Remains of the Dead Read Online Free PDF

fall, the old man let slip a gurgled moan, a moan all but lost to the guttural cries of the surrounding undead.
    Ali lashed out with his pipe smacking a zombie across the temple. He cried, “Ray, help George!”
    Ray bent down, arm outstretched. “George, George!”
    George recoiled away and grunted.
    “George!” Ray barked as he scooped up his friend’s frail body. “You’ve got to help, buddy.”
    George didn’t. His face was pale and locked in a grimace, his right hand clutched to his chest.
    “Move it!” Ali called out between swipes.
    “Chest,” George panted.
    Ray had the old man under the arm and was hauling him to his feet. He pleaded, “Not now, George, not now.”
    George gave a heavy shudder and the stiffness left his body.
    “George?” Ray gasped, staring into the old man’s watery eyes.
    A withered hand appeared over Ray’s shoulder and grabbed his coat.
    “Hell!” Ray jumped, letting go of George. He burled round, shrugging off the zombie’s grasp.
    Unable to see what was going on, Ali called out, “Ray?!”
    “It’s George,” came Ray’s stunned reply. “I think he’s dead.”
    Ali reached back and grabbed a fist full of Ray’s jumper. Pulling him forward, Ali bellowed, “Move it or we’ll be dead, too!”
    “But… George?” Ray stammered.
    “Move!” Ali commanded as he raised his weapon again.
    Throwing his arm down he whacked another walking corpse square on the forehead. There was a crunch and the lip of the pipe raked down the zombie’s face. The dark skin split apart, revealing a canyon of yellowed bone framed by the wet muddy post-mortem flesh.
    “Where are the others?” Ray screeched, his voice pitched high with terror.
    “Up ahead.” Ali made a small jump into the air to get a slightly better perspective. “I can see Ryan’s head.”
    Ray cast around, trying to peer through the throng of dead cannibals. “Where’s the helicopter?”
    “Shut up and fight!” Ali battered the next undead assailant out of his path.
    For every zombie Ali floored it seemed that there were a hundred more closing in on him. The sweat was streaming down his face, saturating his bushy eyebrows and soaking into his beard. His shoulder ached, his arm throbbed and his palms stung from the force of the hammering. The thought of being devoured alive by these malodorous monsters kept him lashing out.
    “We’ll never make it,” Ray blurted.
    Ali turned to cajole his friend and as he looked round he saw a zombie, its teeth bared. It threw itself at Ray. Too far ahead to do anything, all Ali could do was shout a warning.
    Just as it was about to chew down on Ray, it cocked its head as if confused.
    Then it simply keeled over.
    Ali suddenly became aware of shots ringing out.
    A second zombie was hit. It fell spraying a wet trail of infected brains behind it.
    “Come on! We’ll make it!” Ali whooped triumphantly.
    Buoyed on by the sniper’s intervention, Ali surged on through the crowd.
    A prepubescent girl in a grimy pink top with her arms outstretched came staggering over like a sleepwalker. At the last moment Ali dodged her bony fingers and planted his pipe straight across her face.
    He didn’t stop to see if he’d floored the zombie. He didn’t have to immobilize every one of them—he merely had to clear his way to the plaza.
    The next zombie stepped into Ali’s path. It was an old woman with wild grey hair populated with twigs, old leaves and other tangled up pieces of detritus. She hissed through a gash in her cheek as she lunged at him.
    Ali sidestepped her and elbowed the deceased crone in the head as she passed. The flesh under the blow squelched and the old woman fell, her arms flailing out furiously all the way to the ground.
    A thrashing arm caught Ray by surprise, tripping him.
    “Ali!” Ray bellowed as he tumbled to the ground.
    Ali glanced round to see a mob of zombies close in on Ray. A shot rang out and one of the mob members collapsed, but it was futile. Ali knew