Live Free or Die Complete Series Boxed Set: Age Of Madness - A Kurtherian Gambit Series by Hayley Lawson (pdf e book reader .TXT) 📗

“You’ve got this. Just pull the trigger,” Carter told Byrant calmly.

Byrant squeezed his eyes shut and pulled the trigger.

Carter grinned and slapped Byrant on the back. “Looks like you really are the best gunslinger in town.” Carter and the others were pleased that Byrant was back in form, since they needed him to be able to shoot at the bunker.

The Mad slumped to the ground. There was no need to two-tap; she wasn’t going to come back to life after that.

Koda nodded. “Nice shot!” A few of the men agreed. There was a noticeable difference in Byrant. His confidence had begun to return.

Ryder was relieved since it meant they wouldn’t have to worry about him freezing up and getting killed. They needed capable shooters on their side.

The group all looked down at Rebecca’s body, except for Carter. He was looking in the direction Rebecca had appeared from.

The mountain settlement.

Carter’s face was ashen with worry. “The kids,” he breathed.

Ryder looked toward the settlement. She wouldn’t leave the kids if there were Mad on the loose. They’d stand no chance. She hoped Terrier would wait for her, and wouldn’t leave kids defenseless by getting killed.

“Change of plans,” Ryder announced. “We need to check that Carter’s settlement is okay first. Also, we may be able to get a few more people to help.”

Everyone agreed without a fuss.

“Carter, we’ll have to be quick. I don’t want to lose too much daylight.”

Carter nodded. “Thank you, Ryder. I’ll take you by the quickest route.” He took off running with the group right beside him.

“Ryder,” Graham shouted, and she turned around to see Graham on the cart. There was no way he could get up there with the cart and weapons. “I’ll stay with Black Beauty,” he called.

“Do you want someone else to stay with you?”

“Not when I have these.” Graham swung his axes with a big grin on his face. “Hurry up, though. We don’t want you getting lost.”

He’s right. My sense of direction sucks! Luckily, we have a wolf and a tracker in our gang, and they’ll find me if I get lost. “Yell if you need us,” she told him.

Ryder followed the others up the mountain. The ground was wet and mossy under her boots and she had to leap a number of fallen branches, but she caught up with the gang.

“Mad at three o’clock,” Koda yelled. Everyone turned right to see a pair of glowing red eyes coming straight at the group.

“We got this one,” Massimo said. He and Fluffy stood ready for the attack, and the rest of them kept running. It would take too much time if they hung around for each kill, and Ryder also knew that Massimo wanted to test his newly-regained strength. Part of Ryder wanted to see it, but that would happen soon enough.

Massimo’s fangs protruded, and his eyes were aglow. He was in full vampire mode and felt stronger than he ever had before. The Mad was coming for them, but it had no idea that it was coming for Death. Leandro growled and made to spring at it, but Massimo stayed his son with a hand and moved forward to meet the Mad head on.

The Mad lunged at Massimo, but the vampire blocked its clumsy swipe and punched a hole through its skull. The Mad collapsed, falling off Massimo’s fist with a wet pop. Massimo removed a clean handkerchief from his breast pocket and wiped his hands.

Fluffy gazed at Massimo in wonder.

“What?” Massimo asked. “I can fight, too.”

The first things they heard when they reached the mountain settlement were the groans. Everyone had their weapons ready in a flash. Carter held up his hand, and the group slowly approached the sound.

It was coming from the cages with the infected parents. At least they hadn’t escaped, although they looked worse than they had a day ago. They were more red sores on their exposed skin, and they were pissed. They reached through the bars try to grab the people as they passed.

Byrant had his gun out and was ready to shoot.

“Don’t do it!” Carter ordered, getting between the Mad and Bryant’s gun.

Willard looked at Carter, confused. “First he wants him to shoot, now he doesn’t. Which is it?”

“They can’t get out. I made sure of that,” Carter assured them.

“Why are you keeping them?” Massimo asked when he and Fluffy arrived. Massimo had blood spatters on his clothing, but Fluffy was his usual pristine white.

“Because they are the parents of some of the kids in the settlement. We need to see if their kids are all right,” Carter reminded them as he pushed Byrant’s gun down.

A child’s scream rang out, and they all pelted in the direction it had come from. When they were almost at the settlement, the stench of rotting flesh hit them. There were two Mad on the ground. Their legs were gone, their flesh had been bitten away, and bones protruded through their exposed muscles. None of that stopped them from dragging themselves inch by inch toward the settlement.

Two wolves with blood around their mouths came sprinting down the hill and blocked their way. Both were white like Fluffy. The group looked at the wolves and then at Fluffy.

Ryder asked what they were all thinking. “Hey, Leandro, are you all related?”

Leandro walked up to the white wolves. They looked just like him, a male and a female version of himself. He chuffed at them, trying to find out what happened. They didn’t respond, unless he could call licking their butts a response. Disgusting.

The female wolf stared at Leandro. He tried again, but it was like he was speaking to them in a different language. Maybe he was.

The male wolf headed over to a tree and pissed on it, right in front of everyone. Does he not have any dignity?

Carter laughed and pointed at the wolf. “See, Fluffy, that’s how you have a piss.”

Leandro cringed with embarrassment while Carter regaled the others with how