Dark Days (Apocalypse Z) Read Online Free PDF Page A

there, too.”
    “But… I don’t understand why…” Anxiety contorted my friend’s face.
    “Prit, think for a minute. The condition these bastards are in is the result of dehydration, not temperature,” I explained, pointing to the Undead at our feet. “The human body is largely made up of water; very high temperatures dry up all that moisture. No matter how cold it gets up north, there’ll always be enough moisture in the air to keep those bastards going.”
    The letdown in Pritchenko’s eyes told me he understood what I’d said. The chances that his family was still alive in Germany were slim.
Like my family’s chances
, I thought bitterly. We were the Last of the Mohicans.
    We moved away slowly, but not before Prit, out of hate or pity, jabbed his knife into the Undead guy’s eye. The creature’s grunts stopped immediately.
    Exploring the rest of the town yielded no surprises. Whoever exterminated all the Undead had cleaned out the place. We found nothing useful: no food to replace our rapidly dwindling supplies, no fuel, no weapons, and no water. The village had a deep well, shaded by a shed, situated in front of the mosque. The villagers had used a motorized pump to draw up the water, but there was no trace of that motor. The looters had taken it. All they’d left behind were the bolts that had attached it to the floor of the shed.
    The adobe walls of the houses had cracked in the sweltering desert heat. Strong winds had carried off some of the roofs. In a couple of years, if no one intervened, the desert would swallow up that town. It would disappear, as if it had never existed.
    The sun was setting over the ocean, turning the sky a spectacular red and bringing the temperature down. We didn’t find any Undead lurking in any of the houses, so we decided to set up camp in the mosque, the only building with carpets on the floor, and spend the night there.
    That night, sitting on the beach, cigarette in hand, under a starry sky, I relaxed for the first time in months. That was when it hit me… I’d made it—I was still alive. For the first time since I started that trip, I broke down and cried.

4
    THE CANARY ISLANDS

    “Holy Mother of God! We’re saved!” Sister Cecilia’s voice warbled with excitement, as the hazy outline of Lanzarote loomed on the horizon. We’d reached the easternmost island of the archipelago.
    I shot the little nun a surprised look. At the sight of land she’d come out of her trance and shrieked excitedly in those cramped quarters. Lucia kissed Prit and me and hugged us so tight, she nearly choked us.
    We all had a right to rejoice. Our goal was in sight.
    We’d taken off from Africa a couple of hours before and had covered the distance faster than we’d estimated, thanks to a tailwind. Now, Lanzarote shimmered in the sun like a mirage in the middle of that turquoise sea. It was the most beautiful sight I’d seen in months.
    Prit nonchalantly announced that we’d touch down in about twenty minutes. “And twenty minutes after that, I’ll be drinking a nice cold beer. Better yet, a whole keg with a pocketful of Canary Island cigars.” Behind me, Lucia rattled on to Sister Cecilia about getting clothes that weren’t three sizes too big. “Something feminine that shows off my figure.” Even Lucullus got caught up in the excitement. He zipped around from one end of the cabin to the other, forcing us to put him back in his carrier amid yowls of protest. I was just relieved we’d made the nearlythree-thousand-mile trip with no mishaps. Given the circumstances, that was no small feat.
    I started fiddling with the radio, looking for a frequency so I could contact the island and identify ourselves. The last thing I wanted was some nervous finger to pull a trigger. We were new to the area and had to proceed with caution.
    The concerned look on my face silenced the rejoicing in the cabin. No matter how much I turned the dial, I only got static. My gut froze into an icy knot. If