Free Hamsikker: A Zombie Apocalypse Novel by Russ Watts

stop. She was half the person she used to be, and he hated that he couldn’t fix things. All he was to her now was a shoulder to cry on at night. Sex was virtually impossible when you were living with a dozen people in a house built for four. It wasn’t that they were falling out of love, just that they were less of a couple, unable to share any intimacy or privacy. One day, this will all be over, Jonas thought. One day, things will go back to normal. He kept repeating it over and over in his mind, but he couldn’t force himself to believe it. Things would never go back to the way they were.
    Following a curve in the road, Jonas saw Erik and Pippa had stopped opposite a large sign advertising plots for sale amidst a new redevelopment of luxurious townhouses.
    “Out of your price range,” said Jonas as he approached Erik.
    “Just wondering if we could try one of them to rest up a bit,” replied Erik.
    Mrs Danick loosened the shawl around her shoulders. “Sure is hot out here today. Even my blisters have blisters,” she said hopping from foot to foot as she rubbed her ankles.
    Jonas looked at Dakota. “What do you think?”
    Dakota shrugged. When she was noncommittal, it didn’t mean she didn’t care; just that she hadn’t made her mind up yet. She liked to think things through before making a decision.
    “Um, guys, I think we need to check it out,” said Tyler. “I thought I’d heard something, but I didn’t think anything of it as it sounded so far away. Look down the hill.”
    Jonas stared back at where they had come from. Like a steadily boiling pot, the noise had only been increasing incrementally as they’d left town, and he hadn’t noticed anything. Now he was looking though, he could see what Tyler meant. A tsunami of zombies was advancing upon them, and the rushing sound of dead groans filled the air. Wave after wave, they kept coming, crushing the slowest walkers, and filling the streets entirely. There were no gaps in their ranks, and the miserable sight filled Jonas with despair. He thought they had left them behind, leaving the garage successfully without attracting any attention. It appeared all they had done was draw more, and now there was an army of the dead, only minutes behind them.
    “Right, let’s get somewhere to hide, and fast. If we’re sharp, we can be out of sight, and they’ll pass us by.”
    The housing complex up ahead was little more than a building site full of half-completed roads, and abandoned trucks. The complex hadn’t been finished, and many of the houses were just shells, but he took it as a good sign. If it hadn’t opened yet, then nobody lived there, and if nobody lived there, then it was likely to be empty: no people meant no zombies.
    Jonas jogged into the development. With the rest of the group following him, he knew he had to find somewhere fast. The first row of houses looked to be the most complete. Various tools, pieces of wood and pots of paint decorated the dirt yards, but the homes had four straight walls and solid roofs. He tried the door handle of the first house, and it opened immediately. Whilst it was dark inside, it was obviously empty, and that was good enough for him. “Hurry up,” he said as he ushered everyone in. “Get in, get in.”
    Jonas closed the door and told everyone to go upstairs. As he followed them, he brushed his hands along the walls. They hadn’t been finished, and were rough to the touch. The floors were bare, uncarpeted, and he winced with each step. As he climbed the stairs, every step creaked, and he prayed they were far enough away not to be heard. Enough light came through the windows for them to see by, and he anxiously followed Erik into a large room. The group had taken residence on what appeared to be a large bedroom, and they were sitting on unvarnished floorboards. The hollow houses had no furniture or dressings, and judging by the amount of paint slopped across the walls, they had been abandoned in a