The Survivor Chronicles: The Risen Read Online Free PDF Page B

blue eye startled Mary Ellen; she'd never seen eyes quite
like them before. The woman was petrified, she was irate and half
crazed, but there was recognition and intelligence within her
astonishing eyes.
    "You're safe with us, I promise. Please just
calm down," Riley said pleadingly. "We'll let you go. You can even
stay here if you want; we just can't have you attacking us
again."
    The woman's eyes shot back to Riley, her
thrashing began to ease. Mary Ellen crept closer as a sob escaped
the woman and she collapsed upon the floor. Xander climbed swiftly
off of the woman's back but he kept his palm in the center of it.
Carl's grasp on the woman's legs eased.
    "It's ok," Riley whispered. She soothingly
rubbed the woman's tangled blond hair. "I know you're frightened,
but you're safe now. I promise."
    The woman only cried even more as Mary Ellen
knelt beside her and the men stepped away.

CHAPTER 3
    Riley,
    Riley didn't know what to do as the woman's
shoulders continued to heave and heart- wrenching sobs tore from
her. Riley had experienced this kind of crying before a couple of
times that she could remember. Once when her dog, Jingles, had been
hit by a plow when she was eight, and then again when Carol had
died. She hadn't sobbed like this over Lee and Bobby, but the awful
feeling of needing to cry lingered
within her chest, making it difficult for her to breathe.
    This kind of crying was an awful form, the
kind where no matter what she did she couldn't stop the tears from
flowing and the snot from pouring out of her nose. The fact that it
often resulted in a struggle to breathe would eventually bring on a
bought of hiccups that just added insult to injury. Riley had cried
like this a time or two in her life, but she had no idea how to
handle a stranger doing it before her. She awkwardly rubbed the
woman's shoulder as the woman began to take in heaving gulps of air
that would cause the hiccups.
    "It's ok," Riley said over and over again
but her words didn't seem to be getting through to the woman.
    Eventually either a lack of tears, or just
plain exhaustion, caused the woman's heaving sobs to subside. She
drew her knees up against her chest and hugged them to her as she
began to rock back and forth in an attempt to comfort herself. Her
sobs lessened even more and eventually even the rocking eased. She
finally lifted her head to take them in with bloodshot, swollen
eyes.
    "Ma'am I don't know what you've been through
but I promise that you'll be safe with us," Josh said
hesitatingly.
    "Oh God kid, don't call me ma'am," the woman
moaned. She wiped her nose with the back of her hand. Riley
couldn't help but smile; Carl stepped forward and thrust a box of
tissues toward the woman. "Thank you," she muttered as she took the
box from him.
    She pulled out a handful of tissues and
began to dab at her eyes before blowing her nose. Those strangely
colored, amazingly vivid eyes focused upon her. Riley could almost
see the wheels spinning in the woman's head as she tried to figure
out if she really was safe with them. Riley put her gun away and
held up her hands. She crab walked backward from the woman.
    "Are you alone?" Carl inquired.
    The woman nodded. "Yes."
    Even still, Carl moved toward the door and
stood in the doorframe. He stared down the hall toward the rear of
the building with his gun before him. "Do you have any more weapons
on you?" he asked.
    Carl had knocked a small revolver from the
woman's hand when she'd first emerged from the trunk she'd been
hiding in. The woman shook her head but Riley highly doubted she
told the truth, she certainly
wouldn't have if the roles were reversed.
    She wasn't nervous about the fact that the
woman may still have a weapon, she'd put her gun away but Xander,
Josh, Mary Ellen, Carl, and Al were still holding theirs. Riley
knew they would shoot without hesitation if it came to keeping
someone safe.
    "You really are safe with us," Riley
said.
    The woman tossed aside the tissues and
turned toward the