Read Beyond the Barriers (Novella): Ghouls for Free Online

tree line. I nodded and waved at our group to follow.
    I felt like I was in a daze and touched my forehead. My fingers came away bloody. Further exploration revealed that I’d suffered a laceration just below my hairline. It didn’t feel like it was that bad and a head wound can bleed a lot. Ignoring the pain and throbbing, I led us away from the crash.
    That’s when a small horde of them came out of the woods. Among them were several green-eyed ghouls. One of them, in particular, a boy really, moved along on all fours. His hair was a ragged mess that hung in front of his eyes and, in the smoke from the wreck, he looked demonic.
    “That dude’s having a bad hair day,” Scott quipped.
    “He can join the club,” I muttered.
    I drew my big Desert Eagle and lined up a shot but I was seeing two of the things. It leapt off the ground and landed ten feet away on top of the eighteen wheeler’s empty trailer. I fired but it moved with dazzling speed and was gone from sight behind the wreck. The undead came at us en masse. I fired wildly. Probably hit one or two. I was still so dazed I couldn’t be sure.
    They swam before my eyes and, when one got too close, me or one of the crew shot them in the head or disabled them with a leg shot. Zombies look like they can take any kind of damage you throw at them but take out a limb and you might buy yourself a few precious seconds.
    Then Scott took one down. We wove away from the wreckage and into the low rise of woods.
    An undead came at me. A big guy built like a pro wrestler but missing large pieces of his left thigh. His tan pants were covered in blood and left the wounds open to our eyes. I nearly gagged when I noticed the mass of maggots that clung to his lower half
    I staggered right barely avoiding the big zombies hand, batting at it wildly. He fell as he reached for me again and landed on his face. Body flat, I had the chance to get away. This confused gang of the dead were a sorry lot, even for zombies. They were so aimless, they walked away from me once I was out of sight.
    I crouched for a while behind a big bole and caught my breath. I was so sore it was an effort just to stand back up after the ordeal of the past few days. With dogged persistence, I got my feet under me and made for the road once again.
    Scott crouched next to me and took in a few deep breaths. The others gathered around.
    Where was that goddamn ghoul?
    “You okay, hombre ?”
    “Yeah, man. Just need to rest. Guess there’s no time right now.”
    “No rest for the wicked.”
    Jon dropped next to us but kept his gun trained toward the rear. His wife, Janet, kept watch as well. She had a Glock in one hand and a hatchet in the other. Her red hair didn’t do much to hide the blood that had splattered her. Janet had split an undead’s head like a melon a few minutes ago. Our group had somehow shrunk because I didn’t see a few faces. Some must have fled into the woods.
    Chris, with his evasive eyes, watched me as he also kept an eye on the advancing dead.
    “I see two choices,” I told the crew. “We can try to fade back into the woods and circle around this mess, but we’d have to stay close and quiet. Problem is we don’t know what’s waiting for us once we hit the open road again.”
    “I say we risk the woods,” Scott said.
    “Yep.” Jon echoed.
    Janet and Chris nodded assent so that was the path we chose. Edward looked pensive, but whatever he was going to say was washed away by peer pressure so he just nodded.
    “Scott, lead the way. I’m still a little woozy,” I said.
    “Sure thing, boss.” Scott led us out.
    We moved as quickly as we could but we were all covered in bumps and bruises. My head was starting to clear but it also throbbed to each beat of my heart, and that was unfortunate because it was beating quickly.
    Scott took us diagonal to the road as things beat at the branches behind and to our side. Something snuffled in the woods ahead and I hoped it was an animal but knew