Free The Living Dead Series (Book 3): Dead Coast by L.I. Albemont

left off the main road, away from the river, and continued taking left turns, going deeper and deeper into a heavily wooded glade. The road turned to gravel and grew narrower but she didn’t slow down and David reached for the grab-handle and held on, white-knuckled. She kept going, finally crossing a shallow running stream after which the road began to take them up again. The switchback curves barely slowed her down and David expected them to plunge to their deaths at any moment.
    The view, when they finally crested the slope, showed they were farther from the city and the river. The last of the daylight faded from the ruddy sky and as the truck sputtered to a halt they realized they were out of gas.
    Birds called in the surrounding woodland, one trilling with a particularly piercing sound before flying away, a dark blur in the evening air. An early moon hung low in the sky, giving a little light.  Just over the ridge was the barely discernible outline of a building. With no options other than remaining in the truck for the night they climbed out and shouldered their backpacks, proceeding up and over the top of the hill with weapons drawn. Bea switched on her flashlight and walked ahead. She was starving and hoped to find a place with water and food. A bed would be a nice bonus but she would take a night on the floor if she could just find a sturdy shelter with a strong, dead-bolt on the door.
    Small rustlings sounded all around them as the animals in the woods found shelter for the night and settled in. There was nothing to indicate the possible presence of the dead except-
    A smell like rotted meat floated randomly on the slight breeze. Bea stopped and turned around in a slow circle, trying to see if she could tell the direction the smell came from but it was elusive, coming and going randomly. They continued to slog forward across the mossy forest floor and entered a small, level clearing.
    At first she thought she had stumbled over a rotted log, foot sinking into a soft pile and nearly tripping. She trained her flashlight on the ground. A deep groan drifted up and she dropped the flashlight.
    She stood in the decomposing mush of one of the infected. Revolted, she tried to pull free but, off-balance, she fell backward and found her hands inside the stinking guts of another. This one tried to bite her and she rolled to her left, scrambling to her feet and ran, leaving her flashlight behind in a blind panic.
    The ground itself seemed to be moving. Grunting moans filled the night air in a hellish chorus. She ran, sure they would pull her down and devour her with what was left of their mouths. Her foot sank into another moist pile of rotten flesh and pus, scraping her boot on a bone when she pulled out. Teeth clacked together somewhere behind her and she ran until an arm reached up and grasped her ankle in an iron grip. She fell, sprawling headlong on top of a writhing corpse.
    Gasping for air and fighting to get free, she kicked the dead arm until it broke off from the body. She gained her feet and began to climb the next ridge. There didn’t seem to be any dead here and she sank down, prying off the arm still clutching her ankle and flinging it into the darkness.
    A branch cracked behind her and she froze, listening. Footsteps approached steadily and she whispered, “David?”
    “Yeah. Stay where you are. I don’t think anything followed us but I want to be sure.”
    They sat in silence for a few moments but heard nothing other than faint groans in the distance. David turned on his flashlight and they carefully made their way back down the ridge and looked around.
    A campground, tents torn, sleeping bags and coolers scattered about, took up most of the copse. Decomposing infected bodies, most still moving, lay at random intervals. Bea retrieved her flashlight and they slowly made their way back to the truck.
     
     
     

Chapter Four
     
     
    H e woke the next morning to a squeaking sound. His head hurt where it lay