Man Eaters Read Online Free PDF Page B

switched places with Roper so she could give directions. As Dallas drove, Roper scooted closer so she could be nearer Dallas’s ear.
    “It’s a gravel road, so be careful.”
    Dallas merely nodded.
    “I know you’ve got to be tired, Dallas, but we’re almost there.”
    Dallas nodded again, her body relaxing slightly between Roper’s legs.
    “Left here and then follow the gravel road for a mile until you come to Lancaster Lane. Turn right for another half mile. Our house is at the end. Yellow and white rancher.”
    It was almost dusk when the three riders got off the Harley, each stretching their legs. It had taken them over five hours to travel only twenty-five miles from the bridge to the rural hills of Livermore. Five hours of curves, back roads, danger, and death. They were physically and emotionally exhausted, not to mention starving.
    Stretching her lower back, Dallas looked around at the old style house with its wagon wheel decor and deep wooden deck that wrapped around the front of the house. There were no other homes visible save a few whose landscape lights dotted the horizon.
    “Nice place.”
    “Thank you. I inherited it when my grandmother passed away.”
    “Where’s your family again?”
    “Houston. My parents are in Houston. I have a sister in Baton Rouge and a Brother in Nashville.”
    Einstein cut a look to Dallas, but said nothing.
    “We can get cleaned up, grab a bite to eat, and then figure out what we need to do next.” Unlocking the front door, Roper stood aside and let the others enter.
    “Very homey,” Dallas said, her weary gaze taking in a great room with a cathedral ceiling and a massive stone fireplace. A brown leather sectional faced the fireplace, over which hung a large plasma screen television.
    A television.
    Reaching for the remote, Roper gently took it from her. “Uh uh. You need a moment of down time. Why don’t you go shower? I’ll get some sweats out for you.”
    “But—”
    “Come on, Dallas. Don’t fight me on this. I know I don’t know you from Adam, but you look exhausted. This can wait.”
    “Roper’s right,” Einstein added. “You saved our lives today with a lot of great riding, but you look really tired. A shower will do you good.”
    Roper smiled over at Einstein before looping her arm through Dallas’s. “Take your time. We’re safe for the time being.”
    “Don’t watch the news without me, okay?”
    “We won’t. Towels are in the linen closet. Everything you need is hanging on the shower caddy.”
    “Thanks.”
    Roper held Dallas by the shoulders. “No, Dallas. Thank you. Without you, the kid and I would be floating in the bay.”
    Dallas shrugged off the compliment, trudged into the bathroom and closed the door. Looking in the mirror, Dallas wanted to cry. The person staring back at her was almost unrecognizable from the woman who had left Berkeley on the Harley. Her face was filthy with road grim and her green eyes were bloodshot and perched above the two dark circles she inherited from her father’s side. Her brown hair hung in a ponytail beneath a black and orange Harley Davidson cap that had seen better days.
    In short, she looked like crap.
    “Jesus, Dallas,” she said, leaning over to turn on the water in the shower. Her hands were weak and sore from grasping the throttle and clutch so hard, so it took her several tries to get the water going.
    Once in the shower, she covered her face with her hands and wept. She wept for the living as well as the dead. She wept for the fear bunched up in her shoulders, for the life she knew she was leaving behind with every passing mile. Though she was only twenty-five miles from home, it might as well have been a million.
    They were in trouble. That much was obvious. Just how bad this thing was, remained to be seen. If half of what Einstein believed came to fruition, it was only a matter of time before those creatures made their way to Livermore...and beyond.
    A matter of time.
    Quickly finishing