Read Undead Rain (Book 2): Storm for Free Online

followed them up the ladder.
    The window was actually a window-sized opening in the wooden wall. A shutter that fit over the opening was open, allowing the sun to come into the loft and offering a perfect view of the house and the dirt road beyond.  
    Rucksacks and rolled up sleeping bags lay amongst the hay. Tanya, Jax and Sam were positioned around the window, peeking out at the house.
    Tanya turned to glare at me. “If this is somebody you brought here, I will kill you, Alex.”
    “It isn’t,” I said. “I swear.” I crawled over to the window. The farm looked deserted. “There’s nobody out there,” I whispered.
    “Sshh!” Tanya held up a hand to silence me then pointed out of the window.
    Coming up the dirt road was an olive green Land Rover. It halted twenty feet from the house and four soldiers poured out, taking up shooting stances to cover a 360-degree arc.
    A fifth soldier climbed out of the passenger side of the vehicle and stood with hands on hips. He wore a maroon beret where the other soldiers wore helmets. He wore army trousers and boots but his top was a dark blue long-sleeved T-shirt that showed off his muscular physique. It was hard to see his face from this distance but I could see he had a moustache. He regarded the house and swept his eyes over the farm. I shrank back when his gaze fell on the barn but his inspection continued over the rest of the farm.
    He pointed at the house and the four soldiers advanced to the front door in a tight line.  
    “Stand by,” the man by the Land Rover said, then, “Go.”
    They kicked open the front door and went inside. I could hear shouts of “Clear!” as they entered each room.
    “What if they check out the barn?” I whispered to nobody in particular.
    “They will,” Tanya replied.  
    “What do we do?” I asked.
    “Fight or get captured.”
    “They have guns,” I said. “We have bats and crowbars.”
    “If they capture you, you’re dead anyway,” Jax said, “so you might as well go down fighting.”
    “I know the Survivors Camps are bad,” I said, “but…”
    “Bad?” Tanya asked, incredulous. “You’ve been on that boat of yours for too long. You don’t know what’s really going on here, do you?”
    “I…no,” I admitted.
    “I’ll put this in simple terms,” she said flatly. “If they take you to a Survivors Camp, you’re as good as dead.”
    I thought of Joe and my parents.  
    “They’re coming out,” Jax said.
    The four soldiers emerged from the house and took up positions at the Land Rover again. One of them spoke to the man in the maroon beret. He nodded and pointed at the barn.
    The four soldiers got into their line and advanced across the dirt and grass towards us, assault rifles held steady.
    “Fuck,” Sam whispered.
    “Everybody, get in the Jeep,” Tanya whispered. She grabbed a backpack and ran over to the ladder and started down it. We all followed, Sam and Jax grabbing rucksacks and jostling for position in the line for the ladder. I ended up at the back. By the time I got down to ground level, the others were already in the vehicle. I got into the backseat with Sam. Tanya was in the driver’s seat with Jax next to her on the passenger side.
    Tanya hadn’t started the Jeep. Her finger hovered over the Start button.
    I felt helpless. The men outside were trained and they had guns. We had a Jeep Cherokee and baseball bats. If this was the end, my decision to come ashore in the fog had been the must stupid decision of my life. Lucy would never know what had happened to me and I would never know why she sailed away from the marina, leaving me on the mainland.  
    Outside the barn door, I heard the soldier’s voice.
    “Stand by.”
    A brief hesitation, then he spoke a simple word that sent my heart racing.
    “Go.”

eight
    The door slid open, letting in a shaft of light from outside. Four shadowy figures entered the barn, flanking the door. One of them shouted as Tanya started the Jeep and slammed