Free Z-Burbia: A Zombie Novel by Jake Bible Page A

flapping away. “Fuck! FUCK!” I scream some more, you know, just in case they didn’t get the point.
    “I don’t need no one filling my girl’s head with science,” Pa smiles. “It’s all lies. Science couldn’t stop the Zs from coming, but the Bible predicted it would happen. What’s the point of science if religion is always right?”
    “Gotta get you some religion,” Elsbeth whispers and nods. “Gotta get ya some.”
    “Listen,” I plead. “Man to man, father to father, you can’t do this! Please! I just want to see my wife and kids again! Please!”
    “How about you tell me where they are and I’ll go get them for ya?” Pa says. “I’ll keep you alive long enough so you can see them one last time. Then you and your family can die together. How’s that sound, Mr. Science?”
    “I think I’ll leave them out of this,” I say.
    “Fine,” he nods then looks me up and down. “Where should I start? I hate to kill and butcher you now. Your fear is gonna make the meat all gamey. I like the quick kills. Or a kill in a fight. The adrenaline tenderizes the meat for me. Less pounding of the tough cuts.”
    “Maybe we can put this on hold? I can get some sleep. Letting me rest will do wonders to the flavor.”
    “Don’t think so,” Pa says. “I have a lot of work to do before I sleep, and I’d like to get started.”
    “No…please…”
    I may have just peed a little.
    “That’s disgusting,” Pa says.
    Yeah, I peed.
    “Just kill him, Pa,” Elsbeth mutters from the wall. “I don’t like him talking no more. Makes my head all flunky spin like.”
    “You heard the girl,” Pa says, placing the knife against my groin. “Better get to it.”
    “No! NO! WAIT! NO PLEASE NO DON’T-!”
    I go deaf and blind suddenly as bright flashes fill my eyes and gunshots fill my ears. I’m pretty sure I’m still screaming for mercy when Jon slaps me.
    “Will everyone please stop slapping me?” I yell in his face.
    “You were hysterical, Hoss,” he says as he cuts my hands loose. “Something had to be done.”
    “You hurt?” Stuart asks. I just stare at him. “Besides the leg and the hand and that flap of loose skin on your face, I mean.”
    “Nah, I think that covers it,” I say. “But I am going to need some clothes.”
    “I’ll see what I can find,” Stuart says as he leaves the basement.
    I catch Jon eyeing the meat and shake my head. “Don’t.”
    “Looks and smells good,” he says. “Goat? Wild boar?”
    “Biker,” I say.
    He takes a couple steps back.
    I look down at Pa’s body and give it a kick. It hurts my bare toes, more than it does me any emotional good, but it had to be done. I look around, but there is no sign of Elsbeth.
    “ You looking for the girl?” Jon asks. “Tucked out the window as soon as we hit the stairs. Fast thing, pretty too. Was she his captive? She left this behind. Looks just like yours, but better.”
    I see a spiked bat on the ground that he’s pointing at. I guess it’s all the trend for North Asheville cannibal girls to have spiked bats. One gets one , and then the girl down the street has to have one, and pretty soon, they’re more popular than skinny jeans and Uggs. Wonder what that says about me? How soon will I want to wear skinny jeans and Uggs? All the cool girls are!
    “Hey!” Jon snaps, his fingers right in my face. “Earth to Jace!”
    I blink then glance around again.
    “Ugly thing is more like it,” I reply. “And she wasn’t a captive. She was his daughter. They were going to eat me.”
    “Well, good thing your girly screams carry,” Jon says. “Stuart heard you and booked it straight for this house. I’m guessing you had seconds before this guy slit your femoral artery. See the nick?”
    I look down at my leg and see the tiny trickle of blood on the inside of my thigh.
    “Stop looking at my junk,” I say to Jon , and then take a deep breath and struggle not to collapse.
    “You okay?” he asks. “Need to