Only The Living (Lost Survival Series Book 1) Read Free

where we were headed, anywhere must have been a better option than the city centre. So much for 'eye of the storm'; it was a bloodbath worse than any news story I’d ever heard in my life.
    I ultimately decided to head for Waverley Station, if I could ever find it. Not that I expected any of the trains to be running during this pandemonium, but it was somewhat underground and being closer to lanes of transport seemed safer.
    We ran for what seemed like hours, even though it was barely a ten-minute walk from the university. Every single time we turned a corner, an armoured military truck roared into view and opened fire across a parallel street, alerting us to where the unknown danger zones lay.
    Our feet were being steered away by the sounds of bullets pulverising the concrete, which only added to my curiosity. They were aiming for pretty much anything that moved in the area, including civilians. No one was to be trusted... not even us.
    How many people do they think are involved with this so-called 'attack'?! How did the news put it, an 'act of aggression'?
    I could only have assumed that those words meant one thing; we were at war. There were so many questions yanking at me from all sides, but stopping to consider any of them would only seal my fate.
    Eventually we ended up on the far side of the Waverley Bridge, after being forced all the way around. Ian was panting after me, not built for running such long distances. As I turned into the junction, however, all hope of getting near the station was lost. Between us and the entrance was a stacked-up wall of melted cars, and... the bodies.
    It was one thing to see them from the conference window, or on the television... but this was too much. Black-red puddles stained the ground they fell upon; unmoving strangers had their pale skin ripped apart, exposing their internal organs... and those were only the dead ones.
    Some were still crawling around, gurgling on their own blood. Looking for their missing parts. My body couldn't handle the mere sight of it — I vomited all over the pavement.
    As my knees went weak, I would have collapsed if Ian wasn't there to catch me, although I ended up getting sick all over him too. As my mind fluttered away from the surrounding horrors, I heard a distant yelling, someone screaming at us to 'get a move on'.
    Ian apparently understood what this meant. The student rushed me through a scratched glass door only a couple of metres away, letting it magically slam shut behind him.
    The familiar roar of the armoured truck penetrated my senses with a deafening screech, power-sliding onto the bridge. Bullets splattered all over the area we stood not even a second ago, and then I heard their final screams. Those helpless people I’d just witnessed... Gone.
    A strange man helped Ian lay me across the ground, but the position did nothing to stop me from drifting into unconsciousness.
    This is hell , I tried to say, but couldn't manage it. The last fleeting thought I had, was about my mum. My God-fearing mum, who took me to morning mass every Sunday and loved me more than the world itself. Was she safe from all of this?
    I never told her the truth, but that church really pissed me off. I hated all of those cold mornings spent worshipping her God, a being who never answered me or my prayers... But even so, I could still hear the words of the priest who damned me. Warning me, as I lay gasping for another chance to live.
    “But the vile ones, the liars, the cowardly, the murderous, those who practice the magical arts, the sexually immoral and the unbelieving ; their place exists in the fiery lake of burning sulphur. This is their second death."

4 | Panic
     
    When I came to, the first sound I heard was a woman sobbing. Ian’s vague shadow perched beside me, turning its head to realise I was awake.
    “Daniel! You're all right...” He didn’t say anything else, or rather, couldn’t. Our chase through the city streets had left us both at the end of our