Devoured, - [chapter books to read to 5 year olds TXT] 📗

“I don’t think that’s the best idea. That’s how those things got here. It pulled up to the shore, the bridge lowered, and they came pouring out.”

“What other choice do we have? If we can get on board and get it away from the shore, we’ll deal with whatever we find on there.”

“But—”

A bellow, long and high, encompassed the parking lot. It was more animalistic than any of the sounds made by the daywalkers. Goosebumps prickled on Lance’s arms. His fear of the daywalkers paled in comparison to the horror they saw at the church.

They were coming.

Cass ran up from behind Eifort, blood splattered across her heaving chest.

“What the hell are you doing? We need to move!”

“The doc was shot. Damn, you’re bossy.” Lance looked toward the sun, saw it had fallen below the tops of the trees, the sky already darkening. He wondered how much light those things could stand. Would they come out before the day fully gave way to the night?

“We don’t have time for bullshit banter. Let’s go, dumbass!”

“Hey, calling me dumbass is banter! Hypocrite!” Lance turned back to her, but she was already stalking across the parking lot. He found himself blathering as he tried to cope with his mounting fear.

Eifort fell in line behind Cass. Lance gave the doc a slight push, keeping him in front so he could take up the rear.

The other soldiers continued firing in bursts, cutting down the infected by the tents. They made significant progress, dwindling the man-eaters’ numbers as dusk set in. The battle ebbed rapidly once a mere dozen of them remained.

Military personal and civilians with melee weapons closed in on the last of the daywalkers, killing them off as Cass crossed into the final parking lot. Most of the tents there were shredded and bloody. Bodies littered the pavement, most with neck wounds. The injured, damned by their bites, staggered around, pleading for help.

Those who weren’t attacked looked at the bitten and gashed like the walking dead they would soon become. Lance wondered who would be the first to kill one of the wounded. Would it be out of mercy for the infected, or as self-preservation for those who weren’t?

Another shriek, alien and violent, shattered the perception that the threat had passed.

Louder and closer.

“Get the spot lights up! Start every generator we’ve got!” Major Reynolds separated away from a group of soldiers, shouting toward the stadium. “Everyone get to the fence!”

A drainage gate at the right side of the parking lot exploded out of its place. It flipped through the air and clattered on the sidewalk.

A muscled arm came through the opening, followed by the gray, eyeless head of a Vladdie. Its deformed skull and rounded, thick shoulders made it look more like a silverback gorilla than a human. It climbed out of the sewer system and took several steps forward on all fours.

Its back arched as it howled at the sky, long teeth visible in the fading light. More came up behind it, nude and hairless, their bodies grotesquely distorted and powerful.

“My god, they’re using the sewers to get around.” Lance stared at the creatures piling out of the drainage hole like ants coming from an anthill. “Are they intelligent enough to use a strategy?”

No one answered him.

Thousands of people by the stadium fell silent, watching as modern-day demons climbed out of hell.

Another grate flew up in the middle parking lot. More of them climbed out, inside of the fences.

“Run!” Cass screamed and sprinted for the boat.

Lance shoved the doctor in the back, getting him moving. His hunger and fatigue left his mind as he ran faster than he ever had. The pain in his foot was forgotten.

Eifort angled toward the major, shouting for the officer’s attention.

No one could have heard her over the roars and shrieks that exploded from the Vladdies.

Lance grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back to him, screaming in her ear. “This is fucked! Get on the boat with us!”

She cast one last glance at the monstrosities that came for them and nodded.

They weren’t the only ones who noticed the hopelessness of the situation. Major Reynolds fled to the stadium, sprinting toward a side door.

Those who stood in line, waiting for a helicopter ride, made a mad dash to gates, shoving against each other as they tried to squeeze into Heinz Field.

The turret on one of the tanks rotated, aiming at the tented parking lots. Fire burst from the barrel as it shot, the body rocking back on its tracks. The ground trembled from the blast.

A mass of the Vladdies exploded as the shell hit the ground at their feet. Limbs somersaulted into the night.

More of them filled the place within seconds. The oncoming hoard streamed from the grates. A side street leading into an alley darkened as a flood of the creatures filled it, marching toward the North Shore.

Half of the soldiers took aim and fired, holding their ground like the warriors they were. The others tried to follow the major, rushing to the stadium. Civilians panicked, running blindly in any direction, trampling each other as they tried to escape their inevitable deaths.

Spotlights flickered on from atop trucks stationed around the perimeter of the safe zone. They angled at the fences, but quickly swiveled around, their beams finding groups of the Vladdies. The muscle-bound horrors leaped out of the light, and charged forward.

The bellows of the mutated fell away, replaced by the pounding of their hands and feet as they stormed across the parking lot.

Lance recognized the sound as the death of Pittsburgh.