Live Another Day by Baileigh Higgins (reading in the dark .txt) 📗

the wall, more of Ke Tau’s men had breached the camp and were now inside. One was down with a bullet hole in his gut. Abe was engaged in a scuffle with another, while Lisa streaked across the grounds after a fleeing figure. Elise crouched over the body of Ben while Sean lay motionless on the ground.

Michael grabbed Mpho by the arm. “Go back and get reinforcements. They’re inside the grounds. Tell Max.”

“What about you?” She reached for him. “I don’t want to leave you.”

“I’ll be okay, now go.”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I won’t go.”

He paused for a single breath and looked at her. With tender fingers, he gripped her chin and placed a kiss upon her lips. She was startled into silence and gazed at him with wide eyes. “Mpho, I need you to do as I say, for all our sakes. For the women and children down there, for our freedom, for us. Do you understand?”

She didn’t answer.

He stepped closer. “Do you understand?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

“I will see you soon, I promise.”

“I will hold you to that,” she replied before slipping away.

He watched her go with relief then turned around. Two men were in the process of climbing over the wall, and he gutted the first with his spear. The point went into the man’s open mouth and down his gullet. He fell away with a garbled scream, taking the spear with him. The second he shot with his handgun, pulling it out in one smooth motion.

A quick glance up and down the wall showed no more of Ke Tau’s men. Their window of opportunity was closing in any case as more undead leached away from the front gates and moved around the camp.

He dropped down and hurried toward Elise. She sat huddled over Ben and held his hand while she crooned. “Oh, Ben. Why you? You can’t be dead. You can’t be.”

Michael pried her away from the body and turned her to face him. “Elise, listen to me. Ben is gone. I know he was your friend, but he’s dead.”

“I know,” she sobbed, her eyes red and watery.

“But Sean isn’t dead, and he needs your help. Got it?”

Her brow furrowed. “Sean?”

“Yes, Sean. Erica’s husband. Henriette’s father. He’s lying over there, and he’s hurt. He needs your help.”

Her face cleared, and she straightened her shoulders. “Of course. I’ll do my best.”

He grunted with satisfaction. “Good. Can I leave you here with him? Will you be okay?”

“Yes, yes,” she replied with brisk decisiveness. “I’ll be fine. Now go.”

Satisfied that she was herself once more, Michael turned inward toward the camp. Several of Ke Tau’s men had made it inside and now posed a threat to everyone there.

Warm blood trickled from his various wounds, but the worst was the cut in his thigh. He tore a strip of cloth from his shirt and tied it around with quick jerks to form a bandage. Next, he gripped his gun with his right and his knife with his left. Time to go hunting.

Chapter 21 - Lisa

Lisa lost herself up on the wall. With a spear in her hand and an enemy in front of her, she lost all the fears, insecurities, anger, and discontent that made up her ordinary life. No longer was she Lisa, the victim, or Lisa, the raped girl, or even Lisa, the tough girl. She was just her, and nothing else mattered.

One by one, the undead fell beneath her spear. The weeks of hard work and training now paid off as her body turned into a killing machine. The cold breeze swirled around her face and lifted tendrils of red hair off her face to blow around like strands of blood. It matched the crimson spatters that covered her skin.

When Ke Tau's men came, she fell to her knees and whipped out her handgun. She fired off one systematic shot after the other until the gun clicked on empty.

A man she didn't know, shouted at her from within the grounds and tossed up a fresh clip. She tossed him a grin and a quick salute before turning back to the fight. She went through two more clips that way.

At some point, she heard Michael call for help. She trusted his judgment so followed him and Mpho without question. Together with Abe and Elise, they ran toward the back, and there Michael's suspicions turned out to be true.

Stuck behind him and Mpho, Lisa watched in horror as a man crawled onto the wall and killed Ben. Ben, who’d always been kind and fair to her, Ben, who’d treated her like an equal and not a glass doll about to shatter. I’m sorry, Ben.

She watched as Sean was flung aside like a rag doll and also when Michael challenged the man he called Carlito. That clicked a few things into place for her. Carlito was one of the men who’d tortured Lonny and tried to raped Ruby. Wherever Carlito was, Ke Tau was sure to be nearby. Hiran too.

Two more men made it over the wall while Carlito and Michael fought, and she prepared to go after them. Before she could do that though, a distraught Elise pushed past her and ran toward Ben’s body.

Lisa cursed underneath her breath as her gaze jumped between the vulnerable Elise and the two men. She pulled out her gun and aimed at the nearest, a middle-aged man with greying hair and a paunch. She punched a bullet right through his gut. His companion ducked at the sound of the shot before sprinting deeper into camp. She caught a brief glimpse of his scarred face and blind eye. Ke Tau.

More of Ke Tau’s men crawled over the wall, and one went after the unseeing Elise with a knife. Lisa was spared from going to her rescue when Abe ran up and jumped him. With Michael still engaged with Carlito, Lisa made her decision.

She swung her body off the wall and hit the dirt with both feet running. With her gun held