Red Death: A Post Apocalyptic Thriller by D.L. Robinson Read Free Book Online

pods,” Lee told them.
    “Oh, my God, Lee, this is really happening, isn’t it? It’s really going on, right now, right down there!”
    Mary encircled Tara’s shoulder with one arm. “I think it is, Tara.”
    “I can’t quite see for all these bushes,” Lee said. He rose to his knees then stood.
    “Lee, stay down! They’ve gone to all this trouble to keep this under wraps, what do you think they’d do if they saw you spying?” Tara pulled at his pants leg and Mary joined in. “She’s right, Lee, let’s get out of here.”
    “Okay, just a minute.” He took two steps, climbing up on the soft dirt at the lip of the gravel pit. The sudden noise of an approaching vehicle on the country road behind them caused Tara to cry out to Lee to get down. As the van’s headlights swept around the bend, Lee was briefly silhouetted in its lights. He made a quick move to jump back, and the dirt beneath his feet gave way. Instantly, he was gone, tumbling forward into the pit.
    Tara barely stopped herself from screaming. She heard Lee’s grunt of pain and the sound of him hitting the rocks hard.
    “Oh no,” Mary cried softly. They stayed crouched in the grass until the white van went by and disappeared down the road. They hadn’t seen him. Then Tara scrambled to the edge and looked over. Mary joined her.
    Lee was groaning softly, pulling himself back up. He hadn’t fallen far.
    “I fell on my leg. It bent up behind me!” 
    Tara saw his grimace of pain and sprang into action. “Mary, help me. We’ve got to get him back up here.” The two women gingerly planted their feet in the soft soil on the other side of the pile of dirt, as Lee crawled to them. Grasping his hands, they pulled for all they were worth. Lee’s two-hundred-pound-plus frame inched slowly toward them. Tara’s fear for him rose up, nearly choking her, but she was more afraid they would be discovered spying on the medical facility.
    “Mary, come on, pull, just a foot more.” The women struggled and grunted, and Lee pushed with his good leg until he finally heaved his chest across the top of the dirt pile.
    “My God, we’ve got to get you out of here!” Tara was in a panic, staring at the vehicles now leaving the parking lot below. “They could come up here any minute!” She knelt beside Lee to survey the damage. Mary was already running her hand down his right leg to ascertain where the injury was. Lee winced as she felt along the outside of his knee.
    “I heard it crack, Mary. And I feel sick at my stomach, just like I did when I broke my arm years ago.”
    “I think you’re right, Lee. I believe it’s broken. It’s a common break when you fall with your leg bent under you—it’s the outer bone, the smaller one called the fibula”
    Tara wiped Lee’s face with her shirt. He had broken out in a cold sweat. “I think I might be sick,” he said. Tara glanced around, and saw there were dense bushes just a short distance away from them along the road.
    “Lee, we’ve got to get you out of sight. Mary, grab his arm. Let’s drag him over there behind those bushes, so no one can see us.”
    Lee groaned, but was able to help them push off a little. It was obvious he was in severe pain. They pulled him behind a clump of brush, and Tara knelt there. “Lee, what should we do? How can we get you home? We need to call the ambulance, get you to the ER.”
    “No way!” he erupted. “I’m not going to the ER. Go in for a broken leg, you come out with Ebola! Mary, how much do you know about breaks? Can you rig me up with something?”
    The older woman nodded. “If it is broken, these are painful breaks, Lee, but they heal fairly well because it’s the non-weight-bearing bone there on the outside of the leg. In fact, I may even have an air cast at home that will fit you. But you’re going to be in a lot of pain for a while, and will have to keep the leg iced and propped up.”
    Tara stared back and forth between them. “Are you kidding me? Are