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

edging in the other direction.
    ‘Don’t be stupid. She’ll
kill you.’
    ‘She won’t.’
    ‘She will . And
then she’ll kill the rest of us.’
    Gary’s arrogance continued
to astound her. Even now he was ready to tell her how wrong she was. He turned
to push her away and—
    —Charlie attacked.
    It was sudden and swift.
Deadly. The creature’s speed and ferocity compensated for the awkwardness of
its barely coordinated movements.
    The Charlie-thing leapt
forward and was fully illuminated by the light. The gash along her forearm
seemed deeper and wider and it glistened with overflowing disease. She was
coming straight at Gary and the bloody idiot was just standing there, dumbstruck,
waiting for it to happen. In half the time it took him to react, Jody grabbed
his hand and dragged him out into the hall. She turned around to pull the door
closed and barely managed to shut it in time. Dead Charlie was on all fours,
scuttling like a crab towards her, head lolling back but eyes fixed forward.
    Jody shut the door and
clung onto the handle as it rattled in its frame. The noise was terrible and
filled the house – dead Charlie hitting the woodwork again and again and
again.
    ‘Want Mummy!’ Holly
screamed, her high-pitched wail cutting through the panic and everything else.
    ‘Get them out of here,’
Jody screamed, but she needn’t have bothered because Gary was already halfway
up the stairs, pushing and dragging the kids to safety. In the split-second she
was distracted, Jody almost let go of the door. Charlie yanked it open from
inside, spindly fingers wrapped around the handle, pulling Jody into the dining
room. Jody pulled it back at the last possible second and clung on for dear
life. ‘Help me, Gary!’
    Gary feigned deafness,
but then looked back out of guilt. Momentary eye contact. Jody pleading for
help she knew she wasn’t going to get. Ben tried to turn back, but Gary kept
him moving forward.
    Dead Charlie yanked at
the door again, and this time the hideous thing’s strength was such that the
handle was snatched clean out of Jody’s hands.
    The door was wide open.
    Jody and the
Charlie-thing, face-to-face.
    Gary glanced back once
more as the dead girl lunged and knocked Jody clean off her feet.
    Keep moving. Keep
moving. Keep moving.
    Into the bedroom he and
Charlie had shared. The kids were crying, all of them, even Ben. ‘It’s okay,’
he told them. ‘It’s gonna be okay. We’re gonna be all right.’
    He herded them over to
the far side of the king-size bed, then went back and shifted Charlie’s bedside
table, knocking her jewellery, makeup and creams everywhere. Didn’t matter. She
had no use for any of them now. He hefted the table out of the way then ran
back around again and shoved the bed frame against the door to block it. Ben
helped, quickly realising what his dad was trying to do.
    ‘What about Mum?’ asked
Jenny.
    ‘Sorry, love.’
    ‘Will she be all right?’
    ‘I don’t think so.’
    ‘Can we help her?’
    ‘It’s too late.’
    ‘But we have to help
her.’
    ‘I don’t think we can.
Mummy stayed downstairs to stop Charlie getting us. She’s really brave.’
    ‘I want Mummy,’ Holly
whined.
    ‘I know you do, love.
You have to remember, though, Mummy wanted you three to be safe more than
anything else in the world. That’s why she stayed downstairs, and that’s why
she brought you here so we could both look after you together. She got hurt
taking care of all of us. She was really brave, your mum.’
    ‘We should go back,’ Ben
said.
    ‘We’re not going back.’
    ‘She dead?’ Holly asked.
    ‘She one of those things?’
Jenny asked, sobbing.
    ‘I don’t know.’
    ‘I think she’s dead,’
Holly said.
    Jenny started howling.
Ben started shouting, kicking out in frustration. Gary wrapped his arms around
all three of them and sat them down on the floor in the space where the bed had
originally been. ‘Shh... all of you,’ he whispered. ‘We have to keep