Free The Grave: A Zombie Novel by Russ Watts Page B

quickly. It would be over in a few seconds. Will could see the fields beneath them and then up ahead a thick jungle of trees. With the angle they were coming in at, they might just be able to glide in at a level where they could land, although he doubted it. Even if they did, the impact would probably rip the plane apart. He had flown across central Africa in a two-seater, he had hang-glided from Table Mountain, and he’d been dragged through the Amazon upside down when his canoe had capsized; this however was his scariest ride yet. Seeing the verdant green fields so close below and trees approaching, Will held his breath and prepared for the inevitable impact that would lead to their inevitable deaths. Up ahead, he saw buildings, houses and gardens. There were cars in the streets below, close enough to see now. He had no idea how the pilot was even keeping them in the air. They surely had to have lost both engines by now. Somehow, they were still flying. Was the pilot trying to land on the road below them?
    Will was not too proud to admit he was petrified. If they were lucky, they would die immediately. That would almost be preferable to surviving the crash landing. Kelly, Rasmus, Josef and Wilfred almost certainly knew where they were headed now. He didn’t know if Suzy, Mark or Tricia did, and Tug and Claire very likely had little idea. His worst fears were coming true. As the plane careered down, there was no time to think about the ground rushing up to meet them. Will didn’t even notice the small figures below following the plane’s trajectory. The Grave was about to welcome its newest residents.

     
    FOUR
     
    A droplet of blood splashed into a pool of rainwater at the dead man’s feet. He let go of the recently killed lamb and reached upward with both of his dumb, numb hands. A strange noise was filling the air and he scanned around for the source. A tearing, grinding noise had shattered the peaceful valley and the dead man was confused. Whilst he had no rational thought, he was aware that such a noise was unusual in the same way a mosquito becomes disorientated and bewildered when confronted by a thunderstorm. A large shape flew above the corpse’s head, heading south and leaving a blazing trail of smoke behind it. Small shiny objects were falling from the shiny oblong thing as it fragmented and sprinkled pieces of charred metal over the valley floor. As the shape passed overhead, low in the sky, the dead man reached his bony arms up to touch it. With no sense of depth, the dead man’s fingers kept reaching for it even though it could not possibly reach the aircraft.
    A crack rang out, snapping through the air and echoing across the valley, bouncing off the hills like a gunshot. The dead man did not jump, duck, curse, or react in any way. Through blurry bloodshot eyes, the dead man saw more things fall from the sky. Unrecognisable things fell, raining down through the trees ahead and crashing into the earth with loud bangs and thuds. No more than ten feet in front of the corpse, a man landed on the ground, flattening the long grass and leaving a small crater in the soil. Gravity sucked the body into the sodden earth with enough impact that it sent vibrations through the ground and the walking corpse stumbled. The body that had fallen from the sky was horribly mutilated, limbs broken and smashed. It had ceased to look like a man once it had impacted upon the ground.
    The walking corpse could smell the fresh blood and the raw meat. Instantly, it fell upon the grizzly pile of flesh that used to be Nonu, the aeroplane’s co-pilot, and it began devouring the warm, succulent meat. More walking corpses appeared, drawn at first by the noise from the sky, but then to the strange new food that fell from above.
    When the pilot had been consumed, only a hollow in the ground and a scattering of bloody clothing even signified he had been there at all. The many dead had ingested virtually his whole body: hair, blood, tissue