Read Online Beyond the Barriers (Novella): Ghouls by Timothy W. Long - Free Book Online

handed over something like eight ounces of brew in a styrofoam cup. I sipped it, found it to indeed by high octane, and guzzled the rest. It was barely warm. I didn’t envy my stomach in the next few hours, or the results once it ran through my system, because I’d have to pop a squat at some point.
    “Chef Trey. It’s got a cool ring to it,” he said.
    “What’s for dinner, Chef?”
    “Probably the same stuff,” he said with a crooked smile.
    “Shame I’ll miss it.” I offered him a snap salute before moving out to find Molly.
    She was all business but she knew my name. She handed over a Colt M4 that had seen better days, but at least someone had cleaned it. I tucked an extra magazine into my tactical jacket and a box of rounds into my backpack.
    She had a dozen .44 rounds. I pocketed those with a smile.

    * * *
    T he team consisted of me , Scott, Thomas, and a woman I hadn’t met before, named Sloane McAllister. She had long hair that had gone gray and she wore a pair of glasses that were thick enough to make her eyes bulge. She had a hard face that bore proud age lines. For some reason, I thought of a DMV worker when I saw her but quickly changed my mind. She was sharp and had a quick wit even if her sense of humor was dry.
    I’d known Thomas since the first days at the Wal-Mart and knew he was a capable fighter. He’d been a cop back before the change. He’d also been a leader even though he said he didn’t want the job. Still, people had listened to him. His wife, Ella, was an auburn haired beauty that doted on him at every chance.
    “How’s Ella?” I asked Thomas.
    “Good. Safe. We have a second location a few miles back. Kept the bulk of the people and supplies separated just in case.”
    “So this whole camp is expeditionary?”
    “Something like that,” he said. “Since you torched a ghoul camp some of them have been acting even weirder than normal. They don’t show themselves as much. I think they’re planning something but Lisa thinks differently.”
    “Sounds like ghouls to me,” I said.
    “I think you took a large slice of them out, Erik,” Lisa said as she strode into the circle.
    “I hope that’s it,” Thomas said.
    “It was bad down there. They lived like animals in the dark,” I said. “No telling how many more of these warrens are around. They want us gone. All of us. We join them or we die.”
    When we’d returned to the camp with an arsenal I’d managed to fall into some kind of lair. That’s where I’d had a conversation with one of them. Then I’d killed everyone I could find. After that, we’d torched the place. I don’t know how many ghouls had infested the location but I doubted a single one was still alive.
    Scott had slipped away to take a leak but now reappeared. He packed a shotgun over one shoulder and wore his 9mm low on his waist like a gunslinger. He’d slipped two extra magazines into a holder so they were within easy reach.
    “We gonna do this thing?” Scott asked.
    “Right. Let’s move out. I’ll lead us to the spot, and then we’ll do our best to track them. If we don’t make contact within eight hours, we head back,” Thomas said.
    I nodded because the plan was smart, but I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d return with them if there was no sign of Katherine or the other survivors from the camp.

    * * *
    T he trees closed around us as we dove deeper into them. We’d skirted a side road and made for a wooded area that had been a state park. We weren’t far from Portland, but this section of the Pacific Northwest didn’t care. As we walked over hard ground and avoided overgrown areas, we developed a marching order. Thomas took the lead and I was behind him. Sloane was quiet the entire time but fell in behind me. Scott stuck to the rear.
    We paused at noises and avoided one large clump of undead. They’d become fascinated with some dead wildlife, a pair of deer if I’d had to guess, though it was hard to tell by the blood and mass of