Read Online Writing on the Wall by Tracey Ward - Free Book Online Page A

at a sprint, running quietly down the street on the balls of our feet, landing on as little surface as possible to make the least amount of noise. We have to push through tall grass and dodge cars and rubble. Fallen street signs and sections of buildings. A refrigerator it looks like some idiots threw off a roof for fun. I wonder briefly, since we’re in his neighborhood, if it was Ryan’s band of idiots that did it.
    When we reach the edge of the park we find that we beat the deer here. We quickly hide crouched down in a row of thick bushes just on the edge of the park where we can see the break in the trees where he’s going to come in. I get impatient and stand up briefly, looking for him. He’s walking so slowly I wonder if he’s not sick. I don’t want to eat rancid deer meat and get sick again. Food poisoning is deadly and I’ve only had to deal with it once. All I can say is thank goodness I had my toilet.
    “Why is he moving so slowly?” I breathe as silently as I can.
    “What should he be hurrying for? There’s nothing chasing him.”
    “Not that he knows of.”
    “Maybe he’s just a laid back guy.”
    “You two could hang out. Become bros.”
    He snorts quietly. “I need a good dinner more than a bro.”
    “Okay, he’s in. I’ll circle behind him on his right, you flank him on his left then we’ll close in on him together. Good?”
    “Good.” Ryan stands up, his head and shoulders coming above the bushes. I stay crouched, ready to spring up like a sprinter out of the blocks. “Ready?”
    “Ryan!” a voice bellows from behind us.
    The deer jerks its head around, its ears twitching and its large black eyes scanning the area. Whether it spots us or the owner of the obnoxiously loud voice I don’t know. But it makes the smart choice and leaps into the thickness of the trees, disappearing into the shadows.
    Ryan whirls around, looking for whoever is calling to him.
    “Stay down.” he mumbles.
    “No shit.” I reply, tucking myself farther into the bushes by his knees.
    “Bray?” Ryan calls.
    “Yeah, man, what are you doing?”
    “Trying to catch some dinner. I was following a deer.”
    Bray laughs. “Come on, a deer? You’re good but you’re not that good.”
    “I’d be better if people didn’t shout at the top of their lungs and scare it away.”
    “Sorry.  I didn’t know. I’ve been out looking for you all morning. We weren’t sure we’d find you alive.”
    “You’re not supposed to look for me.”
    “Yeah, I know. But with what happened with Kevin… Well, we made a decision to skip the rules a little and go looking for you at first light. We just lost him. No one was ready to lose you too.”
    A silence falls between them and I can see Ryan’s hand clenching his knife tightly.
    “But you gotta come in now.” Bray tells him, breaking the silence. “Everyone needs to. Trent’s in the crow’s nest with the specs and he spotted bad news.”
    “What’s up?”
    “Risen. The dead, man, they’re back in force.”
    “What? How?”
    “Don’t know, but we have theories. Trent has spotted at least fifty, probably more. And they’re fresh.”
    Ryan curses under his breath. “Women and children in the mix?”
    “Yep. You get the idea of what’s happened, right?”
    A Colony has fallen.
    “Colony.” Ryan says darkly.
    “That’s what we think.” Bray agrees. “It can’t have been more than one and it can’t have been one of the stadiums. The numbers would be higher. That means there’s more of them out there than we know about.”
    “Unless the Risen are spread out. There might be more than Trent can see.”
    “We think there are. We’re pretty sure it’s just one section that’s gone down though. A smaller one. We’re hoping anyway. If all of the Colonies in the area get infected…”
    “It’ll be like the start of it all over again.”
    “Yeah. As it is it’s dangerous to be out right now. We’re going on lockdown until we get a better idea of how