The Immortal Coil Read Online Free PDF

close again to needing it.”
    The mutants weren’t giving up their rabid assault outside. The sound of splintering wood from the doorframe of our sanctuary was almost more frightening than the unnatural howling. At this rate, we had another five minutes at most before we were overrun.
    “So, by ‘suspicious’ do you mean terrorism?” I was beginning to think the police knew more about this from the start than they were willing to let on. “There were a lot of police for one sick woman, and the CDC was called in pretty quickly.”
    “I told you I don’t know anything, and even if I did I couldn’t discuss it. Let’s just worry about staying alive for now.” His words made me more curious than ever, but I ran out of time to question him. The door finally gave way, letting in the trio of mutants. “Get in the bedroom, close the door, and hide. I’m going to hold them off,” the officer said, taking his gun back out.
    “You’re crazy! They’ll kill you. You won’t have enough ammo to take them all down.” He couldn’t have been any more than a couple of years older than me, but he was ready to face a painful death for some stranger. I wanted to believe it was an act of heroism, not insanity, but in reality, it was probably a bit of both. Heroism would sound a lot better at his eulogy, though.
    Sirens blared in the distance. We just needed to survive a few more minutes until the rest of the police got here. The mutants clambered over the barricade, completely undeterred by the officer’s last few bullets.
    The clicking sound of the gun’s empty clip made my heart sink.
    He looked back at me while taking out a knife from his back pocket that he had gotten from the kitchen. I could see his resolve starting to waver. “I told you to hide!”
    I didn’t know what to do. All three mutant creatures were on him now. The way out was clear now, but I couldn’t just leave him here to die. Two of the infected men’s masks had come off during the fight. They were doing everything they could to bite the cop, but he was just barely managing to pull away in time.
    Using the knife, he stabbed one of them in the side of the head. As the cop twisted the knife a few times, the worker finally collapsed lifelessly.
    One of the remaining mutants almost bit into the cop’s wrist, but, on impulse, I jumped in and pulled it off.
    “Get out of here! Go find help, the others should be here by now,” he said, looking up at me. He had killed one, but he looked like his energy was fading fast. The last two had him pinned and were doing everything they could to maim him.
    I used my body weight as leverage to tear one of the infected away from the officer. A sudden sharp pain in my ankle stopped me from helping with another. I looked down in horror. The one we thought was dead gripped my leg.
    “Why won’t you just die?” I screamed and kicked it in the head. The creature’s jaw broke, but it still kept attacking. It knocked me off balance, making me fall to the floor near the cop. This was becoming more and more hopeless by the minute.
    Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the swords up on the wall. Ornamental or not, they still looked sharp. If only I could get one of them to buy us more time. I reached out for the swords, even though they were across the room. “Please, why do you have to be so far away … just come a little closer,” I begged, imagining them flying to me in response.
    The swords began to quiver in their fixture. I wasn’t sure if I was being too hopeful, but I kept calling for them in my mind. The officer was still grappling on the ground with two of the infected workers. He had lost the knife during the brawl and was reduced to punching them in self-defense.
    I needed both hands to keep the mutant on top of me at bay, but I also didn’t want to lose sight of the swords, which were now shaking violently against the wall. The creature’s face was dangerously close to my own. I could feel its chilling