Outbreak: The Zombie Apocalypse (UK Edition) by Jones Craig

Author:Jones, Craig [Jones, Craig]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: horror
ISBN: 9780615889894
Publisher: Pants On Fire Press
Published: 2013-09-20T07:00:00+00:00

20

I had lost all track of time. I often did when I sat with Danny. He stood there, his left arm, of course, still tied tightly to the rafter. The door to the shed was pulled shut; the bottom of the door rubbed slightly in the frame and this proved to be a useful tool for jamming it closed. I sat on the floor opposite him, the penlight torch playing along the lines of text in the Harry Potter novel that I was reading to him. I couldn’t make out the expression on his face through the darkness that the narrow light hardly infringed upon, but it was apparent that his head was tilted to one side.

Was he actually listening to me?

Every night when I removed the motorcycle helmet he was twitchy and seemingly anxious until I fed him. However, he made that monotonous ‘MMMMM’ noise less and less. I had started reading to him by mistake. I had just meant to sit with him and had taken my book with me. Without realising what I was doing, I had found myself speaking the words out loud, and from the first paragraph it seemed to have a calming effect. The genre of book made no difference; I had to assume that it was the sound of his old life that was having this particular impact upon Danny.

I sat with my knees raised, the book balanced on them, one hand fingering the pages over, the other holding the tiny torch, my back against the wooden side of the shed. I’d often just pause in reading and look at him for a while, trying to see past those cold, dead eyes. It seemed as if he had paid attention for a while, studying me in reply, but had then begun to pad forward and back until I opened the book to our last passage and, with a short recap, began to read. The torch dipped a couple of times as my hand grew limp and tired, my eyelids growing heavy, so, with a shake of my head to rouse myself, I marked our place in the book and pushed it into the corner, lifting myself to my feet with the torch gripped in one hand.

‘Sorry, Danny, I’m too tired,’ I said, walking around him and picking up the motorcycle helmet.

I sniffed at it and recoiled at the stench. I would have to either clean it or get Danny a new one. The torch lit only a small circle on the back of his neck as I gently eased the helmet over his crown. The skin there was pale and flaky, the bones beneath pressing tightly against it as if they may break through at any moment.

‘Good night, Danny,’ I whispered, as I did every night when I went through this procedure.

‘MMMM,’ he replied, and then it sounded like something got stuck in his throat.

I could have sworn that he said ‘Ed’.

‘What the heck?’ I stumbled backwards and only stopped when I bumped into the wall of the shed.

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