The Killing Floor Read Online Free PDF Page A

she not see the man, but just the virus controlling him?
    “Thank God,” the driver shouts back at the survivors, switching on the headlights. “It’s the camp! We made it!”
    Todd tightens his hold on Anne. “Are you coming this time?”
    “For a while,” she tells him.
    “Can I stay with you?”
    “Todd, I’m going to get back on the road as soon as I can scrounge up a few things. You know what it’s like out there. There is no life. It’s no place for you.”
    I want to be safe , he wants to tell her, but does not know how to explain how he feels. He knows he will be safer in the camp. But he feels safer on the road, close to his fears.
    Even after everything, he already feels its call to stay out here among the monsters.
    Get on the road and keep moving, and they will never get you.
    He remembers Sarge, the battle-hardened commander of the Bradley, falling apart during the orientation session at the camp. He stopped moving, and it nearly broke him.
    Even the strongest sometimes are not strong enough to fight themselves.
    Anne shakes her head. “All right, Todd. If you don’t feel right tomorrow, come and find me and we’ll talk.”
    Todd nods and sits up, sniffing and wiping his eyes with the palm of his hand.
    “Camp Defiance,” the driver says, pointing.
    The sprawling camp looms ahead, the ragged outline of its makeshift walls and watchtowers silhouetted by the warm glow of searchlights and thousands of cooking fires. The warm breeze carries the sound of cheering crowds. Random snatches of machine gun fire. The smell of wood smoke. Overhead, helicopters roar through the night.
    Home, Todd thinks. I want to go home. Where is home?
    ♦
    The convoy grinds to a halt in front of the gates, churning dust that swirls like angry ghosts in the headlight beams. A machine gun rattles on the wall, tracer rounds spitting toward the distant trees. The sound of cheering grows in volume, responding to a voice squawking through a megaphone. The bass line of a pop song vibrates through the vehicle. Despite the notes of celebration, at night the camp has the atmosphere of a siege slowly being lost. Blinding white light floods the bus and then fades out. The gates open with a bang of gears.
    “Show time,” Anne says to Todd, nudging him with a wink.
    Todd smiles at the inside joke. Sarge always said that before a scavenging mission.
    “Welcome to FEMAville, Anne,” he says.
    This is the place he fought the horde to save. The place for which Paul and Ethan died.
    The vehicle rolls into the compound and comes to a stop, the rest of the convoy stacking up behind it. The driver turns off the engine and opens the door, allowing the omnipresent camp smells of cooking food and open sewage to waft in. Bulbs on wires strung between wooden poles light the area, surrounded by moths. Music blares from a speaker mounted on one of the poles in a tangle of thick wires: Queen’s “We Will Rock You.” Todd peers out the window and blinks in surprise at the cheering faces. Holy crap. They’re cheering for us.
    A military officer climbs aboard the bus and speaks to the driver, who shakes his head, turns in his seat, and points at Anne. The officer approaches, introduces himself as Captain Mattis, and fires questions, his voice barely audible over the roar: Lieutenant Patterson? Sergeant Hackett? Sergeant Wilson?
    Dead, dead and trapped on the other side of the river , Anne tells him.
    “Too bad about Wilson.”
    “He’ll make out all right,” Anne says. She knows Mattis is noting the loss of the Bradley more than its commander.
    “So who are you, then?”
    “Just passing through with some other people. We heard the shooting and helped out.” She tilts her head toward Todd. “He made it. Some engineers, some National Guard. That’s it.”
    “The mission was a success, though,” Mattis says.
    Anne nods. “The Infected won’t be crossing that bridge.”
    “Outstanding.”
    “Is that what all this is about?”
    The