Generation Dead (Book 3): Beyond The Gates by Joseph Talluto Page B

the hill towards the road.  I looked back at the van and saw Jake and Kayla taking in the mess.  I hoped this wasn’t a sign of things to come.
    I waited for the van to clear the garage door, and I swung it back down, locking it in place.  No Charlie lecture for me, I figured.  I turned back towards the van just as a zombie came around the corner of the house.  My gun was already holstered, and I acted more on reflex than any thought.
    “Damn!” I yelled, ducking under the outstretched arms and leaping away to give myself some room. The zombie turned and lurched after me, one foot grinding on the gravel behind the house.  His skin was dark grey, and his eyes were extremely cloudy.  If this wasn’t an original zombie, it was pretty darn close to one.  His skin was torn and loose, and his hands were mostly claws of bone and skin. His mouth opened, and black teeth peeked through holes in his cheeks and lips.
    I flipped out my ‘hawk, and using my longer reach, backhanded the spike end into the side of his head.  There was a crack, and the zombie fell to the ground, his eyes rolling up as if to see the piece of metal jammed in behind them.
    I pulled out my tomahawk just in time to see the van door open. “
    “You okay, Aaron?” Julia asked.
    “Yeah, just surprised me.  Should have been ready, though, given what’s around us,” I said, wiping off my axe.
    “Aaron!” Jake yelled suddenly.
    I jumped forward, then spun around looking for threats.  Not seeing any, I turned back to the van.  “What the hell?”
    “This side, please!” Jake said.
    “Close the door, Julia,” I said, putting my ‘hawk back in its sheath and drawing my falchion.  I could use my gun, but since ammo was limited these days, we were just going to use it for emergencies.
    I stepped around the van and shook my head.  Three of the corpses that Julia and I had seen the other night had decided to get up again this morning.  If I had to guess, I’d say they had somehow figured out that this gate was a food source, and they were patiently waiting for some idiots to come through to give them a snack.  Like now.
    The three of them moved in unison towards the van, shuffling through the scattered bones of their previous victims.  Up on the slope a small zombie twisted and struggled with the gravel, having managed to bury itself up to its waist in the shale.  It was only a matter of time before the little zombie tore its torso away from its legs and crawled away looking for victims.
    I moved towards the first zombie, and without so much as a good morning, I cleaved its head in two.  As the zombie fell I kicked it off my sword, knocking it into the legs of the second zombie, which fell as the really dead weight bowled its legs over. I planted a foot on its chest as I stepped  over it and stabbed down with my blade. The point sunk easily into its forehead, killing it quickly.  The third, formerly a teenage girl, twisted her head at me and snapped her jaws.  I took that as an open invitation to play, and sweeping the sword up I took her under the armpit and removed her head along with her arm and neck.  When her parts landed in two places, the one with the head came clawing back, and I drove my point home into the back of her head.
    Wiping off the goo of zombie combat, I looked up at the struggling zombie and then at the gravel pile.  I shook my head as I went back to the van.
    “Can’t get her without getting stuck, and I don’t want to take a shot and wake up the whole mountain range,” I said as I burned my blade and wiped it off again before replacing it in its sheath.
    “I got this one,” Jake said.  He stepped out of the van and reached behind his seat.  Pulling out his bow he nocked an arrow, and with a quick draw he let fly, hitting the zombie square in the head. The child slumped over, her struggles finished.
    Jake put the bow back.  “She can keep the arrow,” he said.
    “Watch it!” I said, shoving Jake out