by Mark Tufo
Sheila walked, sandwiched between the two men, knowing that they had positioned her there to protect her. She realized how much harder she and her girls made the soldiers’ journey to the tunnels, and she wondered if either man had considered leaving them behind.
They stood at the back entrance and waited. It felt like minutes had passed since Rosie had disappeared out the front door. The silence was long and stifling.
“Maybe they’re gone,” she offered in a whisper.
Chow gave his head a slow shake from side to side.
“Nah. They’re still out there. There’s more of them out there than ticks on a deer,” Jinx whispered back.
Gunfire erupted behind them, and Sheila jumped.
Chow motioned forward, and he strode out the back entrance. They walked side by side, and Sheila had to jog to keep up due to her much shorter legs. Every footstep of hers sounded like a sledgehammer pounding the ground while the men, even carrying all the extra weight, were far quieter. The only louder sound was Rosie’s gunfire.
Chow’s head was constantly turning left to right as he scanned the landscape, and Tasha seemed to be doing the same. Jenny watched her mother over Jinx’s shoulder, and Sheila never took her eyes off her except to make quick glances at Tasha.
When the rooftop was a block behind them, hope surged. Rosie had done it!
Then everything went quiet.
Chow and Jinx began to jog, and Sheila ran. Her heart pounded. Did Rosie make it? Were they far enough away that the Variants wouldn’t find them? How much farther to the tunnels?
As the men picked up speed, Sheila found she could no longer keep up. They weaved around shrubs as they ran across the open lawn at the edge of the barracks. Some windows were shattered, but she didn’t slow down to search for shapes that might be moving around inside.
She noticed both soldiers began to slow their pace for her. And she realized that she putting her girls’ safety at risk.
“Go. I’ll keep up,” she whispered harshly between puffed breaths.
“Come on. One block to go,” Chow said, and his words gave her strength.
She pushed herself to run faster, but her legs refused to pump harder.
“Contact!” Jinx called out and fired off a quick succession of shots to Sheila’s right. Jenny screamed and clasped her hands over her ears.
Chow fired off shots in another direction.
When she saw the pack of a dozen Variants running toward them, terror rose within her.
“I’m empty,” Jinx yelled.
A few seconds later. “I’m empty,” Chow said.
She could see the tunnel entrance. Too far.
She studied the men to each side of her. Both wore hard looks, holding on to her daughters while switching to knives with their other hands. They were strong and fast, maybe fast enough to make it.
The knowledge of what needed to be done sent a sob racking through her body. She took off her cap and slid it onto Tasha’s head.
“Tasha, I need you to look after Jenny. Girls, remember the Supergirl game.”
Her daughter frowned, not understanding what Sheila was about to do.
Chow looked at her with full understanding written all over his face. He shook his head. “Don’t even think about it.”
She turned to see the pack gaining on them.
No time!
“Get my girls to the tunnels!” she yelled and spun on her heels.
“Damn it, Sheila,” Jinx called back to her.
“Mommy!” Jenny screamed.
Sheila stood firm, but looked over her shoulder. “I’ll see you in the tunnels, sweeties.” She found the lie rolled off her tongue easily.
“No, Mom!” Tasha cried out.
“Go!”
Jinx scowled, but Chow gave her a nod, and they sprinted away with her daughters. Tears welled in her eyes, and she turned away so they wouldn’t see her cry.
We’re going to die no longer floated through her mind. Now, a new thought emerged, and it soothed her. It gave her strength she needed. She wiped tears from her cheeks as a sense of tranquility smothered her terror.
She looked up and held her arms out to the Variants as though welcoming them into a mother’s embrace.
My girls are going to be okay.
— 10 —
Chow’s first instinct had been to knock out Big Horn’s wife, throw her over his shoulder, and run to the tunnels. The problem was that even running at a full sprint, they didn’t stand a chance of making it to the tunnels before the super freaks reached them. If the kids’ mother could buy them a few seconds then, maybe—just maybe—they had a snowball’s chance in hell to survive this day.
He counted two seconds. The pack would be reaching her about now.
A .50 cal rattled the ground, and he spun around to see the pack get torn apart. Variants twisted in a ghastly, bloody dance as bullets shredded them. In the middle of the pack, he could still see the woman in the arms of a Variant, as though it were trying to protect her against the onslaught. He knew the truth was far more sinister.
The scene was over within a few seconds. When the echoes of gunfire faded, all the Variants lay on the ground. Nothing moved.
Chow fell to his knees, still clutching the girl to him. If the .50 cal had erupted only a few seconds earlier… Just a few seconds.
“Mom!” Tasha fought his hold, but he held her tightly. She hit him. “Let me go! Mom!”
He clamped his eyes shut and ignored her pleas. How could he tell Sheila’s daughters that her death was for nothing? That if help arrived just a few seconds earlier, their mother would still be alive? When he opened his eyes, he turned to Jinx whose expression bore the same raw torture Chow was experiencing.
