Free The Demented Z (Book 2): Desolation (Book 2) by Derek J Thomas

and squeezed off a couple
rounds at The Professor. The first shot
shattered his glasses, ripped a ragged hole right through his eye socket, and
blew red and white chunks out the back of his head.
  The third demented was using the handrail
along the wall to pull himself back to his feet.
  Next to him was a partially open doorway.
    Tom continued to race down the hall, holding his pistol out
in front of him with one hand. He fired
off several shots, catching the demented in the head and again in the neck.
  Blood spilled down his chest as he slid down
the wall, leaving a large red streak behind.
    “Look out!”   Eddie
shouted.
    Just to the left of Tom was the huge kid rushing his way,
nearly on top of him. Tom tried to spin
his pistol around, but the kid was too close.
    Eddie’s pistol roared to life.
    A couple rapid booms.
    Blood, brains, and bone fragments exploded out of the side
of the kid’s head, splattering the wall in front of Tom.
  The kid thundered to the floor.
    Waiting to thank Eddie until later, Tom covered the last few
steps to the open door. Before going in,
he took a quick glance back down the hall and was terrified to see the entire
hallway filled with infected. The
surging mass from one hall was spilling into the main hallway, colliding with
those that followed directly behind Tom and Eddie.
    Both men raced through the open doorway.
  Tom turned and slammed the door closed behind
them.
    There was a strange smack, like a hand slapping a table, as
the infected from all directions descended on the door.
  Both the door and the frame shook with the beating
from outside.
    With no deadbolt, Tom was only able to twist the small lock
on the handle, which seemed almost laughable, but he did it anyway.
    Turning with his back to the door, Tom surveyed the room
they were in. It was the high school’s
library, containing row after row of tall bookshelves.
  The wall directly across from Tom was covered
by large windows. Staring back at him
through the glass were hundreds of angry eyes.  
They saw the prey that had eluded them outside and now began banging on
the glass trying to gain entry.
    Knowing the large shelves full of books would be either too
heavy or bolted to the floor, Tom instead pointed to a
large wooden desk and said, “Help me grab the desk.”
    Eddie stood in place, staring at the long row of
windows. His face was white with fear.
    “Eddie, help me out!”  
Tom shouted as he ran over to the large desk.
    Using his legs, Tom began shoving the desk over toward the
door. There was an ear piercing screech
as the metal on the bottom of the legs scraped across the tile floor.
    This noise seemed to dive deep into Eddie’s brain and pull
him out of the stupor he was in. He
quickly holstered his pistol and ran over to help Tom.
    After getting the desk up against the door, Eddie said,
“That’s not going to stop them. What are
we going to do?   I can’t die like
this. Why the hell did we come
here?”   He kept rambling on.
    The sound of cracking glass caused him to stop his rant and
turn toward the windows. Several of the
windows were beginning to split. Long
slivers streaked out in multiple directions, splitting the glass into giant pie
slices. Blood covered hands and faces
pressed up to the glass. Their numbers
swelled as others heard them and joined their ranks, swarming the library wall.
    Behind Tom the door continued to rattle on its hinges as the
infected pounded into it.
    “What are we...”
    Eddie was interrupted by the sound of shattering glass.
  Shards of glass crashed to floor as the
nearest window exploded inward, spilling infected into the room.
  They crashed to the floor in a pile of
twisted arms and legs.
Before the mass could rise, more continued to pour through the open
window, growling at Tom and Eddie.
    “Run!”   Tom yelled as
he began racing between the aisles of books.  
He had no idea where to go, but knew staying put was certain death.