Zombie Road: The Second Omnibus | Books 4-6 | Jessie+Scarlet Simpson, A. (pride and prejudice read txt) 📖

red dot scope, extra magazine carrier and a forward folding grip with built in laser. He checked the action and realized it was a crappy knock-off rifle, flimsy and cheap with mostly useless tacti-cool add on’s. He tossed it over the side and kept walking.

He saw Scarlett approaching the last guard as he came around a bend in the wall.

She handed him a Glock when he got there a few moments later.

“Got you a little something.” she grinned at him. “I know you like these.”

Jessie smiled back, made sure a round was chambered and tucked it in the back of his pants. They were at the edge of the narrow walk that went over the front gate, something that had been added since the last time he’d been here. It allowed the guards on the walls a way to get to the other side without dropping to the ground or going all the way around. A large milling horde was below them on the road at the gate but they’d spread out in both directions. They were pounding and clawing, stumbling over the hundreds of corpses littering the ground. Some long dead, some recently killed and thrown over. Their feeble legs tried to climb the boxcars but they couldn’t get traction. Blood and gore covered the walls from the ground to a good six or seven feet up, filthy hand prints making smeary marks as high as they could reach. Many of the undead were fresh. Former citizens of Blackfoot who’d been tossed over before they were dead, before they’d had a chance to bleed out. Now they were as hungry as the rest. They were bite savaged, gunshot and bone broke from the long fall but they still keened and clawed. Still craved fresh flesh.

There was a lot of blood on the walkway too: fairly fresh and recently spilled. A lot of brass casings were scattered around, evidence of the fight. The battle had been fierce and the people of Blackfoot had been winning until they were gunned down from behind.

“Now comes the tricky part.” Jessie said, swallowing his anger and keeping his head cool. “I saw where I think they’re keeping all the prisoners, there were a couple of guards outside.”

“The casino.” she said “I figured. It’s the only place lit up. The officers will probably be in the top floor suites. It’s still pretty hot out, they’ll want to be able to open the windows and catch the breeze.”

“Yeah.” Jessie said. “Makes sense. They think they’re safe, that no one is coming to rescue the town. You okay, Scar?”

She rubbed at her eyes for a moment before answering but when she did, her voice was strong and sure. No hesitation.

“Yes. Let’s finish this. We have much to do before we can rest.”

They hopped down lightly, disappeared into the shadows then jogged towards the only building showing signs of life. The two guards stood outside the main entrance doors in a circle of light, sort of on alert but not really. They’d gone house to house and knew the town was empty. All of the survivors were inside and they had watchmen on the walls. They’d have plenty of advance warning if trouble popped up somewhere.

They heard a whirling sound and looked sharply towards it and the two dark figures racing towards them. Before they could react, Scarlets baton cracked the first man across the face knocking him senseless and Jessies thrown blade sunk deep into the second man’s shoulder. He cried out but a shadow moving at incredible speed had a second blade slammed into his forehead with enough force to snap his neck. Jessie lowered him down and retrieved his knives, wiping them on the dead man’s shirt.

“You missed.” Scarlet teased.

“Just because he moved to see what was making so much racket. Can’t you put a silencer on those things?”

“You missed.” Scarlet said again as they drug the bodies away from the door and hid them behind an abandoned car.

“Whatever.” Jessie scowled at her. “Next time, I throw before you do.”

“Mr. Misser missed.” she sing songed quietly as they went through the doors, looking for the next men clad in black.

They could hear talking and laughter coming from the casino floor, their ears picked up the sounds of cards being shuffled and chips being moved around felt. A low peek around the corner showed a handful of men gathered around one table. One of the conference rooms on the far side of the room was padlocked shut, a heavy chain ran through the door handles. Behind another set of doors closer to them, they heard snores and grunts of men sleeping. The rest of the platoon.

They slipped back to the lobby, hid behind the hotel’s check-in desk and moved their heads close to figure out a plan that wouldn’t entail getting them killed.

“They’re lax.” Scarlet said. “They aren’t expecting trouble and won’t know anything is wrong until it’s time for a guard change.”

“You still think the enhanced ones are all upstairs?” Jessie asked “They’re the only ones I’m really kinda worried about. We need to take them out first. If three or four of them come at us, it’s gonna get dicey. They move like those guys in the Matrix movies.”

“Yes, but so do you.” she said. “They’re up there. They don’t mingle with the others and it’s hot and stuffy down here. They’re upstairs with the pick of the prettiest women. Or boys.”

“I saw a radio on the poker table.” Jessie said. “We can’t let the brass get a message through. If we have twenty guys shooting at us, we’re going to have to run. I don’t like getting shot.”

“Sissy.” Scarlet said but with a smile. “We go up. We kill them quiet. These guys will be easy.”

There was a staircase at either end of the three-story building and they split up then raced quietly for the top floor. Neither came across any guards. No security outside of the luxury suites either. The doors