Read Online Year of the Zombie (Book 8): Scratch by David Moody - Free Book Online

had eaten far too much and was feeling the effects, but having a free
pass to the kitchen cupboards was something she was determined to make the most
of. She dragged a chair over to a cupboard and stood on tiptoes to look inside.
‘Can I help you, young lady?’ Jody asked. ‘Don’t you think you’ve had enough?’
    ‘Want another Mars bar.’
    ‘Maybe later.’
    ‘Want one now ,’
she said, elevating the last word of her demand to an uncomfortably loud
volume. Jody cringed, remembering the effect she and Gary’s argument had on the
creatures outside earlier.
    ‘Keep your voice down.’
    ‘What’s the problem?’
Gary asked, concerned.
    ‘No problem.’
    ‘I want another Mars
bar,’ Holly told him.
    ‘So let her have one.’
    ‘I’ve already told her
no.’
    ‘What’s the harm in the
kid having more chocolate?’ Gary said, and he reached into the cupboard and brought
down another multipack.
    Jody seethed with anger.
‘How about trying to show a united front?’ she hissed at him once Holly had
disappeared.
    ‘And how about not being
such a fucking drag,’ he quickly countered.
    And they were at it
full-throttle again.
    ‘Why are you always
pulling in the opposite direction to me? Do you do it on purpose?’
    ‘Yeah, well you’re not
always right, you know. You seem to think you have a monopoly on common-sense,
coming at me from your bloody moral high ground.’
    ‘It’s not about common-sense,
it’s about putting the kids first and not scoring points. I don’t think you can
do that.’
    ‘Of course I can.’
    Jody lowered her voice
and moved closer to him. ‘Then why is your dead girlfriend still in the dining
room? We should have got rid of her.’
    ‘She’s not dead.’
    ‘As good as.’
    ‘Maybe I’m just not as
quick to give up on people as you are.’
    ‘Why do you keep turning
everything around like it’s my fault? You’ve always done that, and you did it
again just now with the chocolate. You’re always undermining me.’
    ‘It was just a bloody
chocolate bar.’
    ‘Yeah, but it’s the
message you’re giving out. Mum’s wrong and Dad’s right. You’re always making me
out to be the villain.’
    ‘That’s ’cause you’ve
always been a fucking killjoy.’
    ‘Can’t you both just
stop?’ Jenny asked. Her innocence and honesty was heart-breaking.
    ‘You need to tell your
mother,’ Gary said quickly.
    ‘I’m talking to both of
you,’ she replied with a clarity which belied her years. ‘You’re always
fighting. I know you don’t like each other, but you don’t have to keep fighting
all the time. It’s embarrassing.’
    ‘That’s us told,’ Jody
said, feeling awful.
    Holly peered out from
behind her older sister. ‘Daddy, I think Charlie’s awake. I heard her.’
    Both Jody and Gary
bolted towards the dining room door. Gary paused with his hand almost on the
handle. Almost, but not quite. ‘Stay back,’ he said to the children, and Ben
and the girls moved away without protest.
    Gary’s hammer was on the
hall floor. Jody picked it up and handed it to him. ‘You know it’s the right
thing to do,’ she said, and for once he didn’t argue. He cautiously pushed the
door open.
    At first he couldn’t see
her.
    With the light coming in
from the partially-boarded up window, it was hard to make out much in the
shadowy dining room. It was only when she twitched and shook that he realised
where Charlie was: crouched in the corner, all arms and legs and hate,
spiderlike. She didn’t look like Charlie anymore. Instead, she looked like
every other damn infected. Her movements were awkward and unnatural,
stop-start, and her limbs twisted in ways they shouldn’t. Her head ticked like
a chicken pecking corn. The smell in the room was enough to make his eyes
water. Death, decay, disease and defecation, all wrapped up in a single
stifling stench.
    Jody was on his
shoulder. ‘Close the door,’ she whispered, quietly and carefully.
    ‘I need to see her,’ he
said,