The Mortis Desolation (Book 1): Mortis by Logan Rutherford Read Free Book Online

your side, Peter. I want to find out about these creatures just as much as you do."
    " Atras ," Peter corrected me.
    We all looked at him, puzzled.
    "What?" John asked.
    "An atra. It's what I'm calling the creatures. It's Latin," Peter said with a smile.
    Of course it was Latin. Peter came up with the names for anything that needed them, and he was obsessed with Latin.
    "Okay then, I want to find out about these atras as much as you do. But I'm not going to lose any lives in the process."
    Peter nodded. "I get that, and neither do I. But whatever we're going to do, it's going to be dangerous. There's no way around that, Miles."
    I sighed and turned back around. I looked out the windshield at the empty back alley. Potholes littered the asphalt road, thanks to the relentless Texas weather. I felt like crawling into one of those potholes and disappearing for a while. All these people were waiting on me to make a decision, and no matter which one I made, people's lives were going to be put in danger.
    If we went into the hardware store, any number of us could die. But if we didn't, we'd be in the dark when it came to the atras, putting everyone's lives at Jefferson Memorial in danger. We needed to learn everything we could about our new foes.
    Our eagerness to learn got us in trouble, however.
    There was a thud at the back of the van, then another. More thuds sounded from the right side of the van until it was a cacophony. I looked out the window in a panic, and locked eyes with just one of the many zombies that were trying to break into our car.
    In our focus to learn about our new enemies, we forgot all about our old ones.
    “Drive, Julia!” I shouted as I kept my eyes on the zombies.
    “I can’t!” she shouted back.
    I turned to ask why not, but I saw why. At the end of the alleyway stood a Xenomortis.

Chapter Thirteen
    “ O h shit ,” John said.
    I didn’t know what to do. I sat in the passenger’s seat of the van, frozen. The blood drained from my face, and I gripped the seat around me until my knuckles turned white.
    The Xenomortis began walking toward us, dragging one of its legs behind him. Its hard, rocky grey skin glistened red around its mouth. Probably blood from its last victim.
    “It’s not charging,” Daniel said, almost shouting to be heard over the thuds of the zombies.
    I shook myself out of my daze. Daniel was right, it wasn’t charging, which meant it hadn’t seen us yet. It was probably just investigating the noise the zombies were making.
    “Julia, turn the car off,” I said as I unbuckled my seat.
    “What?” she protested.
    “ Just do it.”
    Julia obeyed, and then followed me into the back of the van. “Everybody get as low as you can,” I said.
    We all lay down on the floor of the van. My feet were pretty much in John’s chest, and the back of Julia’s head was next to mine.
    “We should just drive through the yard of the hardware store,” Julia whispered.
    “We won’t be able to pick up enough speed in time. The Xenomortis would be on us in a heartbeat,” I explained. “Our only option is to not be seen.”
    As if on cue, I looked up and could see the Xenomortis appear in my line of sight. It didn’t look into the van. It stopped and stared at the zombies for a few moments with its reptilian eyes, watching them try and break into the van.
    I looked at the passenger’s side-view mirror, and could see some of the zombies continue to throw themselves against the van, but a few of them turned to look at the Xenomortis. They stared back at him with their dead eyes.
    The Xenomortis grunted, and a few more zombies turned their attention toward him. Still, some had their attention elsewhere. The Xenomortis grunted again, this time a little louder. Now all but two were still trying to get into the van. I couldn’t see these two, but I could hear them hitting the back door of the van.
    The Xenomortis began walking toward the back. I watched in the side-view mirror until he