Impact Read Online Free PDF Page B

air.
    “Are you okay?” I asked.
    “Y-yes,” she said.
    I maneuvered around the dead corpses. “Let’s get outta here.”
    “Dean!” Jackie said, her face erupting in terror.
    “Get to the edge!” I said. “Watch for hybrids.”
    Sucking in a deep breath, I shined my waterproof flashlight around again, only to see another eerie pair of white eyes staring blankly ahead. Fortunately, that one was already dead. It was riddled with bullet holes, lodged in its torn, ripped face and neck, thanks to Val and Claire’s shooting spree.
    Another zombie reared its ugly head from the water and moaned in a frenzy at the sight of a possible meal.
    I pushed the girls toward the edge. “Secure the pool area,” I said. “I got this.”
    Its limbs moved sporadically as it tried to flail toward me.
    Destroy the enemy , I thought, reciting a page out of my brother’s military playbook. Inflict damage to your foes. I reached for my knife again and stabbed the vile swamp thing right through the eye, spilling another stream of black ooze into the grotesque pool. 
    Darting and weaving through the torsos, mangled limbs, and bodies, I glanced up at the deck. Kate had found a sword somewhere, so when I saw a zombie lumbering toward her, I yelled. She quickly put her new weapon to work. Like some sort of action hero, she sliced its head off in one clean swipe, leaving the headless body to topple backward. In an instant, the decapitated head began snapping its jaws.
    “Watch out!” Nick shouted.
    “Kill the brain!” I said.
    She raised her sword again and deftly plunged it into the head. Blood spurted onto the concrete. She wiped a spray of blackish-green blood from her arm.
    I climbed out.
    “Hybrid got my gun,” I said.
    I was chilled to the bone and dripping when Jackie ran over and leaned into me. I wrapped a freezing arm around her, but there wasn’t time to snuggle or to share any body heat. We needed to keep going. Shivering, I grabbed my flashlight and started to look for a way out. The floor was slippery, so we had to watch our step.
    “Gun,” Jackie said, pointing to a zombie wearing a black jacket, with its hair in a crew cut. 
    I kicked it, but it didn’t move. I pulled the Glock 22 from the zombie’s waist; in our battle for survival, it was not wise to pass up a much-needed weapon. I pulled the mag and checked the chamber.
    “Fully loaded,” I said.
    Jackie shot me a nod. “Lucky break.”   
    Before we took more than five steps, a hungry corpse stumbled over a white chair and snarled, biting at the air like a ravenous dog. Half its face was chewed off. As I looked at it, pure rage consumed me. I held my gun at arm’s length and pulled the trigger. It packed plenty of power. The mindless monster blinked, then closed its eyes forever. I let off three more shots to dispose of its friends. Shots rang out all around me, and more and more bodies crashed to the floor in bloody, quivering heaps.
    “Ah!” Rex suddenly screamed from behind us.
    I turned and saw a snarling zombie in dirty white scrubs, about to crunch down on Rex’s shoulder like a pretzel. I aimed carefully, pulled the trigger, and watched the thing fall to the floor.
    “Thanks,” Rex said, looking at me with wide eyes. “I... Man, that thing just sneaked up on me from out of the shadows.”
    “Keep a better eye out,” Nick said.
    I stuffed the gun in my waistband. When I saw an exit sign, I excitedly motioned to the others. “Over here!” I shouted.
    Gasping moans made my stomach clench. A group of zombies lumbered toward us from beneath the exit sign. It was a small herd by comparison to some I’d seen, but there had to be at least twenty five of them.
    Lucas cocked his gun and fired.
    A zombie with a zigzag cut across its face staggered toward me. I fired, placing a gaping hole right between its eyes. When two more ambled my way, I took them out with headshots, silencing their hungry moans.
    “We can’t get out. There are too many!”