Feast by Jeremiah Knight

Author:Jeremiah Knight [Knight, Jeremiah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-06-05T23:00:00+00:00

21

During his life, formerly as a Marine, and recently as a survivor of the ExoGenetic apocalypse, Peter had made a good number of tough calls. Sometimes people died as a result. Sometimes at his hands. Most often the dead were his enemies, occasionally an ally, and once...his wife. And now he was faced with another tough call.

Option one: he could keep driving and give the wheel a quick twist, flinging both Boone and the Rider from the back of the truck. It was the safest and fastest option. The Rider probably wouldn’t be killed, but Boone certainly would be, by the impact, or the Rider.

Option two: he could stop the truck and join the fight, helping Boone defeat the Rider. Boone had a better chance of survival, but would risk the Woolies, or the gator catching up. And if that happened, they were all going to die.

Option three: he could try something reckless without stopping and maybe save Boone’s life in the process, or maybe screw up and crash, which would bring the outcome back to option two.

The crux of this internal struggle was Boone.

Was the man an ally?

Was he an enemy?

They had fought side by side. Had saved each other’s lives. That meant something among warriors. But was there a difference between trained soldiers and weekend warriors? Could he trust Boone, who had revealed himself to have a questionable moral compass? But maybe the man just needed redirection. If too much time under Mason’s influence had brought out Boone’s baser instincts, perhaps some solid redirection could bring out his best? Like Luke did with Vader, Peter sensed some good left in the man.

Convinced there was a chance, even if just a small one, that Boone could be redeemed, Peter’s mind was made up for him.

It was time to get reckless.

With one hand on the wheel, his foot on the gas and his eyes on the road, Peter leaned forward and reached under the driver’s side seat. He felt nothing at first, and he worried that Boone’s men had already discovered the hidden weapon. Then his fingers grazed something solid. It had been jostled deeper under the seat. Had one of the kids been in the truck, they probably would have had an easier time retrieving it from the back.

He leaned a bit further and found himself stopped by the steering wheel. His shoulder felt about ready to pop from his socket as he stretched out. The bumpy rubber grip tickled his fingertips, but it clung to the carpeted floor, pressed down by the weapon’s four and a half pounds. He needed a few more inches.

A shout of pain twisted him around. The Rider’s long, hooked teeth had punctured Boone’s neck. Without thought, Peter twitched the wheel to the left, kicking the truck’s back end out just a bit. The sudden movement nearly toppled the two combatants in the truck bed, but the Rider adjusted its body and remained upright, slipping its teeth out of Boone’s flesh.

With a shout of rage, Boone took advantage of the distraction and slipped his thumbs into the Rider’s eyes.

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