Life Among the Dead (Book 4): The End Read Online Free PDF Page B

crazy night. You’d think it was a full moon.”
    Luke smirks beneath his thick white beard, finding it ironic that he was just wishing he was back on the job, especially in this craziness.
    “Compact was trying to beat the light, but the truck had the right of way. The poor girl on the street was caught in the middle while crossing,” the cop recaps what Luke already surmised.
    The medics solemnly stop working on the girl, she’s beyond treatment. “She was young,” Luke says with a shake of his head.
    “Streetwalker,” Callahan reports, a fact one wouldn’t expect from her clothing. She’s bundled up against the cold. “Bad line of work this time of year. You know all about that, hanging out on street corners for money. At least the bells you’re ringing are actual bells.”
    The cynical comments distance him from the tragedy, keeps it from touching him too deeply. Luke was once like that, he still acts like things don’t bother him but in truth it makes him think of his daughter.
    A groan from the ruined compact brings bewildered looks from the responders. Through the fractured windshield they see one of the passengers moving.
    “You said he was dead!” Callahan yells at the paramedics.
    “He is… was,” one assures heading to the unexpected patient.
    They rush to the car, the door opens with a metallic creak where the metal has been twisted. The driver’s airbag didn’t deploy, without a seatbelt his head was thrown straight into the windshield killing him instantly, the passenger wasn’t so lucky. The right side bag did expand but the force was enough to drive the whisky bottle he held into his chest. The medics had checked his pulse when they had arrived and felt nothing. They thought he had died instantly as well.
    The man in the passenger seat fights to get out from under the deflated safety device, his eyes go from one rescuer to the next.
    “Sir, you need to sit back!” a medic instructs, not wanting the patient to make the situation worse. He already has a bottle lodged in his ribcage, so close to his heart it’s a miracle he is alive. They try to ease the man back but he resists, latching on to the helping hands with a surprisingly strong grip.
    The medics struggle to pry their wrists from the man’s cold, steely hands. He cranes his neck to lower his head closer to their forearms, the motion causes the bottle to move within the wound, sloshing its contents of blood and whisky. The rescuers surmise that the square glass container is probably the only thing keeping him alive, if it comes out and the wound loses its seal around the bottle he’ll surely die, but they can’t help him in their current predicament.
    “Help us!” one yells to the cops. “We need to get him to calm down!”
    “You got any sedatives on the bus?” Luke asks.
    “Diazepam. It’s in the cart.” The paramedic overlooks the Santa suit the Samaritan wears, just wanting to get free and get this man strapped down.
    “Argh!” the other medic cries out. “He’s biting me! Hurry!”
    The accident victim has his head bowed at a painful angle to reach his helper’s arm, he releases the other clenched arm, taking this one in both hands. The newly freed responder falls to the pavement, scrambling to get up and aid his partner. The victim in the car hungrily attacks the flesh.
    Callahan rushes to the driver’s side lunging over the dead man to pull the passenger from the medic. “Murphy, Get in here!”
    The rookie cop turns his back to the accumulating onlookers, unsure how he can possibly get in and assist. He rushes to where the medics wrestle against the combative patient.
    “Let me in!” Luke orders the overwhelmed rookie to move out of his way. “How much?”
    The medic takes the ampule and syringe from the helpful Santa to draw it himself. Luke takes his place pulling the other medic away from the passenger. A lot stronger he is able to wrench the panicked man from his attacker, somewhat. The biter can no