Rising Tide Read Online Free PDF Page B

had indicated got closer. But not close enough. I still had the revolver down at my side, and I was scanning around me along with everyone else.
    But we kept moving.
    We covered the distance without any more Ferals attacking us, and then we were at the door to the facility. Mal set down his bag and unzipped it, pulling out his tools, and the rest of us set up a perimeter around him, guns still out, as protection.
    I started counting in my head, then stopped almost immediately. It was just setting my nerves on edge. I didn’t like waiting, out in the open. It was something I avoided as much as I could. I kept flicking my gaze back to Claudia. She stood, straight, poised, ready. It made me feel better. Having her watch my back always made me feel better.
    I covered my section of the perimeter, but it was trickier here than it had been at the football field. There were cars outside the police station, and they had been overgrown with vines and vegetation. I had to make sure to keep my eyes not only between them, but underneath as well. A Feral could emerge from anywhere.
    Sweat started trickling. I had a wool cap on my head and safety goggles and my scarf up, but somehow it still fell between the gaps. There was nothing to do about it, though.
    I wanted to turn and look to see how far Mal had gotten, but I kept my eyes straight. It was maddening. That’s the thing about the ground, the fight with yourself is often more important than fighting off Ferals. Brave the ground without discipline, and you were asking to be infected.
    Then I caught it. Movement, off behind a rusted heap that used to be a car. I raised my revolver and watched, hoping to catch it again. Nothing. Nothing. Then . . . something.
    I signaled to Claudia, silently, then moved toward it. She would have my back, and hopefully the others would change their style of cover to make sure that they picked up the slack.
    I moved, slowly but without hesitation. If it was a Feral, it didn’t seem to be hunting. Hunting Ferals screamed and attacked almost fearlessly. For a moment I wondered if it could be some kind of smart Feral, and that was almost too much to consider so I let it go.
    I inched forward, gun out, used the car for cover, and carefully pivoted so I could see (and shoot if necessary) what was beyond it.
    It was a Feral, and my finger moved to the trigger but . . . then I paused. Something was different here.
    The Feral was on all fours, moving back and forth in the space between the cars. I couldn’t tell what sex it was. Long hair hung around its face, it had no real breasts to speak of, and whatever genitals it had were hidden between its legs. But it moved in an odd, jerky fashion, and sometimes it would stop and its head would arc, almost painfully, in one direction.
    Injured? I didn’t see any open wounds on the creature. As my heartbeat slowed a bit, I thought I heard it snuffling. Then a kind of whining wheeze, soft, but as it looked around. What the fuck was this thing?
    I wanted to shoot it. I wanted to do it so badly that I had to actively restrain myself from raising my arm and pulling the trigger. But that was the stupid move. A shot would alert any others around that there was food nearby. Instead, making sure I wasn’t within reach of the thing, I signaled to Claudia to use her bow. It was quiet enough and would take out the creature quite easily.
    She moved around to where she could hit the thing. Then, whether it was Claudia accidentally stepping on something, or me, or nothing in particular at all, the Feral looked up. It saw Claudia there, bow outstretched. And it just gave that whine again, jerking its head to the side again. No snarl, no growl, no threatening gestures at all. I think that startled Claudia because she paused for a moment.
    In that moment, the thing could have leapt forward. Claudia’s shot might have gone wide, and it could have been on her, or me, before either of us could