Generation Dead - 07 Read Online Free PDF Page A

know they were attached to some dead thing. Groans echoed around the building canyons and I always listened to see if there was ever any change on pitch that indicated a zombie on the hunt.  Low groans meant they were just making noise.  Higher pitched groans meant they had spotted their prey, and groans bordering on snarls meant they were closing in and about to kill. 
    I don’t know why I bothered.  It wasn’t like we were going to stop and help anyway.  Too many people had been killed helping like that, and we had learned our lessons at the feet of the masters.  We can’t save them all was the first lesson we learned after gaining some skill as fighters.  Don’t bother trying .
    After a while, we passed the outer edges and started to see the buildings start to lose some height.  It was the first sign that we were passing out of the city.  We passed by a burned out hospital, and Jake always looked up to the building, as if he was seeking something, or something was calling him.  I never asked, and he never explained.  This time, I wondered if it had something to do with the mood he was in, why he was angry all the time.  I would have to ask him once we were home and then pick a time when he was far away from pointy things.

 
    Chapter 8
     
    We spent the night in an abandoned house on the other side of the Wall.  When the end of the world happened, my father and several others realized the threat from the zombies in the city would never stop causing problems unless they were contained.  Over the course of several months and the loss of a lot of lives, a barrier was erected around the city.  It wasn’t anythi ng fancy, just cargo containers, boxcars, and sheet metal welded together, but it worked at keeping the zombies in and the curious out.
    People still went in, danger seekers who got tired of living, or teenagers daring each other to make a zombie run.  It didn’t matter the reason, it was dangerous as hell.  Once upon a time, there was a fad of proving oneself by spending a night in the city.  Julia’s father put an end to that in a hurry.  He told the kids that if they wanted to prove themselves, pick up a knife and come at him.  If they lived, they were proven.  No one took him up on the offer.
    In the suburbs, on the south side of the wall, there were still thousands of uninhabited houses.  Most of them had been systematically looted of anything useful or valuable, but they were free of zombies and kept you out of the rain and wind.
    A few minutes before dawn, I woke up on the floor in the bedroom. It was something I had done for years, and my dad always told me it was lucky to be able to do it.  Jake, on the other hand, slept as if he just discovered it, and it took a lot to get that man out of bed.
    I got up off the floor and looked out the window, down the empty street and across the sea of empty homes.  It would have been a decent thing to burn the whole area down, but this close to the Wall meant a breach might occur, and then we would be right back where we started.
    I spent a moment running a whetstone over the edge of my sword and knife, and then put my gear on in practiced moves.  I thought about heading home today, and found myself to be impatient to get there.  Not sure why, since there wasn’t anything for me there outside of my relatives and cousins, but it was home, none the less.
    Julia surprised me by being awake early.  She was in the kitchen area using a small bowl she had found and was washing her face and arms, trying to clean up as best she could.  She could have turned on a faucet, but guessing what might come out would stump even the best of psychics.
    “Oh! Aaron!  You startled me!” Julia jumped slightly when she opened her eyes after drying out the water.
    ‘Sorry.” I said, noting a drop of water hung tenaciously to her chin.  It was a nice chin, I decided.  I wasn’t really sure why I noticed, I had known Julia my entire life and basically she