Read Online (Book 2)What Remains by Nathan Barnes - Free Book Online Page A

that separated the play area from
the rest of the jungle, frozen as if in shock. I skidded to the
ground on my knees and scooped her up. Sarah joined the embrace a
moment later facing the other direction.
    “Oh thank God!” she said through tears. “There!
There he is!”
    I spun towards the opposite corner near the
planked clubhouse to see for myself. Our relief transformed into
terror before I even finished turning. Maddox stood with his back
to the outer clubhouse wall. His right arm was outstretched towards
a disfigured shape on the ground, the rest of him was paralyzed in
fear. My heart stopped completely upon realizing that a mangled
reaper was nearly within arm’s reach of my son. It was on the
ground, wiggling prone in the leaves towards my unsuspecting son.
Desperation catapulted me the eighteen or so feet between us while
my arm brought up the Kukri for an imminent strike. I didn’t look
towards Maddox at all; every ounce of vengeful attention was
focused on the ghoul I intended to slice to bits.
    Nearly upon them, my feet skidded to a stop and
centrifugal force practically sent me tumbling through the wooden
pole that connected him and the creature. This encroaching undead
specimen looked like it had somehow been the victim of a piranha
feeding frenzy who escaped mostly shucked of its form. Both legs
were missing, along with the left arm at the elbow. A tattered
Pittsburgh Steelers jacket covered most of its body; something I
really only recognized from the stained yellow sleeve covering an
arm that was now limp but stretched towards Maddox. It was slightly
propped up as if it was in the middle of an aborted push-up. Only
the square shovel embedded inches inside its skull kept him
suspended.
    “Monkey…” I said as calmly as I could.
    He didn’t look at me or even flinch upon hearing
my voice. I grasped the wooden rod to try to pull it out of his
still extended arm, but it didn’t budge. For an eight year old, the
boy had one hell of a strong grip. I shook the shovel trying to
snap him out of it. His unblinking eyes were locked on the decrepit
monster in front of him.
    Calise started to cry back by the slide - the
first sound she’d made since Sarah and I reached them. Sarah
cradled her, rocking her like a baby. Through her own tears she
loudly whispered in our direction, “ Nathan… was he
bitt —”
    “No. He’s fine. I think he’s just in shock.”
Calise was buried in Sarah’s shoulder facing the other direction.
Regardless of the fact that she’d already seen far too much I still
attempted to block the girl’s line of sight to the zombie. “Get her
up to the attic. Maddox and I will be up in a minute. We should be
out of the yard when the ones that were drawn by the noise make it
closer.”
    Sarah took a long look at me, then at Maddox,
before starting up the path that led back to the line of
winter-faded grass. Much like the way I had attempted to block the
little one’s view, she placed her hand gently over Calise’s eyes
during the retreat to the house.
    After they disappeared into the safety of the
house I turned my attention back to Maddox. Inside, I was tearing
myself to pieces for letting him be in this situation. I’d thought
the area was safe because the gaps in fencing weren’t big enough
for any person to squeeze through. The thought of something that
was less than a ‘person’ being a threat had never occurred to me
but it should have. Any rules of normalcy had died along
with the rest of the world. The sheltered time in the house had
made me blissfully ignorant to the new way of things.
    The shovel remained in Maddox’s catatonic grip.
I shook it harder, which only jostled more muck out of the beast’s
split cranium.
    “Listen to me, Maddox,” I said, my volume
reaching levels reserved for calculated scolding. “Monkey, you have
to hear me. This one can’t hurt you anymore, but the group that’s
about to be on the other side of our fence can .”
    Still no