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

springs forward. As soon as Alpha moves, the rest of the pack surge forward after him and I quickly take my cue and launch after them. In unison, I take the chance to take hold of my M4 that is dangling beside me and I’m off after them.

I am in awe of the pack as it manoeuvres at speed through the city. The way they dart between obstacles and fly into the air to jump over bodies and over other hurdles is impressive. The pack is so efficient that I cannot stay with it and in no time, I am rapidly falling behind.

Just as I start to think that my time in the pack will be over before it has begun, Alpha suddenly comes to a stop ahead of me. The beast turns back, to see where I am and I realise that, unbelievably, the fucker is waiting for me.

By the time I reach them, my legs are moving at no more than a jogging pace. My feet are hitting the ground hard, and my lungs are heaving, surely Alpha will decide that I am a waste of time and put me out of my misery? When I come to a stop next to the pack, Alpha just stands there watching though. Is it giving me a chance to get my strength back before we continue? I wonder. Whatever the reason, I take the opportunity to recover and mimic the pack, I stand motionless, whilst trying not to sweat too much.

The excursion has built up a deep thirst inside me and the incessant smoke has left a thick film in my mouth, but as tempting as it is, I don’t reach for my canister of water. I think that would be taking the piss out of my new friends. Instead, I tentatively look around to get my bearings.

The pack has moved me closer to my destination, I see as my eyes move in their sockets. We are on a wide, devastated road that is directly in line with London Bridge. I can’t be sure exactly how close Karen and Jim’s building is because I cannot see it above the surrounding buildings, even though they are relatively low. I know that the building is close, however, it must be, I am smack bang in the middle of the financial district. Right in front of me is another skyscraper under construction that I think is next door to theirs.

I bide my time, getting my breath back, trusting that Karen and Jim are waiting, if not patiently. I am going to have to see where Alpha leads us next, if the creature takes us in the wrong direction, I will have to slip away when we move. That might be easier said than done though, Alpha seems to be keeping an awfully close watch on me.

As my breath returns, I am itching to get moving again, but I don’t want to push my luck. Instead, I try to show Alpha that I am ready to go, I start to shuffle around, again mimicking the other members of the pack.

Alpha eyes me and my ploy works because the creature moves off. This time, thankfully, it doesn’t sprint away, it slopes off slowly, perhaps it has some sympathy that I am struggling to keep up when they move at speed. Or perhaps there is another reason for the change in speed.

A large open junction is ahead but Alpha stays close to the building on the right side of the road. As we approach the junction, he begins to turn right, sticking close to the buildings. We join on to the next road and I wonder if this beast has a destination in mind or is it just a random path it is leading us on?

As we join the junction, my heart skips a beat when I suddenly see the tall, sloped side of the Cheesegrater skyscraper reaching up into the smoke. I am finally almost in touching distance of Karen and Jim’s building. I even begin to imagine them stuck inside that office on the tenth floor.

I almost trip over a body part on the pavement, my neck craned up to look at the building and I quickly bring my concentration back onto the world around me rather than letting my imagination distract me.

The path ahead makes me wish I had remained in my imaginary state. Twisted dead bodies and gruesome body parts litter the road ahead, their number unbelievably sickening. This time, I do not curse myself for my weak stomach, the scene is one of shocking slaughter and devastation, dark red blood and body matter coat everything in sight.

Jim had described the mayhem in the streets from his vantage point in his office when I spoke to him and Karen on the first day of the outbreak. He told me the military was opening fire on the people below, that the undead was swarming through the streets. His description did not convey this devastation, how could it have?

Cars are also strewn all around, smashed into buildings and many of them burnt out. Bodies lay on top of them and squashed beneath them, their heads and bones crushed. The slaughter does not discriminate between men and women, both are torn to ribbons by the high-velocity rounds that have obliterated the area ahead, the gunfire emanating from the road behind me. The one and only solace I can find is that I don’t see any children in amongst the carnage in this business district of the city.

I pick my way around the carnage as much as possible, in a half-baked stupor, knowing I must regain my composure, and fast. The tower’s overhanging canopy and my destination is coming into view and soon it will be the building’s foyer I am adjacent to.

My mind begins to calculate how best to make my escape from the pack of Rabids I find myself entwined with. I look ahead to try and see where they might be heading, in