Free When There's No More room In Hell: A Zombie Novel by Luke Duffy Page A

sorry , Elaine,” he said.
    She turned to speak but before she got a word out, she felt a heavy blow to the back of her head that knocked her off her feet and sprawled her on the ground. She wasn’t unconscious, but she wasn’t far from it. She could see the blurry silhouette of Tony above her then, felt the impact of hi s foot as he brought it down onto her left ankle. She felt and heard the bones break but the pain hadn’t registered.
    Tony raised his foot again and quickly brought it down , heel first, on her other ankle. The bone crunched under his heavy boot and there was a clear audible snap as it shattered. This time, she screamed. A loud gut-wrenching scream that didn't seem to end. The sound reverberated around the street.
    All the time, the bloodthirsty rioters closed in around them.
    Tony stepped back and looked to the corner. Only two were coming from that direction. He glanced down at Elaine who was trying to get to her feet. She rolled onto her stomach and began pushing herself up onto her hands and knees. She managed to get a foot under her, but as soon as her weight rested on the splintered jagged bones of her ankle the pain caused her to cry out again and collapse.
    He began to back away from her, checking over his shoulder to make sure no more people had appeared in his line of escape. It was still just the two and Tony decided that he could deal with that many. He would just run through them.
    Elaine was sobbing and pleading with him. “Don't leave me, please, don’t leave me.” She reached out for him, imploring him to help her up, her face twisted in an expression of agony and desperation.
    Tony turned away; he looked straight ahead and sprinted for the next street. The two shambling figures ahead of him, a man in a police uniform and a blood-soaked fat woman wearing a torn flowery dress, raised their arms in his direction as if he might give himself to them. They looked almost grateful as he closed the distance, reaching out to him and moaning in harmony with each other.
    He dropped his shoulder and hit the first one, the woman, sending her flying away from him, arms and legs flailing in the air as she crashed to the floor, landing on her back. He handed off the man by slapping his hands away from him, sending the police officer spinning with a stupid and surprised sounding moan.
    By the time he reached the corner and turned into the next street, Elaine was screaming. It was a piercing shriek that rang out in to the night. The pitch raised and fell as her flesh was ripped from her body.
    The searing pain of teeth as they pun ctured her skin and bit deep into her muscle caused her body to spasm. She fought them, but their numbers and weight, coupled with her already weakened state, was too much for her.
    Her fingers were bit ten off as she tried to fend off the snapping jaws; she could feel them being crushed in the teeth of her attackers, then scraped and snapped away from her by jagged and broken teeth.
    Her screams began to lessen as she became weaker, but she remained conscious for a long time. Her limbs were pulled from their sockets and her stomach was split open as cold hands and bony fingers clutched at the skin of her midriff until it broke, popping and splitting open like a thick plastic bag that had been over-filled, revealing her warm internal organs, which were wrenched from her rib cage and spread across the tarmac.
    Fingers dug i nto her eyes and tore them away; teeth sunk in and gnawed at the soft flesh around her face and neck.
    Within a matter of minutes, Elaine was nothing more than a butchered and dismembered carca ss, still steaming as the blood continued to cool in the night air.
    Tony was at the far end of the next street and continued at a fast walk to save his energy. He was grateful when the screams finally stopped. They coul d’ve attracted every one of the things in the area and he would never have been able to get away.
    Elaine hadn't been a burden after all , he