The Gates of Byzantium (Purge of Babylon, Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

ammo, the only thing besides sunlight that could kill the ghouls. Silver, even a tiny amount, once exposed to the creature’s bloodstream, caused a kind of chain reaction that destroyed it almost instantly. Because of that, his group collected silver like junkies, smelting and recasting it into bullets whenever they got the chance. Sunlight was the only thing the ghouls feared more, but it was a little harder to wield the sun as an offensive weapon.
    Night hadn’t done a lot to temper the heat around him, and Will was already sweating underneath the black T-shirt and stripped-down urban assault vest. He reached down and touched the handle of the cross-knife, in a sheath strapped on his left hip, just to make sure it was still there. The knife’s double-edged blade was covered in silver, and it was a reminder of that very first night when all of this started—The Purge, as they had come to call it. That was when Will had discovered the killing properties of silver, the main reason they were still alive to this day. He hated to think it was superstition, but he did feel naked without the knife on him at all times.
    He heard glass breaking from somewhere behind him and moved to the other side of the clock tower. Two dozen ghouls streamed up the driveway of a house. They had accessed the residence through the windows—their usual M.O.—and gaunt figures flitted across the second-floor windows, briefly visible in the moonlight. After a while, the ghouls came rushing back out, down the same driveway, then spilled back out into the night, spreading out in different directions.
    They’re definitely looking for something…
    Will had suspected it, but he had become convinced when they had stopped for a few days at a small incorporated community called Village Mills about six kilometers back. There was no reason for the ghouls to be there. The place was barely a blip on the map, and Will made sure to keep their vehicles away from the main roads. Over the months, they had become good at hiding their tracks. And yet, there they were, about a hundred or so of the creatures, scouring through the few buildings in the area.
    Looking, searching for something.
    Someone.
    This wasn’t a ghoul scouting party in search of random survivors. He was convinced of that now. This was a ghoul hunting party. They were being hunted. Will, Danny, Lara, and the others. And they had been ever since they had abandoned Harold Campbell’s facility in the town of Starch, Texas, three months ago.
    In the back of his mind, Will wondered if she was down there, too…
    *
    He blocked out the rickety noise as he climbed down. He hopped the last couple of meters to the floor below just to be safe, and as soon as the soles of his boots touched the hard concrete, he breathed a sigh of relief.
    Another day, another dollar.
    He clicked the Push-to-Talk switch connected to the radio clipped to his vest. “Danny, I’m headed back now.”
    “Grab some breakfast, will ya?” Danny said.
    “McDonald’s or Burger King?”
    “You even have to ask? Mickey D’s all the way. Grab me one of their world-famous Big Breakfasts. The one with hotcakes.”
    “You want syrup with that, too?”
    “What are you, high? Of course I want syrup with my hotcakes.”
    “I’ll grab a dozen on the way back.”
    “My man.”
    Will pushed at the heavy display case in front of the clock tower’s glass doors, just enough to squeeze through. He stepped outside, blinking under the bright sun, then glanced down at his watch: 7:11  a.m.
    He passed the red truck from last night, then jogged up Main Street. He turned left farther up the street and kept walking for a hundred meters or so until he came to a big, white two-story building at the end of the street. The Miller Hill House was surrounded by white picket fences that looked tiny next to its huge, towering frame. More importantly, it had a solidly built basement with only one way in.
    By the time Will reached the house, Danny and