Read Online Zomburbia by Adam Gallardo - Free Book Online

they got to us? I wasn’t sure if I could go on.
    â€œI’ll go,” Willie said, and that settled it. I shook my head and stepped forward.
    After just a couple of steps I could see into the room. The furniture was overturned, the blankets stripped off the bed. The zombies must have cornered the old lady in there, and she put up a fight. Good for her. I was about to tell Willie that I didn’t see her—maybe they carried her away—then I saw a frail arm sticking out of the heap of blankets. One of the fingers had been gnawed off.
    â€œShit,” I said. “They ate her.”
    â€œNo zombies?”
    â€œNope,” I said.
    â€œOkay.” Willie stepped forward and pulled the door shut. “We can’t do anything else here. Let’s get outside, okay?”
    Then he grimaced.
    â€œWhat?” I asked, but didn’t look back in the room.
    â€œThey got the dog, too,” he said.
    I’m not sure why, but that made me even more sad than thinking about the old lady getting eaten.
    â€œLet’s get out of here,” I said.
    I let him lead the way. By the time we got to the front step, we heard sirens getting closer. Sherri sat in the car, her arms crossed over her chest. She looked pissed. Maybe she was angry that neither of us had been eaten along with the old lady. She only got out when we told her there were no zombies around.
    The cops arrived as we were leaving the yard and we spent the next half-hour answering questions. The guy who interviewed us never came out and said it, but I could tell he thought we were idiots for walking into a potential undead buffet.
    At one point, we heard a gunshot come from inside the house. I jumped.
    â€œStandard operating procedure for anyone who dies by zombie attack,” he said. He said it the same way I imagined he explained to drivers why it was dangerous to exceed the speed limit. A little while later, two EMTs carried out a full body bag on a stretcher.
    â€œBut she had a fence,” Sherri said, echoing what I was thinking.
    â€œWell, that’ll stop one or two,” Officer Insensitive said, “but a big group of them will just push it right over.” He stopped and took a moment to collect himself. “You kids should get on home,” he said, “and be safe.”
    â€œThanks, officer,” Willie said, “we will.”
    We climbed back into the car and Willie eased us away, leaving the cop to stand in the middle of the street.
    We all jumped when my phone beeped. I scrambled through my bag to find it. The screen displayed a number I didn’t recognize. I hit the button to read the message.
    Â 
    Meet my place at 6
    Put UR name on list at gate
    Call if U cant make it
    Â 
    That was followed by an address and a link that I guessed would take me to a map of how to get to Brandon’s house. I put my phone away.
    â€œWho was that?” Sherri asked.
    â€œMy dad,” I said. “He’s going to be home late.”
    We drove on in silence after that because there really wasn’t anything else to say.
    After I dropped off a bunch of my stuff at home and left a note for my dad, I rode my bike to Brandon’s place. I could have asked Willie to give me a ride over there, but that would have led to a lot of questions I didn’t want to answer. I know that a lot of you are shaking your heads at this point and asking, “What the hell was she thinking? She just found out a kindly, old grandmother was brutally murdered practically next door and now she’s going to ride her bike through the streets?” What can I say? I was young and stupid. Also, even someone as inept as me at bike riding should be able to avoid a group of shufflers during the daytime. I’d just have to hope that our little study group got done before the sun went down.
    Brandon’s place was only about two miles from my house. In a lot of ways, though, it was a whole other world. I rode down