Read Online August Burning (Book 2): Survival by Tyler Lahey - Free Book Online Page B

air.
    There were the cars, and the ATV. A field of waist-high dead wheat grass extended across a lonely dirt road in front of them. Jaxton dismounted in the dark, alarmed to hear nothing but grass, swaying in the starlight. He mounted the minivan and screamed. “ADIRA!”
    “Fuck,” Leeroy muttered at the noise. He adjusted his strap and brought his rifle to bear, beady eyes scanning the darkness. Harley shivered, so Liam went to her.
    “Where are is the trailer park?”
    Bennett indicated the field. “Just beyond that. It’s pretty high, past the waist in places. Where did she say they last were?”
    “I have no idea. I couldn’t hear.” Jaxton paused, before launching himself into the tickling grass at the quick step.
    “Someone needs to watch the horses.”
    “I’ll stay. Harley, go with them please,” Liam whispered. He thought he saw Bennett staring him down, in a show of condescension that was visible even in the moonlight.
    Harley clasped him close quickly, so small against his bear-like frame. She followed the others, disappearing into the grass. Liam frowned to himself. The horses were the biggest targets for any infected nearby. He would be damned if he put her in that position. And despite himself, he felt anger boiling- did they think he was being a coward?
    A bird, floating lazily overheard, saw five black shadows parting the grass in tiny waves.
    Jaxton felt his mind would burst as he stumbled through the grass. He could scarcely contemplate the failure that he feared lay before him. He had to find her. Fuck the others. If she was alive and they were dead, he would take that. He could see a tree-line in the distance, looming above the field. Picking up into a run, he nearly ran Duke over in the tall grass. Someone screamed, hoarse and bone-chilling… it resonated over the desolate plain.
    Wilder hissed hysterically, fresh tears streaming down his pale face as he crouched. The grass was flattened in a small circle. There was Duke, shaking and trying to bury himself beneath the grass. There was Tessa, lying in a pool of dark wetness, with motionless eyes. Her neck was hacked to the spinal column, which was eerily shone white in the pale light. And there was Adira, her breast heaving and her lips trembling. Jaxton collapsed on top of her, and she wailed in a desperate thanksgiving.
    The others broke into the clearing. Leeroy puked when he saw the dead girl. Joseph dropped to his knees, his breath ragged and short. He drew back his bowstring, so the razor-tipped arrowhead was quivering as it pointed at the tall stalks of grass. Harley stood at the edge, with blank eyes, gripping her shotgun.
    Jaxton was crying too. “Where are they? ” He scratched out through the tears, holding Adira to his chest.
    Wilder could barely speak. He was hyperventilating. Jaxton cuffed him on the side of the head, hard. “ Where ?”
    Wilder shrieked, his hands sticky with the dark liquid that pooled and made the matted grass spongy.
    “Where’s Elvis?” Harley said.
    They looked around. He was not in the circle. “Where is Elvis?!” She sounded off, more shrill this time.
    Duke sat up. His rifle was still smoking in the chilly breeze. “He lead them away.”
    “He ran?”
    Adira spoke in muffled tones. “He sacrificed himself, so we could hide.”
    “We need to watch the grass.” Bennett whispered. Joseph and Leeroy responded, weapons at the ready. Harley eyed Bennett up. She didn’t like his measured calm. Did he not see the girl lying in a pool of her own blood? Wilder pressed his scarlet hands to Tessa’s inert neck once more, as if to stop the bleeding.
    “Elvis?”
    They spun to see what Jaxton was looking at. There was a set of eyes, almost hidden among the reeds, shining at them. Someone was crouching not ten feet away, in the grass.
    “KILL IT!” Wilder shrieked. Adira trembled, stammering over her words. Duke backpedaled, and ran.
    Four guns were brought to bear.  Jaxton rose, placing Adira