Read Dead and Dead Again: Kansas City Quarantine for Free Online

The group of marching musicians
pulled together and charged right for the incoming group of zombies.
    A flutist shoved her flute into the
eye socket of a lumbering zombie as it reached out for her. Its eye popped like
a crushed grape and the thing instantly dropped to the sidewalk. But then two
hungry former soccer fans with gnashing teeth and hungry eyes leaped onto her
back, rending her tender flesh with their hungry jaws. Letting out a pitiful
shriek, she fell just as a skinny drummer dashed in and took down the two
zombies simultaneously with a drumstick in each hand, stabbing one stick into
the eye socket of each attacker, fluid dripping onto his hands and running down
his arms.  The boy didn’t have time to mourn the girl he’d had a crush on since
Kindergarten, because three more of the gray-skinned people-things lurched
towards him with clenching jaws and grasping talons. With a heartfelt cry of
loss, he turned and dashed back to join his friends and reform their defensive
line.
    One tuba player stuffed a zombie’s
head into the opening of his instrument and then pulled down hard on the end, snapping
the zombie’s neck noisily. Soon nearly everyone with an instrument was helping
take down one of the intruding monsters. Those without a potential weapon
turned to the parade floats, desperately ripping anything that could be used to
smash or penetrate a skull. The civilians seemed to be winning for now, but Sarah
and Trip knew if this was anything like the movies that was likely to change.
    “Let’s get out of here,” the doctor
implored them earnestly.
    The trio ran full-out for three
blocks before both Trip and the doctor had to stop, each holding their sides,
chests heaving as they teetered and eventually leaned up against a wall. Trip
took the time to demand answers from the doctor between wheezing breaths. “What…did
you do, Doctor?”
    Sarah reached out and grabbed both
men, one on each arm, pulling them both down the sidewalk, slowly, but at least
they were moving away from the chaos.
    “I personally…checked the pulse…of
Dr. Wilson…and that other victim,” the doctor occasionally looked to either
Trip or Sarah as he explained, but mostly he seemed to be talking to himself.
Both found his story slightly difficult to follow at first.
    “Wilson…contracted the virus…yes…but
he was dead. The case broke…during the crash. But…none of us came…came near him…until
he died. We carried him…out with the proper procedures. No one should have…contracted
anything. That other man was out there…already. He was killed when we…crashed.
We put him next to Wilson, but he wasn’t infected…with anything. You can’t
contract a disease…after you’re dead, you know? But then he rose. He just got
right up…and attacked that technician. Wilson stayed down. He’s still down for
all I know. But that other…that other man…he was dead. The dead don’t attack.
Not in real life. It’s not possible. He was dead. I’m certain of it.”
    “That’s fine, Doc,” Trip stumbled
down the sidewalk. “But what is it?”
    “I don’t know. If anything, they
should have gotten sick, but nothing like this.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I can’t say.”
    “You’ve already been saying.” Tripper informed him.
    “What?”
    “Look around, Doc. You think your
security levels mean anything now? We’re almost to our car. I’m guessing we’re
probably your only way out of this shit. So, spill.”
    The doctor looked around at the
surprisingly empty streets. He recalled having read something regarding a
detailed parking policy for the parade, about parking in distant parking lots
and taking mass transit downtown and most streets being one-way downtown before
the parade and one-way out of town following the festivities. There was little
chance he was going to find someone else with a car. The lessening sounds of
screaming coming from the distance behind them only served as motivation for
the doctor.