Free Waking The Zed by ML Katz

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    Then she saw a large and entirely naked man shuffle into her line of vision. He moved across the neatly manicured lawn and stepped directly on the flower bed that lined the road. It looked like he had emerged from the side of the building. 
    Too late, the door’s already open. What normal person would just step on the flowers without trying to pick their way through them or use the walking path? What am I thinking? This guy’s walking around without a stich of clothes on. Who does that? It would have to be somebody who’s in a great hurry, but this guy is not moving fast.
    Pamela had never seen Mr. Barnes outside of the observation tank, but she was sure that the creature had his square jaw , long nose, and rugged features. The thing wore no clothes, but blood dripped down his cheeks and covered his chest and groin. At first he just seemed to amble across the path in front of the entrance. His mouth opened and Pam saw his teeth were coated with a disgusting mess of blood and gore. She tried not to gag.
    Mr. Barnes, or what was left of him, seemed to beco me aware of her after a moment. He snarled and changed direction. “I guess they can still see,” Pam whispered to herself. Then she swallowed down her fear and revulsion as he threw himself against the transparent doors with enough force to rattle the glass in the frame. Dr. Klein glanced up, seemingly unconcerned, as she kept exchanging text messages with somebody on the outside.
    Pamela did not think her umbrella would be sturdy enough to fend the monster off. The frame had been bent when she struck Enrico, and she was pretty sure it would break if she used it again.
    Though tentative at first, the thing that had been Mr. Barnes seemed more coordinated than Enrico had. Perhaps the hapless engineer had been injured in some way that affected his movements. Perhaps this creature simply had more time to adjust to his revived body.
    She eyed Dr. Klein’s gun again. The only way out would be through that thing that used to be poor Mr. Barnes. She needed a way to put him down before he could hurt her. As he was clearly already dead, she would not waste a second thought over shooting him, especially not if he seemed determined to damage her. Pam wondered if Dr. Klein was distracted enough so she could grab the gun. Pam was, after all, younger and stronger. But she knew the older woman was wary and sly . She barely seemed to care about her lover Enrico. She might not hesitate over shooting somebody like me that she clearly doesn’t like.
    Then a fast moving runner rounded the corner, raised a large wrench, and hit Mr. Barnes’s head with enough force to send him crashing back off the curb. The body dropped to the ground and seemed to stay still. Pamela stared at the scene with wide eyes. The man with the wrench was Paul, the blonde worker who had been with George, and he was clearly still alive and unaffected by the virus. None of the Zed had been interested in each other at all, and certainly none of them had the wit to use a tool to open a door or smash in a head.
    Pamela assumed that Dr. Klein had locked the front door, but she believed she could use the red unlock button from the inside. She rose quickly, said, “I’m letting him in,” and fixed Dr. Klein with a determined look.
    The older woman glanced up from her cell phone, shrugged, and said, “Be quick.” Then she went back to her texting.
    As soon as Pa ul stepped inside, Pamela pulled hard on the door to close it quickly. The inside doors still trembled, but held against the onslaught of the creatures who pushed against it. Dr. Klein motioned with her pistol hand and ordered both of them to sit against the wall while she communicated with the authorities.
    “Visitor from the frying pan,” Pam said without humor, “welcome to the fire.”
    Paul looked at Pam, the dead woman, and finally Dr. Klein. Then he turned to gape at the inside doors. The young man’s lips worked silently, but he seemed