Read Carlie Simmons (Book 4): The Gathering Darkness for Free Online

manacled hands tethered to a
leather belt around his waist, the overhead alarms went off. Scores of
prisoners inside were screaming for help as a cannibalistic mob from the cafeteria
began overtaking them, tearing into the hardened thugs. With the guard
distracted at the horrific sight and others leaving their posts to rush to the
scene, he pivoted and did a vicious shin kick to the man’s knee. As the guard
crumpled forward in pain, Mitchell struck him in the nose with his knee,
watching him fall onto the asphalt. He stepped forward and ground his heel into
the man’s throat and then squatted down to remove the keys from the utility
belt. With the main gates to the outside in lockdown, he decided against
fleeing. Instead he made his way along the inner wall and rushed to the second
wing of cells which held the death row inmates. He easily subdued the guard,
who was weakened from sickness, then entered the cell-block and hastily
discussed his ad-hoc plan for overtaking the prison to the goons behind the
bars. With them in agreement, Mitchell swung down the master release lever,
setting his hasty plan in place as his spine tingled at the chance to kill
again.
    During the ensuing eleven hours of battle
with the remaining guards, whose numbers were slowly eroded from outbreaks of
zombies, Mitchell’s swift brutality and shrewd tactics enabled him to take over
the compound. He surmised that this facility would make a suitable operational
base to contend with any law enforcement in the region until he could figure
out what was going on in the world. The next day, he began public executions of
the staff who had survived, including Warden Jason Kolb, whose mutilated body
hung from the flagpole for weeks until ravens picked it clean.
    Afterwards, Mitchell went to work sifting
through convict records, weeding men out according to their profile. Those with
minimum sentences that involved petty acts could either join his roving bands
of scavengers pilfering nearby towns or be exiled outside the gates into the
waiting hordes of flesh-eaters. Convicts with considerable military skills and
a violent record were promoted to his inner circle while the rest served in the
rank-and-file system in logistics and upkeep within the confines of the prison.
Eventually dozens of thugs from outlying areas joined his movement, allowing
his reach to extend into the tri-state region of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.
It was then that he realized that dominion over the area was within his grasp
and he possessed the means of becoming the supreme power in the Pacific
Northwest.
    Early on, he implemented a daily routine
identical to basic training to maintain discipline amongst the five hundred and
ninety convicts in his self-designed militia. He knew that his men did best
when they had simple rules for survival and clear expectations along with
brutal consequences for any misstep. Minor infractions were met with
relinquishing meal privileges for twenty-four hours while more serious
violations were punishable by casting the bound perpetrator into the zombie
cages in the lower level. The rest of the convicts that had survived the
initial outbreak were faithful to his cause only because they were more afraid
of what dwelled in the world outside the walls than the familiar horrors of
life inside the razor-wire perimeter.
    Mitchell’s first offensive outside the
prison walls was to raid National Guard armories in the smaller cities. In the
second month of his reign, he began sending out patrols to round up supplies
and captives, clearing out entire ranching communities that were still reeling
from the aftermath of the pandemic. Finally he turned his sights upon the
undead. While others were busy trying to exterminate them, Mitchell was busy
studying the creatures. First from his perch at the warden’s office then
examining them up close through combat with human captives and later
dissection. There had to be a way to utilize the zombies to his advantage.
Never