I threw myself in the cab of the pick-up and turned it over.
It jumped in my mind at that point—the wall of zombies was twenty feet away—that this was the part in every cheap-ass horror movie I’d ever seen that the car or truck won’t turn over. I felt a white blossom of fear in my chest at the very idea. But she cranked and I threw her into reverse just as five or six zombies that stumbled along in front of the pack reached the truck.
They slammed their hands against the windows.
Two of them climbed up on the hood.
I stomped on the accelerator and squealed out into the street, hitting a parked Volvo and throwing my riders.
I heard their fingers fumbling at the door handles just as I threw the locks. Then one of them with a face of septic rot became more enterprising: he smashed his head into the passenger side window like a hammer, his skull coming apart like a juicy, rotten plum and spraying the window with gore until it spider-webbed out with cracks and fell in.
I threw the truck into drive just as the undead army were seconds from converging.
But my other rider wasn’t letting go. He was forcing himself in through the window and I pulled the Browning and drilled three slugs into the mush of his face until his head exploded in a spray of gray matter, bone chips, and strands of coarse hair.
Another had climbed into the bed and I jammed on the brakes, throwing him up against the cab. I stomped the accelerator and he was thrown back, flipping over the tailgate and into the street.
And then I was driving.
Driving like a bat out of hell, shaking and sweating.
Table of Contents
This book is dedicated to my mother, Janet Swanson. As the sole subscriber to my blog in the ea...
Chapter 1: Tree Trimming
Chapter 2: Prime Directive
Chapter 3: Calvary
Chapter 4:
Chapter 5: Twist and Shout
Chapter 6: You Can Check Out Anytime You Like
Chapter 7: Bowling for Zed
Chapter 8: Pray After You Eat
Chapter 9: Just Dessert
Chapter 10: Just the Two of Us
Chapter 11: Take Some, Leave Some
Chapter 12: House Cleaning
Chapter 13:
Chapter 14: Arriving and Departing
Chapter 15
Chapter 16: But You Can Never Leave
Chapter 17: Damming It All Too Hell
Chapter 18: You Bunker, You Brought’er
Chapter 19: Down in a Hole
Chapter 20: He Has Risen
Chapter 21:
Chapter 22: Story Hour
Chapter 23: If You Love Something
Chapter 24: Compound Interest
Appendix
Springfield Armory 1911 Caliber: .45 ACP
Meat CleaverOverall Length: 17”Blade Length: 8”Range: CQBThompson Center Contender
Thompson Center Contender Caliber: .223 Remington
The Compound.
Zed Flail:Weight: 9lbBall Manufacture: Brunswick
Springfield Armory M1A1
Ruger Mini 14Caliber: .223 Winchester
AR15/ M16/ M4
Beretta 92FSCaliber: 9mm Parabellum
Heckler & Koch MP5Caliber: 9mm Parabellum
Acknowledgements
CLOSING IN
SHOCK TROOPS
DOWN TIME
IMMEDIATE THREAT
The Zed Files Trilogy (Book 1): The Hanging Tree Page 21
