Free Land of Dust and Bones: The Secret Apocalypse Book 7 by James Harden

wasting ammunition.
    I continue backing away. I continue
scanning the water.
    But there is nothing.
    No movement.
    I see bubbles. I think. I’m not really
sure. I aim the gun. I wait.
    “I will open fire!”
    The bubbles disappear.
    I keep expecting to see eyes, glowing eyes,
staring back at me.
    “Kenji!”
    I keep walking backwards and I trip over a
rock or a log. Or a pile of mud or dirt. I don’t know what it was. It’s too
damn dark down here. I land flat on my ass. And now that I am on the ground I
expect to be attacked. I expect someone or something to rush at me. I sit up
immediately. I aim the gun at nothing. At the darkness.
    “Kenji!”
    “It’s OK,” Kenji says, appearing behind me.
“I’m right here. What’s wrong?”
    Kenji kneels down next to me. Rifle in
hand. Sarah and Billy are behind him.
    Billy is holding a branch from the fire.
One end of it is glowing. He holds it above his head, like a lamp. And it
actually gives off some pretty good light. I probably should’ve thought of
doing this before I left to fill up the water bottles.
    “I heard someone,” I whisper. “They were
right there. It sounded like they were in the water. I don’t know…”
    I am speaking fast. I am making no sense
whatsoever.
    “Did you get a look at them?” Billy asks.
    I shake my head. “No.”
    “Are you sure it wasn’t a bird or
something?” Sarah says.
    “It wasn’t a goddamn bird,” I snap. “I
heard footsteps.”
    “Any chance it was a crocodile?” Kenji
asks.
    “No,” Billy says, answering for me. “Crocs
stay up north. In the top end.”
    Kenji puts his hand on my shoulder. “What
were you doing out here by yourself? You know the rule. No one walks off
alone.”
    I lower my head. “I know. I just thought… I
thought we were safe down here. I just wanted to fill the bottles up.”
    “We should move away from the water,” Billy
says, thinking it over. “Just in case it actually was a croc.”
    “I thought you said they wouldn’t come this
far down?” Sarah says.
    Billy shrugs his shoulders. “We’ve all seen
weirder things.”
    Kenji helps me to my feet. “Come on. Let’s
get back to the campfire. We’ll fill the bottles first thing in the morning.”
He then pauses, thinks it over. “Actually, bring the light over here, over the
water. I’ll fill these water bottles now.” He then looks to the sky. “It’ll be
dawn soon. Probably in a few hours. We won’t be here for much longer.”
    “We should stay here another day at least,”
Billy says.
    Kenji shakes his head. “We can’t afford to
waste any more time. We appreciate what you’ve done for us. But we need to keep
moving.”
    “I understand,” Billy says. “But trust me,
you should rest for as long as possible. You will need your strength.”
    I don’t like this idea at all. I’m too
scared. There’s someone or something else down here with us. “We need to go,” I
say. “We need to go right now. I don’t want to stay down here for another
second. We’re not alone.”
    “We can’t go now,” Billy says. “It’s still
too dark. Gotta wait for first light.”
    Kenji tells me to get some rest. “We’ll be
heading out in a few hours. I’ll keep watch.”
    I finally agree, realizing that while as
long as it’s dark, we weren’t going anywhere. We make our way back towards the
campfire. I tell Kenji to keep his eyes and his ears open. I tell him to watch
the water.

 

Chapter 11
    Kenji takes over sentry duty and I try and get some much needed sleep. But
sleep is impossible to come by. I am too damn scared. My mind keeps showing me
things that could be lurking in the dark, lurking in the water.
    We have so much to fear.
    The infected.
    The nano-swarms.
    The military.
    The company.
    My mind races and races. Adrenalin courses
through my veins. Initially I am too afraid to sleep, too revved up on fear.
But eventually exhaustion wins out and I drift off to sleep.
    It is a quick and dreamless sleep.
    And I