Taken Over (Book 2 The Ravening Series) Read Free Page B

unmoving people had been abandoned in the lobster warehouse. I thought I should feel more guilt over that decision, but I found there was little room for emotion , or compassion , within me anymore. Those things had to be suspend ed in this new and deadly world, t hey would eat me ali ve if I dwelt on them too much.
       There had been nothing th at we could do for those people; Dr. Bishop had trie d everything he could think of to rescue them. To reawaken them from their frozen state. Nothing had worked. I ’ d disliked leaving them behind, I wasn’t completely dead and hard inside, but if we were to survive losses had to be cut. And I could not dwell on those decisions. Not if I wanted to keep my sanity anyway. We had not happily abandoned the frozen people, we had simply moved on because we’d had to survive .
       Survival was the number one concern now. It was what drove us all.
       As we approached the warehouse a few people emerged from the shadows. They were holding guns, prepared to defend the people within if ne cessary . More emerged as it became clear who we were , and what we carried with us. Silence came over the group as we slipped into the darkness of the cavernous building.
       Most of the people were asleep, scattered about on makeshift beds . The dim light of lamps flickered over the room, cast ing shadows over the metal walls. There were no windows within th is part of th e building so the lights were allowed. There had originally been sixty people within the group; there w ere only thirty or so left. Some had left to go out on their own, some had wanted to search for family members , o r had refused to move on . Others had been killed.
       My younger sister, Abby , made her way toward us. She moved swiftly and gracefully through the people sprawled on the floor. Her resemblance to our mother never failed to amaze me, from her long dark hair, to her gleaming dark eyes, and petite stature. Our mother may be gone, but there was no denying that she lived on in Abby.
       She was almost to us when she stopped, her eyes widening in horror as her hand flew to her mouth. She fixated on the thing between Bret and I. “What happened!?” she cried.
       “Long story,” I muttered, wanting to find some place to put our load down.
       “Are you ok?”
       I managed a nod, but I knew she didn’t buy it. Who could with what we held between the four of us? “Where’s Bishop?” Bret asked quietly.
       “Where else would he be?” Abby retorted.
       Bret and I carried the thing toward one of the back rooms. Dr. Bishop set up a laboratory and medical area in every new place that we moved into . His main area of interest had been research ; unfortunately with The Freezing I had become his prime target . In the few weeks I had known him I ’ d been stuck with more needles than in my entire seventeen years. If I’d been a dog I probably would have bit him by now, but I ’ d actually come to l ike Bishop , needles and all.
       The doctor appeared in the darkened doorway of his newest laboratory area. Even in the dim light I could clearly see the excitement that filled his gaze as he stared at the thing we held . “You’re a strange man,” I informed him. “Where do you want this thing?”
       He hurried in behind us, a surprising ly bright spring in his step . He shoved papers off a long counter that had been used for equipment repair s before the aliens , and The Freezing , had left all sense of a normal life nonexistent . “Up here! Up here!” he said excitedly before flitting quickly away.
       Bret rolled his eyes and shook his head. I had grown to like the seemingly frantic and discombobulated doctor, but most still found him a little creepy and annoying. Bret also didn’t like the extra attention that Bishop focused on me, even if it was only bec ause I was his favorite pin cushion , and specimen .
       I breathed a sigh of relief as I dropped the damn thing on the counter,