Free The Dead Live On by Julie Cooper Brown

his attention, it must’ve startled him because he had fallen on top of her and she had a good size chunk of his cheek in her mouth trying to tear it off. He wasn’t even screaming, only using his hands to press her face away from him. I then noticed he had several older bites on his arms, he would be infected as well. I dropped the bag of food I was holding and ran home to get Evan. I threw open the door and they jumped up in surprise.
    “Evan, he is fucking a dead woman! I mean zombie. Dawn. She’s a zombie, and he’s fucking her and I scared him and she’s biting him, right now!” I said all this fast and frantically and Evan grabbed me by my shoulders.
    “Calm down, Jill. Tell me slowly.”
    “I’m gonna go get a soldier.” Old Joe said and hurried out the door.
    “I went to give him food, he wasn’t answering. I heard music in the garage he wasn’t there either, so I looked in his window. I shouldn’t have, I know, but I did. And he was screwing her!” I was still speaking a little too fast for him and my pitch of my voice kept rising; I was becoming hysterical as my mind continued to process it. He pulled me outside to go catch up to Old Joe.
    He and the soldiers were already knocking on Dan’s door, one of them was Assho le. They had their guns raised. Dan answered the door and looked right past the soldiers and glared at me. His cheek flapping and blood covered his face and upper body and hands.
    They rushed in and told him to put his hands behind his back, cuffed him and sat him on the couch. The ‘Asshole’ went back into the bedroom and the other soldier, Fraley was the name on his jacket, remained in the living room with us.
    Fraley asked Dan how long Dawn had been sick, and why he didn’t inform them. Dan did not answer. Fraley also told him that he is infected and will be taken in to the hospital to be examined. After what seemed too long for Clark to be back there, we heard a shot and Dan continued to stare me down.
    Clark finally came back into the living room and said, “Woo wee, you sure had it made! Fine woman like that, got the zombies, and you was still giving it hell. I can’t say I wouldn’t have done the same thing. But you know what this means. You been bit, lover boy. Looks to me like you have been bitten, a lot! Put up a fight did she, now? Better dead than alive, huh?” and he snickered.
    Dan suddenly changed right in front of our eyes, he screamed and then rose up off the couch without a word and bit Clark’s nose clean off, the other soldier, Fraley, quickly shot Dan in the head and threw Clark on the floor and cuffed his hands behind his back, pulled him to his feet and said “Well Clark, it seems to me that you know what happens from here, and to be honest with you, there is none more deserving than you.”
    He nodded his head at us, told us to get home and got on his radio to dispatch a unit to pick up Clark and the bodies of Dan and Dawn. We told him about Jake’s body and he sai d they would remove it as well. Old Joe looked at Clark and said “My, oh my. How the tables have turned. You gonna get to see what it’s like to burn in your bonfire, boy.  I’m just sorry I’m not the one throwing you in.” Clark spit a great big gob of blood at Old Joe, only a little made it far enough to hit him in the face. Fraley threw him down on the ground again and pinned him down with his foot. Clark screamed and fought and it looked like he was going to spit on Fraley as well, but Fraley put his gun to Clarke’s temple. “Now we both know, that I have every right to put a bullet in your brain, right now. Don’t make me do it.”  
     
    Chapter Ten
     
    Once Evan and I got back in the house and settled down, he told me what Fraley told them. The infection was spreading too quickly and the troops were having trouble keeping it under control in the outer lying neighborhoods. Some of the soldiers were turning as well. The food busses were cancelled and the shelters they