Free The Darkening (A Zombie Awakening) by Cynthia Melton

attention to the road ahead of them. A couple of non-breathers shuffled in the ditch, but didn’t pay overly much attention to the motor home. They actually looked as if they were deteriorating.
                  Was it possible that zombies could die out if unable to feed? He wished there were some way of testing that theory. Even without his medical books, Colton knew the body needed nourishment in order to thrive. Regardless of whether the brain refused to admit death, the body would eventually rot, right?
                  Once they found a place to settle, he’d build a cage or something and catch a zombie. If he could prove his theory correct, then all they had to do was stay alive long enough for the zombies to be unable to find a food source.
                  Hope rushed through him. He had a plan. Something other than just trying to stay alive and protect the others. He’d talk to Chalice about it all when they stopped for the night.
                  He glanced at her profile, amazed at how pretty yet tough she was. Admiration welled in him, surprising, since he couldn’t admit to ever admiring anyone before. He’d felt affection for one of his foster mothers, but other than that, people tended to disappoint him. When Chalice met him at gunpoint on that first day, she’d taken a piece of him he could never get back. He liked it.
                  They drove into a clearing. A chain link fence surrounded a brick building next to a substation. Clawing at the fence was at least thirty zombies. “Chalice.”
                  Colton wanted to cut the engine, knowing noise attracted the undead, but wasn’t sure whether to go or stay. Night was falling , and the gas gauge showed a quarter of a tank. He didn’t want to find a gas station in the dark. Not with these things wandering around.
                  “What do we do?” Chalice leaned on his seat and stared through the window. “It doesn’t seem wise to stay here, but driving this back road at night doesn’t seem much safer.”
                  “You’re the captain.” Colton cut the head lights, leaving the zombies as eerie shadows.
                  “No, I’m not.” She sounded shocked.
                  “I’m just the tagalong.” Colton sighed. They couldn’t stay there. The zombies were starting to get nosey and several headed their way. “We have to go. Folks, hold on, I’m backing out on a very long road.”
                  A zombie growled at his window. Broken teeth and blackened gums bared and pressed against the glass. Colton shouted and stepped on the gas. The motor home raced down the roadway. He fought to keep control of the wheel.
                  “Go left.” Mychal lurched down the area between the table and the front seats. “There’s a tree.”
                  Colton fought to serve and scraped the side of the motorhome along the rough park of a pine. Lights came to life in the substation.
                  The gate rolled open , and an armored truck roared onto the road. Immediately , bullets riddle d the zombies, dropping some and pissing off others. While most of the undead lumbered toward the armored truck, a few stayed behind to pound on the still motor home with enough force to set the vehicle rocking.
                  “Crap!” Chalice grabbed her gun and fired out the window, splattering the brains of an undead across the glass and on the front of her shirt.
                  Mychal immediately started stabbing again with the skewer. If they kept up this type of pace at slaughtering the monsters, the motor home would soon be covered in zombie guts. Already the smell, a cross between spoiled meat and rotten vegetables, was enough to gag a person.
                  Colton grabbed his gun and shot through a slit in his window. Maybe with