Read Byron : A Zombie Tale (Part 1) for Free Online Page A

of the foyer. Grabbing them I stepped over to the officer. His eyes were closed – it was obvious that his strength was waning. I opened his shirt in one swift motion and could see that he was bleeding through a fairly small wound right of the center of his chest. But, what I saw beneath the shirt worried me more than the wound itself. A large, deep purple blotch had bloomed within the officer’s flesh beneath his shirt and had spread across most of his chest. I didn’t need medical training to know that he was bleeding internally.
    Pam looked at me as I hung my head. “What is it?” she asked in a low whisper. I simply looked at her and shook my head.
    “What?! What’s wrong?” She was getting very excited. I could see the tears welling in her eyes.
    “He’s not going to make it. He’s bleeding internally – there’s no way to stop it!” I explained to her. But, in my foolishness I made a dire mistake. I had stopped holding my breath. Instinctively, I sucked in air.
    Saliva poured forth from my mouth like a torrential flood. Beyond my control my hands reached for his flesh and I felt myself leaning forward. My mouth opened wide – wider, in fact, than I had ever thought possible for it to open. The hunger burning in my gut was excruciating! My body needed to feed!
    “NNOOO!” I screamed. And, with a Herculean act of will, I threw myself again away from the body of the poor unfortunate man! I stopped my breathing as completely as I could. I needed to get away! To Flee! Before I became something for which I could never forgive myself!
    I ran back down the hallway, making my way to the morgue where I had last awoken. I needed the isolation, to be away from other living things to which I may become a danger. My face felt numb as the reality of the situation swept over me. It was a reality that I did not want to face, let alone accept. It was the reality that I was dead! And not just dead, but apparently, Undead!

Chapter 7
    The darkness of the morgue was welcoming and reflected my state of mind. My life was over - I was dead! And yet, I wasn’t. I was still here; still me! I could walk, talk, think, and reason. I was still, in a sense, human. Wasn’t I?
    Except now I seemed to have some new affliction. Is that what this was? An affliction? Or, was it some kind of a curse?
    I just didn’t know.
    I sat in the darkness for a while, trying to wrap my head around my current condition. But, this silent contemplation was short-lived for down the hallway from the vicinity of the foyer I heard a bloodcurdling scream. Pam!
    I raced down the hallway and stopped my breath as I came close to the foyer – not willing to risk a replay of my past behavior. Before I reached the room, though, it became evident to me what had caused Pam concern. My ears were assailed by a barrage of pounding.
    Stepping into the room I was shocked by what appeared before me. Through the glass front door I could see that there were about a dozen animated corpses pounding on the glass. I didn’t know if it was the smell of the dying officer that had attracted their attention, but now that Pam was screaming they were becoming even more excited.
    I leapt into the room and grabbed Pam about the waist, dragging her from the room. We had to get somewhere safe from these things. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any more than two steps before the plate glass shattered and came crashing to the floor. The undead began to swarm through the door. The first two creatures lurched over to the recently expired officer, while the remainder appeared to prefer a living target.
    Three corpses were rapidly approaching us. Considering that these were merely moving piles of dead meat, I was surprised that they moved so quickly. And yet, unlike myself, I could see that they didn’t have possession of their cognitive faculties. They were simply autonomous feeding machines driven by a hunger for human flesh and blood.
    I pushed Pam behind me. Her hands were still covered