Free Ragnarok Rising: The Awakening (Book One of The Ragnarok Rising Saga) by D.A. Roberts

the corner, I discovered the burning wreckage of a County Charger and an ambulance lying on its side. There were several civilian cars in the ditch around them, as well. The road was completely blocked off.
    Seeing no other options, I cut the wheel to the left . We bounced through the ditch and crashed through a wire fence on the other side. The powerful Humvee had no problems at all going through both. No sense having such a powerful vehicle if you weren’t going to use it. Once I cleared the fence, I turned to the right and slid sideways into the parking lot of Valley Water Mill Park. I stopped to survey the scene ahead of me.
    About fifty yards away was the visitor’s center. It was a small building, only about 15 by 15. On the roof I saw one person in familiar patrol gray and one in blue EMT gear. Surrounding the visitor’s center was about twenty five zombies with more heading our way from the houses on the far side of the lake. One of the zombies was in patrol gray and three more were in jail black. I recognized them all.
    The Roadie was Corporal Steve O’Brien. O’Brien was pretty cool, for a roadie. He was one of the few who didn’t treat us like gum on his shoe. The jail officers were Dave Martin, Amy Gillespie and Raul Rodriguez. Martin and Rodriguez were on C shift, so I knew them well. Gillespie was on my shift, and she was a friend. They all had families with kids.
    “Can you do me a favor?” I asked my voice tight in my throat. “I can’t leave them like that and I’m not sure I can do it myself.”
    Spec-4 reached up and gently squeezed my shoulder, once. Then she popped out of the turret hatch, in an instant. The girl had to be psychic or something. Four shots rang out from her M-16. The four uniformed officers fell, without taking another step. In a flash, she was back inside and slamming the hatch shut. Before I could say anything at all, the radio came to life.
    “Holy shit, Wylie,” said Southard. “Nice entrance.”
    I gave Spec-4 a quick nod of appreciation and keyed the mic.
    “Thanks, Chuck. Here we come. I’m gonna go bowling for zombies. When we stop, jump onto the roof. You can climb in through the turret hatch. Make it quick because there are more of those damned things on the way.”
    “Got it.”
    “Try not to miss,” I said.
    “If I do, I won’t be around long enough for you to tell me I told you so.”
    I lined up my approach, then headed in hard. We slammed into a group of zombies with bone crushing results. At least six went flying and I felt more than a couple crunch under the wheels. Then I locked up the brakes and slid to a stop, right next to the visitor’s center’s eastern-most wall. Instantly, I heard one followed by a second thud on the roof. Spec-4 threw open the hatch and Southard shoved the EMT inside. After the EMT scrambled into the back seat, Southard came in head first and dove into the passenger side front seat.
    Spec-4 slammed the hatch shut and latched it as the first of the zombies began to climb onto the back of the vehicle. I punched the accelerator and sped away from the building, scattering zombies in my wake. In the mirror, I could see three or four bouncing along the ground as they fell off. I crashed through another section of fence and bounced back onto the road.
    I had to continue down Valley Water Mill, since the wreckage blocked off the road behind us. If I tried to go back the way I came, I’d have to run the gauntlet of angry zombies that were now swarming like hornets. Going back that way seemed like pushing my luck.
    “Damn, Wylie,” said Southard as he righted himself in the seat. “I never thought I’d be so happy to see your ugly face.”
    “Good to see you too, Chuck. Are either of you bit?”
    “Nope. We’re the lucky ones, though. If it hadn’t been for that maintenance ladder, we’d have been zombie kibble.”
    “What ladder?”
    “It was on the roof with us. I pulled it up after we climbed up there.”
    “Good