Free ZOMBIES: "Chronicles of the Dead": A Zombie Novel by Will Lemen

their heads were now missing due to the effect of the 7.62 projectiles fired at close range.
    The gunfire had drawn more zombies to us faster than we had expected, considering we could hear gunshots in the distance coming from all directions.
    I’m sure it was just because of our life threatening dilemma that it seemed to us, that we were the only ones being targeted by all of these crazed killers.
    “Move those ladders and get back here, hurry!” I yelled as loud as I could.
    “We gotta go, more of them are coming!” Gin screeched, as she hastily scanned the area for more zombies.
    “Hurry, get in!” I screamed, as three of the newly arrived zombies were now within five yards of our vehicle and stood between the boys and the safety of the van.
    With their rifles slung over their shoulders, and with panicked looks on their faces, the boys picked up the last ladder that was blocking the road. With one at each end, they ran side by side back toward the van, and using the ladder as a weapon, they took down two of the zombies by hitting them neck high and pushing them into the ditch along with the ladder.
    As the boys tossed the ladder and the two zombies into the ditch, they left the third diseased monster staggering toward my window and lined up in the sights of my Glock 19. I quickly took advantage of the close range shot by dusting off the skull of the zombie with two well-placed shots in rapid succession, sending one bullet crashing through the front teeth of the monster on its way to the Medulla Oblongata, and the other one directly into the middle of its forehead.
    The zombie dropped dead onto the asphalt just inches away from my window, as the boys ran to the van and jumped in.
    The side doors were still open as I pushed down on the gas pedal hard. The tires squealed as we swerved around the cable truck and the dead mutt’s remains and continued on our trek to the river, allowing the remaining assaulting zombies still in the ditch with the ladder, and the ones that were arriving late onto the scene, to concentrate their attention on the two dispatched female mutants, the zombie I had neutralized, and the damn dog.
    "I guess they like dead animal flesh too," Gin said, watching the zombies feast on the deceased K-9 as we drove away.
    Glancing into my rearview mirror and seeing the brains of the original two female zombies being munched on and fought over by even more newly arriving zombies, I added.
    "Evidently, flesh is flesh, and any body part will do! But it looks to me like they consider brains a delicacy"
    The boat launch was only about 3 miles from our house and the dog in the road, was about half the way there.
    After a few more minutes on the road we could see the boat ramp, and what we thought were several abandon vehicles, some with empty trailers, and some without trailers at all.
    This might indicate that some had been left by fishermen already on the river when this thing broke, or that other people had the same idea as us, and got to the river before we did.
    However, because the ramp was clear of abandoned vehicles and trailers, the most likely scenario was that anglers were already on the river at the start of the zombie apocalypse.
    Either way, it meant that at some point we were likely to encounter other people on the river.
    Pulling up to the boat ramp, I reminded everybody.
    “Just because we don’t see any danger at the moment, that doesn’t mean that we can’t be in great peril at any time. Those eaters back there came out of nowhere. If it can happen back there, then it can happen here. We have to hurry! We can take it a little easier once we're on the river."
    I turned the steering wheel hard to the left, and maneuvered the trailer into position so that I could back it into the water.
    “Boys loosen the straps and everyone into the boat,” I ordered.
    “I’ll hold onto the boat while you park the van dad,” Jacob said.
    “No need to son, we won’t be coming back, get in the