Survive Read Online Free PDF Page A

said, nodding to the prostrate figure. Looking back at Sara, John gave a little wave, then a thumbs down signal. Sara nodded, keeping a good watch of the woods behind the two cars.
    John reached in and pulled the spare magazines from the trooper’s belt, as well as the portable radio. He grabbed the keys from the ignition, and walked back to the trunk, tucking the trooper’s Glock into his belt as he walked. Popping the trunk, John reached inside and grabbed a duffel bag. Unzipping it, he rifled quickly through the contents, noting extra ammunition, gloves and a few other goodies. Zipping it back up, he reached back in and grabbed the tactical rifle case laying flat on the floor of the trunk. He nodded to himself as he opened the case, exposing a brand new Smith & Wesson M&P AR 15, complete with tactical light on the forearm grip. He closed the case and took it and the duffel bag to the Volvo. Opening the back door, he pushed a curious Princess over and stuffed the two items in to the already overcrowded car. Princess sighed in annoyance as her little kingdom was rudely invaded. Her annoyance was quickly forgotten as she found a zipper on one of the packed bags to chew on.
    John walked towards the driver’s side door. As he reached for the handle, Sara yelled. “John!”
    Turning, John saw what made his wife scream in horror. The dead trooper sat up and looked straight at him. John stared back at the officer, noting the eyes were cloudy, almost milky. The trooper’s mouth worked silently for a few seconds, before a low, angry moan escaped the lifeless lips. Princess was barking like mad in the back of the car, pawing at the window.
    Struggling, the officer began to slide out of the car. He stumbled out and began running toward the Volvo. Sara brought her gun up even as John was pulling his from his shoulder holster. Sara fired twice as the trooper closed on them, hitting him in the chest with both shots.
    Either the man was wearing a vest, or the shots didn’t affect him, John noted to himself as he took careful aim at the trooper’s head. His first shot hit low, right under its chin. The officer staggered for a second, but then resumed its violent run at the Volvo. Sara watched in horror as the creature made it almost to her door before the top of its head exploded with the force of John’s .45 hollow point bullet. The dead trooper dropped in its tracks.
    John jumped in the Volvo, slammed the car into drive and stomped on the gas.
    * * *
     
    The next forty-five minutes passed in near silence as the two tried, each in their own way, to make sense of what had just happened. Neither wanted to think that they may have just killed a man. But both knew that what they had killed had not, in fact, been a man any longer.
    Finally Sara broke the silence. “John, that guy was already dead.”
    “I know,” John replied, taking his wife’s hand and gently squeezing. “But that was some shootin’ there, Tex.”
    Princess chose that moment to break the tension by sneezing. Fine brown powder exploded from the back seat. Sara looked in the back, eyes going wide. “John! She’s in the coffee!”
    Princess began chasing her tail in the crowded back seat, her snout covered in coffee grounds. She quickly became little more than a black and brown streak in John’s rear view mirror.
    John pulled the Volvo onto Interstate 91. A few minutes later, he knew he’d made a mistake. A big yellow school bus lay across both northbound lanes. John pulled the Volvo in to the median and worked his way around the yellow behemoth. Sara looked inside as they drove past. Red smears streaked the windshield. Something moved inside.
    “John, something’s moving in there.”
    John slowed as they passed the windshield. Suddenly, a small face appeared, pressed against the glass. The entire bottom portion of the child’s face was missing. John stepped on the gas, leaving the bus behind.
    After Greenfield, traffic north on the interstate grew heavier.