LZR-1143: Within by Bryan James Page B
Authors: Bryan James
seconds of life until the blood on his arms made her lose her grip.
Then, Bridget fell.
Louis turned his head away as they took her. He saw a flash of skin as her shirt was ripped from her torso, nearly twenty creatures crammed into the room as her stomach and breasts were exposed to the ravaging, hungry horde. Her shirt was shredded, and her pants lasted merely seconds longer. Hands darted in, broken nails and jagged teeth, shattered on unknown surfaces, tearing into her soft flesh.
He began to cry, even as she screamed.
Her agony lasted longer than the others. Whatever was done to her was done slowly, without death coming quickly, amongst at least twenty of the creatures. He eventually moved away from the skylight, toward the vast expanse of roof. He moved away from her pain and her death.
As he stared out over the suburban dawn, he watched absently as the slowly winding smoke of distant fires rose to the sky with the same consistency as his tears fell to the ground.
A blossom of flame spun into the air several blocks away, eventually adding to the countless fires burning fitfully in the distance.
Louis sat down heavily on the gravel roof, and for the first time, focused on the mass of humanity clustered below, swarming against the sides of the building. Hundreds streamed from the streets around the building to join their brethren in their hungry vigil. The smells of a new world greeted him with each change of the wind.
Smoke. Chemicals. Blood.
He even though that he could smell fear. Fear and desperation.
He wondered absently about his girlfriend, realizing now that he had never loved her.
But he was sad about the dog.
Fancy that.
Then, he began to laugh. As the sun rose on a ruined city—a city so quickly brought to its knees by uncontrollable circumstance and a collapse of the normal and routine—Louis laughed. The peals of mirth rolled down the cement walls of the bleak bank building.
The laughter filtered over the heads of hundreds of creatures, many of whom turned their heads to this sound of humanity.
To the sound of food.
And still he laughed, as if nothing else remained of the world—or in it.
As if it could fill the void of lost souls.
As if he were the only soul remaining, and his laughter would keep the darkness at bay.
***
As the sun rose on the new day, from Maine to California and from Washington to Florida, cities were burning, and people were dying. Some news stations were still broadcasting, and some roads still open. Some areas would even hold off for days before succumbing to the plague. But the major cities were falling fast, and no response was, or could be, effective.
Thousands of miles from Harbor Island, in a hospital in New York, an orderly was administering a heavy dose of sedative to a well-known patient. The dosage should have been enough to kill a normal man.
But it didn’t.
Days from when Louis emerged onto the roof of the large banking building, this man would awaken into a world that had drastically changed.
A world that was burning.
A world that had for eons belonged to man, but that now belonged to the dead.
###
Scroll down for more zombie goodness, and for a note from the author!
Enjoy this? Want to read some more free zombie stuff?
Check ou t LZR-1143: Perspective s , a FREE ebook with six short stories set in the zombie apocalypse!
JUST CLICK BELOW!
Want to read some more zombie books? Follow the story of Mike McKnight, a former action movie star who awakens in a mental hospital in the middle of this plague—and doesn’t know what the hell is going on.
Check ou t LZR-1143: Infectio n , and the sequel , LZR-1143: Evolutio n , available on Amazon.com.
JUST CLICK BELOW!
A Note from the Author
We all wish that we would be the hero. The Antonio, not the Louis, right?
In a time when tragedy strikes or chaos takes over, we all imagine ourselves as standing up for what is right and doing what is
Then, Bridget fell.
Louis turned his head away as they took her. He saw a flash of skin as her shirt was ripped from her torso, nearly twenty creatures crammed into the room as her stomach and breasts were exposed to the ravaging, hungry horde. Her shirt was shredded, and her pants lasted merely seconds longer. Hands darted in, broken nails and jagged teeth, shattered on unknown surfaces, tearing into her soft flesh.
He began to cry, even as she screamed.
Her agony lasted longer than the others. Whatever was done to her was done slowly, without death coming quickly, amongst at least twenty of the creatures. He eventually moved away from the skylight, toward the vast expanse of roof. He moved away from her pain and her death.
As he stared out over the suburban dawn, he watched absently as the slowly winding smoke of distant fires rose to the sky with the same consistency as his tears fell to the ground.
A blossom of flame spun into the air several blocks away, eventually adding to the countless fires burning fitfully in the distance.
Louis sat down heavily on the gravel roof, and for the first time, focused on the mass of humanity clustered below, swarming against the sides of the building. Hundreds streamed from the streets around the building to join their brethren in their hungry vigil. The smells of a new world greeted him with each change of the wind.
Smoke. Chemicals. Blood.
He even though that he could smell fear. Fear and desperation.
He wondered absently about his girlfriend, realizing now that he had never loved her.
But he was sad about the dog.
Fancy that.
Then, he began to laugh. As the sun rose on a ruined city—a city so quickly brought to its knees by uncontrollable circumstance and a collapse of the normal and routine—Louis laughed. The peals of mirth rolled down the cement walls of the bleak bank building.
The laughter filtered over the heads of hundreds of creatures, many of whom turned their heads to this sound of humanity.
To the sound of food.
And still he laughed, as if nothing else remained of the world—or in it.
As if it could fill the void of lost souls.
As if he were the only soul remaining, and his laughter would keep the darkness at bay.
***
As the sun rose on the new day, from Maine to California and from Washington to Florida, cities were burning, and people were dying. Some news stations were still broadcasting, and some roads still open. Some areas would even hold off for days before succumbing to the plague. But the major cities were falling fast, and no response was, or could be, effective.
Thousands of miles from Harbor Island, in a hospital in New York, an orderly was administering a heavy dose of sedative to a well-known patient. The dosage should have been enough to kill a normal man.
But it didn’t.
Days from when Louis emerged onto the roof of the large banking building, this man would awaken into a world that had drastically changed.
A world that was burning.
A world that had for eons belonged to man, but that now belonged to the dead.
###
Scroll down for more zombie goodness, and for a note from the author!
Enjoy this? Want to read some more free zombie stuff?
Check ou t LZR-1143: Perspective s , a FREE ebook with six short stories set in the zombie apocalypse!
JUST CLICK BELOW!
Want to read some more zombie books? Follow the story of Mike McKnight, a former action movie star who awakens in a mental hospital in the middle of this plague—and doesn’t know what the hell is going on.
Check ou t LZR-1143: Infectio n , and the sequel , LZR-1143: Evolutio n , available on Amazon.com.
JUST CLICK BELOW!
A Note from the Author
We all wish that we would be the hero. The Antonio, not the Louis, right?
In a time when tragedy strikes or chaos takes over, we all imagine ourselves as standing up for what is right and doing what is
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