Verge of Extinction (Apex Predator Book 3) Read Online Free Page A

buildings that were obviously office-type buildings and a couple of hangers that were farther off of the water made up the rest of the base.  Jerry had told them that there were currently eighty seven souls on the Island.  “One-hundred-twenty-seven if you count the River Rats,” he had clarified.
    “Are there any other survivors?” Indira had asked.
    “Well,” he began.  “There’s a bunch of people in Atlanta.  You know the CDC?  They’re holding on, but food is becoming a problem.  The word is there are still a lot of folks in the northwest.  It seems that someone got smart and sealed Denver off from the outside world.  That city is overrun, but the rest of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, and the western part of the Dakotas’s still have fairly large living populations.”  He wasn’t able to tell them where he’d heard all of this.  But, at least it was some news.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Day 36
    Singing River Island
    SSgt Brown could hear the click-clack of someone walking on crutches before he saw the man.  “How do you like my new legs?” Sgt Procell asked.
    “Not bad,” the older man answered.  “You know you can’t go out like that right?”
    The younger man looked dejected.  “Oh, Staff Sergeant Brown, you have so little faith in the resourcefulness of this highly trained and experienced combat engineer.”  He smiled widely.  “I believe that anything you do today will require the use of a water-borne mode of transportation.  While I may not be able to outrun a one-legged zombie on land, I can easily outpace him from the driver’s seat of a boat; a boat that we need to go and pick up soon.”
    Last night one of the “volunteers” told them how foraging had been conducted.  Each five person group was to acquire a boat from one of the many marinas on the gulf coast.  That was then their boat.  They used it for all of their foraging raids.  SSgt. Brown would be expected to have his own boat by the end of the day, and foraging was to begin the next day.  The man had explained that foragers didn’t get days off unless their captain was willing to go into Indian country with less guns.  This was simply not done.  The prevailing attitude amongst the three captains was the more guns the better.
    SSgt. Brown couldn’t help but think how much this sounded like an island run by pirates.  He was a teacher when he wasn’t playing soldier in the National Guard.  He remembered hearing how the pirates of Nassau operated.  He rubbed the salt-and-pepper stubble on his chin.  Greybeard he thought to himself.  Na, he chuckled, not very scary.
    He found Jackson, Theresa, and Kerry waiting on the dock.  Behind them was a 22 foot boat.  A large blue strip ran down the side with the words “Queen Anne’s Revenge” on the bow. Standing in the cockpit was a short man with arms that looked like undersized beer kegs.  SSgt Brown was sure the man had to have his shirts tailor made just to fit those huge arms.  He wore a maroon baseball cap with the letter “ A ” in white on the front.  Two men with rifles were standing on the bow of the boat.  He recognized the trio.  Their names had been on his list.
    “Well don’t just stand there gawkin,’” the man in the baseball hat yelled over the sound of the engines, “get onboard.”  His southern drawl was as thick as any SSgt Brown had heard.  They climbed aboard.
    SSgt Brown sat next to the captain.  “Do you guys have to do this every time someone new comes along?”
    “Sure do.” He answered.
    SSgt Brown didn’t like that.  Like most military guys, he was of the belief that more is better, and way more is way better.  When they arrived at whatever marina they were going to, he would make sure that he returned with more than two boats.
     
    The man in the Crimson Tide cap suddenly chopped the throttles.  The bow of the boat dipped and the wind stopped.  The world didn’t go