Wayward Pines: Nomad (Kindle Worlds Novella) Read Online Free PDF Page A

tunnel.
    Tobias put a bead on the abby’s head, his finger on the trigger. Squeezed. One of the abby’s eyes disappeared in a splash of blood. It stood motionless for a second, then fell to the ground.
    Almost immediately another abby dropped down through the hatch, followed by a second. All three of them opened fire at the same time, the cacophony in the tight space deafening.
    Beth’s gun went empty first. She ducked down and ran behind Tobias and Carl to grab another gun, then came back just as Tobias’s gun went empty. He hurried to the corner, looked through the scattered display of weapons—knifes, pistols, even two grenades—and grabbed his Winchester.
    By the time he returned to his previous spot, the two abbies were riddled with bullets. One attempted to charge down the tunnel, but it only got a few feet before Carl shot it in its head.
    As soon as the last abby fell, all three of them stopped shooting. Cordite thick in the air. Tobias’s ears ringing.
    Carl coughed. He whispered, “Is that it?”
    They waited. Silence.
    “Now,” Beth said quietly, and before Tobias knew it the barrel of Carl’s rifle was in his face.
    “Drop it,” Carl said.
    “Are you kidding me?”
    “Do it now or I will shoot you.”
    “I just helped save your lives.”
    “And we appreciate that, truly, but drop the rifle now.”
    As Carl spoke, his focus on Tobias, Beth started down the tunnel. She approached the first abby slowly, cautiously, as if expecting it to jump up and attack her at any moment.
    “Don’t make me tell you again,” Carl said.
    Tobias worked it through his head. Right now the angle of the rifle was pointed down at the ground. Would only take a half-second to turn it toward Carl. Maybe another half-second to pull the trigger. It was certainly doable, but he had to take into account the fact the darkness of the rifle’s barrel was staring back at him less than five feet away. No matter how he played it, Carl had the advantage.
    Tobias gave a slight nod and let go of the rifle. It clattered to the ground.
    Up the tunnel, Beth had bypassed the first dead abby. She was coming to the base of the ladder and the three other dead abbies, aiming her gun toward the top of the hatch.
    “Be careful, baby,” Carl said, his gaze not leaving Tobias’s face.
    Beth nudged one of the dead abbies with the tip of her shoe, her gun pointed at the abby’s head. No movement.
    “I think we’re good,” she said, turning back and lowering her weapon. “At least, I don’t hear any of them up—”
    The screeching just then was the loudest Tobias had ever heard it. It didn’t come from any of the three fallen abbies, but from somewhere up top.
    Beth tilted her face up, and he saw in the fading light the surprise and fear in her eyes. She went to raise her gun, but by then the talons swooped down and grabbed her hair. She immediately jerked back, trying to fight out of the hold, but another talon appeared and tore into her shoulder.
    She didn’t even scream. Didn’t even shout. She just stared back down the tunnel for a split second, a split instant, and then she was gone.

    Carl saw it in Tobias’s eyes. His back was to the carnage, and he started to turn, opening his mouth to call out Beth’s name.
    Tobias stepped forward, clamped his hand over Carl’s mouth. Into his ear he whispered, “If you make a sound, we’re both dead.”
    Somewhere up top the screeching and clicking continued, though it sounded like it was moving away.
    Beth cried out, a hurried, gargled noise. Carl stiffened and went to push away Tobias’s hand. Tobias swung his other arm around Carl’s neck, just like he had minutes earlier, and pressed down on the man’s windpipe.
    “You pieces of shit were going to eat me, and I’m not dying for you.”
    Carl didn’t struggle like Tobias thought he would. He was trembling, though, his entire body shaking. Slightly, ever so slightly, he nodded his head.
    Tobias released the chokehold and his hand