“Pick up the pace! The noise will draw in more.”
Chow looked up to see troops waving down from the .50 cal set up above the tunnel entrance, mostly hidden by the shrubs. Smoke emanated from its hot barrel.
His jaw tightened. He stood and handed Tasha over to Jinx. “Get them to the tunnel.”
Fists clenched, he strode toward to the gunner. “You were too late!”
The soldier frowned. “I fired as soon as I saw them coming.”
“Hey, get back here, pipsqueak!” Jinx hollered from behind Chow.
Chow turned back.
“That one’s a slippery little kid,” Jinx called out to him, while he held a sobbing Tasha in his arms.
Chow shot a final glare at the gunner before he turned, ran, and caught the surprisingly fast little girl. “Whoa there, Jenny.”
“But, Mommy…” she began.
“She’s—” What the hell was a guy supposed to say to a little kid who’d just lost her mother? “We need you to go to the tunnel. Okay, kid?”
Jenny frowned, then she rummaged in her backpack and tugged out a small green blanket. She held it out to Chow. “Mommy gets cold. She’ll need this.”
“Oh.” Chow realized the little girl didn’t yet comprehend what had happened to her mother. He pressed the blanket back toward her. “How about you hold on to it for now?”
She stomped her foot. “No. Mommy will be cold when she wakes up.”
He held out his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. I’ll leave it with her, but I need you to go with Jinx right now. Deal?”
The girl held on to the blanket for a moment as though she were considering her options. She stuck out her chin, gave a single nod, and then handed him the blanket.
He forced a smile, took the blanket, and motioned toward Jinx and her older sister. “Now, hurry to the tunnels.”
“Okay,” she said and then started running toward Jinx.
Chow turned and headed toward the girls’ mother. His boots grew heavier with each step and felt like they’d been filled with concrete by the time he reached her body. Sheila Horn lay on the ground, a dead Variant sprawled across her, and blood pooling around her. In a surge of anger, he snarled and kicked the Variant off her.
He went to cover
her body. He paused and frowned. Her body was intact, with only a few tears in her skin from the attack. She almost seemed peaceful as she lay there. He scowled. But she was still dead. If he had ammo, he would’ve made sure she remained at peace. Instead, he gave a small prayer that maybe the powers to be could show a little mercy for once and keep her from turning.
His lips thinned when he saw the ring on her left hand, knowing he’d be the one to break the news to Big Horn…assuming the guy was even still alive. With how bad things were at Fort Bragg, survival outside the base had to be impossible.
He knelt and tugged the wedding ring off her finger. Then, he shook the small blanket out and lay it across her torso.
“Get a move on. Tunnel door’s closing!” Jinx yelled back.
Chow glanced back to find safety waiting for them. When he shed a final glance at Sheila Horn, a glint of sunlight caught his eye. He bent down one last time and tugged the empty Colt out from her belt. He’d make damn sure that peacemaker would kill another Variant or two.
Then, he took off at a run toward the two girls he’d give his life to protect.
Epilogue
She woke up in the middle of the night. Her mind, at first fogged with jumbled memories of little girls and a man in a green uniform of some kind, became clearer with each passing breath. Soon, everything in her mind faded to leave a clean, simple slate. She sat up, and the small blanket that had been covering her slid off.
Everything looked different, smelled different, though she could no longer recall what the world had been like before. Her palms seemed to stick to the concrete, and she looked down at her hands. The longer fingers seemed foreign to her, yet very much felt right.
Joints popped and clicked as she pushed to her feet. Hair flitted to the ground around her. She cracked her jaw and cut her lip. She touched the jagged tooth, then ignored it. She eyed the blanket. She bent over and picked it up. It smelled familiar and tugged at an emotion she could no longer place. She sniffed it and felt a yearning…but more so, she felt a craving.
She craved to destroy.
A shrill scream called out to her, and she cocked her head. She reached out with her new and improved senses and found the one watching her from a nearby tree. She could feel him as much as she could smell, hear, and see him. He understood her. He was kindred and called to her to join him.
She gave a primal scream and ran to him.
Together, they would hunt and kill.
Ready to continue to Extinction Horizon,
Book 1 of the Extinction Cycle series?
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About the Authors
Extinction Cycle Creator Nicholas Sansbury Smith
Nicholas Sansbury Smith is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Hell Divers series. His other work includes the Extinction Cycle series, the Trackers series, and the Orbs series. He worked for Iowa Homeland Security and Emergency Management in disaster planning and mitigation before switching careers to focus on his one true passion—writing. When he isn't writing or daydreaming about the apocalypse, he enjoys running, biking, spending time with his family, and traveling the world. He is an Ironman triathlete and lives in Iowa with his wife, their dogs, and a house full of books.
