The Living Dead Series (Book 3): Dead Coast Read Online Free PDF Page A

find transportation. Come on.” David began to stride down the street then looked back to see Bea still standing by the ditch. She wiped her forehead again and stared perplexedly at the blood on her hand. David took her arm and pulled her along.
    They were in a residential area, a little on the shabby side. Several houses sported boarded-up windows and doors. Cars were parked randomly here and there but none had keys in them. The moans and shuffles were getting louder even though they couldn’t see the dead through the privet yet.
    Discarded items filled the streets, backpacks, fishing tackle, a pink, plastic Barbie dream house, all dropped by fleeing residents. A dead dog, white ribs facing upward and legs torn off, lay in a gutter. They passed a burned-out house containing an infected clawing at flame-scorched basement walls and trying to climb out. He or she had been so badly burned that it was impossible to make out any features; hair, nose and ears were all burned away.
    Most of the houses were locked up tight with no evidence of living human habitation. David looked back down the street behind them. Four infected made it through the hedge and were coming their way. He could shoot them but the gunfire would inexorably draw the others. He gripped Bea’s arm tighter and pulled her along. She stumbled and would have fallen if he hadn’t been holding her up.
    He glimpsed movement out of the corner of his eye. Someone raised an upstairs window in a red, clapboard, two-story house on the next block and was beckoning to them. He strained to see. The figure left the window.
    Behind them more infected emerged from side streets and shambled along, getting closer.
    Any port in a storm, David thought. The red house was just a little farther. Bea was starting to stagger. He put an arm around her waist and half dragged her across the street.
    Here the houses were a little more spaced-out, some with detached garages left open when their owners fled. Smooth lawns sloped down to sidewalks littered with more detritus of the fleeing. Seemingly out of nowhere a man, wearing nothing but filthy, stained boxers, shreds of skin hanging from a ragged hole in his abdomen, slammed into David, taking him to the ground.
    He felt the dead man’s mouth chomp down hard on his arm, tearing away the nylon shell and the down underneath. Little puffs of feathers floated to the ground. Chewing for a few seconds before spitting them out, the man came in for another bite.
    Spinning around, David kicked him hard in the face before scrambling backward and almost colliding with Bea who was standing, holding a Glock in shaking hands. She looked down at her hands almost as if they belonged to someone else and had nothing to do with her. When the gun fired twice she looked surprised.
    The first shot hit pavement. The second hit the dead man in the side of his face, blowing off his jaw and the side of his skull. Black chunks splattered across the street. He went down.
    “I think he wanted to hurt you.” She struggled to get the words out and her speech was slurred.
    David almost laughed. “I think you’re right. Let’s get inside.”
    More dead staggered into the street behind them. They ran for the red house, David hoping she didn’t collapse before they got to the steps. Someone opened the door and they almost fell inside, finding themselves in near-total darkness. David froze when he heard a shotgun rack.

Chapter Two
     
     
    D avid put his hands up and turned slowly, looking for the source of the sound. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness he saw they were in a small front room containing a sofa, a television and a gigantic fish aquarium. Heavy curtains covered the single window. A strong smell of cigarette smoke hung in the air.
    A shadowed figure, shotgun held at the ready, strode angrily forward.
    “What was that for? Don’t you know that gunshot is going to draw a crowd of those monsters?”
    A chunky, dark-haired man, wearing heavy-duty work