Winchester: Over (Winchester Undead) by Dave Lund Read Free Book Online

and brought it back to the hangar. Using some 550 parachute cord, he hung the tarp in front of the truck in the hangar, blocking the truck from view. The tarp wasn’t quite long enough to cover the entire opening, but he figured that the gap left between the top of the tarp and the hangar gave him a good vantage point from the gear rack of the truck to see out into the airport without being seen.
    Jessie walked around the hangar to make sure the Jeep wasn’t visible and, satisfied with their safety for the night, took two large rocks and weighted the bottom of the tarp to keep it in place.
    Surveying her work, she said “This will do honey, but I think we should keep a watch tonight. If you sleep first, I’ll trade out after a few hours.”
    Bexar looked at the watch on his wrist . “Fine, you take first watch. Give me four hours and I’ll take the rest of the night. We can leave at sunrise … goddamnit!” he exclaimed.
    “ What?”
    “ My watch is dead. I really liked this watch.” Jessie had given Bexar the watch, a G-Shock Riseman, for his last birthday, and he loved it; he had wanted one for some time. Holding his hand up to the western sky, Bexar squinted and said, “Two fingers, only about thirty minutes left until sunset.”
    Jessie gave Keeley a cereal bar while she warmed up some canned chili on their Coleman stove. After eating, Bexar took one of the big red jerry cans of gas down from the back of the Jeep and poured the whole can into the Jeep’s tank. They were going to have to find more fuel if they didn’t get to Maypearl soon. After laying Keeley down to sleep in the back seat of the Jeep, Bexar curled up on the ground with a woolen surplus Army blanket, and Jessie climbed on top of the roof rack with the AR for first watch.
    “ I love you Bexar, sleep fast,” she whispered.

CHAPTER 7
     
     
    Air Force One
     
    Agent McFarland knocked on the door to the President’s in-air office.
    “ Mr. President,” he announced, “we have lost communication with command at Denver. Current satellite imagery shows that most of Washington, D.C. is on fire, and there are swarms of reanimates moving throughout the destruction. Colonel Olive has informed us that we have approximately four hours of fuel remaining and then we will be forced to land.”
    The strain showing in his face, the President replied , “Why can’t we refuel in-air again?”
    “ Sir, the last KC-135 over CONUS had to land to refuel, but Colonel Olive said that after the pilot advised that the approach for MacDill was overrun with reanimates, he hasn’t been able to raise the crew nor any of the other ground assets in the Air Mobility Command. He is suggesting we land at Groom Lake. We still have some communication with them, and we think it would be the best choice for your safety.”
    “ No!” The President was adamant. “We will not hide in the desert; tell the colonel that we’re going to Denver so we can reestablish contact with the VP, and try to take back control of my country.”
    “ Sir, I strongly suggest—”
    “ I don’t care what you suggest, tell Olive those are my orders,” the President said, dismissing him.
     
    Outside of Mansfield, Texas
     
    Jack and Sandra’s trip on TX-287 was taking much longer than they had possibly imagined. The roadway was a nearly impassible nightmare, and Jack was spending a lot of time driving around disabled vehicles and wrecks. He gave up staying in the southbound lanes, traversing the median if he needed to clear an impasse. The only living people they had seen in the past two hours were a handful of people fleeing on bicycles to the north; the other dozen or so they had seen were dead in the road. All of them had bite marks and head wounds, and all were being picked apart by large turkey vultures.
    They passed a burning gas station, and Jack looked down at the gas gauge on his FJ. “We’ve burned about half a tank, after using the gas in our jerry cans, and I’m not sure