Read Time of Death Book 2: Asylum (A Zombie Novel) for Free Online Page A

and was on Jake before he could parry, driving him backwards
onto the carpet. Its snarling maw darted forward and bit empty air
as Jake snapped his head to the side.
    "Jake!" I yelled, running forward in the same
instant.
    Vinny was on top of them, pulling the zombie
back by the helmet, before I reached him.
    "Hold him off me!" Jake struggled, and while
Vinny held the corpse suspended in the air above him, Jake drove
the screwdriver upward and through its chin, pushing it in to the
hilt. The zombie struggled for only a second, then went limp, and
fell, lifeless, to the carpet as Vinny threw its body off Jake.
    Jake lay still, trying to catch his breath,
covered in zombie gunk and maggots that had spilled from the
corpse's open sores.
     

Chapter 03: Tuesday
     
    We gathered what supplies we could carry, using the
homeowner's hockey bag to transport them. Jake and Vinny each took
a handle and we set off for the boat. The trip back was uneventful;
we didn't see a single zombie. After a small struggle with
positioning the ramp across to the boat, we boarded and secured the
ramp into its hidey-hole.
    "Oh, my God, Jake," stammered Meg. "You smell
so bad."
    I had to agree, he was pretty ripe.
    "Bet you're wishing we'd filled that hot tub
now, eh, bro?" quipped Vinny.
    "Suck it," Jake barked back.
    "That's what she said."
    Jake rolled his eyes, and just like that our
joking had resumed. "I'm declaring this a total loss." He motioned
at his shirt before carefully lifting it over his head and tossing
it overboard.
    "Good call, babe," I confirmed, and headed to
the bedroom to free Daphne from her solitude. "Daaaaa-phne," I
called as I got closer to the door. She let loose with a series of
shrill barks upon hearing my voice and stamped her tiny front paws
into the rug when I opened the door.
    "Okay, that one's a freebie for me not taking
you out this morning." I pointed to the pile of shit at the foot of
the bed, and went in search of the dustpan to scoop that poop. Jake
laughed upstairs, and she darted out of the room to find him. "I
see how it is. Traitor!" I shouted to her as she sped off.
    "Hey, Meg?" I called from the base of the
stairs.
    "Yeah?"
    "Come help me organize all this crap."
    The boys had been kind enough to bring the
huge bag down for us, and we spent the next hour putting everything
into the pantry and taking inventory of our score. The gods had
answered my silent prayers, and we returned with two full cases of
water. The new cases were stacked beneath the single case leftover
from our original stay on the boat, giving us a total of ninety
bottles.
    "We're going to have to cut back on our
consumption unless we want to make continued scavenging trips," I
stated. "I don't know about you, but I'd prefer not to venture off
the boat unless it's absolutely necessary."
    "I agree completely." She was organizing the
canned goods, taking care to line up the labels like Seth used to
do. The unwelcome memory caused a pang of emotion to bubble up
inside me, and my breath caught in my throat. To her credit, Meg
either didn't notice or was kind enough to let it go without
discussion. I busied myself with a new stack of cans and put
pressure on my eyes to will them to remain dry.
    "Looking good, ladies," Jake proclaimed when
he and Vinny walked into the galley. It struck me funny to see a
man the size of Jake's brother toting around a tiny dog.
    "Go put a clean shirt on, Jake. It's
cold."
    "Yes, mom." He relented and trudged down the
hall to comply.
    Meg grunted in frustration and plopped into
one of the bar stools. We all looked at her expectantly.
    "Is this really what our life is now?
Rationing food and water, living day to day, and not able to step
on dry land without fear?"
    "Yeah," Vinny sighed. "Kind of sucks balls,
doesn't it?"
    Jake returned, pulling a clean shirt over his
head. "Major donkey balls."
    "Oh, my God, Jake." I stifled a laugh. "That
has got to be the ugliest shirt I have ever seen." The offending
article was some