Zombies! Episode 2 - Abby's Bad Day Read Online Free PDF Page A

humans. Only zombies.
     
    ***
     
    TODD had gotten away. He was bitten
and he'd gotten away. He'd known exactly what Peter was going to do
and he'd made a run for it. His actions had not only been cowardly
and dangerous, but he'd left Sven in a lurch. Alone now, encumbered
by his protective gown and gloves, Sven was struggling with
Karl. It seemed that the zombies retained their former strength, if
not their former grace. Maybe it was just the fresh ones.
     
    "We have to contain them!" shouted Dr.
Leke.
     
    The area was virtually empty now. All of the
patients had gotten out during the hasty evacuation. Besides Dr.
Leke, Peter, Marie, Sven, Abby, and the zombies, there was only one
other doctor, Everett Cheung, and the nurse that Todd had tossed
aside on his way to freedom. Her name was Patricia Mills.
     
    Jane was on her feet now, sniffing around for
something to eat. She was caught between the whimpering Marie on
the floor and the slowly moving Abby. Perhaps Abby's scent was
stronger because she was on her feet or maybe zombies are like old
people who just don't want to bend down. Jane moved toward Abby.
She was still slow but not as slow as Karl had been on that foot.
Abby, when she noticed, took two quick steps backward and tripped
over a bedpan. Stumbling, she would have been caught up by Jane if
Sven hadn't chosen that very moment to lose his battle with
Karl.
     
    The security guard must also have lost his
balance. In an instant, Karl had him turned around and shoved up
against the table upon which he'd died. Sven struggled, but Karl
had a hold of his arm, free of the gown, and took a deep and
satisfying bite. The blood welled freely out of the wound and Jane
caught scent of it. She moved in quickly and, two on one, Sven
didn't stand a chance.
     
    "Peter, no! " Dr. Leke cried out,
halting Peter in mid-stride. He was getting ready to move in and
try to help Sven. But there was no help for Sven.
     
    He screamed and screamed and screamed.
     
    "We have to kill them," Abby cried.
     
    With bloody faces and slavering jaws, Karl
and Jane looked up from their meal. Both of them looked at Abby,
the closest living thing. Had they heard her? Had they understood?
Yes to the first question. No to the second. She was just more
fresh meat.
     
    This time Abby didn't hesitate. She gathered
her feet beneath her and ran over to where Dr. Leke was trying to
corral her remaining staff.
     
    "We can't fight them," she was saying. "We
need to find a safe place until the police come." She indicated one
of the private examining rooms. The doors didn't lock but they
could push something up against it and pray that the zombies didn't
understand the detailed inner workings of a door knob.
     
    "I'll get Marie," Peter offered.
     
    "No you won't," Dr. Leke said, then addressed
the poor woman on the floor. "Marie, you'll have to get up. You'll
have to come with us on your own."
     
    Marie's wound wasn't bad. Though it had hit
in the same area as Jane's, the bite had been less successful and
it hadn't hit an artery. Marie, though battling shock, nodded her
understanding.
     
    "Don't wait. Go now."
     
    The small group began to move quickly away
from the two zombies. Peter hesitated, waiting for Marie to find
her feet. Dr. Leke spared him a glance, and then found one for
Abby, too, as she stopped.
     
    Marie wasn't going to make it.
     
    Gritting his teeth, Peter moved to intervene.
He stood alone, unarmed, against two zombies. As they approached,
he shed his gown and gloves, realizing that they hadn't done anyone
any good. He didn't stand a chance.
     
    Abby took it upon herself to help Marie but
before she went to the stricken woman, she grabbed up the nearest
weapon, a three legged metal cane that an elderly patient had left
behind, and passed it over to Peter. There were three broken tennis
balls on the feet of the cane. Peter hefted it in both hands,
waited, and then took his first swing at Jane.
     
    The cane hit her in the head with a