Read Yesterday's Gone: Season Three (THE POST-APOCALYPTIC SERIAL THRILLER) for Free Online Page B

door.
    Soon, he realized with a terrible clarity, he wouldn’t have to imagine it at all.
    As if fate was reading his mind, the door at the front of the stockroom banged open and two of the loping dark aliens crashed through, immediately spotting Ed and Brent — snacks held captive.
    “Fuck!” Brent screamed as he began to pull harder, the cuffs digging deep into his wrists.
    Ed wondered if Brent might pull his own wrist off to get away. Ed began to pull at his own cuffed hand as the aliens stood fully upright, towering in triumph as they approached, as if enjoying the conquest as much as the coming kill.
    Ed met the black glassy eyes of the creature closest to him.
    “Fuck, you things are ugly,” he said as he stopped pulling on his cuff, and instead braced for whatever defensive measure he might be able to make. He had one hand and two feet, and would be damned if he allowed the first, or first five of the fuckers to kill him.
    Brent was tugging hard and screaming, “Oh God! Oh God! I don’t want to die!”
    Ed would have tried to talk him down, but Brent was in a fat panic, and Ed couldn’t afford to pay attention to anything but the approaching threat as it stepped forward, stopping six feet in front of him.
    He thought of Jade back on the island, and hoped like hell that Sullivan would keep her safe. That his counterpart — the other Ed — wouldn’t, or couldn’t, be so cruel as to kill his doppelganger’s daughter.
    The two creatures stood side by side. The one on the left opened its mouth and screamed its unholy shriek, digging into Ed’s skull like razors scraping over his nerves.
    “Come on, you fucker!” Ed growled through gritted teeth, as he squatted, rolling from foot to foot, preparing to move — as much as possible — and kick the fucker as hard as he could.
    The one on the left ran toward him, clawed hand raised, ready to swing down and tear Ed’s face to Big League Chew.
    Ed fell on his side, pushed himself forward as far as he could, then swept his feet out, knocking the alien down, on top of him.
    Ed screamed as he brought his knees up and into the alien’s chest, then head butted the creature as hard as he could in its face. The alien screamed, then slid back as Ed kicked out, hooking the alien by the neck, and yanked it back into the metal shelving beside.
    The creature screamed as Ed twisted his body and kicked it square in the face, his boot pushing through its soft head, and pushing whatever bones it had back into its skull as its body fell into death spasms.
    Brent screamed as the second alien ran toward them.
    Ed’s boot was stuck in the first alien’s face.
    Fuck!
    Ed struggled to pull his foot free, but the creature was charging too fast. He hoped like hell Brent could do something to protect them.
    A gunshot thundered through the warehouse, causing instant pain, and whistling, inside Ed’s eardrums. The alien fell to the floor in front of him, its head caved in, and black goo oozing out onto the gray concrete.
    Ed looked up to see Lisa standing with her shotgun, and Billy with his Glock 22.
    She raced toward Ed, then slid to a stop just inches from him holding the keys to his handcuffs.
    “Hold them off!” she yelled at Billy, who took aim at the aliens spilling through the door and into the warehouse.
    Lisa slid the key into the keyhole, but it slipped and fell to the ground.
    “Fuck!” she said, glancing back as the aliens barreled down on Billy. He opened fire. She grabbed the key and put it into Ed’s other hand, “You do it!”
    She grabbed her shotgun, then fired at the aliens pouring inside. Lisa would run out of shells soon. She needed Ed’s help.
    Ed slid the key into the hole, clicked the handcuffs open, then handed Brent the key. He ran to Billy, who had a second Glock in his waistband. Ed grabbed it, not even bothering to see if the clip was full, as an alien soared toward them on all fours, shrieking.
    Billy’s gun was out of ammo but he kept pulling the