Free Revenence: Dead Silence, A Zombie Novel by M.E. Betts Page B

I got a little further down, and man came bursting out the door of a stairwell, pressing his hands into his throat as it gushed blood.  He made it another dozen steps or so past me, and wiped out.  He died right there on the floor.  At this point, I took off running.  I didn't know what the fuck was going on.  Even though we'd all seen the zombie movies before..."  He paused, and laughed.  "Even though we'd heard of zombies, I don't think most of us were prepared to accept it.  I mean, that's the movies, right?  What the hell are zombies doing in real life?"  He paused again.  "I guess we've yet to find out the answer to that question."
                 

      Shari was getting some target practice, this time about seventy-five yards from the target.  Johnny Cash played from her MP3 player dock on the ground beside her.  She had gotten four zombies in the past couple of days, picking them off from the balcony.  Two of them got arrows to the head, clean kills.  Of the other two, one had been struck in the torso and one in the leg.  They had both been pinned down to the ground, easily affording Nick the opportunity to go out with the sledgehammer and finish them off.  They had drug them to the pyre near the creek, burning the remains.  Shari, excited by her newfound ability to hit moving targets, had gone hunting in the woods earlier, successfully shooting a large doe.  They had seen a large number of whitetail deer lately on the property.  It seemed the deer, and a lot of animals, were on the move in great numbers, confused by the chaos that was ensuing and likely running for their lives much of the time.  Fauna and Nick were about fifty feet away, beside the shed.  Fauna was attempting to teach Nick how to gut and skin the doe, but it was apparent the man didn't possess a strong stomach for gutting.  She had tried getting him to help remove the anus, but after he tossed up his breakfast, she decided to do it on her  own, rolling her eyes.  "That's why I wanted to do this outside," she had said, eyeing the puddle of vomit on the ground, and went about gutting the animal.  At this point, she was hanging the doe by its head, getting ready to skin it, having cut off the limbs.  "You think you can handle this part?" she asked him patronizingly. 
    "Yeah, I think so," he said weakly.  "I mean, it's not as gross as grabbing an anus and cutting it out, you've gotta admit."
    "So you can sledhehammer a human zombie head, but not cut out the digestive tract of an animal?" Fauna asked, hand on her hip.
    "Hey, I can say this much for sure...a sledgehammer to the head is much quicker work than dressing a deer.  Besides, this deer's not gonna be getting up to kill us.  I got no beef with it."
    "Well, I guess I can't argue with that," she conceded.  "Okay, just grab the skin from the top--" Nick did as he was told, "--and peel it down, just like a banana."  Nick looked uncomfortable, but he didn't throw up  this time.  "You alright?"
    "Yeah, it just takes some getting used to.  I didn't have a dad that took me hunting, so this is all new to me."
    "Well, I'm happy to be the one to teach you.  You harden yourself, you got a much better shot of survival.  This ain't a world for the sqeamish no more."
    "Amen to that," he agreed.  "Shari keeps bringing us deer to dress, and who knows?  Maybe in a month or so, I'll be de-anusing deer with the best of 'em!"  Fauna laughed, loud and hearty.
    "And who knows?  I just might get to like you, Nick."  He smiled sheepishly.  "Hey Shari, you ready to get your first taste of venison today?" she yelled.
    "You're damn right," Shari yelled back, smiling as she nocked an arrow.  "It made for some good moving target practice, and we're not about to let all that good deer meat to go waste, now are we?"
    "Hell, no!" Fauna and Nick both said at the same time, laughing.  Fauna showed him how to cut the skin away from the head, then began to butcher the