Star Drawn Saga (Book 1): Death Among The Dead: A Zombie Novel by Stephen Charlick Page B

say, visible shaking off the ghosts of his family.
    ‘P… please, let me,’ the woman interrupted, her tearful gaze drifting to the decapitated head lying in the sand while she stepped past the crumpled body, ‘he was my grandfather, it’s right that I…’
    ‘Sharon?’ came the young man’s voice from his hiding place under the boat.
    ‘Stay there, Petey!’ she called out, her eyes flicking briefly to Fran. ‘Stay there just a bit longer, okay?’
    ‘I…I did what you said, Sharon,’ he replied, his voice echoing slightly from under the wooden hull, ‘I hid well didn’t I… Pops didn’t get me... I’m a good hider.’
    ‘Yes, Petey!’ she called, slowly kneeling down beside the head that still looked at her with nothing but a wild hunger in its eyes. ‘You…you did real good.’
    Letting go of the struggling dog’s collar, Fran let the animal run to Sharon’s side; its frantic barking at last replaced with sad and anxious whining as it sniffed at the headless body near her.
    ‘I know, Bella… I know,’ Sharon whispered, burying a comforting hand deep in the animal’s fur.
    ‘Can…can I come out now?’ asked Peter from under the boat. 
    ‘No, just… just stay there a bit longer, Petey… can…can you do that for me?’ she continued, quickly pulling a long thin blade from a strap on her calf.
    Using the back of the hand holding the knife, Sharon awkwardly pushed aside a curtain of damp curls from her forehead and tried to find the strength within her to do what she knew she must. Coughing back an uncontrollable sob that threatened to consume her, Sharon visibly shook herself to regain her control once again.
    ‘I… I’m sorry, Pops,’ she whispered, heavy tears already running down her cheeks as she delicately manoeuvred the snapping head in front of her, ‘and don’t worry I… I forgive you.’
    Fran’s brow creased together at the young woman’s odd eulogy but as Sharon plunged the blade deep into the old man’s skull, finally putting him to rest, she saw what she had meant. For there on her arm, previously unnoticed by Fran, was a tear in her jacket sleeve; a tear that clearly exposed a bloody and painful looking wound.
    ‘Crap,’ Fran muttered under her breath, catching Tom’s concerned gaze as he too noticed Sharon’s arm.
    ‘What’s your name?’ Sharon suddenly asked, turning to Fran as she stoically wiped away her tears to lean wearily back on her ankles.
    ‘Fran,’ she answered, her eyes inadvertently flicking back to the bloody wound.
    ‘Well, I need you to do something for me, Fran,’ Sharon began, grunting as she pushed herself slowly to her feet.
    ‘You… you want me to,’ Fran interrupted, assuming Sharon wanted her to give her a swift end rather than be dragged inch by inch to a death filled with pain and the terrible certainty of what came next.
    ‘No, no, it’s not that,’ said Sharon, waving away Fran’s offer. ‘I’m sure Max will happily oblige.’
    ‘Max?’ asked Fran. ‘You’re traveling with someone else?’
    ‘Yes… no, look, I doubt we have much time,’ Sharon continued, glancing over Fran’s shoulder at the breaker beyond. ‘They’re bound to have followed me. Look, I need you to look after Petey, Peter, my brother.’
    ‘Look after him?’ Said Fran, not liking the way this was going.
    ‘Dave and his family are nice but his brother, Max… Max will make them abandon Peter,’ Sharon continued, her voice dropping to an urgent whisper. ‘And Peter, well, he only has the mental ability of a six year old, I… I couldn’t bare to think of him left scared and alone… I … I need to know he’ll be taken care of… please… one way or another… he needs to be taken care of.’
    With those last words the young woman’s gaze bore into Fran, each of them knowing what was being left unspoken; if her brother could not be taken somewhere safe then it would be kinder to end his life swiftly rather than let him suffer a brief and