Read Online Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse (Book 9): Frayed by Shawn Chesser - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Shawn Chesser
Tags: Zombie Apocalypse
Ads: Link
straight for the garage.
Once inside, he reached over his head and pulled the pin that disengaged the
drive chain from the overhead motor. With visions of the dead-filled parking
garage in Los Angeles still fresh in his mind, he rattled the door up in its
tracks and turned back to the pair of bicycles.
One at a time, beginning with the larger of the two, he
wheeled the bikes to the Ford and heaved them both in back, where they settled
with a whoosh of disgorged air atop the bed of plastic garbage bags.
With Max watching him from behind the steering wheel, and
looking every bit like he was about to start the rig up and drive the thing,
Cade went back inside the garage through the open overhead door. He entered the
house again and made a bee-line to the vanity on the wall opposite the front
door. He reached high and snatched the depression-era glass vase there, removed
a bouquet of silk flowers from it, and without thought dropped it to the
linoleum floor. Flowers in one hand, Glock in the other, he hurried back the
way he’d come.
Outside, he closed the garage door and zippered between the
sedan and the hybrid SUV. He stopped near the burn pile just out of arm’s reach
from Jack.
Saying a silent prayer, Cade holstered the Glock and set the
flowers on the car’s trunk. Then he drew the Gerber and gripped the creature’s
left wrist with his free hand. With little effort on his part, he trapped the
arm under his knee. Finally, after making the sign of the cross and reciting
the Holy Trinity for the unfortunate man, in one fluid stroke—a move performed
too many times to count and perfected in the months since the dead began to walk—he
slid the blade into his left eye until he felt the high-carbon stainless-steel
tip meet bone. At once the trapped Z went limp. Cade withdrew the black blade,
dragged the dagger through the snow, and then finished cleaning it on the
twice-dead Zs tee-shirt.
Again clutching the multi-colored bouquet of fake roses in
one hand, and the Glock in the other, Cade made his way back to the Ford. He
hopped inside and caught Max looking at him the way dogs are wont to do. Head
cocked to one side as if saying, Are we done here yet, or what? To which
Cade said, “Don’t get any ideas, Max.” He tossed the roses on the console.
“Those aren’t for you. They’re for Raven.”
Realizing he was talking to the dog way too much, Cade dug
the CB out from under the flowers and switched it on. He looked over at Max and
said, “We better—” but cut himself short and instead pressed the key to talk
and got Seth on the other end. He quickly filled him in on the news, good and
bad, the former being that he had procured a fair amount of the items on the
lists, and the latter being the scarcity of a certain brand of candy bar
wrapped in brown and made by a certain company bearing the same name as the
Greek God of War. After listening to Seth go on about how badly he needed chocolate, Cade needled him further. “Do you want some cheese with that whine?”
he asked, already knowing the answer. That prompted another full minute of
bellyaching out of Seth before Cade was able to get a word in edgewise and
detail his next two planned stops.
Once Cade finished, Seth asked, “If anybody inquires, when
should I say you’ll be back?”
Cade looked at his watch. “I can’t see being outside the
wire past noon.”
“Roger that,” said Seth. “Call in when you get close.”
“Still having problems with icing on the camera domes?”
“Yep. Both of them on the State Route and the one on our
feeder road are getting it good.”
Cade removed his camo ball cap and banged it against the
floor mat to rid it of melting snow. “We’ll have to get Foley working on a fix
for that.” He paused. “The ones trained on the clearing ... how are they?”
“Fine. They’re inside the tree line. In fact I’m watching a
ferocious battle taking place up there.”
Cade snugged his hat on. “Come again?” he
Once inside, he reached over his head and pulled the pin that disengaged the
drive chain from the overhead motor. With visions of the dead-filled parking
garage in Los Angeles still fresh in his mind, he rattled the door up in its
tracks and turned back to the pair of bicycles.
One at a time, beginning with the larger of the two, he
wheeled the bikes to the Ford and heaved them both in back, where they settled
with a whoosh of disgorged air atop the bed of plastic garbage bags.
With Max watching him from behind the steering wheel, and
looking every bit like he was about to start the rig up and drive the thing,
Cade went back inside the garage through the open overhead door. He entered the
house again and made a bee-line to the vanity on the wall opposite the front
door. He reached high and snatched the depression-era glass vase there, removed
a bouquet of silk flowers from it, and without thought dropped it to the
linoleum floor. Flowers in one hand, Glock in the other, he hurried back the
way he’d come.
Outside, he closed the garage door and zippered between the
sedan and the hybrid SUV. He stopped near the burn pile just out of arm’s reach
from Jack.
Saying a silent prayer, Cade holstered the Glock and set the
flowers on the car’s trunk. Then he drew the Gerber and gripped the creature’s
left wrist with his free hand. With little effort on his part, he trapped the
arm under his knee. Finally, after making the sign of the cross and reciting
the Holy Trinity for the unfortunate man, in one fluid stroke—a move performed
too many times to count and perfected in the months since the dead began to walk—he
slid the blade into his left eye until he felt the high-carbon stainless-steel
tip meet bone. At once the trapped Z went limp. Cade withdrew the black blade,
dragged the dagger through the snow, and then finished cleaning it on the
twice-dead Zs tee-shirt.
Again clutching the multi-colored bouquet of fake roses in
one hand, and the Glock in the other, Cade made his way back to the Ford. He
hopped inside and caught Max looking at him the way dogs are wont to do. Head
cocked to one side as if saying, Are we done here yet, or what? To which
Cade said, “Don’t get any ideas, Max.” He tossed the roses on the console.
“Those aren’t for you. They’re for Raven.”
Realizing he was talking to the dog way too much, Cade dug
the CB out from under the flowers and switched it on. He looked over at Max and
said, “We better—” but cut himself short and instead pressed the key to talk
and got Seth on the other end. He quickly filled him in on the news, good and
bad, the former being that he had procured a fair amount of the items on the
lists, and the latter being the scarcity of a certain brand of candy bar
wrapped in brown and made by a certain company bearing the same name as the
Greek God of War. After listening to Seth go on about how badly he needed chocolate, Cade needled him further. “Do you want some cheese with that whine?”
he asked, already knowing the answer. That prompted another full minute of
bellyaching out of Seth before Cade was able to get a word in edgewise and
detail his next two planned stops.
Once Cade finished, Seth asked, “If anybody inquires, when
should I say you’ll be back?”
Cade looked at his watch. “I can’t see being outside the
wire past noon.”
“Roger that,” said Seth. “Call in when you get close.”
“Still having problems with icing on the camera domes?”
“Yep. Both of them on the State Route and the one on our
feeder road are getting it good.”
Cade removed his camo ball cap and banged it against the
floor mat to rid it of melting snow. “We’ll have to get Foley working on a fix
for that.” He paused. “The ones trained on the clearing ... how are they?”
“Fine. They’re inside the tree line. In fact I’m watching a
ferocious battle taking place up there.”
Cade snugged his hat on. “Come again?” he
Similar Books
