“Still zombies huh?”
“Yes, still zombies.”
Gabe reached over and grabbed Brad’s shoulder. He felt pain in his side.
“Careful.” Brad admonished.
“I’m just glad to see you. What happened?” Gabe asked in concerned tone just now noticing the bruising on his face.
“Well, when those first two zombies came out, I had to shoot the first one twice before I got it.”
“Yeah. That’s the last thing I saw.”
“Well then that big one that knocked you down grabs me and pulls me to him.” Brad mimics pulling someone by the collar. “I wasn’t able to swing my gun around and shoot him but I was able to get to hold it out in front of me and he bit it. So I’m holding the gun up in front of me and he is like a dog playing fetch. But then in his effort to bite my face he shoves me in a corner and the barrel pushes against my cheek.” Brad points to the bruise on his face.
“Now this whole time I see two more zombies and Billy has dropped his gun. So I’m sure we are all dead and now I’m penned, but I realize the gun is penned to and this zombie isn’t smart enough to back off and get the gun out of his mouth and bite me. So I reach down and my knife off my belt and stab him in the head.” Brad starts making an overhead stabbing motion. “Would you believe it took three tries! Man I thought I was dead. That guy was huge!”
“So what happened. I thought you were dead the next time I looked over there.”
“Well so I’m done stabbing and Billy is just standing there, and so are the other two zombies. And so I’m asking him what happened, he sighs, picks up his rifle, still hasn’t said a word, and hits me in the chin with the rifle butt!”
“Yeah.” Gabe empathizes. “Turns out he was still about that cult.”
“Well that’s the last thing I remember until I woke up and found you.” Brad pauses and looks down his nose at Gabe. “So what the heck happened to you?”
“I promise I’ll tell you everything, but right now,” Gabe took a deep drink of water, “I can’t tell if I want to sleep more or eat more.”
“Oh, geez, yeah, you had been fasting and you’ve been out for a day and a half. Let me get you some food.”
As Brad got up to go get food Gabe shook his head and said to himself, “I can’t believe the zombies are still here.”
Brad stopped, “Well I don’t know what you did but there is some good news on that point…”
Gabe looked up at Brad raising his eyebrows expectantly.
“I met some survivors this morning, they came across the river from Cincinnati in a small fishing boat. Turns out their friend was bitten and died last night.”
“Well that’s terrible...” Gabe started but Brad cut him off.
“Yeah, but that’s not the thing. He didn’t change. Sad to say but they say he was a die-hard atheist, and they didn’t pray over him or stab him in the head, but he didn’t change.”
Gabe sat up straighter in surprise trying to comprehend the implication of what Brad said.
“I don’t know what you did after Billy knocked me out, but apparently getting bit by a zombie doesn’t make you a zombie anymore.” Brad stopped and looked down at the floor. “I mean yeah, it sucks that we still have zombies, but not being contagious anymore… That’s something.”
Brad looked back up at Gabe. “Oh, let me get you that food, but I want to know what happened while I was knocked out.”
“Thanks! Then I’ll tell you everything and we can plan how to get back to the others.”
“Sounds great. And when you feel better I can introduce you to the new people I met” Brad said opening the bedroom door and leaving the room.
By the time Brad came back upstairs with a large bowl of hot stew Gabe was already back to sleep. Brad sat the stew down on the stand, refilled Gabe’s glass with water and ice and then tiptoed out of the room, quietly closing the door behind him.
Author’s Note:
The idea and title for this book have been knocking around in my brain since my honeymoon 25 years ago (I know how to show a girl a good time). I finally decided to share it with the world. I hope you enjoy it and maybe even get something out of it.
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Thanks for reading!
Chadwick
Dead Faith (Book 1): Dead Faith Page 18