Survival Of The Fittest - Catherine Holland (detective books to read TXT) 📗

Standing on the edge of the cliff, and looking into the murky waters below, the young woman wiped a tear from her grey eyes, before adjusting the pack full of weapons on her shoulder, the twin swords strapped to her back were sheathed, but easily accessible.

In the distance, the sun was beginning to set, Gabby knew it was dangerous being out, it always was, but she remained a few moments more, before slowly turning around.She quartered the area, and took out a 9mm, as she headed for the small, but modest houses situated across from the seafront.

Gabby gained the safety of the small house, just as the sun finally sank from the sky, the moon this night would be full and bright, providing her with a small amount of light. The small, two-bedroom house she was currently staying in, was not her own, but merely a safe place to hide for the night, as well as from the infected.

She had had the knowledge on how to kill them for several months, learned the hard way throught painful lessons, and in teh beginning, loss of life. Gabby slammed the door shut on her memories, before they had a chance to rise up and torture her, she did enough of that herself, as well she should.

Once she'd entered the property, Gabby placed a chair in front of the main doors to the house, then after searching for any infected bodies, and closing all of the inner doors, and scattering broken glass at the bottom of them, she headed up a small flight of stairs.

On the second floor, Gabby placed a chair at the head of the stairs, knowing that if any of the infected managed to break in and find her, the crash of the chair would wake her, feeling satisfied, Gabby used the bathroom, then headed into the master bedroom, the windows gave her a good view of the front of the property, as well as half the street.

Taking off her pack, swords, and boots, she placed them all on the double bed, and did a thorough sweep of the second floor, when Gabby was satisfied that everything was clear, she took out two small video cameras, and her laptop, from the pack, once the cameras were in position, one in the master bedroom and one in the smaller room, she made sure the footage was recorded to her laptop.

Plugging in her computer, she made sure it was charging, then with the ease of long practice, she stripped to her underwear, and crawled into the double bed, as soon as her head hit the pillow, she was asleep. Her dreams, or nightmares, always began the same:

Gabby, her mother, and only brother, were enjoying a late meal whilst sat on the front porch. Just after the sun had set, a car raced down the road, a few seconds later, another two cars followed suit, her mother and brother walked to the bottom of the drive, shaking their heads and muttering about, 'racer boys, owning the road.'

Gabby had had a feeling, that it was something more than just 'racer boys,' and called out a warning to them, something either in the tone of her voice, or something they had seen, made them return to the house, they were both pale and shaking. Which made Gabby believe it was the latter.

Once the doors to the house had been locked, and the curtains drawn, her mother started lighting candles, switching off the interior lights, as she walked around, "What's going on?" Gabby had asked, her younger brother had replied, "You won't believe me, even if I told you, so stand near the window, but don't let them see you."

He'd sounded so scared, that Gabby had done as he'd asked, at first, there was nothing, the street was quiet, almost too quiet, just as Gabby was about to move away, she heard the screeching of tyres, the sound so drawn out, that it sounded almost human.

As the swerving car came into view, Gabby instinctively backed away from the window, the car eventually stopped under a street lamp, and as a family of four piled out, as well as two black labradors, they were attacked, at first glance, by regular humans, closer inspection revealed that the attacking party were covered in blood, from what had been a previous attack.

Within seconds, the attack was over, the family and the two dogs appeared to be dead, but within the next minute, the 'dead' family got up from the floor, left their car behind, and joined the group that had attacked them, not sparing a glance at their two dogs, who'd been killed trying to protect them.

The screams from that family, and the screeching of the tyres, still resounded in her head, and Gabby was torn from sleep, as she realised that both sounds were coming from a car on the road. She quickly threw her jeans and jumper on, then pulled on her boots, she snatched up her 9mm handguns, and raced from the bedroom.

Thirty seconds later, Gabby was out on the street, racing towards the swerving vehicle, she could see several of the infected clinging to the side of the car, Gabby started firing at the infected, one shot to the back of each head that she could see.

As the car pulled to a stop, she heard the sound of smashing glass, and cautiously went around the car, gun raised and ready, towards the sound, one of the infected was trying to reach in the window, repeatedly cutting herself on the fractured glass, spilling blood, and howling in both pain, and frustration.

