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

Would they have stepped onto the tightrope we are walking, so willingly, if they knew what was behind my mask? I seriously doubt it, hence, I have kept it to myself.

The junction is just out of my line of sight, and thankfully, so are the incinerated cars, only drifting smoke moves in that direction and it is the same when I look right from behind my rifle. On the other side of the road, I recognise the side street with the trendy wine bar I used on my way out. The street is to the left and towards the junction, but it’s too close to the junction and I look elsewhere for a route south. Just on the right across the road, and away from the junction is another side street that I decide to use.

So many twisted bodies cover the road that I take a second to pick a path through them. A bit of zigzagging will be required to ensure we stay well away from any corpses that might suddenly reach out to grab hold of a fleshy ankle. The path is there though, and with a quick check behind, we move off.

“Stay away from the bodies,” I tell the women as we approach the first of many strewn in the road, as if they needed telling.

An ominous quietness hangs over us as we begin our long winding route across the road. The M4 swipes through the air from left to right, searching for targets, stopping to look forward and into the side street we are heading for with each sweep. Each peak of its arch left reveals more of the junction and its monument of incinerated death to me.

Perhaps, I quicken my sweep when I swing left to avoid what waits, or perhaps my reluctance to look upon the carnage again makes me miss seeing the threat.

Whatever the reason for my lapse, what my vision blurs from my fragile mind, my ears do not.

Chapter 20

Despite our distance away from the junction, the first deathly screech rings out as though the Rabid was stood next to me. The noise, a call to arms to its kindred, rushes along the road to stop me dead in my tracks and I freeze, instantly, facing the route south that we are winding towards. My rifle floats in the air in front of me like a mirage. I must turn to the left and face my foe, but time stands still, as my mind reels in dread and shock.

A second chilling cry of the hunt ricochets off the surrounding buildings and I force my body to snap out of its stupor. My back twists to bring my rifle to bear left, the object suddenly feeling like the powerful weapon it is, once more. My heroic turn is ridiculed, it is met by a crescendo of ear-piercing Rabid noise, as dozens of the undead screech out to announce their readiness to attack.

My feeble fear at laying my eyes on the carnage of the incinerated cars is dispelled at once, as I finally look towards the junction. Any sight of my phobia is overwhelmed by the army of the undead racing away from the junction, the horde converging onto the road that we stand upon.

Once more, the power is stripped away from the M4 that I hold out front, the weapon no match against the terrifying mass of figures chasing towards us. My rifles bullets would be chewed up and spat out by the fearsome creatures unless I happened to hit one or two in the head. One or two dead Rabids will not make a dent in the horde and would not let us escape our fate.

My last single grenade hangs idly from the front of my combat vest. Another futile thought, one single grenade will not cut it, not this time. Maybe if I had a box full of the handheld explosives I would be in business, but I don’t, I have only one.

“Andy?” a petrified voice asks from my right.

Karen’s quivering voice forces me to drag my eyes away from our impending doom, the undead horde beginning to get close enough to come into sharp focus.

Karen and Tanya, cower behind me to protect themselves from the Rabid creatures that are about to stampede us and tear us to ribbons. They are fatally mistaken if they believe that I can protect them from such an overwhelming force, and their panic-stricken faces tell me that is not what they believe.

Both women look at me in desperate expectation to see what I am going to do next and in my own desperation, I shout my order at them.

“RUN!” I shout at the top of my voice in a fit of panic, spittle flying from my mouth.

My legs spring to life instantly, driving me forward, aiming for the side street that will take us south and to the river. Visions of Catherine and Emily waiting for me with bated breath in the cottage rush through my mind, I cannot let them down and leave them behind to fend for themselves. I must not die now, here in this godforsaken place, they need me to return to them, they need my protection.

My protection is what Karen and Tanya are relying on, at this moment. I glance behind to see if they are with me and I see Karen’s legs split to hurdle over a corpse blocking her path, all caution thrown to the wind. Tanya is beside her, her legs moving as fast as she can muster.

We will make it into the side street, that much I am confident about, as I too spring over bodies in front of me to land onto the pavement. On landing, I race to the cusp of the street where I spin around to take cover behind the corner of the office block, firing the M4 into the oncoming horde that is now only meters away, desperately trying to win us a