Earth Zero: A Post-Apocalyptic Thriller (Next Book 2) Read Online Free PDF

least there’s that. And maybe we’ll get lucky and it will have ticklish sponges for teeth.
    The tail wriggled and curled under the door and into the enclosure, swaying back and forth for a moment like a serpent detecting heat.
    A snake. What was it they said? “If you want to kill a snake, cut off its head.”
    Shrugging free of Rachel, he reared back and balanced on his good leg, then brought his weight forward. He whipped forward the arm that held the concrete, releasing it like a baseball. He’d been a pretty fair pitcher back in high school, and although he hadn’t thrown in more than decade, he let adrenaline make up for what he lacked in muscle memory.
    The Zap baby was only thirty feet away, about half the distance between a regulation pitcher’s mound and home plate. But DeVontay was injured and woefully out of practice, and the missile sailed high of its intended target. The woman holding the baby didn’t flinch or dodge as the concrete flew toward her. It struck her flush in the middle of the forehead with a sickening thwack that punctuated the creature’s roars.
    The woman’s arms sagged and the baby tumbled from her embrace. None of the surrounding Zaps reacted as the woman fell backwards, blood oozing down her face, and the baby squirmed and flailed, hanging on the top of the wall.
    “You’re crazy,” Rachel said, dashing toward the baby.
    “Got any better ideas?” DeVontay asked, his attention focused on the impending attack.
    The door shook as the impatient beast slammed against it, a claw curling into the opening and swiping at their scent. The baby shouted something that DeVontay couldn’t understand. Rachel yelled back, and DeVontay turned toward her just as the baby jerked its arms and shifted its balance.
    It fell toward the concrete, little fingers grabbing at the sky. Rachel lunged for it, falling to her knees and skidding along the concrete. She caught the baby two feet before impact. She didn’t catch it cleanly, though, and its weight drove her shoulder against the hard floor. She launched into an awkward and painful-looking roll to keep from crushing the mutant, crooking her elbow to protect it.
    Why is she saving it after I was trying to kill it?
    The door was now four feet off the floor and the creature stooped low to look inside. DeVontay got his first glimpse of its face. The lower jaw was sleek and wet-looking, the snout trailing back to tiny dark eyes like a relic of the missing branch of the dinosaur era. The mouth looked lipless but rows of gleaming teeth flashed inside it, a long, thin tongue flickering out in quick thrusts. The thighs were heavy and muscular on the compact, froglike body and the shortness of its spine kept it from bending and crawling through the gap.
    DeVontay figured it weighed maybe three hundred pounds and was as tall as he was. He wouldn’t have any chance battling it unarmed. One bite and those strong jaws would crunch his bones like chalk.
    “Rachel,” he yelled, wondering why she was fooling with a Zap baby when they were about to get eaten alive.
    Then the reptilian beast slithered its way into the enclosure, the door creaking against the leverage it applied. Its swampy odor swept through the enclosure like a tide.
    Once inside, the reptile straightened as much as it could, though its poorly distributed weight tilted its head forward and its upper claws dangled from thin, wiry arms. It approached DeVontay with thundering, cautious steps, the slimy dots of its eyes revealing yellow slits that suggested sinister intelligence. It chuffed wetly through its narrowly set nostrils, as if sniffing for danger.
    Bastard took a wrong turn at Jurassic Park and detoured through Frankenstein’s laboratory.
    A delighted giggle erupted. Since DeVontay had limited peripheral vision due to having only one eye, he couldn’t risk a glance at Rachel. But he was sure the laugh had come from the infant. Zaps had little regard for danger, since they shared a