Untitled Zombie Novel Excerpt: TO SURVIVE

As she checked and loaded her guns, Catherine began to speak. “Guns are fine. They can keep them at a distance. But guns are, for the most part, designed to stop through pain. A chest or gut shot tells a living being to stop. Not with zoms. Blood loss will kill anything. But not zoms. They don't have a circulation system, or at least not one that we understand. You have to hit the brain and you have to hit it hard. A bullet can pass right through the brainpan of a zom and it won't care. Brain damage? They are already brain damaged. You need explosive force to inside of the skull, to eradicate practically everything. A bullet won't always do that.

“But guns give you range. At least some. You need them close enough so that you can hit there head or you just waste ammo.”

She put down the shotgun and pick up the short axe. “I like this. Gets through the skull and cuts and crushes. Can also server heads. Just be careful: with out the head, the body stops. But if the brain is still there, the head still bites.”

She picked up a machete and handed it over to Jeremy. “Use this. Has some reach and simple to use. It can glance of the skull if you don't hit right, so chop to the neck. Or limbs. If you have options, don't worry about the kill. It's not like we're going to wipe them out.

“Zoms are slow but keep coming. The fact is if you can run, run. Again, don't waste time killing them if you have another exit route. Damage the legs. Damage the arms. Make them even slower. And get out.” She put the axe in small loop at her waist and began to pull on a thin leather jacket.

“You want to be able to move and move quickly. We have two advantages over zoms: We can think and we are quick. Keep that. They aren't incredibly strong, especially old one. Fresh ones have the muscle matter and feel no pain due to over exerting so can be dangerous. But most we'll run into are rotting. They'll try to grab and bite. Grab and bite. The key is to cover as much as possible. You don't need anything more than leather. They can't bite through it. Hell, they'll have hard time getting through a thick sweater.

“They seem to go for limbs, but given a chance they will head for any exposed flesh. If it is not too comfortable, I wear a hood. In winter, a ski mask. Definitely gloves. Everyone forgets gloves. They will snag your arm and bite at your hands, easy. And they can get their jaws around it and bite hard. Protect your fucking hands.”

She picked up the shotgun again and slung the strap over her shoulder. “Listen. Follow my lead. Listen to me. I don't give a crap about you, but you say you can end this. I don't believe you, not yet at least, but I figure its worth a shot. But if you die out there, I am just back to where I was three days ago. I won't morn you, alright? I'm all out of fucking sorrow.”