Free The Survivor Chronicles (Book 3): The Forsaken by Erica Stevens

spill down her face and words tumbled more stridently from her lips.
    "I looked and there before me was a pale horse," she stated.
    That was enough to make his skin crawl like a thousand spiders were creeping over him as he stared at her in complete confusion. "Excuse me?" he asked.
    Over Debra's shoulder he could see Riley frowning as she turned away from the door and the man took a step away from the window. "Debra?" the man inquired.
    "Its rider was named Death," Debra said.
    "Isn't that a song?" John asked. Xander felt a small spurt of hope. It was still weird, but if she was trying to comfort herself by recalling a song then he could live with that, maybe.
    Debra continued on as if none of them were even present. "And Hades was following close behind him."
    "No seriously, didn't someone sing that?" John demanded.
    "Not quite that version of it," Carl answered. Xander didn't think Carl even realized that he had an unlit cigarette between his lips.
    "They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth," Debra continued.
    Carl was ashen as he stepped away from the window. It was the look on his face that caused Xander to take another step away from Debra and more to the side. He met Riley's gaze as she and the man guardedly approached Debra from behind.
    "What does that mean? What is she talking about?" Riley whispered.
    "Revelation," Carl answered. "It's about the four horsemen of the apocalypse."
    The color drained so fast from John's face that Xander was amazed he was still standing afterward. John took a step back and rested his hand against the wall behind him as his shoulders slumped. "Horses again," John whispered.
    Again? Xander thought as Carl shot John a look that clearly said he thought the kid might have lost his mind. "Again?" Carl asked.
    John shook his head in response and held up his hand. "Nothing," he said.
    "There's no war," Riley whispered. "There is no war ."
    "This whole event has been nothing but a battle for survival," Carl responded.
    Xander was growing increasingly convinced that John was going to pass out as he rested his shoulder against the wall now. Riley shook her head but her eyes were pleading as they met his. He wasn't even sure what they were talking about. "What's going on?" he asked.
    "There was this guy before we entered Sturbridge..." Carl started to explain. "WHOA!"
    Xander fell back as Debra lifted her hands to reveal the gun within them. It took him only a second to realize that she had no intention of shooting any of them, but even as he was lurching toward her he knew it was already too late as she turned the gun on herself. The world seemed to slow as he reached forward to try and stop her. His hand was almost to her arm when a gunshot reverberated through the house. Blood splattered over Riley and the other man when Debra's head snapped back. A piercing scream escaped Riley as Debra's body slumped to the ground. Debra's fingers continued to twitch but it was only due to the last bit of neurons that had still been firing within her body.
    Riley slapped her hands over her mouth, her nostrils flared over top of her hands as she continued to scream against her palms. The gunshot seemed to still be echoing through the house but he knew it was just the ringing in his ears that was creating the noise. He could barely breathe, his mind spun in revulsion as his gaze remained riveted upon the lifeless body. He'd seen people die, he'd even been the cause of it, but he had never expected to see anything like this .
    Edging his way around Debra's body he moved over to Riley. Her eyes were crazed as they settled upon him; she had stopped screaming but she was almost sobbing against her palm. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her head into his shoulder. Muted cries continued to escape her as she shook against him.
    John was plastered against the wall, his mouth gaping. Carl's mouth had dropped; the cigarette was