Entombed Read Online Free PDF Page A

work to my advantage.
    Muffled voices echoed in the corridor, unintelligible beneath the DVD soundtrack. The footsteps stopped in front of the door. Drew and I stared at each other. One set of footsteps walked away. I took a deep breath and held it. Then the doorknob started to turn. Exhaling, I leaped over the chairs and dove behind the Eisenhower bust display just as the door started to open.
    “Where is he, Drew?”
    I recognized the speaker from his voice. It was Krantz, one of Chuck’s cronies. I’m not sure what he’d done before the zombies took over. I don’t think he ever mentioned it. Whatever his previous vocation, down here in the bunker, he’d been a toadie and a boot-licker—one of those guys who attach themselves to the alpha male of the pack and do whatever they ask in an effort to be accepted, liked and protected. He was in his mid-forties, balding, and cursed with the worst case of Rosacea I’d ever seen. He had chronically bloodshot, runny eyes and his face was a network of spider-web veins. His nose looked like a rotten fruit. When we’d first entered the bunker, he’d also had a prodigious gut. Now, like the rest of us, he’d undergone drastic weight loss. The lack of food had just made his skin condition that much worse.
    “Hey, Krantz. I was just coming to find you guys.”
    Drew sounded nervous. I held my breath, wondering if Krantz would notice. He did.
    “Don’t bullshit me, Drew. I’m not in the mood. Where’s your buddy?”
    “Pete?”
    “No, the fucking Tooth Fairy.”
    “I don’t know where he is.”
    “Don’t fuck with me, Drew. I mean it. This can go one of two ways for you, and I don’t think you’ll like the second option.”
    “I’m telling you, I don’t know where he is. Seriously. I came to look for him. Figure he’d be in here, since he spends a lot of time watching movies. But he wasn’t. I was just about to head back and tell you guys. Is the meeting over?”
    Instead of responding, Krantz began to search the room. I heard his footsteps, slow and deliberate. Drew coughed. On the screen, the credits rolled.
    “He’s not in here. Maybe he’s asleep.”
    “So who was watching this cartoon, then? I doubt that it turned itself on.”
    “I guess he must have been in here before.”
    “And where is he now?”
    “I told you, I don’t know.”
    “You’re lying, Drew.”
    I peeked out from behind my hiding place. Krantz was standing directly in front of me, but he had his back turned. His hands were on his hips. Drew was facing him. Drew’s expression had gone slack.
    “Come on,” Krantz said. “Let’s go.”
    “Go where?”
    “You can explain this to Chuck.”
    “Explain what?”
    “Why you’re lying. Why you’re hiding Pete. Maybe we’ll just go with you instead. Might make things easier all around.”
    Drew shook his head. “I’m telling you, I don’t know where Pete is. I’m not lying. I just—”
    He moved fast, surprising both Krantz and myself. One moment he was talking, and the next, he’d thrown a punch at Krantz’s throat, connecting with the man’s Adam’s apple. Krantz stumbled backward, grasping at his neck, and toppled to the floor. He made choking sounds, and when he saw me, his eyes went wide, bulging in their sockets. He thrashed on the floor, writhing, trying to breathe and failing miserably. He reached for me with one hand.
    Without thinking about it, I pushed Eisenhower’s bronze bust off of its pedestal, dropping it directly onto Krantz’s head. The sound was like an overripe watermelon bursting. Blood splattered all over me, and then I couldn’t see Krantz’s eyes anymore. His arms and legs jittered, and a dark, wet stain appeared on the crotch of his pants. Then he lay still.
    “Holy shit…” Drew gaped.
    I stood up. The room smelled like piss. My vision was blurry. I wiped my eyes with my hands, smearing Krantz’s blood. I took a step toward Drew and my foot slipped in the gore.
    “Holy shit,” Drew said