Decay (Book 1): Civilization Read Online Free PDF Page A

the bipod dug into the shingles. This must have absorbed most of the recoil. Looking at the shingles, he wondered how much damage that shot would have done to his body if that wasn’t the case. Pain still resided in his shoulder, but after going through his range of motion, he was sure it wasn’t broken.
    Then he was consumed by excitement, and this second surge of adrenaline may have helped with the pain as well. Grabbing for the large rifle, he picked it up and looked through the scope toward the trash bin. It took him a moment to find it, but once he did he couldn’t help but smile. His training with other rifles transferred pretty well he thought, as he checked out the bin. It had been knocked over and most of the side facing him was gone.
    This excitement quickly dissipated as Jonathan spotted the movement just to the left of the trash bin. Across the street the man appeared, looked around, and started walking toward the broken green plastic. Three more people came out from between the houses just down from the first man and also walked toward the trash bin. Jonathan decided that these people were scavengers that stayed behind when the others left. They must be gathering what little food they can find.
    Before he knew it the street was crawling with people. They all looked dirty, sick, and tired. He began to question whether or not anyone he knew was out there. It would be dangerous trying to alert any specific person of his presence though, so he figured it would be better to stay put. Jonathan continued to watch these people as they looked around. It was only a few minutes before he noticed that more and more people were flooding onto the streets. Half of the town’s people may very well still be here .
    Jonathan was so interested in what the people down the street were doing that he hadn’t noticed the movement just outside his gate. The moans startled him, but it was the banging on the front gate that shot terror through his body like the fifty caliber round he sent ripping through town. Lifting himself off the roof he peeked over at the gate. Three men and two women inspected the structure in front of them, unsure of how to open it or make their way past it.
    The sounds of trash cans on pavement followed by the spilling of trash and glass bottles alerted Jonathan to the arrival of a few other people as they shambled down the sidewalk toward the gate. None of these people seemed to notice him, yet they must have known the explosive sound of the rifle came from this home. Using the scope to take a closer look he noticed that most of these people must have been diseased. Some of them missed an arm or a leg while one man was missing the entire lower half of his body.
    This isn’t right; certainly that man can’t be alive . The man slid himself across the pavement as his intestines trailed behind him. There was no blood trail left behind the man as he crawled along leaving Jonathan to assume the man had bled out a while ago. It wasn’t possible for him to be alive, and it also wasn’t possible for him to be dead. Not while he crawled around. The crowd grew larger, and Jonathan began to panic. Zooming in from face to face with the rifle scope he could swear that these people were all dead.
    Jonathan was frozen in place. There was no telling how long he had gone without blinking. Without a single thought passing through his head. When he finally returned to his situation his eyes were dry and sore. He pulled himself back up to the scope again to double check what he thought he’d seen.
    A young woman whose approximate age was almost impossible to tell clawed at the gate. She wore a dirty yellow tank top, torn blue jeans, and one shoe while the other foot was completely bare. It looked as though she had chunks of flesh missing from her arms. Muscle and bone was visible where the chunks were gone. Her mouth hung open, and through the scope Jonathan could see her tongue was black. Pieces of her skin hung off of her