Read Online HAYWIRE: A Pandemic Thriller (The F.A.S.T. Series Book 2) by Shane M Brown - Free Book Online Page B

this.
    These people emanated more aggression and unquenchable fury than anything he’d ever seen in a movie.
    The women looked every bit as hostile as the men.
    Mostly barefoot, the passengers charged with no regard for their own safety, running over broken glass as though it were tissue paper.
    The elderly passengers sprinted and jumped with baffling speed and agility.
    Craigson scanned for the other Marines.
    King and Forest had intercepted a second group of hostile passengers beyond the water park.
    Captain Coleman was running toward an ice cream kiosk. Craigson glimpsed the tall, blond officer slide out the kiosk’s serving window and haul down the steel roller shutter in one fluid action, cutting off her attackers.
    Craigson couldn’t help but be impressed.
    ‘Look,’ Myers shouted. ‘Easterbrook!’
    Easterbrook stood in the path of a dozen charging passengers. Instead of following the Captain, he seemed to have frozen up.
    Craigson and Myers reacted instantly. They dashed toward Easterbrook. They needed to get closer for their rifles to be effective.
    Easterbrook fired into the charging pack.
    He hadn’t frozen up. He was holding his ground, trying to divert the last group of crazy passengers from Coleman.
    Easterbrook fired four more shots into the mob. Two targets dropped instantly.
    One passenger returned fire.
    It was a bottle.
    The bottle flew so fast that Easterbrook barely turned his face away in time.
    Smash!
    The bottle exploded against his helmet.
    Before Easterbrook recovered, the passengers engulfed him.
    They buried Easterbrook with their bodies.
    ‘Holy shit!’ swore Myers.
    Craigson fired on the run. He couldn’t miss. The insane passengers covered Easterbrook like swarming ants.
    Myers fired too. Together they dropped another five hostiles before reaching Easterbrook.
    The five remaining passengers suddenly abandoned Easterbrook.
    They weren’t fleeing.
    They’d spotted a new target.
    Craigson rushed in and knelt to help Easterbrook, hoping his injuries weren’t critical. The crazies had only swarmed over him for a few seconds.
    Craigson stared down in shock.
    Easterbrook was bleeding out everywhere. His throat was torn apart.
    God, did they bite him? Did they bite his throat out?
    Craigson saw a pen.
    A fountain pen was jammed deeply into Easterbrook’s throat. The pen had been used like a dagger. Its sharp point had severed both of Easterbrook’s jugular arteries and torn massive holes in his trachea.
    Craigson applied pressure.
    Blood squirted from between his fingers.
    Easterbrook choked and gargled.
    ‘Quick. Use these!’ Myers shoved medical supplies at Craigson, and just as quickly Craigson applied them to Easterbrook’s throat.
    ‘Hold on, Easterbrook!’ yelled Myers. ‘We’ll get you to the chopper. You just hold on, brother!’
    Craigson looked in Easterbrook’s eyes to see if he understood.
    At that moment, Craigson saw Easterbrook die.
    One moment Easterbrook was looking at the sky, his expression lost and confused, and the next his open eyes weren’t looking at anything at all.
    They were lifeless.
    ‘Easterbrook!’ shouted Myers.
    ‘We weren’t fast enough,’ said Craigson.
    Craigson wanted to call somebody for help, but there was nobody to call.
    Just them.
    Just them and a ship full of bloodthirsty lunatics.
     

Chapter Five
     
     
    Coleman sprinted toward the kiosk the moment he saw the woman’s suicidal plan.
    He saw the hostiles force open the kiosk door.
    He imagined the scene in the confined space as the enraged passengers fell upon the officer.
    She’s made it this far, Coleman told himself. Don’t give up on her.
    And then Coleman saw something amazing.
    She’d been one step ahead of them all.
    Only now did Coleman realize she’d left one shutter open on purpose.
    At the exact moment the frenzied passengers should have reached the woman, Coleman saw her deftly slide out the kiosk window and yank down the roller shutter. Without pausing, she raced