Gabby aimed the gun, and then fired, the shot taking the infected in the right temple, as the infected toppled sideways, her arm caught on the fragmented glass, so that she was hanging down the side of the door. Inside the car, everything was silent, and she couldn't see anyone moving.

A quick glance at the sky, made her sigh in relief, dawn was just about to break, the sky going from black to a dark blue. As Gabby cautiously continued her circle of the car, and found no other evidence of the infected, she took out a small pen-light, and flashed it through the passenger side window, her gun at the ready.

The woman was slumped in her seat, her head resting on the dash-board, and an evident bite mark on her neck, Gabby carefully pushed her head back, and lifted one of her eyelids, her eyes had once been blue, but now, they were fading to a dull bronze, which meant that she'd been infected.

Gabby pulled the trigger, shooting the infected woman in the head, the man behind the wheel of the car was obviously dead, the top half of his skull was smashed into the steering wheel, indicating that he'd also been infected, just before he'd died, and with the way his head was, there was no way he'd return as one of them.

Just as she moved away from the car, she heard a sound, at first, Gabby thought she'd imagined it, but as the noise increased in volume, she realised that the couple in the car had had a baby, and with them dead, the babe was defenceless, she made her way back to the car, and carefully opened the back door.

All manner of toys fell out of the newly opened door, from rattles, to teddy bears, and as Gabby began pulling more and more crap out of the back, the louder the baby's cries became. As the sun finally made an appearance, Gabby got her first look at the child, she was at least six weeks old, and at first glance, appeared to be healthy, there were no bloodstains that she could see, in the early morning light.

Gabby took another cautious look around her before sticking the gun into the waistband of her jeans, she then partially crawled into the back of the car, and freed the car seat from its harness, gathering the heavy load into her arms, she spotted a large shoulder-bag, picking the thing up, she slung it over her shoulder, then headed back to the house.

A lack of noise made Gabby look down, the babe had gone back to sleep, briefly smiling to herself, she entered the house, and ascended the stairs, as it was now fully light outside, Gabby had nothing to fear from the infected, as they became like the dead during the daylight hours, and she wasn't too worried about any attacks that may come from any survivors, as she was more than able to care for herself, and in the rare case that she wasn't, she had an arsenal of guns, and her Samauri swords.

Twenty minutes later, Gabby had her four-wheel-drive, all-terrain Jeep, loaded and ready to go, she secured the car seat, to the passenger seat, made sure that her swords were on her back, and had a gun, fully loaded and ready to fire, in her lap, before starting the engine and driving to the nearest store. Gabby knew she was taking a huge risk, both because the infected like to group together, and because of the babe, she would have to somehow, strap to her chest.

Fifteen minutes later, Gabby pulled up outside the local Supermarket, parking as close as possible to the entrance, and leaving herself enough room to make a quick getaway if needed. Taking a quick look into the back of the car, Gabby found a thick blanket, and folded it length-wise several times, she then tied a knot into it, and placed the now-folded blanket over her shoulder.

Making sure that the blanket was secure, she then picked up the child, and placed her inside the blanket, so that the babe rested against her breast. Before getting out of the car, Gabby took a quick look in the shoulder bag, and memorising what she'd need, Gabby then made sure that her long dark hair, was secured at thenape of her neck, and that her two 9mm's were in the waistband of her jeans, before grabbing a third 9mm plus extra clips, before getting out of the car and locking the doors behind her.

Gabby made sure the gun was ready to fire, then stepped through the open doors of the Supermarket, knowing that she'd have to search every inch of it, before being able to get what she needed. Twenty minutes, and thirty dead infected later, the ground floor was clear, Gabby was more cautious as she ascended to the first floor, clamping down hard on her memories, as they once again, threatened to rise up and torment her.

Even though the upper level was smaller, there were a lot more infected bodies scattered about, once Gabby deemed the area clear, she started gathering the items she'd need. Fifteen minutes later, Gabby made her way back out of the store, and started loading up her car, ready to scout out the next place to hide from the infected, and hoping that the babe would sleep through the night.

That night, Gabby