Infected (Book 2): The Flight Read Free

around the top edge of the end of the case. .223 Rem was stamped below it.  It was the brand I used for my reloads.  It was the brand that was loaded in Katie’s rifle when I left the house.
    Returning my flashlight to full intensity, I continued my search beneath the tree.  I found a second group containing three shell casings.  These casings were much smaller.  They were .22 long rifle cases.  I picked one up.  It had a C stamped where the primer would have been on a center fire case.  It was the same mark that was on the CCI Mini Mags Toby shot.
    My new-found hope was no longer a small flame that needed to be kindled.  It suddenly erupted into a blaze that renewed my will to live.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Part 1
    Lost Hills, California
    Thursday Night

Chapte r 1
    Matt and Connor continued a systematic search around the tree, looking for some clue to the whereabouts of their families.  Minutes before, they had assumed their wives and boys had died in the fire that had reduced Connor’s home to a smoldering pile of rubble.  Then they found evidence showing, almost without a doubt, that they had not been in the inferno as it raged out of control. 
    Connor turned toward Matt, his flashlight illuminating white streaks of skin from the corners of Matt’s eyes, running down his soot covered face.  Connor knew his face bore the same signs of anguish, anguish that had nearly pushed him past the brink of what he could handle. 
    Finally Connor spoke.  “They aren’t here anymore.  Katie’s car is still over there and so is your truck.  They didn’t drive away.  They either left on foot or they were taken.”
    “Okay,” Matt answered, his voice still broken.  “Let’s assume they left on foot.  Where would they have gone?”
    “There are two bodies in the house that don’t belong there,” Connor said, referring to the two charred corpses they had found in the remains of his house minutes before.  One of them had what looked like a bullet hole in his head.  Both had the burned remains of AK-47 rifles next to their bodies.
    “Assuming the bodies belong to Curtis’s crew, there must have been others.  There is no way the two of them walked here.  There aren’t any other vehicles, so somebody drove away after the fire.  Katie and Eve wouldn’t have left toward the road with whoever started the fire having gone in that direction.  The only place they could have gone is there,” Connor said, pointing to the rugged hills rising up behind his property.  “That’s assuming Curtis didn’t take them with him.”
    “No way,” Matt interjected.  “Based on the shell casings we found, we know Katie, Eve and the boys had at least two guns.  There weren’t enough casings for them to have run out of ammo.  With two guns, they would have been able to put up a good fight. They wouldn’t have given up with ammo to burn.  Curtis didn’t take them.  They’re out there,” he said, looking at the rugged terrain behind them.  “Where out there would they go, though?” he asked rhetorically.  “There’s a lot of country.”
    No sooner had the words left Matt’s mouth than a soft ffftt whispered passed their heads and a branch on the tree behind them snapped, wood fragments flying in all directions.  A fraction of a second later, the crack of a gunshot raced across Connor’s property and into the distance along the hills behind the house, echoing along the rim rock like a peel of thunder.
    In the second it took for them to process the sound and formulate the appropriate response, another gunshot blasted from behind the shed.  This time, Connor’s eyes, having been drawn to the sound of the previous shot, spotted a short burst of flame erupt as the last remnants of combusting gun powder spewed out the gun barrel and into the night. A second flame lit up the area a mere five feet from the first.  There were at least two shooters.
    Matt responded faster than Connor.  Connor’s