Read Online Ragnarok Rising: The Crossing (The Ragnarok Rising Saga) by D.A. Roberts - Free Book Online Page B

alloy, because it took longer to cut through than I had expected. It could resist all it wanted, though. There was no stopping the intense heat of the cutting torch. Seconds later, the lock melted away and the door popped loose in the frame.
    I could see the metal of the lock and frame were s till glowing red hot, but the door was open. I swung the door outward and stepped back to let Spec-4 and Southard sweep it. There was no sign of movement from inside. While they went inside to sweep the interior of the small building, I shut down the torch and removed the mask.
    “All clear,” called Spec-4.
    “Clear,” echoed Southard.
    After pushing the tanks aside, Elliott and I went into the building to have a look. There was a small office to the right of the door . A short hallway led to four small bedrooms. Each room had two beds without sheets or blankets. There was also a small bathroom. Each bedroom had a small window that had no curtains. There were no windows in the bathroom. A sign on a locked steel door at the end of the hallway read, “Danger! Keep Out. Authorized Personnel Only.”
    “Let’s get our gear inside and secure that door,” I said. “We don’t have much daylight left.”
    We quickly headed out to the Humvees and brought in our gear. With some coaxing, we convinced Becca to come inside with us. Once we had all of our gear inside, I pulled the door shut and looked for a way to secure it. There was a knob and the turning mechanism for the deadbolt on the inside. Both were useless since I had cut through them to get us in.
    There was just enough light from the little windows to see by. We worked quickly and attached a rope to the door handle, and tied it off to the doorframe of the little office. With that pulled as tightly as we could make it, I pushed on the door with my shoulder. It gave more than I wanted so I thought I’d better add more to it. Southard and I put our heads together and came up with a better idea.
    Opening the door, we looped rope around both corners and pulled it shut. This time, with rope tied around the corners and around the handle, we were able to pull it tight enough that it wouldn’t budge. The door held firm against the combined weight of both of us. I hoped that it would be enough to keep out Stalkers or anything else that tried to get inside with us.
    Spec-4 and Elliott had been busy, covering the windows. Becca was scared half to death and stayed in the little office, clutching her rifle. As they covered windows, the light began to ebb inside the hallway. More out of reflex than anything, I reached over and flipped the light switch. To our surprise, the soft fluorescent bulbs flickered and came to life.
    “What the hell?” asked Southard, surprised. “The lights work.”
    “Does the park still have power?” asked Elliott, hopefully.
    “I doubt it,” I replied. “It’s more likely that the POMCUS has its own internal power supply. Probably from solar cells up on the edge of the valley.”
    Elliott went to the small bathroom next to the bedrooms and turned on the water. We all looked up as we heard the sound of water gushing into the sink. We were all thrilled at the possibility of running water. A few moments later, Elliott leaned out from the door and smiled triumphantly.
    “It’s hot!” he exclaimed.
    “Is there a shower?” demanded Southard, grinning like a kid.
    “Yes, there is,” replied Elliott.
    “I’ve got first dibs!” shouted Southard.
    “We’ll all get a turn in there,” I added. “But I say we let the ladies go first.”
    “Fine,” muttered Southard, with mock sadness.
    We’d been lucky to have running water in the Underground. It was great to be able to use a bathroom or wash yourself. However, we had to ration the hot water. Here, we could take a long hot shower for the first time since the zombies attacked. Even I couldn’t help but smile in anticipation of a long soak in a hot shower.
    “I think we’ll rest in here tonight,” I