't see any of the dead. “Hurry.”
                  Maddy was at my back and we scooted from the house, down the short walkway and into the street. We turned to look back and saw them. The monsters lined the whole side of the house, scratching at the walls.
                  “God, they're so stupid.” I pulled Maddy with me and we hurried along the street out of town.
                  “We're lucky they're stupid. If they ever get smart that's when we're in real trouble.”
                  “I want to get to the mountains,” I said.
                  “What mountains?”
                  “The Rockies. In Colorado. I think there might be fewer of these creatures there.”
                  “Maybe for a while.”
                  “That would be better than this daily war.”
                  “It's a long way to Colorado,” she said.
                  “I figure I can rig a truck to run.”
                  “And we could find some gasoline...” she admitted.
                  I turned to glance at her. “So you want to come with me?”
                  “I don't mind if I do.”
                  “We'll celebrate your birthday tomorrow. I'll find a way. How old will you be?”
                  “Twenty-three.”
                  “You don't look eighteen.”
                  She preened, her smile genuine, the first smile I'd seen in a long time. It made me feel great. I'd have to find her a present. At thirty, I wasn't so old I didn't remember what it was like to have a birthday party.
    *  *  *
     
                  Beaumont, Texas was being held together by barbed wire and shotguns. The whole place was surrounded by guards and gates. We had to approach with our hands held high. Once they saw our eyes, they let us get near. “Where you headed?” He was a guard wearing a uniform and carrying a clipboard. There was a