Warpath: Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse by Shawn Chesser Read Free Book Online Page B

to do what the lady says ... that’s what time it is.”
    “Looks like I’ve got a lieutenant doing my light work,”
quipped Brook. “Now someone pass the ice cubes so I can get the bed hog off my
cot.” The fact that there wasn’t so much as an ice crystal for hundreds of
miles didn’t register in Raven’s analytical brain. The mere mention of ice
cubes used in conjunction with the words wake and up, had an
instantaneous effect on the twelve-year-old, causing her to sit ramrod
straight, her eyes instantly scanning the room for incoming. “Mom,” she called
out. “Not fair. You had me thinking Dad was up to his old tricks.”
    “Just making sure you stay frosty , sweetie.”
    Raven scrunched her face up. “ Not funny ,” she said,
flopping onto her back while pulling a big handful of blanket over her head.
    Just then, sparing Brook from a full scale all-girl mutiny,
the distinctive sound of their new ride reverberated outside and the Ford’s
shadow darkened the front of the single-story double-wide.
    “Total eclipse,” said Wilson. “I frickin can’t believe we’re
going to Utah in Pug’s old ride.” He looked towards Sasha just as a shudder of
revulsion wracked her small frame.
    “Had to remind me, didn’t you.”
    “Sorry, sis,” he answered sheepishly, cheeks going crimson.
    The door opened a moment later and Cade’s silhouette was
framed in the doorway. He said, “Gassed up and good to go.” Then he looked
around and saw that everyone was packed, for the most part, then went on,
“Raven, will you bring me my rifle?”
    “Sure Dad,” she said, sliding from her bag fully dressed.
“Where is it?”
    “Under my cot,” he said, watching his impromptu test play
out.
    Raven found the M4 under the cot next to hers. Pulled it out
one-handed by the butt stock and then pivoted and sat on the bed with it
between her knees. What she did next, while keeping the weapon’s muzzle pressed
against the shag carpet, made Cade very proud of her and doubly grateful for
the time Brook had spent teaching her the basics.
    First, Raven ejected the magazine and placed it on the
floor. Then she pulled the charging handle a couple of times before leaning the
rifle over to visually check that the chamber was indeed empty. Lastly, the
diminutive twelve-year-old slapped the magazine home and made sure the safety
was engaged before bringing it over to him, muzzle down.
    “Great job, sweetie,” he said. Then, already knowing the
answer, he asked her, “Did Mom teach you all of that?”
    Brook scooped up her pack and on the way out the door called
out over her shoulder, “Damn straight I did.”
    M4 in hand, Cade turned on one crutch and said, “Load up.
We’re oscar mike in five.”
     
     
     
    Chapter 10
     
     
    Four fucking hours , thought Elvis. Drive all night
and then spend half an hour groveling for my life trying to prove I had no
intention of following through on Robert Christian’s final orders. All while
kissing that bastard’s boots and I’m allowed only four fucking hours of sleep .
He rubbed his red-rimmed eyes and worked the controls. The blade lowered and
bit into the earth. The diesel engine growled and black, dirty exhaust belched
from the stack as the next phalanx of saplings and wrist-sized firs rolled
under the breaking wave of rich topsoil.
    In his peripheral vision he watched a pair of soldiers, clad
in all black and toting like-colored carbines of some sort, pick their way to
the clearing’s edge. They took their time stepping over clods of dirt and
uprooted ferns and halted a couple of feet from where a newly arrived zombie
stood gripping the stretched wire.
    “Let’s see what you got,” muttered Elvis who, less than a
week ago, had been ripping the faces of the infected off their skulls in order
to get to their salivary glands. A means to an end , he’d thought at the
time. Anything to kill the soldiers as they cowered safe and sound inside the
wire at Schriever Air Force