Dead Winter: A gripping crime thriller full of suspense by Jack Parker Read Free Book Online

at the revolver in my hand, it had a heavy weight and appeared to hold six rounds.
     
    "Sig Sauer P226, railed." John muttered to himself, turning the handgun over in his hands before offering it back to me. "Standard military handgun, nice find." he added as I handed the revolver back over.
     
    For the first time, I shifted my gun from one hand over to the other, testing its weight before sliding into my pocket. I blinked as John put his hands to his mouth and began muttering to himself.
     
    "Mm.. Ah! Supplies! I knew I'd forgotten something." he exclaimed loudly, holstering his revolver once more. John reached for the handle of his kukri, sliding it out from under his belt to wipe the blade on an old shirt that lay on the table. Afterwards, he seemingly turned the blade on us from across the room.
     
    "I'm on a supply run, guys. And I could do with the extra hands. Will ya help me out?" John said, in a rather sing-song tone of voice.
     
    "And if we don't?" Dave said sternly, clearly intimidated by the blade, regardless of the fact that its owner seemed of no threat to them.
     
    "Well in that case, you can walk right out of here and be on with your lives. I won't stop you!" John replied, shrugging with a worried expression on his face, clearly clueless as to why Dave seemed so agitated. I stepped forwards, deciding to speak for the two of us.
     
    "We'll help, only if we get some of the cut too." I said, Dave nodded in agreement as I turned my head towards him; he'd clearly realised that John meant no harm with the kukri, aside from killing things with it.
     
    "A cut? Boy, I'll give you more than a cut. How about a place to stay as well?" John questioned curiously, seemingly delighted at the prospect of having guests.
     
    "Sounds like a plan." I said, gazing down towards the blade again.
     
    "Alrighty then. We're headed down to the supermarket a few minutes away; watch my back." he stated in a rather loud voice, spinning around on the spot.
     
    Upon opening the back door of the store, a harsh and bitter wind shot into it, chilling my bones to the core. John stepped out across the small, stone alleyway in a couple of strides. The back entrance to the store was fenced off from the rest of the alleyway.
     
    As he motioned towards the gate, John pulled out his revolver; blade in one hand, gun in the other. Removing his finger from the trigger, he raised his hand and signalled us to stop. With a gentle click, the tall wooden gate to the rest of the alleyway beyond swung open to reveal an infected facing away from us
     
    Bits of bloodied skin hung to his hair like dandruff as he silently hammered the ground with his fists.
     
    A quick swish could be heard as our vision was briefly obscured by John's coat as he stepped forwards, bringing his kukri forwards to plant it straight through the man's head as though it were no effort at all. John kicked the infected forward to remove the weapon, where it lay motionless.
     
    Slick.
     
    John almost looked like he'd been doing this all his life. Nearly everything about the way he moved and acted when fighting so far screamed one thing; professionalism. I immediately had the thought that there was either something he wasn't telling us, or he really had the instincts of a killing machine.
     
    All I knew was that I paled in comparison to him.
     
    Again, my thoughts were rudely interrupted by a groan of pain, making me wish I could just stop and think for a second. John had apparently dealt with another one of them during the time it had taken us to turn the corner, leaving a misshapen mess on the floor.
     
    The supermarket loomed into sight, just beyond an area of shrubbery and a hundred metres of car park.
     
    "Alright. Keep it down here, no gunfire. Don't want to draw attention to ourselves." John muttered in a very low tone of voice. "The alleyways are crawling with these bleeders, so I thought we ought to jump the hedges and lay low."
     
    We nodded, walking slowly across