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

uncontrollably.
    “Good job,” I said.
    The trio of zombies arrived and we made short work of them. I put a round in one’s forehead while Jon and Scott beat the other two to the ground and smashed in their heads. Scott’s knife got stuck so we left it.
    We faded around a few more abandoned cars. I wanted to try a few but was sure that even if we found one that still had a working battery, the gas would have gone bad a few months ago. No sense in piling into a car just so we can get fifty feet before it backfired loud enough to bring another horde our way. Plus it would most likely stall and leave us high and dry.
    Then the dead began to pour out of the tree line. Not just a few, but dozens. There was no way we stood a chance against so many so we did the only thing we could. We ran.
    I glanced over my shoulder but Chris was nowhere to be seen. I tried to feel pity but couldn’t muster up anything more than a sigh.
    We ran into the shit a few minutes later.
    Scott picked a path that skirted a pair of burned out duplexes. They’d been built recently but now they were just skeletons of the buildings they used to be. Through a collapsed wall I spotted a couch with two charred corpses. The only thing that was still mostly intact was a glass framed picture of some abstract art. Some of the artwork had been scorched by the flames but the center was still in colorful and alive, unlike everything else in the home.
    Out of the ruins flowed a stream of undead. They came from behind the house and through a back door. Ten, then twenty. Soon I lost count. We had no choice but to keep running.
    We pounded over the pavement, and that’s when the ghoul made a reappearance.
    The bastard leapt from behind an overturned ice cream truck and landed just to my left. I aimed and squeezed off a shot but he was already on me. The others in the group closed in to help but the distraction allowed a number of zombies to take us on our right flank.
    Edward screamed in pain as one of the zombies got him. The dead guy fell on him and took him to the ground. Edward fought but it wasn’t enough to stop the oozing sack of flesh from taking out part of the back of Edward’s neck. I yelled for him but there wasn’t any way to save the member of our crew.
    I had problems of my own.
    The ghoul was rancid and reeked of dead fish. I punched at his face but there wasn’t a lot behind the blow. My hand and wrist ached from the pounding I’d given that fucker Lee a few days ago and, in my weakened state, I wasn’t being smart and locking my wrist straight. It’s a wonder I hadn’t broken it before now.
    The ghoul’s breath was horrid. He got a hand around my neck and pulled me in. His lips peeled back to reveal bloodstained teeth that were jagged, gums covered in green rot.
    I swung the big desert eagle around and smashed it into his cheek. That got his attention and broke his grip.
    “We…come for you,” it said in a voice that was flat and sounded like a hissing water hose leak.
    “Fuck you,” I said back and lined up the gun to blow his brains all over the ground.
    He moved swiftly, got a knee under me and, with surprising strength, sent me flying. I tried to regain my balance and land on both feet but I was already on the way to an impact between my ass and hard pavement. I felt it all the way along my spine. My teeth clicked together and I was lucky I didn’t bite through my tongue.
    I fired wildly, the gun bucking in my hand, but I didn’t hit him.
    He was back on his feet and stalking toward me. I aimed but he batted the gun aside.
    Another zombie came out of the woodwork and fell on me.
    From the corner of my eye I caught sight of Scott fending off two of the undead while Jon and Janet fought alongside him. The kid, didn’t know his name, huddled next to a car, and then slid underneath it. His dark eyes found mine and there were tears there.
    I managed to kick the undead off me but the ghoul was still in my face. He got his knee between