Fallen Grace Read Online Free PDF Page B

The images devouring my mind were jumping. One frame would be off center and in the next moment to either side as if the creature were jumping or perhaps stumbling. It was disorienting, to say the least. It didn’t seem to be searching for us, but rather for the dead. I could feel its desire. Not just a desire to devour them, but a desire to make them part of itself. I felt strong arms wrap around me protectively. I had clenched my eyes shut and curled into a ball the best that I could. I knew by his smell that it was Boggs holding me. How he was on his feet again was beyond me.
    “Let it kill them,” I groaned. “Whatever it is, it wants to kill the dead children.”
    I felt something warm drip over my lips. Soon the strong taste of my own blood was invading my mouth. I wiped it away with my arm.
    “Your nose is bleeding,” whispered Boggs.
    “It’s in my head. It hurts, Boggs.”
    “I know. Nate and Gus are working on it.”
    “What do you mean?” My words were strained. They sounded muffled to my own ears.
    “They’re getting weapons ready. They’re about to go out.”
    “No. No, they can’t!” I moaned, trying to keep my voice down.
    “They have to. There’s no choice.”
    “Then I have to go with them.”
    “Look at yourself, Zoe,” said Gus from beside me. “You’re in no shape. Let me and Nate handle this. Stay here with Abs.”
    The creature that was ripping the inside of my head into figurative shreds was busy playing hide-and-go-seek with the children. I heard screams of agony as the hunter found the first one and sensed satisfaction as it tore the dead child apart, limb by limb. Fear emanated from the remaining child zombies as the hunt began again. They were fast, but they knew full-well that they would not be fast enough to outrun the beast. The second screamed louder than the first as the hunter lifted it above its head. Seeing through the hunter’s eyes, the dead child was small and shriveled; merely bones covered in dried gray skin that was worn through in places. It wore a dress that might have been yellow when it was new. It was impossible to tell now. The girl’s eyes were blue. They were bulging from her head. Her emaciated tongue protruded from her mouth as the hunter squeezed her neck while holding her mid-air. Those blue eyes were full of raw fear. Just before her head was squeezed from the rest of her body, she smiled sweetly. Mockingly.
    The hunter held her severed head in both hands and sniffed at the opening where it would have sat upon her shoulders. I could feel the liquefied brain matter going down my own throat as it tipped the decapitated head up and drank from it. I coughed, ‘tasting’ the rotten slush in my own mind.
    “Nate, are you ready, Brother?” I heard Gus ask.
    I coughed, ready to vomit from the intrusions in my head. “Gus, no. Wait. It’s killing the other zombies. Let it finish.”
    My connection to the dead had never been this strong before; never this hard to cope with. I tried as hard as I could to push the beast out of my mind, but failed miserably. I closed my eyes again as I watched through the hunter’s eyes. It was already searching for its third victim. As it walked, its arms swung at its sides. They were large and bloated with massive green boils festering on the surface. Fluids from the slaughtered zombie children had splattered its arms. The hunter was angry and hatred emanated from its core. It reached the next child in short order, finding it just outside our safe room hiding behind a dumpster. It cowered down as the hunter approached, too frightened to fight back.
    I could hear myself whimpering as the creature ripped the little one’s limbs off one by one and then crushed its skull with what I assumed was a rock. It didn’t feed on this one, but rather began the search for the next. The last two ran together in a feeble attempt to escape. They were so much faster than zombies we had experienced so far. They led the hunter down the