Recovery: V Plague Book 8 Read Free Page B

definitely well vented.
    “There,” I
mumbled to Crawford, pointing across the array at the distant structure.
    He nodded,
then turned back to watch our rear, waiting for me to lead the way.  But which
way, through or around?  The array was massive.  Probably every bit of ten
acres.  It was a long way around, but as I looked at the maze with about a
million hiding places for an infected, it was an easy decision.  We were going
around.

4
     
    I made
another slow scan of the perimeter of the array then carefully surveyed the
field of solar panels itself.  Nothing was moving and I didn’t see anything to
concern me.  We were standing at almost the center of the long edge of the
giant rectangle defining the area, so there was no distance advantage to going
either right or left. 
    Going to the
right brought us to the far edge of the property and nothing but open prairie. 
To the left took us closer to the main building of the casino and kept us on
asphalt.  I opted for the easier path on a smooth surface and signed to Colonel
Crawford that we were moving left.  Stepping off, I glanced over my shoulder
and noted him falling in when I’d opened up about five yards of space.
    I’m not one
to get easily spooked, but something about this whole situation was making me
nervous.  Maybe it was the spectral feel to the area, brought about by the
faint light of the moon penetrating the broken cloud cover and reflecting off
the rain-washed panels in a pale, bluish hue.  Maybe it was the thought of all
that open, hidden space underneath the panels. 
    There could
literally be thousands of infected hiding under there.  It didn’t help my
nerves that it was raining.  Rain does a great job of creating white noise that
will mask a lot of environmental sounds.  Sounds such as a female infected
sneaking up behind you.
    But that was
ridiculous.  The infected didn’t hide.  They attacked.  But what about the
females?  They had shown a level of cunning that I hadn’t seen before when they
took Katie and the others.  Posting sentries.  Cooperating and coordinating
their efforts.  Why couldn’t they be smart enough to hide and attack at a
vulnerable moment?
    I’d made the
mistake of letting my mind wander too far afield and managed to come up with
scenarios that weren’t reality.  Or were they?  Oh, fuck it!  Holding up a
clenched fist I signaled for a stop.  Carefully I squatted, rifle at my
shoulder and eye to the night vision scope.  Looking under the closest edge of
the panels I began a slow scan.
    Trash
blowing in a night breeze nearly caused me to pull the trigger, but I stopped
myself in time.  Continuing to sweep and look, I saw nothing that shouldn’t
have been there.  Of course there could be some females hiding on the far side
and it was too far away for me to see, but there weren’t any imminent threats. 
Letting out a deep breath I stood up, glanced at Crawford and got us moving
again.
    It took us
most of ten minutes to reach the end of the long side of the rectangle and I
adjusted my estimate of the overall size of the array.  It was closer to twenty
acres.  Sure, that’s really not that large, but we were moving slow and
careful.  It would have been easy, and perhaps satisfying, to stride right
along and cover the distance in a couple of minutes.  But why not just go ahead
and put on a cowbell to announce our presence while we were at it?
    At the turn
I called another halt to stoop and check under the panels.  More of the same,
or more nothing to be accurate.  Moving again, I checked the open lot to our
left then turned back to keep an eye on the front.  I froze and whipped my
rifle to the right when I thought I detected movement out amongst the panels in
my peripheral vision.  But after a full minute of watching I didn’t see
anything.
    Squatting, I
checked the underside but it was still clear.  At least I hoped it was clear. 
In all fairness there was a veritable forest of iron