Read Online The Reawakening (The Living Dead Trilogy, Book 1) by Joseph Souza - Free Book Online

longer, course, and more hirsute.
    “You need the gun,” I said to Rick. “It’s the only way to put her down.”
    “I can’t do it,” he said as we retreated down the stairs. “You need to do it for me. Please, Thom.”
    I heard hooves clacking against the oak floor.
    “You have to do it, Thom. I can’t kill her.”
    “Get me the rifle, then. That monster isn’t your wife.”
    Once we reached the bottom of the stairs, I ordered Dar to take the two children into the living room and shut the door. She asked what was going on, but I shouted for her to do as she was told. She gathered the children in her arms and ushered them into the living room, and then shut the door behind her. Rick passed the rifle over to me.
    “Get into the living room,” I told Gunner and his wife.
    “You ain’t the boss of me, mister. I’ve got Jesus, the real boss, on my side,” Delia said, pulling out the metal crucifix that hung around her neck. “Jesus will defeat Satan. Jesus will overcome all forms of evil.”
    “Ignore my wife. Delia’s one of those religious freaks. I’ll stay and help you,” Gunner said.
    “Ignore me at your own peril, for I have Jesus Christ by my side,” Delia mumbled.
    “I can’t bear to watch,” Rick said, looking back one last time as the creature emerged into the dining room. I positioned myself behind the long oak table and aimed the rifle at her.
    “Hurry up and shoot that goddamn thing!” Gunner shouted.
    “Shoot that devil!” Delia screamed, holding the crucifix up to the light. She approached the creature. In her other hand, she wielded a butcher’s knife.
    “Get the hell back, Delia!” I shouted.
    “I’m invincible with Christ!”
    Gunner tried to restrain his wife, but it was too late. She broke free, raising the knife up over her head and stabbing the creature in its leathery chest. She plunged it repeatedly into its hardened flesh, shouting in righteous indignation. Its thick skin prevented the knife from fully penetrating. The creature wrapped its arms around Delia’s body, leaned in, and took a bite out of her neck, removing a large chunk of flesh. Delia cried out in agony as blood sprayed into the air and spattered along the floor. She held the crucifix up to its head, but it had no effect.
    I aimed the rifle but couldn’t get a clear shot. If I fired now, I would certainly hit Delia in the head. The creature leaned in and tore another chunk out of her shoulder. Tendons and muscle hung from its discolored mouth, pink, striated flesh glistening in the overhead light. Delia struggled to remove the knife from its chest.
    “Move out of the way, Delia!” I shouted as the beast gnawed off the tip of her nose.
    Delia screamed in agony, and her knees buckled. Her body slumped just enough for me to fire a bullet through the creature’s skull. It fell back against the bottom of the stairs, pulps of skin and blood spattered around its offal-colored mouth. I walked over and pumped another round into its head for good measure
    “Holy Christ!” Gunner shouted, moving over to his anguished wife.
    Delia lay on the floor, bleeding and crying out in pain, arms groping upwards the ceiling. The raw, exposed tendons on her shoulder, neck and face shone with a terrible intensity. The expression on her face haunted me, and would haunt me until the day I died. A gaping hole opened up where her nose had once been. Blood and milky pus oozed out of it. The sinewy, white ends of nasal cartilage flapped in the air. Gunner tried to staunch the flow with a towel, but I grabbed his arms and pushed him off her. He glared at me with hatred in his eyes as Delia screamed in agony, her arms waving in the air.
    “What the hell you doing, dude? You got a death wish?”
    “There’s a box of latex gloves in the bathroom. I’ll go grab two pairs. Your wife has just been infected.”
    “What do you mean infected ?”
    “You want to end up like that?” I pointed towards the dead creature lying motionless