Free My Apocalypse (Book 1): The Fall by Edward J. Eaton II Page A

along the floor.
    I was cornered, and my heart began to feel like it was going to explode in my chest. The rats edged closer and closer and my head whipped back and forth, looking for a way out. Then, as if on cue, there it was: a small window, there for the kitchen to pass food through to the front, and the decision was made.
    With a single bound, I was on the countertop, my hands in the window. I was going to have to squeeze to make it through, for while it was long, it wasn’t that tall. I was through up to my waist when the unexpected happened.
    All of the sudden, I felt hands grab my leg, trying to jerk me back through the window the way I had just come. I hung on for dear life, and managed to turn around to see what was going on. The man, or what was left of him, that the rats had been eating on had grabbed my leg, and was now trying its damndest to drag me with it to hell. It clawed at me, and I felt its teeth as it bit down on my boot. I was lucky though, due to my kicking, the thing could not find good purchase on my foot. I screamed at the thing, and brought my left heel down hard. I heard a satisfying thud, followed by the sharp sound of bones cracking, as my heel smashed into the creatures face. It released its hold on me, and the sudden freedom caused me to lurch out of the window, falling freely to the floor below.
    I landed on the floor behind the bar. My breath exploded from my chest and I saw stars. There was a ringing in my ears, like some wind chimes tinkling in a summer breeze. I struggled to catch my breath, and clear my head. Finally the motes of light cleared, and I found my breath coming easier and smoother. I could hear the zombie in the kitchen shuffling around, and then, almost ear shattering in the quiet, a high pitched squeal. The dead head must have found one of the plague rats. I took one last breath to steady my nerves, then opened my eyes and got ready to get up.
    And then I realized that I was staring right into another’s face.
    I froze. The woman looked at me, mere inches from my face, and I could here a low growl beginning to issue forth from deep within it. Her eyes shone in the dark, and my mind harkened back to the encounter I had with the man on the train tracks so many months before. The woman’s eyes narrowed and her mouth split in an evil grin, exposing rotted and broken teeth. I could smell the death on her. Than, the next instant, the creatures head exploded in a shower of blood and brains, and a deafening boom tore through the small establishment.
    “You need to move, NOW!!!” I heard from nearby. It sounded like the voice had traveled through a tunnel, muffled and distorted.
    “You hear me?” the voice asked, insistent. “Get your ass up and get in here.”
    The fog lifted from my head, and I looked around to see who had spoken to me. A figure stood at the far end of the bar, looking at me from around a door. The person held a rather large shotgun in its hands, pointed directly at me. Whoever it was wore a large helmet, made for motorcycle riding, the visor lowered, and a bulky black leather jacket, on which they appeared to have fastened a few hardened leather plates to in various locations.
    “You al right?” the person asked me, raising the gun. “You been bitten?”
    “No,” I answered, getting to my feet. “I’m okay, thanks to you.”
    The person grunted and beckoned with the gun. I went towards it and ducked around=d the door. A set of stairs led upwards, and I started up, stopping only for a second when I heard a loud thud behind me. The light was better in the stairwell, small battery operated lanterns were set every couple of feet. The figure had placed a decent sized metal bar across the door, held in place by two large hooks. The person reached up and removed the motorcycle helmet it was wearing, letting long auburn hair spill down. Blue eyes sparkled at me, but in them I saw distrust and annoyance. The woman, barely a woman, was probably twenty or so,