Life Among the Dead (Book 4): The End by Daniel Cotton Page A

Ambers calls for his head. The knight in shining armor bounds down the steps as fast as he can take them with the dwarves already on his heels.
    At the landing, Archie slides into the front door. He opens the portal wide and to his shock he sees the odd people from the street have made it over and under the barrier of cars the helpful nerds had constructed to protect their princess. He’s quick to close the door but the berserkers are on the porch. They reach in as he closes it, their arms block the jam. He must hold his weight against it as they do the same from the other side.
    The dwarves are oblivious to what is happening at the door, too focused on their foe to see that he is actually holding back what they are here to defend against. All they see is mental images of their lovely Snow White fellating them, and the means of making that a reality.
    Grumpy is in the lead, allowing his bulk to be taken by gravity, increasing his inertia as he bellows and barrels towards his target. Archie has no recourse but to dive away, he feels awful about it but the dwarf has left him few options.
    With Archie’s absence from the door, it opens wide. The strange people from outside topple in as Grumpy continues to the landing. He’s unable to stop, to his horror. He runs right into their waiting arms.
    The other dwarves, Archie, and Amber watch as the mob tears Grumpy apart. The young man screams as his ample flesh is bitten and torn away in generous portions. The victim reaches for help, calls out for aid in anguished screams to no avail. The foyer is splattered and flooded with his blood as the ghouls gnash greedily, the wet sounds of their feeding fill the air as his cries cease.
    Archie is in a state of disbelief, he can’t quite comprehend what he’s just seen, further he can’t believe he was running around with these things lurking about. He’ll have to brave the streets once more, the way out is blocked by these insane individuals. He looks around the sitting room he’s found himself in as the crazies rise to their feet, done with Grumpy and ready for more, he needs to find a way out. A back door.

23
     
    The lobby is shockingly quiet, save for the moaning coming from the ER and echoing screams down the corridors. Luke takes the stairs up to the fourth floor, hoping that he isn’t too late.
    Susan is nowhere in sight as he enters the unit, more moaning greets him along with the shuffling of feet. He calls out, “Suzy!” in desperation.
    The sliding strides pause and start drawing closer the more he calls out to his daughter. At the nurse’s station he waits for a sign. He’s exhausted, but knows he has to keep going for the boys.
    A rustle from behind the desk has him peering over the top. He poises his axe to defend himself from whatever may lurk. “What are you doing here?” a familiar voice inquires, setting him immediately at ease.
    “Oh, Suzy!” Luke exhales. “I got the boys. They’re waiting. Let’s go.”
    “You brought the boys?” she asks astonished. “Where’s Mrs. K?”
    “Dead. Same as the rest of the city,” he tells her as the slow scraping feet draw even closer. “That’s why we’re leaving.”
    “I can’t leave!” she counters. “I have patients. Josh is very sick now, too!”
    “He was bit. He’ll be one of those things soon, if he isn’t already.”
    “’Those things’?” she questions.
    “Zombies,” her father tells her so matter-of-factly that it makes her laugh.
    “Have you been drinking?” she asks. “What am I saying? Of course you have.”
    “How do you explain the people you’re hiding from?”
    “With science, not science fiction,” she retorts. The rough scrapes of hospital slippers dragging along the floor are almost upon them. “Where do you propose to take us anyway?”
    “Out of the city. Someplace safe.”
    “This is an epidemic, it’s everywhere.”
    “I have the police organizing an evacuation to the reserve depot in