Free Particle Z (Book 1) by Tim Scott Page B

wrecked and abandoned cars, overheated corpses, and shambling groups of the Changed. Mike and the rest of the group were thankful for the armor that stood between them and an unspeakable and painful death.
    Mike decided to go topside and survey the landscape for himself. “Keep an eye on things,” he asked Eric, who was just staring at the flat tan interior of the MRAP, not looking at anything or anyone in particular. The day’s events had been almost unbelievable and were just now hitting home. The gravity of the situation they now found themselves in was overwhelming. Mike could tell by the far-off stares and blank looks that his friends were starting to internalize the shock of the day’s events, which was never a good thing. I woke up today looking forward to spending some time with Marlee. Now I’m sitting in an armored vehicle with some secretive corporate types while people are dying by the score then getting back up and murdering their friends and family. This is the stuff of nightmares or Hollywood. Is this really happening? Mike asked himself.
    Eric’s response brought Mike back to the present. “Copy that, Mike. I’ll keep an eye out, go ahead and take a look.”
    Mike smiled back at Eric. If you had to be stuck in the middle of an apocalyptic catastrophe, Eric was the person to be stuck with. Mike grabbed the ladder and started up. What he witnessed after squeezing himself topside with Davis was incomprehensible, and Mike’s brain was having trouble processing what he was seeing. As the day wore on and his world continued to unravel, he realized his hometown was almost unrecognizable to him. The silhouette of the downtown skyscrapers stood like stoic reminders of a better life forever banished to him.  
    At first glance all the pieces were in the right place. The high-rises that made up downtown were behind them now, and Mike could still make out the building they had just vacated. The businesses and restaurants along the Interstate were the same ones he had seen countless times before. What was different now was the lack of order. Cars were piled up everywhere, people, or at least what looked like people were moving around and not in places you would generally see them. Everything was discordant.
    Mike noticed a car speeding down a secondary road just off the Interstate; it slowed abruptly, stuck behind a group of stalled vehicles. The driver then started to back out of the situation. It looked like a family from the number of shapes Mike was able to discern from his vantage point.
    “Looking for a safe place,” Davis said quietly and with more compassion than Mike had seen from any of the hired guns so far.
    Mike, sick at what he knew was coming, turned to Davis and said, “Can we help them?”
    “Not in the way you are wanting to,” Davis said with a heavy sigh.
    Mike wasn’t sure he understood Davis’s line of thought. He watched as a large group of Changed approached and circled the doomed family’s car. Mike could make out the panic in the quick darting of the whites of the driver’s eyes as he looked from the Changed to his young children crying in the back seat. Mike turned away; it was a disturbing image of helplessness and despair and he feared the image would be seared into his mind until the end of his days. Davis meanwhile swiveled the rail gun around and pointed it toward the car with the panicked family inside. The Changed were already slamming themselves against the doors and windows in a frenzy to get to the terrified family within.
    “God help me,” Davis whispered to himself, just loud enough for Mike to hear.
    Mike did not completely understand what Davis’s intent was at first; then as the men locked glances, Mike could see the pain buried deep within Davis’s bright blue eyes. Mike, not typically a religious man, whispered back, “Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy.”
    Davis pulled the twin chain-guns’ trigger and sent a hail of lead tearing