Deadrise: A Zombie Apocalypse Thriller by Phil Maxey

Author:Phil Maxey [Maxey, Phil]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Philip Maxey
Published: 2024-01-26T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

JOE

The door was thick, but old and rotten. Even if it was new, it wouldn’t have stopped Joe who smashed through it, almost directly into the blast from the shotgun.

His left hand ignited as if on fire as the pellets ripped through it, knocking his rifle from his grip, but the pain wasn’t enough to halt his forward momentum and he grabbed the double barrels, ignoring the heat and pushed the metal shafts upwards where they fired again, the intensity of the boom disorientating him for a split second as ringing flowed through his ears.

The other man was shorter but strong and shoulder charged Joe into the piece of furniture that was against the bare brick walls, where it instantly cracked under the pressure as Joe and the man fought, both of their hands on the gun. Somewhere else in the dark interior there was shouting, more gunfire. He needed to get to it. Needed to get to the source of the scream, which he was sure came from his wife. A sound he had never heard from her before but was unmistakably Liz. He flicked the butt of the gun upwards, smashing it into the smaller man’s cheekbone, momentarily stunning him.

The heavy weapon was now Joe’s. He surged forward, jamming the length of the barrels against the man’s chest, then drove them upwards into his neck, pushing him back against the opposite wall where he pressed even harder, the man doing everything he could to—

Another crack of gunfire brought with it an explosion of skull and blood draining from the back of the man’s head. For a moment Joe was frozen, holding the body of the man upright, until he stepped back and the man fell to the floor with a blade in his hand, a knife that was about to be plunged into Joe’s side. It scattered across the tiles.

Joe looked to his right, at Frank lowering his rifle who then turned to the side, looking up the narrow staircase to more darkness residing on the landing above, then back to Joe. He began to speak but Joe rushed past him, taking two steps at a time, pulling his weight upwards by the creaking bannister.

He almost tripped up the loose carpet at the top, skirting around the wooden handrail, towards an open door where a light was flickering from.

He stood in the doorway, looking at a modest sized bedroom with a single bed in the middle of the far wall. Clara was standing with her back to him blocking his view of the bed. He took a step forward, immediately hearing whimpering coming from the right corner, where a man was on the floor, his head in his hands, his knees up against—

“Joe?”

Clara stood back.

For an instant, Joe thought he was looking at Ella, or a younger version of her.

Through smears of blood and grime, Liz smiled at her husband, as tears traced paths down her face.

Joe’s heart so beat so loud in his chest he began to feel light-headed.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.