Excerpt: Tattered Flesh

Adrian:
Tears streamed down my cheeks, I fired. My hands sweaty on the grip of the pistol, time seemed to slow down. As the bullet flew through the air, I knew it was going to hit. I saw the bullet make impact and at the same time felt as if an injury five times greater could not have done the same damage to my heart. He fell to the floor and I collapsed onto my knees, knowing that what I had done was necissary, but not what my heart wanted. With that bullet, I had killed my lover. He was lying on the floor, his dead, red eyes glowing at me. I imagined his eyes just hours before, the pale blue of a summer lake with the sun hitting it at just the right angle.

Reed:
I hoped I'd find out, but honestly, I doubted I'd ever actually do it. I didn't dare touch Jessica's body, lest I be infected with what had transformed my daughter into some sort of demon. I wandered around, avoiding contact with everyone. A half hour later I found myself back at our church. It was on fire, as was the Pastor's house next door. I stood there in shock and horror as I saw the Pastor eating someone's body. He looked at me, his blood red eyes dilated. They seemed to... pulse. I froze as he looked straight at me. He growled and stood up. I started backing up, knowing that I could outrun him was a comfort—I ran as a hobby, so I was more than fit enough to outrun a 45+ year old man.

Tyro:
“Okay, easy way to kill them is to get a head shot,” I said. I reloaded and kept walking. Darkness was falling and if I didn't get to some sort of cover soon, then I was basically screwed. I went faster as the light really started dimming. Nothing was in my way for almost a half a mile. I should've taken the warning. I finally sat down in a clearing, about a mile or a mile and a half away from where I had killed the last zombie. I focused on regulating my breathing, trying to calm down my heart. If nothing else, I was tired of the rocks in my shoes. I took my shoe off and upended it. More rocks than I thought possible fell out onto the dirt. In my left shoe was a total of fourteen rocks, and in the right was a total of seventeen. I put the shoes back on and started stretching.