Free The Search For A Cure by C. Chase Harwood Page A

that was breaking the law. The country still needed laws.
      As he got closer, he could hear the fence jingling with what could only be the weight of people climbing. He thought, Damn if those folks aren’t trying to get out. I sure as shit don’t want to have to shoot somebody.
      He reached the gate for the barbwire perimeter fence, removed the padlock and swung the gate open. The shaking sound of chain link unnerved him as he stepped up to the cattle ramp and kicked the chock that was holding it up. The cable that held it spun out quickly as the heavy ramp swung down and landed on the opposite side of the moat. He brought his rifle to shoulder height like he’d been trained and stepped out to the ramp’s center, keeping the flashlight held along the barrel of his gun. The edge of the beam caught something in the moat. It was a body, no, make that bodies floating face down. Then he saw more struggling in the water. He aimed toward the cage and saw Kathy with her crutches laying on the ground. She was trying to climb one of the transformers in the center. White with fear, she squinted at Ken’s light and let out a silent cry. Several Fiends finished crawling over others that were trapped in barbed wire and jumped inside. They raced for Kathy.
      Just before his bowels let go for real this time, Ken swept the water around him again. He locked eyes with a Fiend who was using its drowned brethren to pull itself up onto the ramp. Another climbed out of the water on the castle side, blocking his escape. Ken raised his gun and slammed it into the Fiend, knocking it back in the water. The thing pulled the rifle from his hands as it fell. He didn’t look back and ran for his life.
      As he sprinted, he could feel his shit tumbling down his legs, getting trapped where his pants were tucked into his boots, and he found himself laughing with hysteria at the absurdity of it – the extra weight around his ankles. He knew exactly where to go and charged right past the power plant to the lakeshore. In one quick move, he flipped over one of the canoes and started to launch it. A small part of his mind registered that a few canoes were missing, but that was quickly swept away by his sheer panic. He got a leg in the boat just as the first ghoul came running at him. He swung the heavy flashlight into the monster’s neck, crushing its Adam’s apple and dropping the thing to its knees. He shoved off as best he could and paddled with adrenaline-charged strength, pulling quickly away from the shore as more of them crashed into the water.

CHAPTER NINE
THE FLOODGATE
    PFC Wilson watched through the deluge as Ken’s flashlight bobbed along back toward the castle. The kid was moving at a pretty good clip. He peered over the side and was astonished to see Ridley run right past the open door. He pointed his own light into the gloom and called down to the useless cherry fucker, but got no response. Three-seconds later, a man in tattered clothes ran past in hot pursuit, then another and another. A fourth looked up and saw Jeremy, and then Jeremy knew he was screwed.
      Ken paddled with all his might until he was sure he was over deep water then stopped. The canoe made a graceful crescent-shaped turn back toward shore and he watched the rain-filled sky turn orange from the bright flash of Wilson’s fifty-cal. The concussion from the big gun echoed across the lake, vibrating the very seat of his canoe. As he sat without noticing his own filth, he could see dozens of Deadheads backlit on the shore. Then his eyes grew even larger, and he took a sharp breath – they were pouring through the door – the door that he had left open. He heard screams come from within, and the sound of several guns joining the fight. The flash from the fifty joined with the even brighter flashes of tripped anti-personnel mines, which lit up hundreds and hundreds more infected as they poured into the compound. He had opened the gate from hell and let the demons