Capital Falling | Book 4 | Sever Winkless, Lance (most popular ebook readers TXT) 📖

to take in his surroundings. There is one room off the hallway, which must be the lounge, and another at the end, which he can see is the kitchen.

“Is there anybody here?” Jason shouts out as he moves down the hallway, ignoring the lounge and moving straight towards the kitchen. His training is telling him to check the lounge, to check his blind spots, but the front door could give way at any moment, even with Tyrone’s bulk against it. Jason ignores his training; they need to get out of this house as soon as possible and he heads directly for the kitchen.

At the end of the hallway are the stairs to the floor above, and Jason eases his rifle up and around the flight of stairs, but all seems still up there. “Is anyone here!” he shouts again but there is no reply from anywhere in the house.

“Get a move on,” Tyrone barks at Jason in a strained voice. Jason glances back at his mate and the urgent look on Tyrone’s face has Jason quickly pointing his rifle at the entrance to the kitchen.

Through the entrance and to his right, Jason finds a gleaming modern kitchen area and a cosy looking, fashionable dining area to his left. Opposite him is a glass wall of bi-fold doors reaching almost entirely across the back of the house. Beyond the glass is the greenery of the house’s ample garden.

Rushing over to the glass wall, Jason searches for the means to exit into the garden but the handle he finds at the end of the glass doors is locked tight and there is no key in sight. With no option, he raises his rifle ready to shoot out his second door lock in only a matter of minutes. Stepping back and preparing to aim, something catches Jason’s eye—another door, almost hidden on his right at the back of the kitchen. It must be a utility room, Jason decides, and he pulls the muzzle of his rifle around and moves quickly towards it.

Jason is right; behind the inconspicuous door is a narrow utility room with appliances lined up under a long work surface littered with discarded laundry. There is no door to escape through, but there is a large window at the end of the room which even Tyrone will fit through, if it will open.

Nerves tingle inside Jason’s belly as his hand closes around the window’s handle. Please don’t let it be locked, he begs when his hand twists. The handle levers up and the window pushes outwards to Jason’s great relief. Air flows through the opening and Jason tastes the now familiar smoke contaminating it.

“Let’s get out of here,” Jason tells Tyrone after grabbing a chair from the dining area. Tyrone’s relief is obvious when Jason begins to jam the chair against the door and the floor to allow Tyrone to retrieve his rifle.

“That won’t hold those fuckers for long,” Tyrone remarks, his shoulder still heavily pressed against the front door.

“We only need a few seconds. On the right in the kitchen is a door leading to a utility room. There is a window out to the garden at the end which I’ve opened. We can block the door behind us with the dryer or the fridge.”

An almighty boom suddenly vibrates throughout the entire ground floor of the house, stunning both men, who look fearfully at each other.

“What the fuck was that?” Jason asks almost under his breath in shock.

“The front window. They’re smashing into the front window! You ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” Jason responds.

“Lead the way then, go!” Tyrone orders, pushing Jason unceremoniously away.

Jason doesn’t protest and bolts for the kitchen, his hands sweating against the grip of his rifle, his stomach burning with fear. Tyrone bides his time, holding his weight against the front door until Jason is crossing the threshold into the kitchen. Not trusting the dining chair to secure the door alone, he doesn’t want any obstacles in his way when he makes his run for it.

Just as Tyrone pushes himself off the front door and makes his break for it, another sound crashes through the house, the sound of smashing glass. Tyrone sees the creature hitting the floor of the lounge out of the corner of his eyes as he tears past the lounge’s doorway. He doesn’t turn to look at the floundering creature or to see the other creatures scrambling and bursting through the new opening, and he motors straight into the kitchen.

“This way!” Tyrone hears Jason shout from his right and he swerves for the narrow door that Jason disappears into. More bangs and crashes sound out, this time the noises coming from inside the house. Tyrone knows exactly where they are coming from and the accompanying snarls and screeches accosting his ears confirm the creatures are in the hallway, close behind him.

“Shut the fucking door!” Jason shouts as Tyrone crashes into the wall opposite the door of the narrow utility room. Tyrone spins around and does exactly that and applies his weight to it while Jason heaves at one of the white appliances from under the work surface.

The tumble dryer clatters across the floor under Jason’s force as he manoeuvres it over to the door. Tyrone has to stretch and make a bridge with his body to allow Jason to get the dryer under him and up against the door. He doesn’t dare take his pressure off the door by removing his hands from it, not until it is blocked.

With the tumble dryer in place, Jason doesn’t rest until he has manhandled the fridge into position behind the dryer forcing Tyrone to finally move out of the way. The two appliances fill the gap between the door and the wall opposite, both men feeling momentary relief that the door cannot now be opened, and they look at each other, panting from their efforts.

“It never ends,” Tyrone says breathlessly as the first bangs hit the utility room door.

“Don’t I fucking know it mate,” Jason responds.

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