Soil (The Last Flotilla Book 2) by Barnes Colin F

Author:Barnes, Colin F. [Barnes, Colin F.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781503948440
Published: 2016-02-01T18:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Jim and Annette followed behind Tom as the three of them slowly approached the door with the yellow glow shining through its glass pane. They had seen the shadow move a few times but nothing else had happened. No sound either.

‘I’m not happy about this,’ Annette said.

‘Can’t say I feel like doing cartwheels either,’ Tom replied. He stood back from the door and raised the M16, nodding at the others to try the handle.

Jim stepped forward and did just that. The smooth brushed-steel handle was cold in his hand. At first it resisted, but with a little more pressure, the latch withdrew and Jim opened the door inward.

The scent of grease and metal wafted out on the air. It was warmer in the room than the other place. Jim held his breath for a moment and listened but couldn’t detect any air conditioning. The only sound he could identify was the consistent buzzing hum of the ubiquitous strip lighting. Only two of the six bulbs worked.

Annette and Tom joined Jim inside, closing the door behind them.

‘Some kind of stockroom for mechanical engineering,’ Tom whispered, so low that Jim almost didn’t hear him. Jim’s senses were focused on the shadow moving beyond a row of eight-foot-high shelving units. Jim shifted aside a few boxes of electrical supplies to get a better look.

‘There,’ Annette said, pointing to the shadow on the grey vinyl floor.

Tom held his hand up over his shoulder, raised the rifle, and edged closer to the end of the shelving unit. Jim stayed close behind, straining to hear anything recognisable, and was rewarded with a rhythmic squeak, the sound of plastic on plastic.

Tom stepped around the corner, and stood still.

Jim had braced himself for the burst of rifle fire but nothing came. ‘What is it?’ he asked, approaching Tom. When he rounded the shelf he gasped.

Annette joined the two of them. ‘Crap. Looks like we’re not the only ones fighting these guys.’

The body of a woman in a grey coverall and heavy boots hung from a cable wrapped around her neck and tied to a beam in the ceiling.

The cable squeaked each time the body’s weight shifted slightly.

‘Annette, let’s take a closer look,’ Jim said. ‘Cover us, Tom.’

‘Go on,’ Tom said.

Jim and Annette approached the body. Jim used the end of his flashlight to stop it from swinging on the cable. Annette put on a pair of latex gloves that she had stashed in her pocket and lifted the woman’s head. Corpse eyes stared back at them; the colour had drained away, and their surfaces had dried, leaving a film over the lenses. The skin around her eyes and mouth was like that of the others with the infection: covered in pustules and red and flaking.

‘She’s definitely dead, right?’ Tom said.

‘Yeah,’ Annette replied. ‘No doubt about it.’

‘How long?’

Annette thought about it, circled the body, inspecting the neck and face more closely. She laid the back of her gloved hand against the corpse’s arm. ‘I’m no expert, but I’d guess maybe ten minutes or so.

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.