Books of the Dead (Book 1): Sanctuary From The Dead Read Online Free PDF Page B

I hid in empty houses.  One night I heard them out there.  Walking and making those scary noises.  I knew I couldn’t stop that last day.  I had to ride.  Ride fast and long because I knew I was dying.  I hadn’t eaten in several days.  I came into this city and used my map to come here, but that’s when I saw them.  All of them.  Coming this way.  I wanted to stop and hide, but knew I might not have the strength to get back up.  So, I just kept riding.  I saw your church and knew I could be safe here.  But the bike broke and I knew they would get me.  I didn’t have the strength to get back up, but you came.”  She looked over to me and the light came back into her eyes.  “You saved me.”  Tears filled her eyes but what I could see of her face was emotionless.
    It was worse than I thought.  I heard Kara stifle a sob.  I could feel tears behind my eyes, but I pushed back a full out boo-hooing session.  This kid didn’t need me breaking down in front of her. 
    “I did what I had to,” I said. 
    “I think I’ll go to sleep now.”
    Her eyes closed and she rolled onto her side and away from us, facing the wall.  It took several minutes to find the strength to stand and leave.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

 
    CHAPTER 6
    Old Fashioned Trickery
     
     
    Naveen slept for the next twenty hours.  Kara stayed with her through the night and into the next day.  I came in for reports between guard duty and sleeping.  Her story haunted my dreams as I saw visions of what might have happened to my parents, making for a very restless night.
    T he dissension about bringing her into the church still rippled among some of the congregation.  I tried to block out the few comments I overheard.  Clearly, they didn’t know a tenth of what this girl had gone through.
    The horde was relentless in its efforts to get at us and hadn’t left the outside of the church since we brought her in.  Through the first day, they clawed and moaned, pushing their bodies against the doors looking for any way to get inside.  We had never figured out if they could smell the living or not.  It was a mystery as to why they remained so focused on getting to us when they showed no other higher brain functions.  Why didn’t they just wander off like any predator would when they’re quarry was out of reach?  Was it that what little memory that still remained in their stupefied brains locked in on the last possible victim? 
    These were question that seemed pointless, though.  These damned living dead things were what they were.  They didn’t change.  They knew we were there and until something better came along they would wait us out. 
    We had to find a way to wait them out or change the playing field.  That’s where I got my inspiration.  Sure, we had enough water and food to last a few weeks without forays for more, but that would run our capacity unnecessarily low.  It became clear that we had to give the idea to the zombies that there was something better worth pursuing and lead them away from the church.  I had an idea, which I took to Greg.  The debate was brief since it was the only plan we had, other than waiting them out, which no one liked.
    A couple of the warriors made their case to be the point person for my half-assed idea but when the truth came down, Kara was the best shot we had.  Having grown-up out in the sticks, she learned to shoot at a young age and had a slew of 4H Blue Ribbons in marksmanship to prove it.  
    “I think that red Mustang down near 4th street looks like a good one,” I said.  We were on the roof spying possible targets, but keeping away from the edge so none of the zombies would spot us.  Every time they either saw or heard one of us on the inside, they renewed their frenzy to get at us.  It was unsettling , especially to the young kids, when the zombies got frantic; but in truth, a horde of frantic zombies would cause