One Foot In Front of the Other (Free Story Friday) by Josh Hilden

 
    A Call to Action!
     
    If you will forgive me, and even if you won’t, I am going to take a few minutes of your time before you dive into your download.
     
    I am an Indie Writer. This means that I am either self publishing my work or I am being published by a small company and not one of the “Big 6” publishers. I enjoy being independent, I can write what I want when I want with little to no oversight from above.
     
    It also means I am doing all of the heavy lifting for myself.
     
    That is the part I enjoy the least. I don’t enjoy constantly spamming social media with information on my latest work, but it is a task I have to do.
     
    “But Josh” you ask, “What can I do to help you out?”
     
    The answer is very simple. I have a short list of things you can do to give me a helping hand.
     
           Share information about my work with your friends and family
           Like, review, and rate my work on Amazon and Goodreads (of course if you don’t like something I would prefer you not leave negative feedback)
           Finally you can sign up for my mailing list (link below) to keep up with the latest goings on with me and my work
    I look forward to producing more products that you can enjoy and I anticipate a long and happy reader/writer relationship!
     
    -           Josh Hilden
     
    Subscribe to the Josh Hilden/GWS Press Mailing list
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
                  Swing and a miss!
                  That was the first reaction which stomped through Dana’s mind when she saw the kid with the club. He was carrying a club, probably a pre-plague baseball bat, heavily modified with rebar and leather reinforcement over the last twenty years. She watched him swing for the head of the groaning mess trying to get a grip on his young and juicy body.
                  She had to give the kid credit for guts though even as he missed with his first clumsy attack he simply backed up a few paces and tried again. This time the weapon connected with the right shoulder of the monster trundling toward the boy. The full motion reminded her of Zane back in the early days.
                  Dana winced as she heard the snap and crack of bones being held together by skin that was more leather than flesh break under the force of the impact. The sound was one she was intimately acquainted with. The creature that had once been a human being, Dana studied the shreds of clothing still clinging to the gaunt form and realized this one had been a soldier at one time the fatigues still identifiable under the layers of dried mud and gore, stumbled under the blow but did not go down.
                  “Shit!” The kid cried in frustration, his voice was a little high and had the slight breaking of someone just beginning to enter his manhood. He stepped back three more steps and readied to swing again she could see the runnels of sweat gleaming on his heavily tanned skin and his long brown hair blowing in the gentle breeze gave him a slightly ethereal quality. She was painfully reminded of Zane as she watched the kid refuse to give up and flee the zombie before him.
                  “Boy has guts.” Dana said to herself. She never took her eyes off of him as she unslung the rifle from her back and worked the lever action driving a round into the chamber. A voice in the back of her mind gave a tusking noise when she realized that the kid had not heard the snacking of the lever and bolt. He was brave but not nearly observant enough for her liking. Zane would have smacked her on the back of her head for having so little situational awareness.
                  She was surprised when she realized the boy was not preparing to swing for the head which was a good six inches higher than his own this time. The angle of his stance showed he was aiming