Survival Read Online Free PDF

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little throat." Dana hesitated and the man yelled, "Drop it now!"
The sharp blade sliced upward, cutting a line across Sarah's right
cheek. She could not hold back the scream that tore from her
throat. The blood felt warm as it flowed down her face and neck.
Even worse, she saw Dana relaxing her arm, about to drop the
gun.
    "Dana! Don't . . . think about Brian. You
know he'd want you to survive. You know exactly what Brian would
want you to do."
    Her eyes met identical ones across the
distance. They stared at each other, communicating without words.
Dana straightened up, aimed the gun and pulled the trigger just as
Sarah let her legs go limp and dropped as far as she could.
    Blood spattered across Sarah. Ron pulled her
backward on top of him when he fell to the grass. But it was only a
reflex. His eyes were closed and his arm slowly fell to the side.
Dana tugged her up and used the bottom of her shirt to wipe the
blood from her sister's face. Sarah winced at the contact.
    "Ouch! Careful there."
    Headlights lit them up as the Expedition
barreled toward them. Dana spun around, lifting the gun in front of
her where Sarah knocked it down just as quickly.
    "No! She's with me."
    Meredith opened her door, weakly pulling
herself out on the running board to look over the top. "Are y'all
okay?"
    Nodding, Sarah pushed Dana toward the
passenger seat. "Yeah. Thanks for coming for us. Dana, this is
Meredith. Meredith, Dana."
    While Dana got inside the Expedition, Sarah
retrieved her weapons and walked vigilantly over to Ron's still
form. A monster on the inside, she marveled at how normal he
looked. How they all looked. She knew from years working within the
courts that looks could definitely be deceiving. She had always
thought those capable of such atrocities should at least have a
warning mark of some kind tattooed across their forehead to give
the rest of humanity a fighting chance. They definitely should not
be attractive.
    The shot had torn a hole through his chest,
but he still chugged in breath. She tried to force herself to end
him once and for all, but regardless of what she had told her
sister about doing the hard things, she just couldn't do it. She
reasoned that he probably wouldn't survive such a severe wound
anyway as she walked back to the other women.
    "Do you want to drive?" Back in her seat,
Meredith clutched the door handle.
    "If you think you feel up to it, then I'll
just ride back here." Sarah opened the back door and waited. She
was exhausted and just wanted to rest a moment.
    Meredith looked her over and nodded. "I'll
be fine. We don't have that far to go."
    Pulling herself into the back seat, she
found the towel she had used earlier and held it to her cheek to
stop the blood flow.
    Dana turned around to face her. "I don't
think it's too deep, but we need to get it disinfected soon."
    "I have a first aid kit in my bag. We can
take care of it when we get to the courthouse." Meredith eased the
SUV onto the drive and toward Lancaster Avenue.
    Exhaustion flooded Sarah as the adrenaline
she had been running on fled her body. With her sister safe and
them hopefully on their way to a secure location, she let herself
relax against the back seat. Her wet clothing clung to her skin,
the heavy thickness of blood on her shirt reminding her of the
day's horrors. It felt as if her body had turned to ice. Her teeth
chattered and she shook uncontrollably. "H-h-heat." She could
barely get the word out.
    Dana turned to face her, took in the
situation and turned back to adjust the temperature and to make
sure the back vents were on. "You're freezing. Here, put one of
these blankets around you." She leaned over the console to the back
to hand one to Sarah, but Sarah stopped her.
    "N-no. I'll be f-fine in a m-m-minute." She
hugged herself. "We'll n-need those, and I'm all n-n-nasty with
zombie guts."
    "We'll find more. Go ahead and use it." Dana
tried once again to hand the blanket to Sarah.
    "No. I'm really better already. Just