Read Domain of the Dead for Free Online Page B

helicopter.
    Bates took a wistful look at the battered stereo sitting behind the mine. He grumbled, “Shit, I’ve got to make up a new mix tape.” He sat back in his seat and pushed out a long rush of air, relieved to be in the chopper.
    Drawing a breath of his own, Nathan caught the mixture of decay and body odour from the passengers next to him. Nothing unusual, but now it didn’t bother him. Now he was escaping it, leaving it behind, not trying to ignore it. Escaping. He pushed his shoulders deep into the back of his seat and let his eyelids fall closed.
    “Sarah.” Jennifer sounded worried.
    Sarah wiped the tears from her eyes and tried to muster a calm tone as she answered, “What is it honey?”
    Jennifer looked out the window. “They’re getting closer.”
    Sarah too looked out the window at the approaching zombies.
    Nathan opened his eyes, and bobbing his head, looked between Jennifer and Sarah. The zombies were indeed getting close.
    “I imagine the pilot has to do things before he can take off,” Sarah said, trying to reassure Jennifer without sounding too anxious.
    “Shouldn’t we be taking off?” Nathan called out nervously.
    Idris craned round from his pilot’s chair to see his passengers.
    “We’re going to sit here a bit,” he said casually.
    “Why?” Nathan asked.
    “To give the W.D.’s something to interest them,” Idris answered.
    Nathan looked at Sarah and then back at the pilot. “What?”
    There was a thump at the window and Jennifer screamed.
    Sarah looked round to see a decayed face pressed against the pane, a dark grey mass of loose skin and pitted chasms. The dry dead skin raggedly hung around the numerous, deep, ickier filled gashes. As it tried to bite through the glass, streaks of dark saliva were smudged across the window.
    “For fuck’s sake, take off man!” Nathan bellowed.
    “I say when we take off,” Idris said, unflustered by the swarm of zombies outside.
    Nathan was half out of his seat. “Why the hell are we still sitting here?!”
    “Sit down. I’ll take off before it gets too dangerous.”
    Nathan was almost completely out of his seat when an arm reached over and firmly pushed him back down.
    Bates pinned Nathan to his seat.
    “It looks dangerous enough already!” Nathan complained as he watched a second zombie press up against the glass on the other side of the aircraft.
    “Just calm down,” Bates said. “This is the closest you’ll get to in-flight entertainment.”
    “So why are we waiting?” Sarah asked.
    “I’m playing decoy,” Idris said. “The more W.D.’s we entertain, the less Cahz will need to worry about.”
    “This is fucked up,” Nathan said, but he stayed back in his seat nonetheless.
    The daylight seemed to fade, sucked in by all the grey-faced cadavers shuffling towards the chopper. The undead now surrounded the aircraft and one by one they were pressing against the windows.
    The pounding of dead hands against the skin of the helicopter grew louder as more and more crowded against it. As they reached their goal they squashed their stiff faces against the glass. The chopper began to rock from the force of their pounding hands, and as they pounded the noise grew so loud that it almost enough to drown out the rotor blades.
    Sarah held Jennifer in a tight cuddle, repeating calming phrases to her. Nathan sat, his face drained of colour, slumped in his seat as if he were trying to sink out of sight of the insatiable zombies.
    Sarah noticed that the pilot and the two soldiers onboard were sitting quite placid and silent.
    “All right,” the pilot said as he flicked a switch on the dashboard. “This is your Captain speaking. We’re getting the hell out of here.”
    With that, he pushed forward on his stick and the faces around the windows started to drop away.
    The chopper rose into the morning sky with ease, unhindered by the mob that had surrounded it. Its pilot watched from his vantage point as the three men and one woman