The Swiss Family RobinZOM (Book 5) Read Online Free PDF

one was listening to him. The dust died down and the air became clear, revealing the rest of the Robinson family two dozen yards away. They had all gotten off their animals, which stood milling around on the fringes of the jungle, skittish, uncertain and fearful. They cast wary glances toward the black shape lying on the beach at the Robinson family’s feet.
    Fear gripped Ernest’s heart. Had Fritz or Francis come off their animals? Of the two he feared most for Francis. If he had pushed Valiant too hard he might have fallen, the mighty bull rolling over him and crushing him beneath his enormous weight. Ernest held his breath and drove Clementine toward them.
    When he got within a dozen yards, Clementine got spooked and wouldn’t go any closer. Ernest climbed down off her and let her run back to the other animals. Ernest approached his family on foot.
    “What’s up?” he said. “Is anything wrong? Is Francis okay?”
    A black lifeless object lay across the sand, head flopped to one side. It lifted its head and emitted a deep groan that was full of pain and fear, as powerful and full of heartbroken emotions as a slave’s blues melody. Though it was weak, it still resonated across the entire beach and several miles out to sea, a warning to any creature listening that it was not yet dead and would not be an easy kill. One look at its wounds proved the falsehood of that claim.
    “First a tiger, now a jaguar,” Bill said. “I wonder what other dangerous creatures there are on this island.”
    “With zombies out there I think Pantherinae are the last thing we should be worried about,” Ernest said.
    The beast’s big yellow cat eyes stared back at them all.
    “They look a lot bigger in real life, don’t they?” Ernest said.
    “Really?” Jack said. “It looks small to me.”
    “What do you think happened to him?” Ernest said.
    “He’s dying,” Bill said. “Something attacked him.”
    The jaguar was smothered in blood, deep cuts across its body like it had been used in a tic-tac-toe championship.
    “But by what?” Ernest said.
    “Couldn’t it have gotten into a fight with another jaguar?” Liz said.
    “It could,” Bill said, nodding. “Except for the marks on its flanks.”
    Bill put his hand to the jaguar’s haunch, which was crisscrossed with deep gouges. His fingers fit perfectly against them.
    “You did it?” Jack said.
    “Yes,” Bill said. “While you all sleep I’ve been wrestling and mutilating jaguars. Of course I didn’t do it.”
    “Some of the blood on its fur looks coagulated,” Ernest said.
    “This was done by human hands,” Bill said. “Or something similar to us.”
    “Zombies,” Liz said.
    “Do you think more of them have gotten to the island?” Fritz said.
    “Could be,” Bill said. “Or they’re from the same cruise liner we saw before, just having managed to avoid us all this time. Either way, we have to check and make sure there aren’t too many of them. We’ll have to go scouting to find them.”
    “If they came here by the sea, we’d better do a sweep of the beaches, hadn’t we?” Fritz said. “In case there are more on board.”
    “We just rode around the seashore,” Ernest said. “I’m sure one of us would have noticed a boat.”
    “Maybe not,” Bill said. “We were distracted.”
    “But it couldn’t have been a large ship,” Ernest said. “We would have noticed it.”
    “Either way we have to do a scout of the island,” Bill said. “To get rid of these things.”
    The jaguar looked around at its audience and let out a deep groan. Its tongue lolled out of its mouth. Bill wore a deep frown.
    “Is something wrong?” Liz said.
    “It’s probably nothing,” Bill said. “It’s just, jaguars sleep in trees. And I don’t believe jaguars are particularly slow creatures.”
    “So?” Liz said.
    “So how did slow moving zombies manage to maul a jaguar so badly?” Ernest said. “That’s what you’re thinking, isn’t it, Pa?”
    “It