Read The Creepers (Book 2): From the Past for Free Online Page B

warning system. If either of our groups were in the area and
shit was bad, we’d trigger the signal to warn the others. But the signal
doesn’t cover the whole area. There are markers between the relays that work as
a bootleg GPS. I picked it up days ago, but I didn’t want to believe it,
couldn’t believe it.”
     
    “Whatever got them is close to us,”
Bobby said as he got up. “I’ll meet you on the roof, Mr. Baylor.”
     
    “But it could be behind us, Baylor,”
Jamie pleaded.
     
    “Yeah, we have to go back that way,
don’t we?”
     
    “I thought maybe they took some loses,
Baylor, you know? I didn’t hear the signal. I knew that meant my bro was okay.
It meant they were still out there clearing the dead and dealing with the
fucking mock-native techno cult assholes. But this is different. This is for sure.
What took them out?”
     
    “I don’t know, but I aim to empty
everything we got in its direction.”
    * * * * *
    Bobby slipped into the sleeper car
quieter than a flea’s whisper. He grabbed his rifle from the rack by the door,
careful not to wake Sophie and Randal. He’d leave that task for Jamie.
     
    “What’s wrong?” Sophie said from the
bunk. The moonlight threw odd shadows on her pale face. Randal rooted at a
snowy slice of breast amidst the thick blankets.
     
    “I don’t know yet. Baylor thinks we’ll
have trouble.” Bobby didn’t want to worry her.
     
    “How long has it been since you slept?”
Her red curls bounced with the swaying of the train.
     
    “I had a few hours,” Bobby lied.
     
    “Not this night. You can’t keep this up,
Bobby. I need you. Randal needs you.”
     
    Bobby went to her. He cradled her soft
face in his weathered hands. He kissed her blood red lips, smelled the
sweetness of her hair—an old perfume of Jamie’s. Something on the verge of
being forgotten, a relic from the world that was. He held his breath, held her,
and listened to Randal coo in her arms. He kissed the boy, but did not let them
go. He didn’t want it to end. The peace. The calm they spread over him. They
were all that mattered. The entirety of his world in his arms. He’d do anything
to protect them.
     
    The demons of the past shrunk back to
their dark holes, but he could hear their ragged breathing and smell their
fetid breath. He kept his mind on the dangers of the present, on the very real
threat to his family, and left the demons to brood for the time being. He didn’t
doubt they’d come calling soon enough, but the thought of something happening
to the only people that mattered angered him beyond measure.
     
    “I have to go. Keep Randal close, keep
your gun closer. When Jamie comes, be ready to move.” Bobby kissed her and the
baby one more time before breaking the embrace.
     
    “Bobby,” Sophie called after him.
     
    He stopped at the door, turning back to
glimpse her ghostly skin waver like an apparition in the shadows.
     
    “Come back to us. Promise me you’ll come
back to us.”
     
    Bobby chambered a round and nodded to
her.
    * * * * *
    “What are you thinking, Baylor?” Price
said from beside him. It was rare for the burly man to be anywhere but in the
mouth of the beast while it was in motion.
     
    “Nothing’s out here. No Creepers really,
no people, no resources. That signal started in Colorado. That signal is still
playing and we haven’t seen dick of a sign. Whatever happened was dragged out,
otherwise the signal would be isolated. It’s obviously not. That tells me some
of them are alive and triggering them as they go.” Baylor knelt behind one of
the heavy iron plates for cover. He wasn’t taking any chances.
     
    “Or whoever took them out is drawing us
in. It’s not like we’re a mystery at this point to anybody along the route.”
     
    “That crossed my mind too. There are too
many possibilities and I don’t like that. Colorado I can get. There are people
there, plenty of resources to be had. Hell it’s one of our busiest