Recovery: V Plague Book 8 Read Free

of the cockpit, she stepped over the body of the pilot
Roach had killed and headed for the door to the VIP area.
    “You can be
a real sweetheart when you want to be,” Katie said, taking my hand and smiling. 
“That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
    “Bite me,” I
said, leading her across the roof.

3
     
    We all moved
to the opening in the roof bulkhead, stepping around the door I’d pried out of
its frame to gain access to the casino when I rescued Katie.  The stairwell was
dark, so I knew the solar system that powered the giant building was out. 
    “Power’s
out,” I said quietly to the group.
    “The EMP,”
Crawford mumbled.
    “So that’s
what it was,” I said.  “Know anything about solar systems?  Will it have been
fried or just knocked off line?”
    “No idea,”
he said.
    Shit!  It
would be really good if we could get the power on.  Much easier and safer to
clear the building, and a whole lot more comfortable while we rested.  In fact,
I wasn’t even sure I wanted to go inside if we didn’t have light.  The casino
was just too damn big to clear by flashlight.  I’d rather spend the night in
one of the helicopters.
    I had seen a
large array of solar panels from the air when we’d arrived, but didn’t know if
there was any equipment located adjacent to them that I could check.  For a
moment I’d thought the power was out because the sun was down but remembered it
was on the last time I was here, which had been night also.
    “OK, I’m
going to go see if there’s something I can do before we go in.”  I said,
heading for the edge of the roof.
    It didn’t
take me long to find what I was looking for.  As I’d suspected, when Zemeck,
Martinez and Rachel had climbed the grappling rope he’d pulled it up and left
it coiled on the roof.  Saying a silent “thank you” to my dead friend, I stuck
my head over the edge and looked down.
    A small
group of females milled around, one of them seeing me and screaming.  A moment
later they were all standing perfectly still, staring up at me.  Moving back I
turned and looked at the others.
    “Females,” I
said.  “Not a lot, but too many for me to go down.  If we all get on the edge
we can take them out.”
    Colonel
Crawford nodded and was the first to step to the low parapet.  I kneeled down
next to him, my rifle over the edge and pointing down.  Katie and Martinez
joined us a moment later.  I fired the first shot, knocking a female off her
feet, then they opened up and three more fell.  Two of the females instantly
turned and began running away from the building but the rest kept standing there,
heads tilted back to watch us.
    “I’ve got
the runners,” I said, tracked one of them for a second and pulled the trigger.
    She tumbled
to the ground, dead.  Adjusting, I sighted in on the second runner and fired,
but missed the bobbing head that was moving away from me.  Changing aim, I
fired again, my round striking the middle of her back.  The way she flew
forward and rolled in a loose-limbed tumble the round must have severed her
spine.  She began screaming, thrashing her head back and forth, but she couldn’t
move her limbs.
    “Fuck me,” I
said, actually feeling a moment of pity for the poor creature.
    Taking my
time, I lined up for a head shot, pulled the trigger and silenced the wounded
female.  The rest of the infected were down and I made a quick scan of the
area, not seeing any more.  Standing, I grabbed the rope and after making sure
the grappling hook was still tightly secured, tossed it over the edge.  It
unrolled smoothly, slapping against the side of the building a second later.
    “Going by
yourself?”  Katie asked as I bent and grabbed the rope.  “You need someone to
watch your back.”
    I paused. 
She was right, but then if there were two of us on the ground and a lot of
females showed up we might have a problem getting both of us back up the rope. 
I thought about it for a moment but Crawford ended the