General Population Read Online Free PDF Page A

up.
    "Now! Shoot!"
    Now free to take aim, the constable drew his gun and made careful aim at the monster’s head, being careful to aim away from his comrades. He had barely made a half-second delay when the flesh-biter jerked its body forward, freed its other arm, and grabbed the constable around his neck.
    An agonizing scream pierced through the entire crowd of onlookers as it bit off a large chunk of meat from the constable's arm. The two fell to the ground, and the constable continued to fight the zombie off of him. The other constables kicked the creature off of their fellow officer and opened fire onto its face till its death throes stopped.
    "Fucking hell! That hurt." The injured constable stood there on his knees, holding his wounded limb. The wound looked bad, and by the gleam in his eyes panic was already starting to set in.
    The two constables stood there with their guns in their hands, staring at their friend with sadness in their eyes. Neither of them wanted to do what had to be done. Slowly they took aim. Each repeated how sorry they were.
    "Guys, what are you doing? I'm all right. Wait!"
    The effects of being bitten were already beginning. The skin around the bite wound had rotted and his blood was starting to turn black. Maddix watched in horror as the color of his veins darkened while the infection spread through his body. The journals had written about this, but Maddix had never thought he would see it in his lifetime.
    The constables pulled the hammers back.
    The constable continued to beg for mercy, but his voice was no longer human. Drips of tainted blood began to fall from his mouth as he spoke. Nobody knew what it was that caused a person to become infected but whatever it was, it moved quickly through the bloodstream and eventually the brain. Once it reached there, the eyes drained of color and whatever life someone had left in them, vanished.
    The two remaining constables each fired one shot at their infected friend's head. The first bullet entered into his brain and the second blasted it through the back of his skull and onto the wall behind him. His body stood suspended on its knees for a few seconds, twitching slightly before falling forward lifeless.
    Maddix had gotten so caught up in the horrific scene that he had not even realized that he had pulled his gun from his coat. His reflexes had completely taken over and the fight-or-flight response had chosen to fight.  
    Weapon still in hand, Maddix ran over to the two constables. The scene was grizzlier than he had seen from a distance. The head wound from the infected constable was gorier than anything he could remember seeing before. Reality made his dreams seem like children's books in comparison.
    "Are you guys okay? How did that thing get into town?"  
    The two men just stared at Maddix for a few seconds before snapping to attention with heels clicked together.
    "Nothing of concern, monsieur," the unmistakable French accent of Chief Javier Larouche cut through the tension.  
    Maddix didn't want to turn around to face the man who was nothing short of a nemesis right out of a comic book. The constables were an elite bunch of arrogant law enforcement introduced into Malevolent around the same time as the zombies. They were originally meant to be for the purpose of crowd control under the supervision of the overseer. However, Larouche had built them up to be an institution of their own with their unique set of laws and idea of justice.
    Following behind him like obedient foot soldiers were a squad of ten constables that started dispersing the crowd. There were a few shoves by the obnoxious squad and the citizens hissed and growled in response. Each of them had ear-to-ear grins as they bullied everyone out of the area. They enjoyed the chance to play cop whenever it presented itself. They were like children with guns, both dangerous and unreasonable.
    "And now to business," Javier turned his attention to Maddix. "We have a minor situation here