The Screaming (Book 1): Dead City Read Free Page B

He made easy pickings as the woman descended on him and sunk her canines and incisors into the top of his head. A tooth splintered off and shot out of the woman’s mouth from the impact with Pete’s skull. It pinged against the side of the forklift before dropping to the ground. The woman was not fazed and didn’t break stride as she sunk her hands under Pete’s clavicles and his shoulders snapped simultaneously to enforce her claim to her prey. Her teeth bombarded Pete’s skull with volley after volley of gnarling attack until the bone gave way and she forced her face into his brain, tearing the flesh from her own cheeks and jaw as she desperately chewed her way into Pete’s head. Pete hardly made a sound throughout and soon went limp, his arms dropping from his defensive cower.
                  Jez found himself bolted to the floor, He was frozen in one horrific moment from which he saw no escape. To his back, nothing, but a cold, dark estuary and to his front the unfolding carnage of screaming monsters devouring the very people there to help them.
     
    “I need to get out of here.” He thought to himself.
     
                  The old man and boy zeroed in on him from the container doorway and set their take down into motion like a pair of lions, running down a gazelle. Jez suddenly found movement in his feet. He turned on the spot and ran. But there was nowhere to go except the water. It was like running in treacle, the lions gaining on their prey with every step. Jez stopped and turned as the boy glided through the air and floored Jez with a crack. His head bouncing off the dock floor.
     
    “No time to be dazed, you go unconscious and its death.” Jez thought.
     
          He shook his head and started throwing wild, desperate punches at the monster child’s head with his right hand, whilst holding him at arms-length by the throat, with his left. He had only seconds before the old man would be on him and then its game over. He shifted his weight to the left and rolled over, gravity did the rest and the boy was dumped next to him, laid on the dock floor. The boy immediately started clambering to his feet to re-engage the attack. Jez clawed his way backwards on his elbows shuffling along the dock floor, his eyes fixed on his next opponent only seconds away. He jumped to his feet and let loose his best free kick toe punt in the face of the boy, knocking him spinning back down onto the ground.
                  It was fight or flight time and there was only one option. Flight. Jez turned and sprinted over to the dock wall, without hesitation, launching himself into the darkness of the Thames. As the ice cold water quickly soaked into his clothes he was immediately paralyzed with cold and barely able to move, let alone swim. He bobbed to the surface just in time to see the old man running off the side of the dock into the water, his legs still running in mid-air like a Roadrunner cartoon, as he ran out of dock. A huge splash followed and the old man sunk into the darkness. Jez found a new motivation and started kicking his feet in an attempt to get himself away from the dock.
                  He looked up to see the giant Princess towering over him. Curdling screams projecting from the deck high above.
     
    “They must have got on board.” He thought to himself.
     
                  His clothes were offering a surprising amount of buoyancy, and despite being minutes from hypothermia he was in a better place and staying afloat. Just as he was starting to feel a slight element of relief, he found himself under water and gasping for air. Something had hold of his ankle and was pulling him down. He opened his eyes but saw nothing but filthy darkness. He pulled himself into a ball and reached for his ankle. He was desperate for air, kicking out at whatever had him hooked. He screamed out the last of his air in a display of bubbles as he felt the hand of the old