Read Beyond the Barriers (Novella): Ghouls for Free Online Page A

it wasn’t.
    Then we were clear and back on the road where it bisected the old highway. I couldn’t remember its name to save my life but I knew that, if we followed it a few more blocks, we’d find the location of the overrun caravan, and then I could finally start looking for Katherine.
    The ghoul was having none of that.
    He shot out of the woods and went for Janet. She was hanging to the perimeter of our group and the green-eyed jerk snatched her arm and pulled her away from us. Jon went in pursuit without a thought. He was with us one minute and away the next. Scott broke after them and I was left with Chris and a twelve year old kid. I didn’t even know his name. He just looked scared to damn death and I didn’t blame him.
    “Keep the kid close and follow me,” I said to Chris.
    “Whatever.” Chris made no move to follow.
    I got in his face.
    “You and me got a problem. There was no way I could have known your father was in that camp. Even if he had gotten away, would you really want him around? He was one of them ,” I said.
    “Fuck you and your problem. They might have found a cure. God works in mysterious ways, so just go and get yourself killed,” Chris said.
    The kid next to him started crying and I couldn’t blame him. Not one bit. Chris was being an idiot.
    “Fine. He goes with me,” I said and extended my hand.
    Chris’s own hand came up and he had a gun in it. One that was pointed at my face.
    “You killed him,” he said.
    “Who the hell did I kill?” I said.
    “My dad. He was one of them, but he was still my dad. He said he was going to let me live with him,” Chris whined.
    Gunshots sounded to my right. The urge to dash into the woods after my friends, was strong. But I’d probably catch a bullet in my back.
    “Listen, Chris, I didn’t know he was your dad. I don’t even know which one he was! I had a duty to close down that miserable camp once and for all. The ghouls don’t want to reason with us. They want us to join them or die,” I pleaded.
    The kid crept away from Chris and me. A hand reached out of the woods for him and got a hold of his shirt collar.
    Chris spun to aim at the undead but I moved faster. I slammed my right hand against the gun, looped my fingers over the barrel, and twisted hard towards Chris’s chest. Then I yanked and took the gun away from him. I inspected the piece, a Colt .40, and found that a round hadn’t even been chambered. Then I drew the gun back and smashed it into Chris’s face.
    He stumbled in shock and hit the ground hard. I jacked a round into the chamber and pulled the kid back to me. As the zombie came into view I shot it in the face. She was an ugly bitch with her black hair covered in little branches and pine needles. Blood covered her from mouth to stomach.
    A tiny hole appeared in her forehead and she was then blown off her feet.
    “Chris. Follow or stay here and die. I don’t fucking care. Make up your own mind.” I leaned over and looked him in the eye. “You pull a gun on me again and I’ll kill you.”
    I took the kid’s hand in mine and together we fled after our friends.
    Scott had come to a stop and crouched down behind a wrecked SUV to fire at a trio of the dead who had sights on them. Janet was back among them and Jon looked no worse for wear. The ghoul had apparently fallen victim to a bullet or fled.
    I pounded across the hard ground until I joined them and gave the care of the kid over to the group.
    “We were just about to come back for you,” Scott said. “Where’s Chris?”
    “He might join us. Might not. He put a gun in my face and I put him down.” I growled.
    “Okay, boss. You know I got your six,” Scott said.
    Jon and Janet exchanged glances.
    “Where’d the ghoul go?” I asked.
    “Jon knocked his hand loose and I kicked him as hard as I could. We shot at him but he hightailed it,” Janet said.
    She pushed her hair back up her forehead. She’d been rattled. I could tell by the way her hand shook