The Dead Series (Book 4): Dead End Read Online Free PDF Page B

tried to give her CPR. In a spray of blood, she tore out a huge chunk of muscle from below his left pec before digging both hands into the wound to open it wide. More blood sprayed across the two combatants as she flipped her victim over and straddled him, alternating her hands between stuffing pieces of flesh into its mouth while digging deeper for more. The thing that had been Shawna ignored the weakening blows from her prey as they bounced harmlessly off its face and body.
    With her husband’s screams turning to a gurgling noise when dead fingers punched into his lung, Lena rushed forward and hit Shawna on the side of the head with the flat end of the spade. Black puss mixed with a small amount of blood sprayed across the carpet and wall as the blade connected, sending the zombie rolling across the floor. Stepping between her husband and his attacker, fear ripped through Lena at the thought of going to prison for assault. This was only a fleeting thought, though, as she watched the dead thing shake off the blow and roll into a crouch to attack.
    The shovel hadn’t even fazed it.
    The dead and the living stared at each other for a second before Shawna let out a high-pitched whining noise.
    Raising the shovel again, Lena swung it back and forth in warning as a string of curses flowed from her mouth. Shawna seemed to back away a step and hesitate, and thinking it was over, Lena hesitated, too, as she thought to talk to her lifelong friend, to try to make some sense out of this madness. She started to ask what was happening, but the words fell on dead ears and only encouraged the thing to attack.
    Shawna flailed her arms and charged, leaping forward in a crouch to get inside the swing of the shovel. With a squeal, the dead thing sank its teeth into the bony part of Lena’s wrist.
    Shaking off the bite by thrusting forward, Lena pushed her friend back before lifting the shovel over her right shoulder and coming across in a roundhouse swing. The blow connected with her attacker just below the ribcage, the blade sinking halfway into dead flesh as black puss sprayed out from the impact.
    The dead and the living stopped, connected only by the shovel buried in to the zombie’s side.
    In shock, Lena saw that even t his didn’t slow Shawna in the least.
    Reaching down, the dead woman grabbed the edge of the shovel and wrenched it loose, pulling a length of severed intestine with it. Lunging forward, she gnashed her teeth as she tried to get at the thing that was denying her food. Hearing her daughter call out that she needed to destroy the brain, Lena brought the handle of the shovel across her chest and used it to push Shawna down. Raising her weapon like she was splitting firewood with an axe, she came down with all her might and buried the blade into the top of her friend’s head with a wet thud. The shovel was wrenched from her hands as the thing that had once been living spasmed wildly, shuddered violently as it died its final death.
    After w atching for a second to make sure Shawna stayed down, Lena then turned her attention to her husband. She saw that he had pulled himself across the floor and propped himself against the side of the couch. What was left of his tattered shirt was covered in blood, but none was coming from the ragged wound in his chest anymore. Megan and Ethan were standing over him, shifting their weight from one foot to the other as they tried to decide how to help him. Suddenly, they both jumped backwards with uttered cries of revulsion.
    Lena could see immediately what had startled them.
    What had once been her husband had died and come back to life.
    Dead eyes set in bluish skin stared out at the world, and when they locked on her two children, Lena could see they looked at the youngsters the same way a starving man would look at Thanksgiving dinner. With a squeal, one of its hands reached out to try and grab at the food in front of it while the other tried to lever it onto its feet.
    The instinct to