Trail of Tears by Derek Gunn Read Free Book Online

stomach. What kind of animals…
    He found himself striding down the corridor
before he knew what was happening. His training ensured that his
weapon was primed and he automatically checked out any smaller
corridors but his focus was ahead. He forced his way through the
bodies, apologising in his mind as he stood on limbs and torsos.
Another burp of the XM8 from ahead. He moved faster. The gunfire
was louder now, right around the corner. He came to the corner at a
run and continued around with his XM8 ready. He took in the scene
in the first moment. His trained eyes picked up the three enemy
thralls about a hundred yards ahead. One of the thralls was
crouching behind a table but the other two hid behind a woman and
her child. Jones lay on the ground behind some bodies. He had a
shoulder wound and blood seeped from his leg as well.
    Cabreezi didn’t stop. His anger was like a
shield. He screamed his frustration and his desperation and forged
forward, firing as he advanced. His clip ran empty and he reloaded
automatically. He took the thrall behind the table in the throat
and moved on to the next one without a second glance. He knew that
the thrall might not be dead, but he only had the element of
surprise for another moment. His next shot took the second thrall
in the arm and it swung him around, the child fell away from him
and he pumped four shots into the thrall’s body before moving on to
the next. Something slammed into his side but he continued on. He
was only twenty feet away now and he saw the terrified woman being
held against the enemy. The thrall was backing away, he didn’t look
as confident as he had a moment ago but he was still firing. The
woman’s squirming put his aim off, but it was only a matter of luck
that he hadn’t taken his head off already. He had to move
quickly.
    He was dimly aware that Fowler was pumping
shots into the other two thralls, just to be sure. Jones had
already scrambled forward and held the little girl in his arms. Jesus, he hadn’t even noticed that the girl was Jones’
daughter. Of course that meant that the woman…The anger haze
finally abated and Cabreezi recognised the woman as Jones’ wife,
Patricia.
    Cabreezi looked at the woman; he forced
himself not to think of her as the woman he knew. Their only chance
here was for him to be calculating and calm. Bullets buzzed past
him. Patricia’s struggling made a shot too dangerous. He aimed at
Patricia’s head, looking her straight in the eyes and willing her
to understand. She stopped struggling suddenly. The thrall smiled
and lined up his own machine gun. Cabreezi remained in place,
aiming straight between Patricia’s eyes. The barrel of the thrall’s
gun was pointed right at him now and he could hear Jones shouting.
He ignored it all. Patricia suddenly slammed her head back into the
thralls face and then pitched forward. Once her head moved forward
Cabreezi took the shot. A small hole appeared between the thrall’s
eyes and he dropped forward. Patricia pulled away just before the
thrall collapsed and Jones had her in his arms before the thrall
hit the ground.
    Cabreezi dropped to one knee as the
adrenaline suddenly evaporated. Fowler moved past him and put
another round in the thrall’s head, just to be sure. Ahead, he
could hear the chatter of high-pitched fire. They weren’t finished
yet.
     
    * * *
     
    The first thing Sandra Harrington noticed
was the smell of dirt. She couldn’t see, couldn’t hear anything
either but the smell of soil and grass swamped her. For a blissful
moment she couldn’t remember anything; it was like she was in bed
on a Sunday morning with nowhere to go. Something was nagging at
her though; the smell of soil was strange and she was beginning to
feel a numbing cold spreading through her but her mind refused to
remember.
    She tried to get more comfortable and pain
seared through her. With the pain came memories and it was too
close to call which hurt her more. The invaders had breached