Read Online Deadrise by Steven R. Gardner - Free Book Online Page A

knelt beside him, holding his head up and giving him encouragement.
    "We have to do something!" Susan exclaimed.
    "How are you doing buddy?" Matt asked Zack.
    "I-I can't breath." Zack whispered. He was taking deep breaths, and his lungs sounded full of liquid. He broke into a fit of coughing, spitting mouthfuls of blood. Matt looked at his wound. The bullet had passed clean through the deltoid muscle of Zack’s left arm in into his ribcage just under his armpit. Blood was pooling onto the seat cushion and beginning to spill over onto the floor of the bus. "I'm going to die. Aren’t I." there was no question in his voice.
    "Don't be stupid." Matt said.
    "We can't get to the hospital, and I'm going to die."
    "You are not going to die Zack." Susan said, trying not to think about his cool skin. "You just have to stay quiet. Save your strength."
    Zack looked to Matt. "I don't want to be one of those things." he said.
    "Don't be ridi-" Matt began but Zack cut him off.
    "I'm serious goddamn it! I don't want to be one of those dead fucks! Do you understand me!" his grip was weak, but his eyes were clear.
"I understand." Matt said. "But don't worry because it won't come to that."
"I can barely fucking breath." Zack whispered, coughing again. "I'm going to drown in my own blood."
"I have an idea." David cut in.
"Lets hear it." Matt said.
    "Air is escaping through the bullet wound. And when it does it creates a vacuum, sucking in blood. We have to wrap the wound really tight. Airtight. It will help him breath and probably slow the internal bleeding."
"Where did you get that idea?" Susan asked.
"I read it in a Stephen King book."
"Davey to the rescue again." Matt said. David went to one of the suitcases of luggage. He pulled out a towel and sheet.
"Fold the towel up to make a hard pad." David said.
"Right." Matt said. "That'll help plug the hole."
    "Then we can tear the sheet into strips to make bandages." They set about the task quickly. David folded the towel into a book sided pad, while Matt cut the sheet into several strips. There was a banging from the rear of the bus that startled them all. Matt and David quickly snatched up their rifles, and moved to the back of the bus. There was a single zombie, leaning up against the back door. It moaned softly as it spotted them through the window. They looked out in the darkness, seeing several more dark shapes lumbering towards the bus.
    "I'll drive." Matt said. "You and your sister bandage Zack."
    By the time Matt had started the bus, more zombies had appeared out of the dark, clawing at the bus. He turned on the headlights, illuminating two more just in front of them. He put it in gear and began rolling, knocking the two zombies aside like bowling pins. Ahead, the street was lined with at least ten zombies, all with arms outstretched towards them.
    "Unbelievable." Matt said, amazed at how quickly civilization had fallen apart. It had been less than a week since they had fled their houses. Meanwhile, Susan held the pad tight against Zack’s wound, and David wrapped several bandage strips around his midsection, tying them tight. Another couple strips they tied around his arm wound, and the blood flow slowed considerably. All the while Zack moaned in pain. But finally they were through, and they eased Zack back gently, and he let out a long sigh of relief. David and Susan could hear a difference in his breathing.
    "Better." Zack said softly.
    "Now stay quiet. Save your strength." Susan said, wiping the sweat from Zack’s face with a strip of the sheet. "Once we get to the hospital, everything will be ok." Susan looked back at her mother who was still weeping silently. And she wondered if anything would ever be ok again…
     
     
    It took them several more hours, but at last, just as the sun was peeking over the eastern horizon, the yellow school bus emerged from one of seemingly endless suburban streets littered with zombies or blocked with wrecked and abandon traffic, onto a wide, four