The Hunger (Book 2): Consumed Read Free Page B

glistening in the morning sun.  Her shoulders hunched, the rapidly expanding musculature distorting her body.  Ashy skin and empty eye sockets further pointed to her advanced condition.
    She would seek refuge in the darkness soon.
    Her wail cutoff and she exploded forward, moving with an unnatural quickness.
    A throng of daywalkers surrounding the still-running Cavalier snapped to attention at the cry.  They abandoned the vehicle and shambled toward the lawn.
    Two dozen more tore through the screens enclosing the porch.  They tripped over each other, sprawling into the damp grass, crawling across it in unending pursuit.
    Cass took the lead, weaving through the tree line.  Brown and Lance followed, their breathing labored.  They stopped at the edge of the water, waving their arms at Eifort.
    The soldier stood on the deck of the ship, rifle leaning over her shoulder.  She returned their waves before pressing a button by the bridge, starting the slow process of lowering it.
    “Hurry!”  Lance looked back over his shoulder.  Sweat stung his eyes as he watched the daywalkers cross the lawn, crying out as they chased their next meal.
    “How many are following you?  I heard a gunshot a few minutes ago.”  Eifort raised a hand to her forehead, shielding her eyes from the sun.  “Oh shit!  Get down!”
    Lance dropped to a knee and turned around in time to see the nude woman burst through the trees.  Cass kneeled beside him, baskets dropping to the ground, her hand grasping the handle of her axe.  A pained grunt escaped Brown as he got down.  His sweat-soaked shirt clung to his back and chest.
    Eifort’s rifle cracked behind them.
    A bloody hole punched through the woman’s chest.  She squealed as her waist twisted from the impact, sending her to the ground with a wet thud.
    The motor of the drawbridge droned behind them.
    Two more infected staggered to the edge of the water on their right, the rocks along the shore slowing their progress.  Eifort dropped them with two shots each, their torsos pocked with exit wounds.
    Cass grabbed the baskets again and spun around.  The drawbridge had lowered to head height.  She threw her elbow over the edge and heaved it down, bringing the platform a few inches lower.  The motor whined under the pressure, the end of the bridge wobbling.
    When it reached her waist, Cass slid one of her baskets onto it and grabbed the railing, dragging herself onto the platform.  She scooped up the bin as she sprinted toward the boat.
    Eifort fired again, clipping a daywalker in the shoulder as it cleared the trees.
    “You’re next, Doc!”  Lance grabbed Brown’s shirt and pulled him to his feet.
    They ran up the drawbridge as it clanged against the rocks on the shore.  Cass punched the button to raise it again when they hit the halfway point.
    Eifort’s rifle clicked as she squeezed the trigger again.  “Damn!  I’m out.”
    The bridge bounced as Lance and Brown stepped off it.  It began to rise again, the agonizingly slow progress taunting them as they watched a massive herd of the infected smash through the foliage.
    Lance stared in awe as hundreds of victims of the Xavier virus filled the street, lawn, and shore, descending upon the river in a hurricane of madness.  They hadn’t seen a group this large since they’d fled the North Shore, watching as the stadiums drowned in vampires.
    Three of them reached the platform as the end hovered six feet above the ground.  Their hands fumbled at the railings and posts, latching onto any surface they could.
    The engine protested under their weight, the ascent halting.  Smoke puffed from the pulley system.
    Lance tossed the fishing poles to the deck and hit the stop button for the drawbridge.  He grabbed the handle of his knife and slid it out of the sheath, taking a few deep breaths.  Attacking a handful of daywalkers with a small blade made his stomach twist.
    “I’ve got this,” Cass said as she stepped past him.  The axe