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    Refuge: Tales from a Zombie Apocalypse
    Refuge: Tales from a Zombie Apocalypse
    Refuge: Tales from a Zombie Apocalypse
    Ebook93 pages58 minutes

    Refuge: Tales from a Zombie Apocalypse

    By Anthea Strezze

    ()

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    About this ebook

    If the dead started to rise and attack the living, would you go running around with a shotgun, blowing off undead heads? Or would you just try to get on with life, as best you can?

    Refuge: Tales from a Zombie Apocalypse collects seven short stories about normal people living in extraordinary times - without the action-movie clichés.

    23,825 words

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAnura Books
    Release dateApr 8, 2012
    ISBN9781476158105
    Refuge: Tales from a Zombie Apocalypse
    Author

    Anthea Strezze

    Anthea Strezze believes in nurturing the sense of wonder, and strives to write stories that her readers can really connect with and find echoes of themselves and their lives in. She's just as likely to write a story about werewolves washing dishes as mages doing battle with ancient evil (more likely, actually), and loves writing both mundane stories with a taste of the fantastic, and fantastic stories with a hint of the mundane. She lives in New England with her husband and cat, and maintains a blog at http://AntheaStrezze.com/blog.

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      Book preview

      Refuge - Anthea Strezze

      Refuge: Tales from a Zombie Apocalypse

      by Anthea Strezze

      Copyright © 2012 Anthea Strezze

      Smashwords Edition

      Cover created by Anthea Strezze using art licensed from Teenbull via Dreamstime.com.

      Discover other titles by Anthea Strezze at Smashwords.

      The Trouble With Wishes

      Refuge: Tales from a Zombie Apocalypse

      Zombie Variations

      For the author's blog, visit http://antheastrezze.com/blog/.

      The following is a work of fiction, and all names, places, characters and events are products of the author's imagination or have been used fictitiously. Any resemblance to real locales, events, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      ~~*~~

      Dedicated to my ever-supportive, ever-patient, and ever-beloved Brian, and to Triel, who provided feline supervision for the writing of these stories.

      ~~*~~

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      Henry

      Monsters

      Dreamtime

      Thou Shalt Not Kill

      Corpse Pose

      A Time to Laugh

      Life Goes On

      More Titles by Anthea Strezze

      About the Author

      ~~*~~

      Henry

      Verity leaned against the wall and took a deep breath of the cool morning air.

      It was crowded inside the old parish hall, even with the town's population decimated by the new flu. Everyone left alive was gathered there, doing what they could to help each other, even an old woman like her with bad knees. In a few minutes, she would go back to helping serve breakfast, but for now it was nice to have a moment to herself. A moment to push back the tears that kept threatening to surface. She wouldn't be the only one crying, if she gave in, but she'd feel guilty, crying for one old man when so many others were dead too.

      She was about to push away from the wall when a familiar, impossible, figure in the street caught her eye. Henry? she called, her heart suddenly pounding like it would beat its way out of her body. Her breath caught in her throat and she leaned back against the wall, one hand against her chest.

      Verity? Are you all right?

      It was Silvia again. Normally Verity would brush her off and resent her for hovering, but this time she welcomed the young widow's steadying hand. H-Henry, she said, pointing.

      Silvia didn't bother to look, trying instead to coax her inside. It can't be Henry, dear. Now why don't you come inside and sit down. We don't want to lose you too.

      But look! He might be walking more stiffly than usual, but it was Henry, her Henry, coming down the street just as if he hadn't been laid out in the high school gym with the other dead three days ago.

      Finally Silvia glanced over, and then did a double-take that turned her whole body around. It can't be, she whispered. Edgar, she called, turning back to the open door. Edgar!

      The panic in her shout brought more people spilling out of the hall, all of whom froze at the sight of the figures shambling slowly down the street.

      Zombies, one of the teenagers said, his voice trembling.

      Everybody inside, now! We can barricade the doors and windows, and keep them out. Edgar started pushing people back inside, even as more tried to get out to see what was going on. Get inside! Now!

      Henry, Verity whispered. She pushed herself away from the wall and paused to make sure she was steady on her feet, then sidled to the edge of the crowd. She moved slowly, trying not to catch anyone's attention. The others wouldn't understand, and wouldn't allow what she was planning if they realized it.

      She worked her way out to the teenagers who were standing a few feet down the walk, staring at the oncoming figures and talking softly amongst themselves. Go on in now, she said firmly, patting the nearest boy's arm. They'll need you inside. Go on.

      The boys exchanged looks, but didn't move until Edgar shouted at them. Get in here! We need a defensible position, not empty heroics!

      A month ago, they might have ignored him, but Edgar had been the glue that kept their community together when the flu hit, making sure the sick and shellshocked were taken care of instead of leaving them to die on their own, or waiting for someone else to step in.

      A someone else who still hadn't come.

      The boys still hesitated, but with an extra nudge from Verity, they started moving.

      So did Verity, but in the opposite direction. She had heard all about zombies, back before the flu. She had even enjoyed some of the movies. She knew what everyone was thinking, but this was the real world, not a movie. And that was Henry, her Henry.

      Even if the price of holding him one more time was her life, she was more than willing to pay it.

      She walked briskly down the street, ignoring the shouts behind her and the arthritis in her knees with equal determination.

      Henry had stopped moving, and seemed to be watching her come. There were others on the street, too, but she only had eyes for him. Oh, Henry, she said when she reached him at last. She didn't hesitate, just slipped her arms around him, resting her head against his chest.

      Cold arms wrapped around her, and she was home.

      ***

      She wanted that to be the end.

      But time didn't stand still, and her heart didn't conveniently stop in that one perfect moment before she realized that something was wrong.

      His arms, holding her, weren't just cold. They fell along her back at a different angle than when Henry held her. And where Henry had always bent his head to press his cheek against hers, now he rested his chin lightly on top of her head. Those and dozens of other tiny differences told her she wasn't just embracing a corpse, she was holding a complete stranger.

      She didn't let go, though. After all, who could need a hug more than someone who had just woken up inside a stranger's dead body?

      There, there, she found herself murmuring. It'll be all right. I don't know how, dear, but it'll be all right.

      The cold arms around her tightened painfully, then fell away.

      She looked up into his face, trying to smile even as the tears streamed down her face and made it hard to see, and he looked back at her, the stranger using her husband's eyes. Then he reached out a hand and pushed her, with a gentle but firm nudge, in the direction of the parish hall.

      She raised one hand in a half-hearted wave, and walked away.

      She didn't look back, not even when fearsome moans and groans rang out from behind her. She wasn't sure she could have seen anything through the tears anyway.

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