Wake Up Dead - an Undead Anthology Read Online Free PDF

distraction Frank used to his advantage.
    Using his knife, he severed the heads of two zombies and lopped off a few arms. Rancid liquid sprayed everywhere, but missed Frank. He turned when one of the survivors went down screaming, zombies tearing him apart, his stomach torn open by hungry mouths, blood flowing freely in a large pool beneath the body.
    Finally, Thomas yelled to them, it was ready. Frank held off the zombies as the others made their way inside.
     
    *
    Clare surveyed the inside. All the zombies were dead. Brain matter and large puddles of rancid smelling black ooze were everywhere. People did their best to avoid stepping in it.
    She saw Frank outside, severely outnumbered.
    Running to him, she started to help fight the zombies. “Time to go in, Frank.”
    “I’m not going in, get the hell out of here.”
    Clare felt a searing pain in her arm as she opened her mouth to respond. Looking over she saw a zombie biting her. She brought down the pipe on its head weakly. The zombie tore a large chunk of her forearm off and began to chew greedily.
    “Frank, you need to go in.”
    Frank looked over at Clare, she saw him focus on the bite.
    “Why the hell did you come out here for me dammit?” his voice strained.
    Clare knew there were precious moments left before they would all die.
    “Frank, protect my family. I trust you to do that. Tell Dana I’m sorry, and I love her.” Clare was already sweating.
    “No, I’m not--”
    “Get out of here, I’m going to take some of these bastards with me.” Clare tried to smile, but it didn’t hide the pain.
    “I’ll take care of them. I promise.” he said.
    *
     
    Frank handed her his knife, then turned away with tears in his eyes. He looked up and thankfully did not see Dana in the window above. As fast as he could, he ran back into the warehouse, hit the lever to shut the door, and felt the explosion as the fuel tank started to spew the ignited gas. He let out a howl of rage.
    Even with all the heat outside the doors, Frank felt nothing but cold. A roar went up from the people in the warehouse, they’d been successful. No more zombies could enter the loading area, the ones out there were crispy critters, and the ones which entered the warehouse were taken care of.
    Frank looked up and saw Dana standing at the top of the stairs. Tears streamed down her face.
     
    *
     
    Dana sat on the porch; it was a beautiful day out. On the table next to her was a bouquet of roses. She heard the soft patter of feet and knew her daughter was coming.
    “Mommy, when is Uncle Frank going to get here? Isn’t today movie day then pizza night?”
    “Yes it is, and he’ll be here soon, Sydney, don’t worry.” As soon as she spoke the words a car pulled up.
    A tall man dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt got out. Grabbing something from the back of the car he walked up to the house.
    “Hi, Frank.” Dana watched as her daughter launched herself at him like a rocket.
    “Oomph, hi, Sydney, Dana. How are you two beautiful girls doing?”
    “Are we going to watch a movie?”
    “Of course,” Frank said as he smiled at the little girl.
    Both adults chuckled as Sydney ran inside. Frank sat in the chair next to Dana and handed her a bouquet of carnations.
    “From me, you know what to say when you see her.” Dana nodded her head and watched as Frank stood and entered the house.
     
    *
     
    Frank saw the little girl sitting on the couch and smiled.
    “Popcorn?” Sydney nodded her head enthusiastically.
    Walking down the hallway into the kitchen he saw pictures of Clare and Dana before everything happened, they were truly happy. The last picture was one of them in the warehouse after Sydney was born. After that, only pictures of Dana and Sydney, with Frank included occasionally. A few tears fell as he prepared the bag of popcorn.
    He still blamed himself, it was sad it took a near apocalypse for him to remember how to be human again. He would never forgive himself for Clare’s death,