Loose Ends: A Zombie Novel Read Online Free PDF

down.
    Doc scrubbed down his hands again before he joined us. He ran his wet fingers through his hair smoothing it back flat in place as he sat down.
    We ate our pancakes and then spent two hours emptying the dead freezers and refrigerators of all the spoiling food. We were going to have to do the same with the pantry soon.
    We spent that day and the next walking the buildings, but we didn’t find any more walking bodies or open, exterior doors. The ones still lying around were starting to stink in the closed halls and rooms.
    “It’s too big,” Chef said at the end of the second day. “We can’t clear the whole place and keep the entire Complex secure. We’ll have to lock down one area.”
    “Building 3 makes the most sense,” Short Order said.
    Building three had the kitchen and our rooms. It also had a garage. There were two passages that connected out to the other sides of the Complex. We could block those off and that’s what we did the next day. It took most of the day and we were exhausted. We just heated up a few vegetables from cans and added salt. We weren’t the cooks anymore; we were just feeding ourselves.
    I moved my stuff into one on the panic rooms permanently. I left most of what was in my dresser in my old room and never went back for it.
    Doc finally tapped me on the shoulder before our canned dinner that day. He was holding a folded sheet of plastic. He pointed to the back hall. I sighed and we put on the long, rubber gloves before we went. The putrid gasses escaped as we shifted it up onto the sheet. Its flesh tore open into large gashes as we settled it back down. Bits of organ and green bile spilled out as it shifted to the side, but it was caught by the plastic. The creature’s teeth were bared behind curled, retracted lips.
    It was tough maneuvering the narrow space without stepping in the broad pool of black blood. It made no sense to me that this stuff was still wet after being in this dead body possibly for years. Every zombie could be a new surprise.
    We folded the plastic over and Doc applied the duct tape like he was performing a task as ordinary as brushing his own teeth. We hauled the load easily enough through the back hall and out one of the windows.
    The hard part was scrubbing up the spill from the pool in the floor. There were foot prints leading out from it. I hoped it was one of the cooks and I hoped they were cleaning their shoes.
    I didn’t eat much for dinner that night.
    “We need to do the funerals soon, if we plan to do them at all,” Short Order said.
    “I vote we don’t,” Doc said flatly.
    Chef took a deep breath and said, “We need to. They were our people.”
    “They are still in the halls of the other buildings, if you want to see them,” Doc said.
    “Come on, John, we’re doing our best here,” Short Order snapped.
    Doc made a zipping motion across his lips. The other two looked at each other and shook their heads.
    Chef said, “We’ll say a few words on the roof tomorrow morning and put them all to rest.”
    Doc pursed his lips, but didn’t say anything.
    “Then, what?” Short Order asked.
    Doc laughed. “Then what, what?”
    Short began cracking his knuckles. Doc looked at Chef who shrugged. They didn’t say anything.
    Short Order explained, “What do we do next? There are animals out in the fenced pastures. The chicken coops haven’t been tended.”
    “Oh, damn it,” Chef said.
    “They are probably dead by now and stink worse than the zombies,” Doc said. “Not for nothing, but the bodies in the other buildings aren’t going to hold their stink behind those half-assed barriers we built and the ones lying around outside aren’t going to walk away either … at least not anymore, no offense.”
    “If the chickens aren’t dead yet, we’ll need to keep making feed,” Chef said.
    “Can we keep up all the animals?” Short Order asked.
    Doc said, “Then, there are the orchards and other crops. No one has watered the green houses