Read Flesh Ravenous (Book 1) for Free Online Page B

her up.
    Another half-hour passed. Joni was still awake, and the groans of monsters never ceased. They didn’t sleep.
    Something didn’t feel right to Joni. It made her afraid.
    She crawled from under the covers and got out of bed. She tiptoed over to her dad’s backpack and unzipped it. Her hand searched around inside until she felt metal. She pulled out the pistol and zipped the bag shut. Therese still snored.
    With the gun in hand, Joni walked over to the dresser and slid open the middle drawer. She lifted a few garments, stuck the gun underneath, and buried it with more articles of clothing. She closed the drawer, hoping it was a good place to hide the weapon for now.

 
    4
    Shabuka?
     
     
    Lawrence
     
    Lawrence stared out the window of Helena and France’s room. It was a gray morning and rain fell heavily. The number of the dead things outside had increased the past two days. There were over a dozen of them now, twenty, more or less. Rain fell down on them, soaking whatever tatters they wore and making their gashes and wounds leak black slime. Some lingered about, faces livid and brutish if not disfigured. All day those faces conveyed ferocity, as if mad with hunger. Only the taste of raw flesh would satisfy them. Some of them continued to pound their fists and crash their bodies against any potential openings of the house, the garage door, the front door, and the boarded windows. A few had bloodied, disjointed fingers and hands that hung limply from their arms, due to their incessant pounding. The dead had some intelligence and retained a certain level of memory. They knew they’d find a feast within the house. Lawrence feared they might remember how to use tools. Shovels, rakes, picks, and bricks, lay freely in the backyards of uninhabited properties around Revel Street.
    “This is the most I’ve ever seen,” said Helena, peering through the window over Miles’s shoulder.
    “We caused a ruckus when Richard and his family came,” said Miles.
    “Those things probably searched all the houses around this neighborhood and found nothing,” said Lawrence. “Now they’re flocking over to this house. They know we’re here.”
    “But they can’t get in, right?” France stood close to the window but refused to take a glance outside.
    “So far they haven’t,” said Helena. “Usually they disperse in a few days when they gain nothing.”
    “This might be like the hamster in the maze experiment,” said Lawrence.
    “I don’t think I know what you’re talking about,” said Miles.
    “What hamster experiment?” France asked.
    “Well, it’s like I said,” said Lawrence, “over the months, those things searched through all the houses in the area, except for this one.”
    “What does that have to do with hamsters?” France looked puzzled.
    Miles scratched his chin, as he appeared to muse. “So you think they’re getting smarter and using common sense?”
    “Hard to say,” said Lawrence. “I can only hope not. After breakfast, we should have a meeting.”
    “I really don’t understand,” said France. “Why were you talking about hamsters?”
     
    Kasey
     
    “Food will last for another three months,” said Kasey, “if we maintain our rationing. If we don’t come up with a plan soon, in six months we’ll all be dead.”
    Everyone was present in the family room, and all sat stiffly and tense. Nobody liked to hear they’d be dead in six months. Kasey had to throw that information at them.
    “Maybe we can have two meals a day,” said Helena, “instead of three.”
    “We can do that,” said Kasey. “But, really, we’re just prolonging our survival for another month. I don’t think help will come, and I know most of y’all feel the same.”
    “We have enough bullets, don’t we?” Therese said. She appeared the calmest out of everyone, only because she seemed languid.
    “Bullets for what?” Kasey didn’t like what Therese was implying.
    “Starving isn’t a good way to go,