Free Surge by Katelin;katie LaMontagne Page B

a venomous snake to be hidden in the chamber, but calls her bluff due to pride. Just as his fingers make contact, her hand seizes his wrist, her body twists and she flips him over her shoulder. Kneeling on his chest, she holds the gun to his head and says, “Bang.”
    Is it wrong that her taking down someone turned me on? Probably, but I’m perfectly okay with it. Hell, sign me up for the next one is all I can think of when Olivia quickly climbs off of him, brushes herself off and tucks her gun away. Fuck, I’m actually jealous that he got to brush against her body even with it being as brief as it was. I’m busy in my head, and Olivia’s adjusting her coat, all the while John’s on the floor gaping up at her like a fish. Shaking away his head full of cobwebs, a huge grin spreads across his face.
    “You have got to show me how to do that!” John exclaims as he pops up onto his feet. “You were like a fucking ninja.”
    Quick as lightning, Olivia smacks a hand over his mouth and cocks her head to the side. Listening closely, I hear shuffling outside. John snatches his bags off the floor and whips them onto his shoulders before readying his new crossbow. Olivia mouths, ‘Back door,’ and we nod for her to lead the way.
    As she walks, Olivia tugs a small metal thing on a chain necklace out of her jacket. Holding it to her lips, she blows, but no sound comes out. A screeching noise comes from behind us and I pick up the pace, since I’m not willing to take on another army without ammo for my 9mm. I’m thinking her whistle’s broken at this point, but Olivia just keeps blowing away like there’s no tomorrow, as we make our way to the back exit.
    My mind is in the gutter thinking about something else those succulent lips could have more success at blowing, when she stops at a door cracked open. Reaching up on her tiptoes, she pulls an aluminum can out from the top of the door, that she must have used to prop open herself, before slipping outside. I quickly close the door behind me and John blocks it with a barrel, just in case whatever was shuffling around inside decided to follow us out.
    “That wasn’t necessary,” Olivia says with a pointed look at the barrel.
    “I don’t like being taken from behind,” he replies in defense.
    “That’s all well and good,” she begins. “But I have it under control.” Olivia follows up the comment by waving her little broken whistle at us.
    “What the hell’s a broken whistle gonna do for us?” John demands, taking the words right out of my mouth.
    “Listen,sweetheart,” I start in a gentle tone, so I don’t startle the possible crazy in our mix. “That thing may be nice and shiny, but unless it calls a magical dragon to swoop down from above and carry you away, I don’t see how that’s going to help us.” John’s looking at her like she’s lost her marbles, and maybe she has. She’s by herself, maybe that’s the reason why. How the hell would we know?
    “It’s not broken.” Glaring at the two of us, Olivia answers through clenched teeth. “If you two douchebags would shut the fuck up for a minute, you would have learned that this ‘nice and shiny’ object does not in fact call dragons, but instead harms a wheezer.” John’s about to make some smart ass remark, but Olivia holds up her hand and keeps talking.
    “Have either if you fine gentlemen heard of a dog whistle?” Not waiting for our stupid asses to respond, since now I get it and I feel like a dick, she continues. “A dog whistle emits a sound above a human ear’s hearing capacity. But to a dog’s ears, the frequency can be heard and heeded to. So, one major use of this whistle is to try and get a dog to stop barking.” Pausing to see if we’re following her lesson, we nod our heads and she presses on.
    “Wheezers, as we well know, no longer apply to the human category. The animal DNA that courses through their veins via the infection, affected their hearing. When I blow this here