THEM (Book 0): Invasion Read Online Free PDF Page A

radiator repair tape, a bottle of Gorilla glue, and all their OTC drugs. And a twelve pack of tall boys, just in case I never got to enjoy a cold one again.
    I used a hand truck I found in the back and loaded it all up. I gave the place one final look around and found a first aid kit in the office, so I cleaned that out too. Once I got it all in the truck, I went back inside to leave them the rest of the cash I had on hand, along with an IOU and a list of what I took in exchange for the rest. I figured I’d shorted them about a hundred bucks, but to hell with it. Better that it was taken by someone who was good for it than by looters.
    As I walked back out to the truck to top off the tank and fill my jerry cans, that whole bloody scene inside kept nagging at me. I thought on it a bit and decided it wouldn’t take too much time to see where those folks had gone. I threw the gas cans in back, hopped in my truck, and pulled it around back. I flipped it around and backed it into the tree line behind the store, locked it, and picked up the trail at the back door. It headed out back down an old deer trail. I followed it with my sidearm drawn and my eyes peeled.

    The deer trail was fairly unused, so it made for tight quarters as I followed the obvious tracks the three people from the gas station had left. It looked like the girl had made better time than the two shufflers. Her tracks were longer and she was striking hard on her heels with every step. Her trail went on for about a quarter-mile along the trail, then she had cut off at an angle into the trees, presumably to lose her pursuers. I could see that both pursuers had continued down the deer trail a ways, then they had stopped abruptly and shuffled around. After that, their trail went off into the sticks in the same direction as the girl’s. I decided to follow the girl’s trail. She was moving at speed that had left a clear line of broken branches and scuffed ground to follow.
    About a half-mile further, I noticed that the girl had stopped and attempted to hide in some brush. She had hunkered down behind some cedar trees, and it looked like she had crouched there for a while. There were several branches of the tree that had been stripped of foliage, which I presumed she did out of nervousness while waiting to see if she had evaded her pursuers. Unfortunately, she hadn’t, as their trail had converged with hers about fifteen yards before. I found what I assumed to be her phone in the brush a few yards out; it was cracked, but otherwise still in working order. I pocketed it and continued to track her.
    After that, the trail led out into a short clearing, beyond which was a steep drop-off of about 75 feet that went into a canyon. There appeared to have been a scuffle, and at least one person had gone off the edge into the canyon. I searched carefully for some sign that the girl had escaped, but unfortunately I could find no further sign of her passing. I walked up to the edge of the drop-off and looked down, and saw three bodies tangled up in the brush at the bottom. It was hard to see clearly exactly what I was looking at, but I doubted anyone could have survived that fall.
    I shook my head and said a silent prayer, then went to head back to the gas station. Just as I was turning away, I thought I saw movement from the bottom of the canyon out of the corner of my eye. I looked quickly back, but didn’t detect anything else from the corpses below. I chalked it up to the wind, coyotes, or just my mind playing tricks on me. I made a mental note to tell Randy just as soon as I ran across him, and headed back to my truck.

    Once I got to my truck, I sat for a moment and tried to process what I’d seen. A lot of it didn’t make sense. For one, where did all the blood come from? I had found some blood on the trail, but based on what I’d seen in the store, whoever had lost all that liquid would’ve been in no shape for a hike in the woods. And why the heck were those two