Read Human Extinction Level Loss (Book 2): Substation (The Last Stand of Gary Sykes) for Free Online Page B

up?  Seems like they shoulda’ been here by now,” Reggie said.
    Mack kept his eyes peeled.  “I don’t know, Reg,” Mack said.  “But if I had my druthers, it wouldn’t be until after we got this place locked up tight as a snare drum.”
    “Why is that, Mack?” Reggie asked.
    Mack looked over at Reggie for a second before turning his eyes back to the yard and perimeter fence ahead of them.
    “Well, think about it, Reg.  I mean here we are just a couple of lowly wrench turners who save the plant after the foreman goes and gets himself whacked.  We’re in line to be hailed as a couple of heroes,” Mack said.
    Reggie broke out into a smile at the thought. 
    “Sweeeet!” Reggie said in a singsong voice.  “Hey, Mack, do you think there will be some kind of re—”
    Just then, Mack reached out and put his hand on Reggie’s chest, stopping him.
    “Hold on their Reg, I think I heard something,” Mack said.
    The two men froze in their tracks but could hear nothing beyond the crack and sizzle of live current.  Mack kept his ear to the wind as Reggie waited.  Just under the sound of the current could be heard the crunching of gravel behind them.  They stood in the oval of one of the overhead lamps and stared into darkness between themselves and the next lamp.  The two men waited and listened.  The sound of feet crunching over the gravel got louder.
    “What is that, Mack?!” Reggie shouted.
    “You know what it is, Reggie.  It’s a couple of them boogie men.  Get ready to bash some heads,” Mack said.
    Reggie swallowed hard and gripped his wrench.
    “How do you know we can get ‘em all, Mack?” Reggie asked.  He felt sweat break out on his forehead.
    Mack huffed.  “Aw, hell, Reg.  If that little geek, Gary can take one out, we sure as shit can—”
    Mack’s words froze in his throat as the sound of crunching grew to a crescendo.  A mob of what looked to be twelve Shufflers emerged out of the shadows.  Mack’s face went slack.
    “Let’s get the hell out of here, Reg,” Mack said.
    Reggie shifted from side to side.  “What about the plant and us being Heroes?  What about Bev and Gary?” Reggie asked.
    Mack stared at the advancing horde.  “Screw that and screw them.  Run, Reg!” he shouted.
    Mack looked over at Reggie, but Reggie wasn’t there.  Mack turned around and saw Reggie sprinting across the yard towards the perimeter gate.  Mack dropped his wrench and lumbered into the night.  Behind him the twelve Shufflers turned into runners.

Five
    Mack was no runner and he knew it. With his meaty arms, barrel chest, and tree trunk legs, he was built for wrangling cable or turning bolts as big around as his hand. Those same skills made him a plodding giant and no match in the running game for a more lithe and slender man… Alive or Undead.  As Mack slammed one huge foot in front of the other, painful shock waves jolted up through his calves and into his knees.   The air pumped in and out of his lungs in deep harsh rasps, his chest rising and falling as if operated by a massive piston.  He knew they would be on him in a second, his only thought now, Would it hurt?
     
    Reggie saw the chain link fence a hundred yards in front of him.  His head darted left and right looking for the gate.  He pumped his arms and legs furiously.  He still clutched the forgotten wrench in his right hand, looking like a misshapen baton in this race of death.  He had distanced himself from the ravenous horde, but what he gained in a lighter frame he lost in stamina.  A sessile lifestyle of sitting on bar stools running a tab, or on his couch getting high was paying him their dividends.  He could feel himself tiring, felt the painful stitch in his side that already threatened to derail him.  The Things behind him suffered no such ailments.  They felt no stitch or drain of fatigue.  They only felt the hunger and burning desire to bite.  Reggie ran, but he felt himself slowing.  He cried