Read The Restless Dead: A Zombie Novel for Free Online

lopsided. “What is this, Muzz an early April Fool’s? Or, let’s make fun of the video guy today? You guys are always coming in and saying crazy stuff.”
    Mustafa springs forward, and with arm muscles straining, grabs his pal by the throat. “This is real, mate. Not some kind of fucking game. We need to leave. Move your arse. Now.” 
    Kenny’s specs steam up, and his face turns red like it’d been given a damn good slapping.
    “Get off me,” he yelps, using both hands to knock Mustafa’s grasp away.
    Both men stand eyeball to eyeball as if sizing each other up. The goofy grin slides off Kenny's face and he starts shaking with anger. “What’s up with you?”
    Scott steps in with a neutral expression on his face. Having worked at a Glasgow high school, he’s well used to breaking up fights and not getting clobbered in the process. “Whoa, take it easy, guys.”
    Mustafa’s mutters away to himself as Kenny slumps down on a chair beside the counter. Meanwhile, Carrot Top has slinked into the back of the shop, saying something about a delivery.
    It doesn’t occur to me that we should warn him not to open the back door. Not that he’d listen. He thinks we’re wind up merchants, and that this is some elaborate practical joke.
    I’m desperate to get moving. To get to Fiona’s. In this shop we’re an easy target with all the glass windows. Whether the door is locked or not, those things are hungry and mad enough to break in.
    I’m about to point this out when something in Kenny’s brain must have clicked. He puts his finger to my bat and comes away with some blood on his fingertip. He raises it to his nose and sniffs. “Smells like copper.” He wipes the smear on a brown paper bag on the counter. “It’s blood, all right.”
    The way he announces this discovery sounds as if it’s some kind of revelation and not what we’ve been telling him all along.
    “Is what you say, true? Has it really happened? The zombie apocalypse?”
    He eyes Mustafa who nods. Kenny’s eyes sparkle, and at first, I think I’ve misunderstood his sudden show of emotion. How could anyone be pleased about this? Then he wipes his glasses with his sleeve. “I knew it would happen. One day.” There’s feverish excitement in his voice. “How did it start?”
    Mustafa’s confused. “What?”
    “What caused people to turn into zombies?” says Kenny. “Was it a virus created by the military? Were they trying to create a super soldier? Was it animal experiments gone wrong? Or, fracking that released an unknown alien toxin? Or was it the Chinese testing a genetically engineered weapon? Or Iran...”
    “Who knows?” Scott snaps, jumping in before Kenny can unleash more oddball theories. “Nobody knows.”
    Kenny springs out of the chair like a jack in the box. “We’d better go now. This place isn’t safe. Zombies are drawn to shops and lights...or didn’t you know that?”
    We shake our heads.
    Kenny frowns. “Christ, guys, have you never seen Dawn of the Dead ?” Then he shouts into the backroom. “Colin. Let’s go.”
    “But there’s a delivery.”
    Scott shouts, “Don’t open the back door.”
    Carrot Top reappears. “They won’t be long.”
    It’s obvious he’s been listening at the doorway. He’s chuckling away to himself like a school kid fidgeting in class. “You’re not going to fall for this, mate, are you? It’s a pure wind up. We all love watching the movies, and that guy from This Life is good in The Walking Dead, but hey, that’s all they are, movies. Not...”
    He’s cut off mid-sentence by human shapes grabbing him from behind. There’s no time to do anything. He’s gone in the blink of an eye, dragged into the back.
    We hear bloodcurdling screams that tell us it won’t be over quickly for poor Colin who's now being munched on by dead bastards.
    Mustafa’s already at the main door. He’s fumbling with the lock and taking so long about opening the door I’m terrified they’ll finish