Read Online The Creepers (Book 2): From the Past by Norman Dixon - Free Book Online

fog. Buzzards
circled overhead, but none seemed to dare to partake of the strange scene.
     
    Near the pit was a pile of what looked
like automatic weapons. At several points around the pit, the remnants of camp
fires scarred the bright sand, and then Bobby noticed the wisps of smoke rising
from them. He flattened himself to the sand. Slowly he moved away from the
exposure of the dune.
     
    He looked back towards the train. He
waved his hand, stopping Baylor and Price in their tracks. Clear of the openness
of the dune-top, he quickly made his way to them.
     
    “I don’t know what I saw, but I know
that whoever did it is still nearby.”
     
    “Kid, what’re you talking about?”
Baylor’s wide eyes darted about like some frantic rabbit.
     
    “The fires are still smoking. Looks like
some kind of, I don’t know what, but they left a pile of weapons.”
     
    “What about Wyoming Blue?”
     
    “I don’t know, Mr. Price. I didn’t stay
up there long enough to see anything but the top of their heads. But there are
at least a hundred. I’ve never had to deal with a sudden pop like that. That’s
why it floored me.” Bobby worked his scope over the landscape, stopping to
check what remained of the structures.
     
    “All right. We work slow. We work safe,”
Baylor whispered.
     
    “The only Creepers are the ones in the
pit.”
     
    “It’s the living I’m afraid of, kid.”
     
    “Always,” Bobby said.
     
    “Price, get back to the beast and update
the crew. Hoss already has roof point, but I want everyone ready. All right,
kid, you take point and we work our way around from the west.”
     
    Bobby nodded and darted for a cluster of
scrub brush. Thunder conversed in the language of angry gods in the distance,
but it seemed strange, more sustained and rhythmic. He searched every nook,
every shadow, but found nothing. He didn’t think he would either. The harder he
looked, the more he realized there were no tracks on this side of the dune. Not
a single one.
     
    As they came around the dune, they
started to see signs of movement: footprints, what looked like drag marks, deep
ruts, all in the process of being reclaimed by the sand. The Creepers wailed
from the pit. Bobby searched their minds, but even though he had them under
control, he was unable to glean anything useful. He looked over the edge of the
pit and was surprised by what he found.
     
    There were many fatigue-wearing members
among the rotting throng, but there were also many older Creepers, mummified in
that sickly golden sheen. Their empty sockets filled with shadows. Noses had
long since rotted off, or been eaten by insects. The old ones far outweighed
the freshies. Bobby was thankful for that. It meant the others might still be
alive. This Wyoming Blue, this group of people fighting to represent something
he had no part in the creation of, Price’s brother was one of them, and that
was enough for Bobby. As far as he was concerned, they were family. Everyone on
the beast and everyone affiliated with them were his family now, and he meant
to protect them as best he could. He knew what it was like to be alone and
unwanted, and he never wanted to feel like that ever again.
     
    “What the fuck,” Baylor said from beside
him. 
     
    “Look.” Bobby pointed to the pile of
weapons.
     
    Bobby’s eyes followed Baylor’s as they
circled the pit to inspect them. The rifles were field issue CARs, military
grade, in great shape considering their age. “They’ve been field stripped. Look
there. Some parts were taken, so were the ammo and magazines, but they left the
rifles.”
     
    “Which means they’re already armed and
coordinated.”
     
    “This is beyond what we encountered with
the savages, Bobby. I don’t like it. I really don’t fucking like it.” Baylor
shook his head as he looked into the pit once more. “What the fuck is all this
for? Looks like they brought or found these old ones.”
     
    Bobby crouched at the edge of the pit.
He