Dead Living Read Online Free PDF Page B

him against the closed bathroom door.
    She knew they weren't getting out the way
they came in, not with all the creatures on the other side. She
stepped over Blair's dead corpse and looked out the window. The
emergency waiting room was its own little addition, and the roof to
it was just outside. The window didn't open large enough to walk
through. It only cracked a little, to get air. She swung the
extinguisher through the glass, being careful not to cut herself.
She ran back to get Joe. The pounding on the door was getting
louder.
    “Let's go,” she said. “We can climb out on
the roof here and jump down. It's not a short fall, but we'll
figure something out.”
    Joe blinked twice. Tears stained his face.
“I-I think I'll stay here.”
    “What?”
    “Sarah . . . she's gone.”
    Denise grabbed his face gently. She had just
stabbed a woman in the head and beat a man to death. She was amazed
she was keeping it together as well as she was.
    “Joe, she would not want you to die
here.”
    Before he could respond, there was a voice in
the bathroom behind him. “H-Hello? Is someone out there?”
    Joe thought he recognized the voice. He
turned the handle to find the bathroom locked.
    “Yeah. Unlock the door.”
    The door opened to reveal Margie. She was a
mess. Her shirt was torn, blood smeared down her face. Her pretty
blue eyes were bloodshot from crying.
    In her arms, she held a baby boy. He slept
peacefully, wrapped in a blue blanket.
    “What in the hell is happening?”
Margie asked.
    Denise shook her head. “People are dying, and
getting back up. We have to get out of here.”
    Margie looked at the locked door in front of
them. It actually shook from the pounding.
    “Not that way.”
    “No. We can get out through the window.”
    As Margie moved out of the bathroom Joe
pointed at the newborn baby. “Can I hold him?”
    She gently placed the hour old baby into his
arms. “Of course. He's yours.”
    Joe was lost in his own world for a moment as
he looked at his son. The baby yawned for just a moment, then went
back to sleep.
    The sounds of fists at the door brought him
back to the real world.
    “Joe!” Denise called from the window. She had
already put a sheet over the sill to cover the shattered glass.
“Come on!”
    Margie was out on the roof. She helped Denise
climb through. Joe moved with new-found purpose. He very carefully
handed over his son through the window to Denise, then climbed
through himself. He heard the door splintering behind him. He
almost expected something to grab his foot as he stepped onto the
roof, but that didn't happen.
    They had a better view of the surrounding
area. Buildings were on fire. The hospital parking lot was empty of
people, except for a few bodies littered about. Some car alarms
went off, and they could see the ambulance that had crashed into
the hospital earlier was completely engulfed in flame. There was
the occasional scream and some small explosions off in the
distance, plus the wails of the creatures.
    Margie ran to the edge of the roof. It was a
good twelve foot drop to the ground. She had no idea how they'd
pull it off with a baby.
    She turned and screamed when she saw the
creatures at the window. Joe spun around.
    They weren't coordinated or organized enough
to get through. They tried to climb out at the same time, bumping
into each other and falling down. But one did manage to make it.
Joe acted fast. He ran forward and grabbed the creature before it
could stand. He dragged it along the roof and slid it right off the
side.
    “They'll figure out how to get out
eventually,” he said. “What are we doing?”
    An engine fired up in the parking lot. Denise
looked down to see Frank Kinkade sitting behind the wheel of a
minivan. He backed out of his parking spot, running over a dead
body as he did so.
    “Frank!” she called. “Hey, Frank!”
    He stopped the van and looked around. It took
him a moment to find the voice. He looked up at Denise.
    “Can you give us a