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

bodies if they were in there. Xander stepped to the side as she thrust the door open and moved hastily out of the way.
    Carl went in first, his gun raised as he hurried through the kitchen and into the dining room. Xander and Riley followed him into the house with John and the other guy close on their heels. Riley found the keys hanging from a hook on a cabinet in the kitchen. They jingled as she held them up.
    "We've got wheels again," she said with a strained smile.
    Xander kissed her forehead. "Good, let's get back to my grandmother's house. It's time to move on from this town."
    "We can't," the man said from the backdoor.
    Xander lifted his head and spotted the group of people moving across the backyard as the man silently closed the door. The click of the lock sliding into place sounded like a nail in a coffin to him.

CHAPTER 7
    John,
    The click of the lock stopped him in midstride in the dining room behind Carl. He strained to hear anything but after the click the house had a tomb like silence enshrouding it. He shuddered at the thought and he couldn't help but feel as if this house may just become his crypt.
    He turned to look behind him but from here he couldn't see the kitchen or Riley, Xander, and the stranger anymore. A thousand awful scenarios crashed through his mind as his heart beat loudly in his ears, making it even more difficult to hear anything within the home. They didn't know that man; they never should have left Riley and Xander alone with him. Even as that thought went through his mind he knew that it was wrong. They may not know that man, he may in fact be dangerous, but Xander and Riley could handle themselves. That man couldn't have gotten the upper hand on them both and Riley wouldn't hesitate to shoot if it became necessary.
    No, the heavy hush after the lock had nothing to do with the stranger amongst them. John took a step back toward the doorway as Riley slid around the corner with Xander right behind her. "What's...?"
    "They're coming," Riley whispered. That was not at all what he wanted to hear. His gaze shifted to the window across the way. There was little he could see of the street beyond the curtains but it appeared to be deserted. "I have the keys," Riley held them up before slipping them into her pocket. "If we can get out..."
    The sound of glass shattering cut her off. He adjusted the gun in his hand as Carl moved around the dining room table and into the front hall. A thud resounded through the house followed by some loud bangs as the backdoor began to rattle in its frame. It didn't matter what was outside the front door, what was outside the backdoor was going to come in and there was nothing they could do to stop it.
    Wood splintered as the backdoor gave way with a crash that rocked the house and shook the windows in their frames. Carl threw the front door open and ran out onto the porch and down the steps. The street still appeared to be empty but John knew that wouldn't last as the heavy thud of feet reverberating through the house reached him.
    His legs were moving faster than he'd thought possible as he darted across the porch and down the steps. He was about to jump off of the stairs when a heavy weight fell upon his back and shoved him forward. A startled cry escaped him as his knees hit the ground and hands curled into the back of his shirt. The collar of his shirt dug into his neck and cut into his windpipe as his air supply was choked off. The force of the impact would have knocked the gun from his hand if it hadn't been for the fact that he was holding it as firmly as a safe held money. After what had happened in the other house he didn't think he'd ever put the weapon down again.
    His fingers tugged the collar at his neck as he tried to ease the choking. He beat at whoever held him with the gun as he tried and failed to knock them off. Stars burst before his eyes, he gagged loudly before even that noise was effectively cut off. Carl spun back toward him as Xander's shoes