Free Carlie Simmons (Book 1): Until Morning Comes by JT Sawyer Page A

leaned closer. “Under normal
circumstances, I’m all for providing assistance to those in need, but what are
we supposed to do with them? There’s only going to be so much room on the
rescue helo.”
    “We’ll cross that bridge soon enough. I
wasn’t about to leave ’em alone and defenseless,” she said, taking the sat
phone and spare batteries out of her pack and handing him the sniper rifle.
“I’m going to step over by an open window out back and make a call to cent-com
in D.C.” Carlie walked off, leaving Phillip to go through the contents of the
pack.
     
    ****
    Over by the far wall, the four survivors
were nervously doing first-name introductions and exchanging stories of their
narrow escapes. After staring at Eliza and then back at Phillip in the distance,
David raised his eyebrows and snapped his fingers. “Hey, wait a second, Eliza,
is your last name Huntington, as in President Huntington’s daughter?”
    Eliza scrunched her nose and lowered her
head. “I’m afraid so.”
    “You’re the one on campus with the
entourage of guys in suits always following you from a distance, aren’t you?”
said Nadine.
    “Check that box, too. And don’t forget
the reporters and photographers hanging out in the cafeteria, by my dorm room,
and the coffee shops around town. Wherever I go, there they are, waiting for
the moment when I slip up.”
    “So those two agents are here to get you
out? Aren’t there any more of them?”
    Eliza looked up at the ceiling while
folding her arms. “That was the plan.” Eliza gazed over David and Nadine’s
unkempt appearance and took a deep sigh. “I’ve always longed for the day when I
can look like you two—and just be so…so ordinary.”
    “Still, it must be totally rad having the White House as your home,” said David.
    “I hate the White House, and the Oval
Office, and Camp David, and family dinners with visiting dignitaries, and
anything else associated with politics. There’s a reason I came to Arizona—to
get as far away from that world as possible, so spare me the ‘aren’t you lucky’
speech. I’m not even sure why we’re talking about this given all that’s just
happened.”

Chapter 17
     
    As Jared dashed for the campus building,
he glanced over his shoulder and saw two creatures twenty yards away and
gaining. One of them was wearing a shirt that read Cheese Freak’s Pizzeria and
the other was a football player in cleats. Then he heard dull thuds and saw
them collapsed on the sidewalk, their heads split apart. He briefly saw a
glimmer of rifle fire from a distant roof downtown. Jared made a sharp left
turn by a campus security booth and then made the final sprint for the building
ahead. As he sprinted across the lot, he stepped in a puddle of semi-dried
blood, which soiled his Nikes. He looked down in disgust.  
    Across the courtyard, he saw a few
creatures wandering around but no sign of movement near the illuminated lobby
before him. The sign outside the entrance indicated it was the Toxicology Laboratory.
He could see the extra thick security glass and reinforced foundations around
the lobby.
    Jared knew he would be silhouetted by
the light so he opted to head to a side door fifty feet to the rear. He was
standing in the darkness a few feet from a headless woman. Beside her wispy, fly-bitten
corpse was a spilt bag of groceries. In the subdued light he made out several
squashed bananas, a bottle of shampoo, assorted yogurts, and a package of
sugar-free Gummi Bears. He reached down and grabbed the sweets, popping a sticky
green bear into his mouth .
    He shoved the rest of the package in his
back pocket and then swiveled his head to either side, searching for movement.
Jared crouched low and darted for the metal exit door, gluing his back to the
stucco wall upon arriving. He tucked one Glock into his beltline and worked the
door handle with his right hand as one end of the handcuff swung like a
pendulum, its polished surface glinting in the faint