Barely Alive Read Online Free PDF Page A

footsteps racing from the doorway. Pat, pat, pat, pat.
    The motion lights popped on.
    Pat, pat, pat.
    A growl.
    She screamed. A thud.
    The other girls screamed, but covered their mouths, eyes wide, unable to turn away. The screaming continued mixed with smacking noises and growls. More snarls joined in.
    I closed my eyes. Damn it. When I opened them the girls had moved into the room, close enough to brush arms against my shirt sleeve. Heather reached out and pulled the door shut, keeping her gaze from the now-silent scene feet from the opening.
    A moment for them to collect themselves would hurt more than one would think. Giving prey time to consider their options was never a smart move.
    I ushered them into the bathroom, herding them from behind. We had to pass through the showers to get to the front changing area packed with lockers and benches. Another door waited, leading to the yard out front. I locked the one to the kitchen behind me. I didn’t want to watch two exits when I had to watch six girls desperate for their lives.
    “ You’re going to drop your clothes and toss them over here. I’ll dispose of them. You’ll each get two towels – one for your hair and one for your bodies. After you’re clean and dry, new outfits can be found in the closet here.” I opened the walk-in closet door and flipped on the light. The amount of clothing was unreal. This was my first time seeing girls at the compound. I only knew where the items were because my curiosity seemed to increase with my metabolism. When I’d found the clothing on one search, I’d been confused, but had moved on.
    Half-walls separated the benches over tile flooring from the shower area.
    I leaned on the wall closest to the door and waited. Yep, I’d been reduced to voyeurism. On human girls. That I couldn’t and really didn’t want to eat. But what I wanted and my body craved were two different things. Good for them I had more control than the idiots we’d left outside.
    Dominic would be pissed. Or he wouldn’t. I still had to offer up one more like that. But he liked privacy and the kill happening outside the walls of the warehouse would irritate him more than the actual death or how it happened. He had a “Big-Brother-is-spying-on-me” complex.
    “ Can you look somewhere else?” Heather hadn’t been put far enough in her place. She’d moved between me and the group, blocking them with her body.
    I didn’t care about seeing them, anyway. On the flip side, I’d love to see what was under her clothing, see if she looked as good as she tasted. “I can watch you , if you’d like. Or did you have a different suggestion?”
    She crossed her arms, serious annoyance in her set lips. “There’s a TV. Turn that on.”
    Ooh, she had energy. I gave her the benefit of the moment and turned from the group to the TV propped in the corner of the room above the door. The remote hid in the junction between the half wall and the main wall.
    Twenty-four hour news would be the only thing on that late in the night. Boring. I needed my focus free for my job anyway.
    A pallid-faced man, bags heavy under his eyes, stared balefully at the camera. His mouth moved as if independent of his head. A second later the sound followed and matched his lips.
    A pair of shorts fell beside me. Naked girls feet from me. Holy crap.
    Saliva filled my mouth. Dominic couldn’t have thought anything through, sending me in with the girls without feeding me. The news. Focus on the news.
    “ The mob-like gang has increased their hits in the last few weeks. More victims fill the hospitals each night. Some do not make it out alive after being bitten and mauled so ferociously.” He had my attention. Bitten? More and more victims. I hadn’t been out on a hunt in a couple days, but they had more every night?
    “ Tonight five girls were attacked north of the university. Seven are still unaccounted for. None of them have regained consciousness yet, but their injuries are related to