America Offline (Book 2): America Offline [System Failure] by Weber William H

Author:Weber, William H. [Weber, William H.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Post-Apocalyptic | Survival
Published: 2020-03-21T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

Back at the nursing home, Holly was marching down a long narrow hallway. She soon reached a metal door with a push bar and was about to hang a right, just as the cook had instructed her, when she felt a cool breeze brush against her face. The metal door was slightly ajar and rattling. A buildup of snow packed against the bottom part of the frame prevented it from closing. Was this where the cook would duck outside to fill his bucket with ice? Where he would get the drinking water―the only nourishment for the poor souls trapped inside.

Withdrawing her pistol, Holly pushed open the door. A powerful gust fought her, jostling it in her grasp, swinging it to and fro. At last she fought back, making her way outside, and stood looking about her.

A path had been shoveled through the snow and it led from the main complex to a smaller structure out back. The snow at her feet was packed down from repeated trips back and forth. She could see on either side of the path where chunks of snow had been scooped up by the cook’s large bucket. But the main focus of her attention was on the structure up ahead. It wasn’t larger than a one-car garage with a single door and beside that a window frosted with ice.

There was no light on inside. She tried the door handle and found it locked. Next, she rubbed her gloved hand against the pane of glass, slowly clearing away the obstruction. At last, she removed her phone, switched on the light and peered inside.

A haggard face stared back at her and she let out an involuntary squeal of fright. She returned to the window, took another look and saw at once it was not a face that belonged to the living. Her heart beating a racket in her chest, Holly swiveled the light around as far as she could. This wasn’t a garage. It was a charnel house, packed with dozens of dead bodies. The elderly faces, frozen in agonizing death, all looked much the same. Except for one. A single face among them looked different from all the rest and Holly rose on her tiptoes to get a better look. This younger person was a female wrapped in a dark blazer. Above the breast pocket was a name tag that read ‘Sally Johnson’ and below that ‘Administrator.’

Holly recalled Nurse Louise discussing how Sally had simply upped and left. It was horrifyingly obvious now that the only way anyone left Peaceful Grove was through here, stacked in the back shed like cordwood.

She caught the sound behind her less than a second before she spun, whirling out the pistol. Twenty feet away, the metal push door slammed shut with tremendous force. Whoever had done so was likely racing to the front entrance to lock her out there as well. Given the deep snow, there was no way she’d beat them to it. Instead, Holly started down the path and then climbed up and onto the embankment.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.