Into the Fire by Justin Bell & Mike Kraus

Author:Justin Bell & Mike Kraus [Bell, Justin & Kraus, Mike]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Post-Apocalyptic | Survival
Publisher: Muonic Press Inc
Published: 2019-10-17T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

From afar, the large mansion on the cliff overlooking the lake had looked almost regal, as if European royalty had moved to Vermont and brought their castle with them. But as they walked up the long, curving driveway, the reality was something far less elegant, and far more brutal in its reality.

The decorative metal gate barring entry to the homestead had been smashed apart and broken, sitting askew with the lock shattered. There was a massive dent in the metal bars, looking by all accounts that it had been battered open with a charging vehicle. Torn metal and shattered glass was sprinkled throughout the paved driveway and lawn beyond.

Eight foot tall brick walls extended out from the broken gate and stretched out on either side, surrounding the vast property. Mary Beth shook her head.

“Why would you move to beautiful rural Vermont, live on the edge of a gorgeous natural lake, then build huge brick walls all around you?”

Roxanne shrugged.

“I don’t know, but I think if I drove by this place every day, I’d have to fight the urge to check it out myself. They probably got sick of rubberneckers.”

The group made their way through the broken gate, following the gently sloping driveway, which veered to the left, flattening out before leading to a large, three car garage, which stood with all three doors closed. A walkway branched off and led up to the main house, the entrance a rising platform of five concrete steps with ornate square pillars on each side. Even from far away, in the low light of late afternoon, they could see that the door sat ajar, snow from the landing blown in, the grid work windows on the door shattered.

Looking over the snow covered lawn, Mary Beth could see the telltale grooves of tire tracks leading from the busted gate over the uneven lawn, trailing pieces of plastic and glass. There was no vehicle out on the lawn so it had obviously survived well enough to be driven back out.

Other windows were broken on the main floor as well, though the ones up on the second floor were surprisingly intact. Mary Beth led the group up toward the house and hesitated for a moment, setting her empty gas cans down and removing the Beretta from her waistband. She looked at Roxanne, who nodded and did the same thing, both of them holding their weapons in two hands, barrels pointed toward the ground as they advanced up the walkway toward the stairs.

If they’d learned nothing else over the past two plus weeks, they’d learned not to enter a building without weapons, even if it looked abandoned. There was something even stranger about that particular abandoned house— something more ominous. Mary Beth wasn’t sure if it was because of how large it was, how nice it was, or a little bit of both, but the truth was it felt less like an empty house and more like a haunted one, one of those impossibly nice homes from the films that was overflowing with spirits and poltergeists.

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.