The Ghost and the Darkness Volume 2 (The Fallocaust Series) Read Online Free PDF

it had been disemboweled. I sized it up and deemed it heaven, so I started settling in for the night.
    That night I tried to clean some of the small wounds on me, though I left the one on my head alone. I didn’t have any antiseptic or anything like that so I boiled snow and some pieces of cloth.
    I winced and sucked in a breath, but I steeled myself and pressed the hot cloth against a cut on my face. Where I had been punched I assumed. I doused and dressed every injured part of my body before refilling an old rusted out pot with snow.
    Then with a mug of hot water I drew my blanket tighter around me. The rain pattering on the tin roof and dripping down the dirty glass in hypnotic drips. Tomorrow I might just stay here; I didn’t think it would be smart to walk in the rain. I was already coughing more and more, and my headaches were a constant fear on my mind. I was warm enough here so... perhaps a day to gather my strength. I had been on the road almost four days now.
    I treated myself to a cigarette after I had dried out all my clothes and ate the last meat on the arm. Then I broke up the arm bone into sizable bits with a hatchet I found and started boiling myself up some soup. I left that to simmer on the stove and tried to get some sleep.
    I was woken up with a start that night. My heart gave a convulsive hammer as I heard something snarling and snapping outside.
    My eyes widened. I shot up from my nest of blankets and grabbed a knife. With my hands trembling from adrenaline I made sure I had a firm grip in place and pressed myself up against the wall. As the noise continued outside I braced myself and listened.
    Then a screech from a different animal. I clenched my teeth, wondering just what the fuck was fighting outside and who was going to win.
    Then, as the growling and snapping got louder, my chest started to vibrate. I felt a brief feeling of recall as I remembered that deacons and deacdogs could shake your ribcage with the low, bass-like growls they could make.
    Going against my fear I rose and looked out the window.
    It was Deek... the deacon dog was staring out into the darkness, the grey fur around his hackles raised and bristling. I looked ahead to try and see what he was growling at but the firelight behind me made it impossible for my night vision to kick in. I wasn’t sure how long he had been out there for, he could have barked or something, I would’ve let him in.
    “Deek? Come inside, boy,” the stranger living in my voice croaked. The door creaked with rusted hinges and my head warily poked through.
    I heard a huff and the shifting of snow. I took a slow step out onto the front porch and scanned the darkness. Just rocks and slushy snow. I couldn’t see anything moving.
    Then the dog darted off out of sight, barking and snapping like a lunatic. With that act the hairs on the back of my neck prickled, but my isolation during the last several days had given me a small vein of bravery. I had survived so far, I had been on this road for a while – I should take charge. I should show I was strong enough to survive here.
    So I took another step outside and continued to try and find the source. My knife ready to kill myself some game.
    Then several things happened in that moment, none of which I was prepared for. I heard a shifting of snow, and as soon as I heard it my reflexes took my gaze in that direction, but it wasn’t what I thought.
    A pair of burning eyes the size of tennis balls burrowed into me, but, before my hand could raise the knife, they rose into the air. The next moment I was on the ground with a startled scream, jaws clamping on my arm with a vice-like bite.
    My head cracked against the side of the porch, breaking open the scab and filling me with an incomprehensible surge of pain. I felt my limbs go rigid and my breath get ripped from my lungs.
    “Deek!” I choked. I wrenched my arm further into the animal’s jaw to try and unlock its grip as my other one fumbled for the combat