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

onrushing sound of their doom: The swish of leather and the hush of steel before it snapped their neck or cleaved their skull. Dying men pulled triggers, bullets zinged and sprayed chunks of brick and mortar. Whizzing lead plinked off metal railings or found soft flesh but Scarlet never slowed her descent. Staying near the wall, she killed and shoved all the way to the ground. All the way down to the stack of bodies piled up that had been tossed over the rails. A few broken men moaned at the agony of splintered bones but she ignored them and sprinted to the other end of the building to help Jessie.

Jessie hit the fire door running, saw the cluster of flashlights hurrying up the stairs and opened fire. Ripper rounds sent gouts of blood and chunks of vital organs splashing from numerous holes in the soft flesh. Fire from his two-fisted guns showed terrified faces, wide, white eyes and technicolor sprays of blood painting the walls. He ran straight at them, grim determination on his face. Hit ‘em hard and hit ‘em fast. Don’t give them even a second to think about how their plan of attack was suddenly fubared. Don’t give them time to regroup or even have a clear thought. Instill fear and panic and cut them down. A few tried to fire up the stairwell but they had to be careful not to hit any of their own. Jessie didn’t have any such concerns. Both barrels spit death and when the mags were empty, they dropped to the piles of blood-soaked bodies and the next set of mags slammed home. Wadcutters sent men flying with caved in chests, dangling arms and disintegrated faces. Brains and lungs decorated the steps and he bounded down to meet them. Screams of terror echoed through the stairwell, nearly as deafening as the thunder of the guns. He was twitch shooting, nearly as fast as a machine gun and every round found a home. Every flashlight was shot. Every voice was silenced. Every muzzle flash ended abruptly with hands blown away and belly’s blown open. Jessie never slowed, never stopped to double check death. He trusted his guns; his hands knew the ways of war. Anyone left alive when he hit the bottom door would be dead in minutes when the last of their blood spurted out from the gaping holes.

He saw Scarlet burst from the door at the other end of the hall and he slowed. They met in the middle at the main casino lobby and saw the drinks half finished at the table, an ashtray with a cigarette still smoking. The door to one of the conference rooms stood open and there were dozens of mattresses spread out. The makeshift barracks for the warriors. The other room still had the chain through the handles, the key dangling in the padlock. Quiet sounds of people dying could be heard from either end of the building and unsure sounds of people hiding could be heard from the conference room. Jessie unlocked the chain, let it slide through the handles and clatter to the floor then left it. He walked over behind the bar, pulled down a couple of glasses then started looking for something to fill them with. The Anubis warriors had extension cords running from the generator and a dozen lamps lit the room filling it with too much light. It looked better the last time he was here with the kerosene lamps and candles.

Scarlet found a few bar towels and started wiping the blood spray from her clothes and the black soot from her face. They were both calm on the outside but killing real people was never easy. It wasn’t like killing the zombies. Those things were barely human anymore, they looked like mummies dressed in rags. Real people died easier too. It only took a single bullet in the belly to take them out. A zombie wouldn’t even register a gut shot, they’d shake if off like it was no more bother than a bug bite.

“Say when.” Jessie said and started pouring Captain Morgan into a mason jar.

She said nothing, so he topped it off then dropped a straw in so she could sip without spilling. They heard the doors squeak and a dirty face peeked out. There were whispers and they heard “Road Angel” being repeated. After a moment, they opened and the people shuffled into the room, squinting against the light. There were a lot of them Jessie noted with satisfaction. Mostly women and some kids but quite a few men, too. Enough to keep the town going.

“Where’s them other assholes?” one of the men asked with bravado in his voice as he picked up the chain and wrapped it around his fist.

“Dead or dying.” Jessie said. “Most are in the stairwells.”

“The leaders are on top floor.” Scarlet added. “They are also dead.”

There were sighs and sobs of relief as Jessie tried to clean some of the back splashed blood from his clothes and a man leaning heavily on an Indian woman limped over to the bar. It was the radioman with a hastily splinted broken leg. Even though he’d surrendered, they’d nearly killed him. Jessie recognized him from his last visit and poured him a tall glass of the Captain.

“As soon as you can, get on the radio and let all the other settlements know how they fight. How they use the undead as a distraction.” Jessie said

The base station with the tall antenna that he used had a lot more range than the mobile radio in the car. He would be able to reach everyone.

“I’ll get right on it.” he said and downed the glass in a few gulps.

There wasn’t an atmosphere of celebration in the air, just one of gritty sadness. They had lost many of their best men. Husbands, brothers and sons had been gunned down from behind while defending the town.

“We can never repay you.” Carter said as he