Undead Ultra (A Zombie Novel) Read Online Free PDF Page A

Are they? No. They can’t be. Zombies aren’t real. There’s another explanation. Right?
    “Do you really think those metro guys outside Bread Box were on drugs?” I ask.
    Frederico hesitates, then shakes his head. “Drugs can make a person do really fucked up things. I should know.” He grimaces. “I may be twenty-five years sober, but you never forget the things drugs do to you.”
    “And what about those old ladies from the Red Hat Society?”
    He shakes his head again. “I don’t know of any drug that makes people bite other people. Those women definitely had blood on their mouths.”
    “The pigs at Lake Sonoma?” I ask. “Do you still think they were killed by mountain lions or coyotes?”
    He meets my eyes. “In all our years running at the lake, we’ve never seen kills like those.”
    Reality crashes in around me. I feel it as profoundly as if chunks of cement are raining down.
    God dammit. I’m going to say it. I’m just going to use the word.
    “Zombies.”
    That single word hangs in the air between us.
    Our eyes meet. I see my fear and dawning realization reflected back at me.
    Carter.
    “Fuck this.” I slam my foot on the accelerator and nearly side swipe a limo as I pull back onto the road. The chauffer honks and flips me off.
    “I’m going to Arcata,” I tell Frederico, gripping the steering wheel with sweaty hands. “I’ll drop you off.”
    He’s silent as I make a hard left at an intersection, completely ignoring the stop sign. I drive another two blocks before he speaks.
    “I’ll go with you,” he says.
    “What? You don’t have to—”
    “When Carter went away to college, I promised him I’d look after you. I intend to keep my promise.”
    I scowl at him. “He just wanted you to make sure I didn’t run myself to death. And apparently he wanted you to make sure I eat junk food.”
    “He wanted me to make sure you were eating, period.”
    I give him another dirty look, taking a corner a little too hard. The tires squeal and I smell burning rubber.
    “I’m not going home to pack or change my clothes. Or take a shower.” I say it like a threat, like it will make him think twice.
    It doesn’t, of course.
    “Do I need to remind you that I rode in the car with you after you finished Badwater?” he asks. “Do you have any idea how bad you smelled after forty hours of running? Your puny run this morning doesn’t hold a candle to that.”
    I grimace. I did smell after that race. I had to endure jokes about my armpits for weeks.
    Frederico sighs, shifting in his seat. A look of unease flits across his face. I jam my foot on the brake, pulling over in front of a row of condos.
    “What is it?” I ask. “What aren’t you telling me?”
    “Aleisha,” he says at last. “Dumbo Dan convinced her to move to Laytonville. She’s tending bar in a dive, and he’s changing oil at a lube and tire place.” Frederico’s expression grows stormy. Dumbo Dan is the not-so-flattering nickname for his daughter’s boyfriend.
    His insistence suddenly makes sense. Laytonville is on the way to Arcata.
    “You want to stop in Laytonville and check on Aleisha,” I say.
    “I need to check on her,” he says. “Make sure she’s safe. I’d like to get her out of that place, but she’d never come with me. It won’t take long. She’ll probably slam the door in my face.”
    “She might hug you,” I say, trying to be optimistic. The love he bears for his estranged daughter is painful to witness.
    Frederico shrugs. “It doesn’t matter. She’s my daughter and I love her. I need to make sure she’s safe.”
    “I get that.” I give my friend’s shoulder a quick squeeze, then pull back onto the road. “Let’s go find our kids.”
     

Chapter 5
    Car Trouble
     
     
    I press the accelerator to the floor, speeding up the Highway 101 northbound onramp to toward Arcata. I pull into the fast lane and lean on the gas pedal, careening past the tourist traffic.
    “Do you want to call Aleisha