Read Online The Tide: Deadrise by Anthony J Melchiorri - Free Book Online

but the plate locked it in place. Instead of simply backing up and freeing itself, the monster pushed forward again. A low growl of frustration escaped its lips. The doorframe shook with the Skull’s efforts. The entire wall seemed to shift and shake. A lantern hopped as the shelf by the door tremored.
    The Skull struggled, hell-bent on yanking its increasingly embedded shoulder plate from the wooden doorframe. Fire burned through Shepherd’s nerves. He already knew this wouldn’t end well.
    “Get ready to grab your packs,” he whispered.
    He glanced at the Skull as it shook the doorframe again. It wailed. The rushed footsteps of more bony feet crunched through the leaves. They crowded around the frustrated Skull, interested to see what the ruckus was about. The Skull threw its entire body into the doorframe. Wood cracked. Paint chipped and flaked. It howled, and even more footsteps sounded.
    The shelf by the door trembled and then collapsed. It seemed to happen in slow motion. Lanterns tumbled off. A grill plummeted. Cans of preserved foods and boxes of matches spilled. The Skulls screamed in excitement. Their rasping voices burst through the night air and echoed violently against the walls. Two of them tried to scramble through the window. Their claws tore into the trapped Skull. They fractured its bony plates, and rivulets of blood streamed from its injuries. The wounds only made the Skull more crazed.
    The growing crowd urgently pushed against one another, each desperate to find what had caused the racket. Each drawn by the allure of potential prey.
    A window above Rachel and Rory broke. Shards of glass fell over them, and a bony hand reached in, followed by a face caught in a fearsome snarl. Another window broke, and a Skull’s chomping maw appeared. The Skull’s eyes widened under its horn-rimmed brow when its gaze fell on Shepherd. It let out a bellowing roar to call the others to hunt.
    “Ready?” Shepherd asked. The midshipmen nodded. He scooped up his pack with his left hand and held it like a riot shield. In his right, he grabbed a camping ax. He heard the rustle of the midshipmen gathering their supplies behind them. “Now!”
    “Let’s do this!” Rory yelled.
    “Go, go, go!” Rachel bellowed at the top of her lungs.
    Anger and the intense desire to live against all odds sent waves of unrelenting power through Shepherd’s muscles. He reared one leg back and kicked with all of his strength at the door. It flew open. The force pushed the struggling Skull onto its back, and several of the nearby Skulls were knocked off balance. Holding the camping pack before him, he charged at the ferocious creatures. He shoved them back and struck out with the ax. Flashes of blood and the clash of steel against bone and flesh were interspersed with the screams and growls of the Skulls.
    He could hear Rory and Rachel behind him. They worked quickly to clear a path through the monsters. But more charged them from every direction. The swarm they’d tried to hide from would soon be on them. They could not fight the Skulls head-on. There had to be another way.
    “To the river!” Shepherd roared.
    The ax cleaved a new target, followed swiftly by a second. The blade bit deep into flesh. Blood sprayed. Skulls howled. He pushed another creature over with the backpack. A Skull fell on its bony ass. Its jaws snapped, and its claws cut through the air. But he didn’t give it a chance to get back up. The ax found its home in the middle of the Skull’s face. The creature went slack.
    Shepherd bent to retrieve his weapon. He pulled on the handle, but it was firmly stuck. Another Skull lunged, and he decided running was more important than struggling with the ax.
    He sprinted for the river, Rachel and Rory close behind. A Skull careened directly into their path. Shepherd bowled it over with the pack. Rory lashed out with an ax. Rachel slammed a Skull with a shovel. The hollow ringing echoed between the tree trunks. More Skulls