Precipice: V Plague Book 9 by Dirk Patton Page B

I didn’t care.  As long as they were down.
    Standing
there looking at the corpses I nearly lost half my face when an arm suddenly
snaked through the opening, a ragged nailed hand slashing at me.  Jerking back,
I stumbled as I tried to raise my rifle.  Katie stepped past me, shoved
the muzzle of her suppressor through the hole and pulled the trigger as the
female began screaming.
    The rifle
spat out three rounds and silenced the scream, but by now there had been enough
noise and activity to draw the attention of the rest of the herd.  There
were more screams from either side of the barn, some sounding very close and
others more distant.
    “Let’s go,”
I said, heading for the open driver’s door.
    Rachel gave
Dog a boost and he made it on to the back seat with her right behind him. 
Katie dove in the driver’s side door and scrambled across to the passenger seat
and I jumped behind the wheel and slammed the door behind me.  Turning the
key, I glanced up in the mirror and saw both barn doors bouncing in and out as
more bodies slammed into them.  They wouldn’t hold long under the assault.
    Engine
running, I shifted into reverse and held my foot on the brake.  My
attention was focused on the mirror, watching as the aged and warped wood
weakened by the second.
    “What are
you waiting for?”  Katie tried to sound calm but I could hear the stress
in her voice.
    “The doors,”
I said.  “If they break them open there’s less chance we’ll damage the
Jeep.  I don’t want to ram through if I don’t have to.”
    Katie nodded,
but I could tell she would be happier if I just hit the throttle and got us the
hell out of there.  She sat turned sideways in her seat, staring out the
rear window.  In the mirror I could see Rachel and Dog also looking out
the back as I watched the gap between the two doors grow larger by the second.
    Finally,
there was a loud crack of overstressed wood and one of the doors flew
open.  A solid mass of bodies immediately began flowing through the
opening, heading for the sound of the idling Jeep.  This was what I’d been
waiting for and as soon as I saw daylight I floored the throttle.
    The engine
roared and the Jeep shot backwards.  The large rack that held spare fuel
cans, a tall jack and the spare tire plowed into the charging infected,
smashing them out of the way.  I stayed on the throttle, plowing through,
ignoring the bumps as we bounced over the bodies of the ones who had been
unfortunate enough to be knocked under our tires instead of to the side.
    In seconds
we were clear of the barn and I cut the wheel and hit the brakes. 
Shifting into drive I steered around a pair of stumbling males, flinching away
from the side window as a female leapt onto the running board and grabbed the
outside mirror.  I ignored her for the moment, bouncing over more bodies
and onto the pavement.
    Our female
passenger was screaming and pounding on the window with one hand while she
gripped the mirror with the other.  Clear of the herd and up to fifty
miles an hour, I told Katie to take the wheel.  She grabbed it with her
left hand and I drew my pistol and stabbed the button to roll down the window.
    As the glass
began descending I stuck the muzzle of the weapon through the opening and
pulled the trigger when it was just inches from her face.  Her head
snapped back from the impact of the bullet then she fell free to tumble along
the asphalt.
    “Everyone
good?”  I asked.  I was shouting because my ears were ringing from
the crash of the pistol in the enclosed vehicle.
    Rachel and
Katie both confirmed they were fine, Rachel wrapping an arm around Dog’s neck
and gently rubbing his chest.
    “We’re out
in the open,” Katie observed quietly.
    “I know,” I
said.  “Keep your fingers crossed that the Russians are bored and not
paying attention.

14
     
    Colonel
Grushkin was on his second read through of Major Chase’s GRU file.  The
first pass had been a skim, just to spot the