Free The Last Outbreak (Book 1): Awakening by Jeff Olah Page A

the lifeless older gentleman. With his eyes fixed in a blank stare and the last of his motor impulses used to open and close his jaw, the driver was obviously gone.
     
    Stepping over another badly mangled corpse, Griffin spotted the body that belonged to the voice. Positioned flat on her back, the petite woman fought off the advances of her much larger aggressor.
     
    Moving through the tight space, Griffin was hit with the wall of heat as he reached for an errant bottle of water. Removing the lid, he tossed it end over end at the flaming beast. Now less than six feet separating him from the woman he needed to get to, he noticed her handcuffs and bright orange jumpsuit protecting her from the woman who’d pinned her down.
     
    The bottle of water connecting with its intended target, he shouted. “Hey… you, what are you—”
     
    As the scorched attacker looked up, met his eyes, and began to growl, Griffin stopped. The woman’s critically wounded head and neck were every bit as repulsive as they were intimidating. With only feet between them, the decomposing tissue along her face, mouth, and hands put off a stench he had yet to experience. She smelled like death had come for her three days ago and she looked even worse.
     
    “ What the hell are you ?”
     
    He didn’t think. He didn’t pause and he didn’t speak. Griffin reached into the mound of bodies separating him from the women and pulled. He pulled from the bottom and struggled against the weight and as they began to fall around him, the larger woman slid back and to the right, the flames at her back now completely enraged.
     
    Laying on his stomach across three dead prison guards, Griffin extended his arms and reached for Cora’s hands. Still on her back, she clutched his wrists and began kicking at her attacker who’d righted herself and grabbed for her ankles yet again.
     
    “Keep kicking,” Griffin said as the larger woman continued to pull her way back toward them.
     
    Still on her back, Cora kicked as Griffin pulled. The larger woman continued to claw at Cora’s pant leg as Griffin braced himself and wound the orange jumpsuit around his wrists. “Look at me, and don’t look anywhere else. We’re getting out of here, right now.”
     
    Cora leaned back and through her upside-down view, locked eyes with Griffin. She didn’t say a word as her thoughts were still with the woman tearing at her legs. Freeing her right foot, she was able to kick down and land a glancing blow against the right side of her friend’s already disfigured face.
     
    Coming back quickly, the incensed woman led once again with her snapping jaw as Cora landed another strike and then another. With her left leg trailing, the woman grabbed Cora’s exposed ankle and began forcing it toward her mouth. As Cora again kicked out with her free leg, the woman bit down and came away with nothing but air.
     
    Finding a foothold along the uneven surface he stood on, and with Cora nearly free, Griffin released his left hand and grabbed the railing near the bus’s door. Anchoring himself, he quickly squatted down and tightened his grip on the orange jumpsuit. “Hold on.”
     
    Her calves cramped and her lower back began to spasm as Griffin pulled her away from her attacker. Up and over three more battered bodies and then crashing out into the open area at the front of the bus, the pair fell into one another. Griffin pushed back into the driver’s area, knelt down, and helped Cora up and onto her feet.
     
    Back to Cora’s attacker, the mound of bodies shifted awkwardly, sending her to the bottom and burying her beneath four others. With only her arms and face now visible, Trish fought unsuccessfully to free herself from the crushing weight and the flames that finally consumed her. “She’s gone,” Griffin said.
     
    Reaching out and taking his hand into hers, Cora said, “Thank you.”
     
    The bus lunged forward again as Griffin pointed toward the smashed out front windshield