Read Online Wretched Earth by James Axler - Free Book Online Page B

was
staring through her mouth at the other rotties still struggling to break free
and get at him.
    The half-headed rottie collapsed. People in the bus were
screaming and leaning over at least one person who’d been hit by the 125-grain
hollowpoint slug, which hadn’t expended all its energy blowing the rottie’s head
apart. Jak took in the fact without emotional reaction. These were no friends of
his, nor enemies, either. So why care?
    With the window glass gone he had clear shots at the rotties in
the door. Grabbing the Python’s grips with both hands, he fired three shots as
fast as he could. Two of the creatures went down at once, shot through the
forehead. The third reeled back with her lower jaw torn away. Instantly, hands
grabbed her from behind and threw her to the ground as furious cultists surged
in, bearing their injured leader.
    Jak turned to the driver. “Drive,” he said, gesturing with his
Python for emphasis.
    Eyes all but popping free of his lean, ashen face, the driver
put the wag in gear and hit the gas.
    * * *
    A BLOOD - STREAKED GRAY head appeared over the rear end of the bus roof as
the vehicle took off with a jerk. Kneeling on the cool metal, Ryan had
unstrapped his Steyr from the top of his backpack and cracked the bolt to make
sure the weapon was loaded. He put a hand down briefly to steady himself against
the sudden acceleration, then whipped the longblaster’s butt to his shoulder and
fired.
    The head disappeared. Whether he’d destroyed the brain or not
Ryan didn’t know. The 7.62 mm bullet might have caught the creature in the
shoulder. It didn’t matter as long as the thing didn’t get up here.
    “Everybody all right?” Ryan shouted, hanging on to the
jury-built luggage rack as the bus wheeled in as tight an arc as it could toward
the compound exit. “Sing out.”
    “Yes,” Krysty called.
    “I’m here,” J.B. said.
    “Capital, Ryan!” Doc declared.
    “Ace,” Mildred said sourly, as she and Krysty stood up
together, hoisting Jak back up with his white hair swinging wildly. “Jak’s here,
too.”
    The albino youth jackknifed up between the two women and popped
to his feet.
    “Holy shit!” Ryan saw Mildred pointing straight ahead.
    The caravanserai gate was shut. It was also on fire.

Chapter Six
    Yellow flames danced against the backdrop of the
snow-dusted prairie beyond.
    The bus driver never slowed. “Brace yourselves!” Ryan shouted.
He saw Krysty and Mildred turn away from the front of the bus and throw
themselves on the mounded baggage. He did likewise.
    The snowplow blade hit the gate. Whether more weakly
constructed than it appeared, or weakened by the flames, it flew apart, sending
flaming planks and posts spiraling away like pinwheels.
    The bus took off down the dirt road, which was basically a pair
of ever-deepening ruts running northeast to southwest.
    “Tie on!” Ryan shouted over his shoulder to his companions. As
far as he could see, the six of them now had the roof to themselves. The handful
of cultists who had climbed up here, presumably not as keenly honed to a
survival edge as the companions, either had been tossed off by the wag’s wild
maneuvering, or had bailed voluntarily.
    A mob tottered in slow pursuit of the wag, black figures
silhouetted against yellow flame. They faded rapidly as the school bus jounced
off across the countryside.
    Lying on his belly, Ryan used his belt to fasten himself to the
steel rail of the roof rack. His companions chimed in with shouts as they
finished making themselves fast.
    “Weapons out!” he called when Doc called the last
acknowledgment.
    “The rotties can’t catch us on foot,” Mildred said.
    “Do you know there’s not a hundred of ’em waiting out
here?”
    “Weapon out,” Mildred said.
    * * *
    T HE G REAT P LAINS were never as flat as
they appeared, Mildred thought. The dark land scrolling past them mostly looked
like the top of a billiard table. Yet she ached in elbows and thighs and breasts
from