The Survivor Chronicles: The Risen by Erica Stevens Read Free Book Online Page A

that
option."
    "Yeah," Carl muttered before walking over to
stand beside Al. "Is there any way around this?"
    Al shook his head and lifted the map. "This
ended in Connecticut; we're running on my memory alone until we
find a New York state map. I'm sure there are other bridges, but I
don't know how close they are or even where they are."
    "Or if they're still standing," Carl
said.
    "Or that," Al agreed.
    "You've been across this before; does it
look like it's been damaged to you?"
    "It's been years since I've crossed it but
it looks almost exactly the same as I remember it. I'm pretty sure
the right lane was closed down the last time I went over then
too."
    Carl didn't know if that was a comforting
fact or not, but it definitely wasn't one he wanted to linger on.
"Great," John said. "That sounds promising."
    "I think they use it as a breakdown lane for
the most part," Al explained.
    Maybe that
was supposed to be of some comfort, but Carl found none in it. "So
how are we going to do this?" John asked. "Are we going to walk
across it again first? Go one vehicle at a time or all of them at
once? Maybe one of the vehicles could go over the other bridge at
least then, if one collapses, some of us will still survive."
    "That's looking on the bright side," Carl
said.
    "Someone has too."
    Carl released a small snort of laughter as
he rubbed at the bridge of his nose and surveyed the two bridges.
"They really don't look like they're in bad condition. The water
level is high but it wasn't forceful enough to knock the trees
over."
    "This is an extremely bad idea," Peter
muttered.
    Carl chose to ignore him as his attention
turned back to the water below them. "What would you have us do?"
John asked.
    Peter's jaw clenched as he folded his arms
over his chest. A muscle twitched in the teacher's cheek. Carl
waited for Peter to say something more but as the seconds slid into
minutes, he realized that wasn't going to happen. Unwilling to even
acknowledge the man, Carl turned back to the bridge.
    "I don't think it matters about splitting up
the vehicles. That's a long walk across and back; it will take too
much time for us to do it. I think we'd be exposed here for too
much time if something or someone was to show up," Carl said.
    "I don't like that idea either," Xander
said. "And I highly doubt just our weight on this thing is going to
make much of an impact. Not when it still has that crane, barrels,
and dump truck sitting on it."
    "What about doing separate bridges?" Mary
Ellen asked.
    "I doubt that would make a difference
either," Donald said. "It's not like we're all driving Mac
trucks."
    Carl rubbed at the scruff lining his jaw and
pulled his hat off. He ran a hand through his disheveled hair as he
studied the cap. The red B for the Red Sox was officially black now
from the rain and dirt, the blue of the cap had faded to a light
gray color, and the material on the bill had been worn down to the
cardboard in some areas. It had definitely seen better days, but
then so had he, and it was still his lucky cap. He placed it back
on his head and settled it over his eyes.
    He wasn't exactly thrilled about the idea of
doing this, but he didn't see any other way around it. They could
spend hours driving out of their way to try and find another route
across the river. Hours in which they could get stuck somewhere
else, or attacked. Hours that would be off of the highway and in
areas that they had absolutely no knowledge of.
    The idea of driving across the bridge was
enough to give him a nic-fit. He fished into his pocket for his
cigarettes and pulled them out. The fresh wash of nicotine didn't
have the desired effect he'd been looking for as his heart
continued to pound and a sweat, based solely on fear, began to coat
his body.
    Riley walked over to stand near them. Her
vivid blue eyes were troubled as she stared between him, Al, and
Xander. She tucked a strand of black hair blowing across her face,
behind her ear. The freckles on her nose and