Verge of Extinction (Apex Predator Book 3) by Glyn Gardner Read Free Book Online

for.  He turned.  In his hand he held a single IV catheter.  He held it up in triumph. “I got an IV!” he announced to everyone present. 
    Joe looked at him in frustration. “What the hell are you going to do with just that?” he chastised the younger man.  “Without drugs, all you’re going to do is bleed the guy.  This isn’t the damned middle ages.”
    Indira stepped forward and placed a hand on the man’s neck.  “Hold CPR please,” she calmly asked.  Donaldson stopped. There was nothing.  The man didn’t have a pulse.  She looked to the rest.  “Do we have any cardiac drugs or even a full IV set?”  Joe and Donaldson shook their heads in unison.
    She looked to The Bishop.  “That is why we need medical supplies.”  She turned away and stormed out; pushing past SSgt Brown as she did.  No one said a word.   Addressing SSgt Brown, the Bishop pointed to Jen.  “You are to take her with you and bring back whatever she needs.”  He left without another word.
     
    Off the coast of Gulf Port MS
    Jen could feel her heart pounding as the small boat rocked back and forth in the waves.  For a month she Mike and the others had lived in fear of the undead.  Then salvation day arrived.
    She thought for a moment about that day.  Mike and Jackson had agreed to run for a pair of trucks in an adjacent parking lot.  They had made it about halfway there when they first heard the sound.  It was the sound that to her will forever symbolize safety.  The River Rats and their helicopter, twin rotors beating the air, dropped from the sky as if on the wings of an angel.
    Her heart skipped a beat as she thought about Mike and Jackson scrambling back as the hoard of zombies surrounded them.  She had never been as happy as she was when Mike and the other charged up the rear ramp of the helicopter.
    She had taken one last look at the land as their boat had passed out of the mouth of the Mississippi River and into Open Ocean.  She had honestly believed that she would never have to see another walking corpse again.
    Now, here she was; on a boat charging back to the mainland.  Her thoughts drifted to those around her.  Yet again; Mike, Jackson, Kerry, Theresa, and SSgt Brown were beside her as they charged headlong into unknown dangers.  The thought, though disturbing, was also somehow comforting.
    She worried for their safety.  She had no idea how she would survive if something happened to Mike.  And Theresa, she felt as if the teen were her responsibility.  An image of the girl lying next to Mike, both pale and dead, flashed into her mind.  It was only a fleeting thought, but it was enough to send a shiver down her spine.
    The front of the boat dipped as Sgt Procell chopped the throttles.   The rest of the people on the boat held tightly to the gunwales.  The boat began to rock violently fore and aft as it drifted into the surf zone.  After a moment, the boat’s hull scraped gently on the sandy bottom.
    “Everybody out,” SSgt Brown ordered quietly.  The six figures leapt out of the boat and into the knee-deep water.  They still had 40 yards of surf to cross before reaching dry land.  SSgt Brown did not relish the idea of walking around Gulfport with wet feet.  But it couldn’t be helped.  He turned and gave the boat a shove.
    Sgt Procell throttled the engines up and the boat backed slowly away.  He wouldn’t gun the throttles until he was far enough away from the survivors that he would not draw any nearby zombies in their direction.
    SSgt Brown caught up with the group as they reached the beach.  Jackson knelt in the sand; the others following suit.  They’d followed the soldier for the better part of a month through areas filled with danger.  They’d learned that if he stops, you stop.
    They could see the road 100 yards in front of them.  SSgt Brown and Jackson knew from the maps on the Island that this was US Highway 90.  It was the coast road in this part of the state.  And