The Dying of the Light (Book 3): Beginning

The Dying of the Light (Book 3): Beginning Read Free Page B

Book: The Dying of the Light (Book 3): Beginning Read Free
Author: Jason Kristopher
Tags: Zombies
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there, safe and sound. If this was where it had to happen, then at least he would go out swinging.
    “Let’s do this.”
    “After you, Worm,” Cockrell said.
    Leland flashed her a grimace. “Kiss my ass, Cock,” he said, then stepped through the door.
    The air stank, even through his MOPP gear, and Leland worked hard to hold down his gag reflex. To her credit, Cockrell seemed unfazed as she stood guard, her rifle at the ready. Leland looked down at his own machete and frowned.
    “He said mach—”
    “If they come back at a run, do you think the cap will care if we’re shooting?”
    Leland thought that over and realized she was right. He re-holstered his machete and pulled the rifle back around but maintained a grip on the detonator. Better safe than sorry. The others had passed out of their sight fast with the complete lack of light, and only the infrared lights they carried provided them enough illumination to see by through their NVDs. The lights were invisible to the naked eye and used for stealth missions.
    “Approaching Ops,” Monterrey said in his ear.
    Good, they were making quick progress. At this rate, they might even be home in time for breakfast tomorrow. Sundays meant pancakes, and Leland loved pancakes.
    “Contact, wes—” One of the operators choked out a gurgle. Leland couldn’t tell which it was, but he knew that sound from prior missions. Someone had gotten bit. And no one had heard a thing.
    “Move, move, move!” Monterrey said. “Secure Ops!”
    Leland looked over at Cockrell, who was crouched in place now, sweeping the darkness with her rifle. He took up a similar position, a little closer to the door. He had to make sure the detonator would reach, after all.
    Sudden gunfire and flashes of bright light from the darkness told the story of their fellow operators, and the radio filled with reports of contacts. “Fall back, fall ba—” Monterrey’s order was cut off, but Leland barely heard it over the noises coming from the darkness ahead of him.
    “Contact,” Cockrell said, and she began firing into the darkness.
    Leland still couldn’t see shit, but he fired more or less randomly into the dark as well in the hope that he might do some good. A grotesque face loomed out of the darkness at the edge of his vision, and he put a couple rounds into its forehead. The monster went down but was replaced by another. Two more were going after Cockrell, and he could hear hoots and hollers of others coming.
    “Fuck!” Cockrell shouted to his side, and as he swung his gaze her way, he saw her brought down by two separate monstrosities. Her finger tightened on the trigger of her rifle as they pulled her to the ground, and Leland couldn’t move fast enough to avoid the incoming fire.
    The rounds took him in the legs, shattering the bones in both. He managed to kill the other monster coming for him and watched in horror and not a little pride as Cockrell took out her killers with her combat knife.
    He couldn’t hear any more Driebachs coming his way, but he knew they were out there. The door—and salvation—seemed miles away for some reason, but he thought he could crawl that far. He wasn’t sure the detonator’s signal would reach otherwise. Leland looked down at his ruined legs, the blood flowing across them showing black through his NVD. What was left of Cockrell disappeared as Leland pulled himself backward. Cockrell was buried under the bodies of the monsters that had killed her. Just as he lost sight of it, her body began twitching and moving. Leland cursed, dragged himself faster, and reached for his throat mic with one hand.
    “Whiskey Five, Whiskey Four. Come in. Do you read me?” There had been no response from their sniper despite his repeated attempts. He hoped it was just a matter of the radios not reaching through the shielded door and the ten feet of dirt and concrete on either side of it. “For God’s sake, Fayde, come in!” he pleaded.
    It felt like an eternity before he

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