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"Good man Safe travels"

Chapter Twenty-three

Gunn, Australia

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Skyler aimed for a dried-up pond, centerpiece to a public park on the southern end of the town Once itthe paved ay under the shade of irrigated trees The pond, now bone dry, dominated the piece of land From above it looked like a bomb crater, lined with skeletal trees for victiash from the rooftop antenna seared, and war into his boot

He stumbled and rolled in the dusty bowl of the former pond With no further need of his parachute, and no time to collect it, he let it drift away in the hot wind

Frorew to a fever pitch

Skyler put sunset at an hour away He needed shelter, so with effort, he limped to the rim of the pond, unstrapped the rifle from his chest, and scanned the town Most of the structures were small shops in various states of decay Farther north, toward the center, he could see the tops of small stores and a church steeple Soh, stood against the red sky

Nearest to his position, he spotted a two-story building with some sort of shop on the bottoed the second floor All the exterior ere broken, so it wouldn’t be much use as shelter But at least he could reach the second floor and get his bearings while using the stairwell as a natural choke point

Good enough, he decided, and limped toward it

He didn’t bother to keep lo out in the open--a dark figure against a sandy landscape Best to nored the pain in his shoulder, the wound on his calf, and jogged toward the building

When he was still twenty meters from the stairs, three subhu Theyone another as they hunted A typical pack, and Skyler felt glad for it Not the collectedthehout the town the howls grew louder, and he knew there were far more subhumans here than he had bullets for

At the sound offrom the street, Skyler sprinted the rest of the way to the stairs, grunting back the searing pain in his calf

Reaching the stairwell, he tossed the gun’s strap over his shoulder and climbed, two steps at a tiht Skyler heard the bolts splitting an instant before the structure fell, and he used his last step to jump toward the ay at the top His ar, but they ian to slip on the dusty concrete

Below hi a calanore it Reaching to his left, he grabbed a rusted iron bar--part of the railing on the second-floor ay To his amazeled to lift hi for h clenched teeth It took all the strength he could muster to pull his upper body onto the ay

Below,like primates A child led the way, perhaps ten years old, with filthy wild hair and apower toward Skyler’s dangling legs, sheer savagery in its bloodshot eyes

He felt the sht in his tenuous hold on the rusty iron bar Without thinking, he reached doith his right hand and swatted the subhuers from his boot

The child fell

Only then did he realize his ht shoulder seconds before, slid down his arers, and he watched helplessly as the weapon dropped to the ground below It landed in the wreckage of the fli and onto the ay proper He lay back on the platfor with both hands, and forced his breathing into a regular rhyth at the sky Around hi sun He could hear a group of theoes

He fought against heavy eyelids, not wanting to sleep Sleeping felt like giving up

Give up, he thought to hiht of everything he’d lost The Melville, Saht of it all brought tears to his eyes

I haven’t got a daht out of mind Focus on the iht of the sun faded, Skyler set to work bandaging his leg, using fabric torn fro The creatures below ht eventually lose interest, but clearly the toas infested with them There would be no easy way out

Satisfied with the wound dressing, Skyler rolled over and pushed hie of the ay In the darkness below, he could make out the shapes of a few subhumans Some milled about, most crouched in the dirt, still as death He focused on the wreckage of the stairs, and thought he could see a glint of light co off his dropped weapon

As he considered his options, one of the subhuan to snarl The sound, so inhuman, paralyzed Skyler The other creatures took up the call As if spurred on, the san to leap for the platform where Skyler lay, but it fell short by half a e, and sent Skyler’s heart racing with a swipe that missed his face by ht succeed; yet he lay still, frozen in place I’ain, savage hunger plain on its face