The Reanimation of Edward Schuett Read Online Free PDF Page A

and the more he thought about the day the undead attacked the more he realized he wasn’t far off.
    Although he tried to avoid the thought, memories of Julia and Dana came to him unbidden. He didn’t know how long it had been so he had no way of knowing how old they would be or if they were still alive, but he felt some hope. After all, here he was, stricken with some strange disease yet still very much alive. If it had happened to him, it could have happened to them. They could still be out there somewhere.
    The farther the truck went into the city the smoother the ride became. They had to take an alternate route around a collapsed overpass at the freeway, but the road after that point looked like it might have been repaved in recent years, although not very well. The buildings continued to look rough and derelict for a time, but after they had travelled about five miles all structures suddenly came to a stop and gave way to a wide expanse of open ground. Edward sat up in the cage and leaned against the bars, trying to get a better idea of what he was seeing. He remembered this area. It had been a few businesses, a couple of factories, and the start of a residential area, but it looked now like it had been all been bulldozed. A half-hearted attempt had been made to clear the open space, although garbage and occasional wood and rubble littered it all. Looking out further down the road he saw that the empty zone was about half a mile wide, and on either side of the road it continued on in a slight curve. He suspected that if he were able to see the entire thing from a bird’s eye view, the no-man’s land would have formed a rough circle.
    He saw why the empty zone had been created as the truck approached the other side. A cement wall had been erected around the inner part of the circle, about seven feet high but with fifteen foot towers at regular intervals. Beyond the wall Edward could clearly see more buildings, and these, finally, were as he remembered them. There were the obvious cosmetic changes on some of the more recognizable houses, and here and there were new buildings he didn’t recognize, but everything beyond the wall at least looked like it was being used. Had he seen this place first, he would have never realized anything had gone wrong with the world.
    Edward’s heart beat faster. His own home was somewhere in there. He might be able to get some clues here, if only he could get away from Charlie and Ringo.
    He absently scratched at his chin as the truck slowed. Whatever strange thing had happened to his skin was starting to itch, but he ignored it. Most of the pain that had plagued him earlier had receded into an occasionally annoying ache, and his thoughts and senses all felt much clearer now. He still didn’t want to look at himself, though. It wasn’t like whatever had affected him was going to clear up any time soon.
    The truck came to a full stop at a wooden gate. There was a guard house next to it, and Edward watched as a woman came out and walked to the driver’s side. Her hair was cut short and done up in an unfamiliar hairstyle with pink highlights. She had a rifle in hand, and even though the whole thing was painted pink with silver zebra stripes it still made her look formidable. She looked bored as Ringo rolled down the window, not even bothering to glance at the cage.
    “How many you declaring today?” the woman said. She looked like she was in her late twenties and she wore thick glasses. She was chewing something that Edward initially thought was gum until she turned her head and spit out a wad of tobacco-darkened saliva.
    “Actually,” Ringo said, “we’re not sure.”
    “How the hell could you be not sure? You’re the one that fricking caught them.”
    “Yeah,” Charlie said, “but we’re not really sure about one of them.” He turned to look through the back window, and when he saw Edward staring back at him his eyes went wide. “Holy shit. Ringo, take a look.”
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