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About Anthony J Melchiorri
Anthony J Melchiorri is a scientist with a PhD in bioengineering. Originally from the Midwest, he now lives in Texas. By day, he develops cellular therapies and 3D-printable artificial organs. By night, he writes apocalyptic, medical, and science-fiction thrillers that blend real-world research with other-worldly possibility. When he isn’t in the lab or at the keyboard, he spends his time running, reading, hiking, and traveling in search of new story ideas.
Read more at anthonyjmelchiorri.com and sign up for his mailing list at http://bit.ly/ajmlist to hear about his latest releases and news.
About Rachel Aukes
Rachel Aukes is the award-winning author of 100 Days in Deadland, which made the Best of the Year list by Suspense Magazine. Her current series are the Fringe Series (space adventure). Her other series include the Deadland Saga and the Colliding Worlds Trilogy.
Over the past twenty years, she’s consulted across the corporate world and taught at a local university, warping the minds of both today’s and tomorrow’s generations. A licensed pilot, she can be found flying old airplanes over the Midwest countryside with her husband and an incredibly spoiled, fifty-pound lapdog. She lives near Ames, Iowa.
Learn more at RachelAukes.com
About Mark Tufo
Mark Tufo was born in Boston Massachusetts. He attended UMASS Amherst where he obtained a BA and later joined the US Marine Corp. He was stationed in Parris Island SC, Twenty Nine Palms CA and Kaneohe Bay Hawaii. After his tour he went into the Human Resources field with a worldwide financial institution and has gone back to college at CTU to complete his masters.
He has written the Indian Hill trilogy with the first Indian Hill – Encounters being published for the Amazon Kindle in July 2009. He has since written the Zombie Fallout series and is working on a new zombie book.
He lives in Maine with his wife, three kids and two English bulldogs. Visit him at marktufo.com or zombiefallout.blogspot.com or Facebook for news on his next two installments of the Indian Hill trilogy and upcoming installments of the Zombie Fallout series.
About Russell Blake
Featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Times, and The Chicago Tribune, Russell Blake is The NY Times, WSJ, and USA Today bestselling author of dozens of action/adventure and mystery novels, including Fatal Exchange, Fatal Deception, The Geronimo Breach, Zero Sum, King of Swords, Night of the Assassin, Revenge of the Assassin, Return of the Assassin, Blood of the Assassin, Requiem for the Assassin, Rage of the Assassin, The Delphi Chronicle trilogy, The Voynich Cypher, Silver Justice, JET, JET – Ops Files, JET – Ops Files: Terror Alert, JET II – Betrayal, JET III – Vengeance, JET IV – Reckoning, JET V – Legacy, JET VI – Justice, JET VII – Sanctuary, JET VIII – Survival, JET IX – Escape, JET X – Incarceration, JET XI – Forsaken, JET XII – Rogue State, JET XIII – Renegade, bio-thriller Upon A Pale Horse, BLACK, BLACK Is Back, BLACK Is The New Black, BLACK To Reality, BLACK In The Box, Ramsey’s Gold, Emerald Buddha, The Goddess Legacy, Deadly Calm, Extinction Thailand, A Girl Apart, A Girl Betrayed, techno-thriller Quantum Synapse, and The Day After Never series: Blood Honor, Purgatory Road, Covenant, Retribution, Insurrection, Perdition, and Havoc.
Non-fiction includes the international bestseller An Angel With Fur (animal biography) and How To Sell A Gazillion eBooks In No Time (even if drunk, high or incarcerated), a parody of all things writing-related.
Blake is co-author of The Eye of Heaven and The Solomon Curse with legendary author Clive Cussler. Blake’s novel King of Swords has been translated into German by Amazon Crossing, The Voynich Cypher into Bulgarian, and his JET and Ramsey’s novels into Spanish, German, and Czech.
Blake writes under the moniker R.E. Blake in the NA/YA/Contemporary Romance genres. Novels include Less Than Nothing, More Than Anything, and Best Of Everything.
Having resided in Mexico for fifteen years, Blake enjoys his dogs, fishing, boating, tequila and writing, while battling world domination by clowns. His thoughts, such as they are, can be found at his blog: RussellBlake.com
About Jeff Olah
Jeff Olah is the author and creator of the best-selling series The Dead Years, The Last Outbreak, and The Next World. He writes for all those
readers who love good post-apocalyptic, supernatural horror, and dystopian/science fiction.
His thirst for detailed story lines and shocking plot twists has been fueled over the years by stories from Cormac McCarthy, Ray Bradbury, and Stephen King. He also has a difficult time tearing himself away from character driven dramas like The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, and LOST.
Jeff is addicted to lifting weights, running hills, and chocolate protein shakes. He lives in Southern California with his wife, daughter, and seven-year-old Chihuahua.
Connect with Jeff:
JeffOlah.com
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