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

building too, taking us away from our destination. I look right and I am relieved to see that the perimeter boards stop short of the next building, and there is at least a walkway and hopefully a road leading south. That is the direction we must go, but it is a good distance away.

“Let’s go, stay close,” I tell Karen and Tanya as I step out.

I stay right, not crossing the road, staying where there is some cover, even if it is only the side of an office block and the doorways cut into its stone façade. The other side of the road, with its boarding, devoid of any cover whatsoever.

In the event, I don’t use any of the doorways, the way ahead is clear, so I keep going straight past them, skirting around fallen bodies, but eyeing them closely. Only when I reach the end of the office block which is directly opposite the route on the other side of the road, do I stop.

A stone corner pillar marks the end of the office block and I use it for cover while I scan the area before we cross the road. The area is quiet, too quiet but we cannot hang around waiting for something to happen, and with a quick signal to the women, we move.

The wide main road feels incredibly exposed as we rush across, avoiding numerous corpses as we go. I feel sure that we will be seen by the undead and a screech will cry out at any moment. Nothing happens though and we quickly reach the other side. I only stop briefly to check the new road off to the left before we step on to it.

We find ourselves on another narrow side street, but it is well lit due to the open building site adjacent to it. I proceed cautiously, slowing our pace right down as there are blind spots on either side of us, entrances into the building site on the left and into the multiple buildings on the right. The body count drops considerably on this side street, but they are still there to hamper our progress.

“How much farther?” a voice whispers from behind me.

I ignore the question as I see a flicker of movement ahead, down low, hidden in the shadow of one of the entrances into the building site. My rifles sights fix onto the threat, my body tensing. Slumped on the ground, its back resting on the board behind with its head flopped down, sits a figure.

I am instantly reminded of the bullet I shot into the head of the man under the desk back in Cole & Co’s office. I almost wish I had gone back after the office was cleared to check to see if it was a Rabid I killed, or a man.

That thought stops me from pulling the trigger of the M4 so readily this time, and I edge down the street closer to the forlorn figure, trying to figure out what I am dealing with. Each step brings a better view, but with its head facing down it is difficult to determine if the figure has turned.

With only a few meters remaining until we are within striking distance, if the figure is Rabid, I purse my lips. Wanting to draw attention and hopefully tempt the lowered head up, I whistle gently. Conscious of any noise that we make I don’t go for a full-on wolf whistle, that would only ask for trouble.

The head waivers, coming to life. That’s it, I think, wakey wakey, let’s have a look at you. Another gentle whistle breathes more life into the slumped figure and gradually, the top of the head moves back until a face is revealed.

Inhuman grey skin, broken with dark bloodied lines sits on the bones of the face like an unwanted membrane, telling me all I need to know. The Rabid fixes me in a haunting, hungry stare to confirm its undead state and its cracked black lips begin to part.

The M4’s bullet whips the head ferociously backwards where it thumps into the boarded wall behind it. Only for a moment does the head stay upright before it flops back down taking the hideous face out of my sight. I see blood, pieces of bone and brain sliding down the painted boards of the building site’s perimeter wall as I move past the creature’s carcass.

“Sorry, Karen,” I say quietly, having not answered her question. “No, it can’t be far now.”

“Don’t apologise, Andy,” I hear her reply.

I see another main road ahead as we near the end of the side street, and by my calculations, this should be the road I used to move up to the junction with the pile of burnt-out cars, filled with charred bodies. A grim sight that I daren’t let my eyes fall on again.

I am right, the corpse laden road is the one I used. We now have only two blocks to tackle before we reach the wharf, where Josh and Alice will be waiting for us, floating on the river.

Wind your neck in, I tell myself, that is still two blocks of Rabid infested city to get through. This is not the time to get overconfident and think we have made it, the time to relax is when we have travelled back up the river and gone back through the military cordon. Then and only then will it be time to pat yourself on the back, I think, cursing myself.

I poke my head out from the end of the side street, the breeze deciding to change direction just as I do and the gust of air hits me directly in the face, bringing with it the stink of rotting corpses that number far too many to count on the roadside of our latest challenge. With my stomach trying to ignore the horrendous smell, I nervously look left, along towards the junction where I collapsed. I wonder how Karen and Tanya would feel if they knew about my fragility.