Dead Statues Read Online Free PDF Page A

behind me, I glanced back to see the berserkers and the handlers racing along the tracks below us. The cops’ radios crackled as frantic messages screeched out into the night.
    Then as one, the officers released the leashes on the berserkers and set them free. At an incredible speed, the berserkers raced forward. Within moments they were scampering and clawing their way up the side of the train carriages and bounding towards us.
    “Run!” Potter roared, turning and racing away along the roof of the train.
    “Run where?” I yelled after him.
    Together we raced away, the sound of the berserkers’ claws scratching at the roof of the train. I looked back and saw streams of drool, turned silver in the morning light, spray from their snarling jaws. Then, behind them, I saw one of the police vans break free from the others and come racing alongside the train. With emergency lights blazing and sirens screaming, the van raced towards us. Looking front, and fearing that it was filled with more of those terrifying berserkers, I sped up. Potter, Kayla, and Sam raced ahead of me, but we were fast running out of train. From the corner of my eye, I saw the police van draw level with us. It slowed, then, unable to believe what I was seeing, Murphy lent through the open window.
    With his thick, white hair blowing back off his brow, and pipe dangling from the corner of his mouth, he roared up at us, “What are you waiting for, you fucking Muppets! Jump!”
    Potter leapt from the train first, followed by Kayla and Sam. Still wondering if my eyes were deceiving me, but praying they weren’t, I looked back once more as the berserkers lunged at me. Then I jumped. I landed on top of the police van as it bumped and listed over the ballast.
    Pieces of grey stone flew up from beneath the wheels of the van as it crunched over the tracks, and away from the train. Potter was punching his fist into the roof of the van. Then with his claws out, he made a circular motion, cutting a hole in the metal roof.
    Then, peeling it back like a can of sardines, he looked up at Kayla and Sam and shouted, “Get inside!”
    The van skidded to the right, and I flew sideways, the heels of my boots teetering on the edge of the van.
    “Easy, tiger!” Potter snapped, taking hold of my hand and pulling me to safety.
    The berserkers had leapt from the train and were now racing alongside the van. They snapped and clawed at the side of it, trying to hold on with their bony claws. In Potter’s arms, I peered over the edge of the van to see one of the berserkers take hold of the handle on the driver’s door. It flew open and again I saw the driver, who I thought looked like Murphy, as he nearly fell out of the speeding vehicle. Then lashing out with his leg, he drove his foot into the berserker’s muzzle.
    “Get away, you filthy mutt!” Murphy roared, as he drove his foot repeatedly into the upturned and snarling face of the berserker.
    I wanted to believe it was Murphy – but somehow, I couldn’t. The last time I had seen him was beneath the Fountain of Souls, where he had been betrayed by Jack Seth. Those images of him being fed to the wolves still haunted my nightmares. I glanced down again, still not believing what I was seeing. It wasn’t the sound of his gruff voice, his thick shock of white hair, or even the waft of pipe smoke which finally convinced me that my friend was back from the dead – it was the sight of his slippered foot smashing repeatedly into the snout of the berserker. Murphy had been the only police officer I had ever known who carried out his duties while wearing a pair of carpet slippers.
    “That’s Murphy!” I squealed at Potter.
    “I know,” he said back.
    “What do you mean you know?” I asked him.
    “I can recognise my old sergeant when I see him,” he said, guiding me to the hole he’d made in the roof.
    “I thought you’d be...” I started.
    “What?” he said, staring into my eyes.
    “Pleased,” I breathed. “I