Apex Cypher (Prequel to The Techxorcist series) by Colin F. Barnes Read Free Book Online

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    Before Gabe had a chance to raise the shotgun and fire again, he heard the clack of footsteps above him return.
    “She’s back,” Petal said. She dashed behind. Gabe looked over his shoulder to see the girl poking her head through the hole.
    “It’s clear,” Holly said. “Come on.”
    She threw down a rope ladder.
    Petal looked at Gabe. “You coming?”
    “Just get up there. I’ll be right behind ya.”
    Petal scaled the ladder, disappeared into the darkness. Her shouts of ‘Gabe!’ echoed down from the roof space.
    The pack had righted itself, focussed on him, and charged.
    He emptied the magazine, taking out three more of the mob, but it didn’t slow them. This time, they were prepared. They leapt over the bodies and lunged for him, their arms outstretched.
    Gabe dashed back and slammed the door, crushing a pair of hands. The owner of said hands yelped like a dog ahead of the assault on the wooden door. With the weight and fury of the mob behind it, the door buckled and shook within the frame with each crash.
    A small window next to it smashed as a rock flew through into the office, sending shards of glass spraying around the confined room.
    “Gabe, hurry!” Petal screamed, her head appearing in the hole in the ceiling.
    He rushed to the rope ladder just as the door burst open.
    Grabbing one rung after the other, he scrambled up, unable to get a footing as it swung away from him in his rush to escape. A member of the pack dived for him as he hung on to the ladder. He raised his feet just in time to see the crazed man crash to the floor. The rope ladder whipped around further, making it impossible for him to get his feet on the rungs.
    “Help me up!” Gabe said as the pack surged into the office. Only four of them could fit at one time, but they grabbed Gabe by the feet. He kicked out, crunching one person’s skull with the heavy heel of his boot. Another one collapsed under the force, tripping over the first pack member who had crumpled to the floor.
    Holly and Petal stood aside the hole, reached down, and grabbed his arms. With a swift yank, they had lifted him above the outstretched grabbing hands of the furious mob. Their eyes were wide and they slathered, drool dripping from their mouths. They were more animal than human. Hell only knew what had made them like that.
    They pulled up the rope ladder and placed an iron bar across the gap in the roof.
    The roof space was dark and dank and stunk of old mushrooms. Holly shone a flashlight and aimed the beam to the far side of the station’s roof. A door hung slightly open. “Over there,” she said. “Leads to a terrace. We can use that to get over to J’s place. That’ll be safe—for now.”
    “J?” Petal asked. Both she and Gabe raised their eyebrow at that as they dashed for the open door after lifting the rope ladder away from the baying mob.
    Holly stopped at the open door and let Petal and Gabe pass through it and out into the night.
    The terrace ran around the rear of the station. It was made of old iron and looked severely rusted in parts. It was at least a ten-metre drop below the metal grid that made up the terrace.
    A newer section, one that appeared to be welded and strapped together from re-purposed girders, branched away a ninety-degree angle from the terrace. It stopped at what looked like an apartment building. On the top floor a light competed with the moon to illuminate the terrace and the grounds around it.
    It was a penthouse room.
    Petal stopped Holly before she could go further across the terrace. “Wait. Do you know Jericho?”
    The girl gave her a funny, incredulous look. “Well, yeah. Everyone knows Jericho.”

Part 6 - The Deal
    Just don’t stare at him too long. That’s what Holly had warned them. Jericho was a nice guy as long as he didn’t feel threatened. If he did, then things went wrong real quick, apparently.
    Holly, with her tatty hooded jacket, smeared with mud and grease stood outside the door of the