Primal Shift: Episode 2 Read Online Free PDF

engines of at least half of them were still purring softly, as though the drivers had double parked to pop into a store. A Nissan Cube caught her eye and she’d already made up her mind to hop in, when she spotted the face watching her through the windshield of a Volvo station wagon. It was a woman, her hands pressed up against the glass, which fogged with each breath. She looked like a mime, trapped in an invisible glass box.
    Dana approached her and the woman dropped down.
    Peekaboo.
    There was something almost infantile about the woman’s actions. Incessant staring that had morphed into fear of being seen. Something a child would do and the thought struck a cord with her. In a way, Coons had acted the same way, cowering in the corner when the lights in the sky had filled the air around them with death and destruction.
    Dana reached the car, pulled at the handle and found it locked. She tapped on the glass, but the woman inside wouldn’t look up at her.
    If I can’t see you, then you can’t see me.
    Dana knocked again.
    “Lady, I can’t help you unless you unlock the door.”
    Something tugged at her peripheral vision. Dana glanced over and saw a man, standing in the middle of the street, staring. Inside the car, the woman skittered to the far side and curled into a tight ball. Now only a single eyeball glared back at her from between strands of stringy doll’s hair.
    Dana glanced over again and suddenly buddy standing in the street wasn’t alone. Now there were two of them. The second man had an object in his hand, a stick or a metal rod and he banged it three times on the hood of a car. The noise echoed up and down the street, reverberating off the surrounding buildings.
    They were dressed in casual clothes, jeans and t-shirts, which wasn’t surprising given that the world had gone haywire on Independence Day. For all she knew, a few hours ago they were playing catch in the park with their kids, or grilling hamburgers and hotdogs. Now they were standing in the middle of the street, getting ready to do something very stupid. Dana’s heart was skipping wildly in her chest as her hand fell to the SIG at her hip. But feeling it against her palm didn’t offer her as much comfort as she’d hoped it would. Did these men mean to attack her? And if so, what did she have that they could possibly want? Heart hammering in her chest, Dana decided she wasn’t going to wait around to find out.
    By the time she made it back across the street to the Nissan, the group of three had swelled to over twenty. They were beating on the roofs and hoods of the cars around them as they began heading in her direction. From where Dana was standing, no one appeared to be in charge. They were just a motley group of men with something in common.
    Hunger? Desperation? Rage?
    She thought of Nash and how Alvarez swore the sailor had gone wild and killed Keiths.
    Dana was about to hop into the Cube and tear off when she locked eyes with the woman in the Volvo across the street. She must have seen the men too because she was banging on the window desperate to get out.
    Maybe I don’t look so scary after all, do I?
    She slid the pack off her shoulders and threw it onto the passenger seat. The keys were in the ignition and the gas warning light was on but thankfully the ugly little car still had a few gallons in her. More than enough to get her to Bernal Hill and then back to Pier 42.
    The men were about fifty yards out and Dana dashed to the Volvo. She yanked on the handle and swore.
    “How the hell can I help you if you can’t open the door?”
    A quick glance over her shoulder sent shockwaves of fear through her body. Some of the men had broken into a run. She would need to move swiftly or risk being surrounded. Dana removed the SIG and waved the woman back.
    “I’m gonna shoot the window, get back.”
    But the woman continued pounding her fists. She was oblivious to even the simplest of hand signals.
    The men were fifty feet and Dana knew