Nano Z by Brad Knight Read Free Book Online

The only places we can hide are the chapel and restaurant. And they’re crawling with those guys.
    We can try and leave town. But there’s nothing but wide open space all around this god forsaken place. Since we don’t have a car, it would have to be by foot. That ain’t happening. We’d get maybe fifty yards before getting shot.
    Those houses are our only hope. But first we have to cross that field. We need a miracle, some miraculous distraction.
    “There’s no choice. Now try and stay low and move fast.”
    Amber swallowed hard. She saw the length of exposed land that they had to cross. It was about the length of two football fields. As much faith as she had in Mack, she knew there was no way they’d make it. So as he was watching and waiting for the right time to run, she was preparing herself for the end.
    “Ready?” asked Mack as he tried not to show his nerves. Amber didn’t reply. She just nodded and held back her fear.
    Just as Mack and Amber were about to take their chances crossing the long field, they heard a familiar screeching noise. Only one thing they knew of made such a skin raising sound: meat puppets.
    Maybe there is a god. There was yelling and more gunshots. Amber and Mack watched as the men in the road got into their SUV and drove towards the residential area.
    “C’mon, let’s go.” Mack headed towards the field. Amber reluctantly followed.
    “Should we really be going towards the gunshots?”
    “Like I said, no choice.”
    Never in Mack’s life had time ever moved as slow as it did that morning while crossing the field. Every footfall was noticed. It was a strange mix of eagerness to reach their destination along with the nerves related to what they’d find there.
    Getting closer and closer was a quaint two floor house that Mack aimed for. The home was a neutral beige color. If they could get there, he figured they’d be safe.
    They were out of breath as they reached the beige house. Amber took a water bottle out of her backpack and took a couple of gulps. Then she handed it over to Mack. He finished it off.
    “What now?” asked Amber. Her head was on a swivel, looking for danger.
    “We keep moving.”
    “Why not just go inside and hide?”
    “Too dangerous. We need to find somewhere that even the meat puppets won’t find…”
    One of the black clad men came running past Mack, Amber and the beige house. He didn’t even notice the two of them. All that mattered was escape. And it didn’t take long before what he was running from revealed itself. But it wasn’t what Mack or Amber expected.
    Four dogs came running after the black clad man. He looked back and yelled some expletives. The canines were fast, but Mack saw enough of them to see their bullet hole ridden bodies and cloudy gray eyes. They were meat puppets.
    I bet they weren’t expecting them to come back. Mack grabbed one of Amber’s little hands. They made eye contact. No words were needed, they both knew they had to run.
    The residential area of Wydell looked like a warzone. SWAT gear clad men fought meat puppets all over the place. A couple of fires consumed ancient houses. One home had a car in its living room. Most importantly, through all the chaos, no one paid any attention to Mack and Amber.
    Mack stopped in front of what looked like cellar doors in the back yard of one of the houses. He opened them up. It was pitch black below, lit only by what little sunlight squeezed through the gray clouds above.
    “We’re going down there?” Amber didn’t like what she saw.
    “It’s a storm cellar, give me your phone. There’s a light on it right?”
    “Yeah, hold on,” answered Amber as she took out her phone and looked for the flashlight app.
    Mack and Amber heard a loud screech. It was close. When they looked to see what it was, they saw one of the meat puppet dogs. Blood and saliva dripped down from its mouth. For a second it just stared at them. Then it charged.
    Amber and Mack quickly got into the storm