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

boots and a camouflage vest, he seemed to be almost sparking with rage. Bea flinched and backed away then raised the Glock. He didn’t slow down and knocked it from her hand then slammed her into the wall. She saw stars before the room seemed to recede down a narrowing hallway and all sounds ceased. She slumped to the ground.
    Choked with rage, David raised the butt of his rifle and managed to land a good hit in the guy’s substantial belly. His breath released with a startled oomph but he didn’t go down. He launched himself at David and threw him to the floor, battering him with those steel-toed boots. David kicked him hard in the knees and he came down, almost on top of him.
    The two men were silent during the whole struggle, both aware that the creatures would be drawn to sound. Just as David managed to sit on top of his opponent, ready to punch the man’s head into the floor, a deep moan and then a keening snarl sounded outside. Both men froze.
    The man sucker-punched David in the stomach then slid out from under him. Scrambling to his feet he twitched the curtain aside and looked out.
    “Five or six of them now. In a few minutes it’ll be a hundred.” He glared at them then noticed that Bea was unconscious.
    “What’s wrong with her? I didn’t hit her that hard.”
    “She has a concussion, you jackass. Who knows how much damage you caused when you hit her.” David caught his breath then scooped her up and carried her to the sofa. Her eyelids fluttered but didn’t open. He checked and found her pulse was racing.
    “What was I supposed to do? She pulled a gun on me.”
    “Only after you racked that shotgun and came at us. Do you have any blankets?” He wanted to keep her warm.
    “I know there are some upstairs. This isn’t my house. I was getting ready to leave when I saw the two of you. We can’t stay here.”
    “I’m going to have to stay here. At least until she gets back on her feet. Could you just look for some blankets? Please.”
    The man grunted and turned away. David heard a click and looked around. Their reluctant host had just turned on a closet light and was rummaging through the closet contents. Electricity?
    “You have power here?”
    “Yeah. Not sure why. This is a pretty old part of town. Maybe it’s on a different sub-station from the rest of the area. I’m not using lights unless I have to and I’m trying to keep them from showing through the windows. Don’t want to attract unwanted attention.” He emerged from the closet with a knitted afghan.
    David covered Bea. “I don’t think they can see very well, if at all.”
    “Yeah, I kind of figured that but there are other threats. Lots of gangs and just plain old-fashioned bad guys in Cincinnati will thrive in situations like this. Like the ones down south that deliberately stayed in New Orleans during Katrina just to loot or worse.”
    “Should we be worried that the homeowner is going to come back and shoot us for trespassing? Do you know whose house this is?”
    “My ex-wife’s. I came over here looking for my two boys when all this broke. Everyone was gone when I got here and I’ve been trapped by the infected for two days. They had cleared out when you and your gun-happy girlfriend showed up. Thanks a lot.”
    The chorus of moaning outside rose to a disturbing pitch. David felt the hair on his neck prickle. How he hated that sound. It carried such driving, primal menace. No thought behind it, just the urgent hunger to kill and consume.
    “Look, I’m sorry. That guy came on us so fast. I mean, we know how attracted they are to sounds but we had to get rid of it. My name is David and this is Beatrice. She’s not my girlfriend, by the way. We’re trying to get to the west coast. She’s trying to find her brother and I have business out there.”
    “I’m Homer Hazard.” He fished in his down vest and drew out a pack of cigarettes, lighting one and taking a deep drag.
    “You’re kidding.”
    “Nope.”
    “But