Bone Hunter: A Novelette in the Dark of Dawn Series Read Online Free Page A

the face. The shotgun had sounded an alert awakening the undead from their hibernation and they were now bearing down as fast as they were able to.
    Isolated and trapped in the centre of the road the man and his companion were rapidly being hemmed in. Death loomed on all fronts and there was little he could do now to stop their advance, there was simply no escape from the incoming army of the undead.
    Racing to the door he pulled it shut in a desperate attempt to keep the creatures at bay, but opening inwards he sighed knowing it would not hold against the force of the creatures once they arrived. Dragging the body of the dead woman down the aisle he tossed her into the stairwell, using her deadweight to prop the door securely shut. She was dead, he had no compassion or feelings for her inert form now whatsoever. A cold but necessary realization.
    Taking up position in the middle of the tram he pulled off his backpack and readied himself for the impending conflict. Cursed himself for dropping his guard and getting caught out like this, he was usually so vigilant and so careful. Muttered something about being an idiot under his breath.
    Moaning intensified outside as the swarm arrived in numbers hitting the tram hard and rocking it from side to side. Desperate to reach what lay inside boney sickly fingers scratched and clawed at the metal exterior of the boxcar.
    At that precise moment the man’s life would change forever. The sound that filled his ears right then was so distinct, he recognized it immediately and it chilled him to the very core of his being. A baby’s cry, soft at first it rapidly escalated into a loud wail. It came from somewhere around him inside, close-by. Raising an eyebrow he peered over the seat in front of him to see a tiny bundle of rags, wriggling and writhing.
    Reaching over he unfurled the tiny package to revel an infant, a baby boy dressed in a blue jumpsuit and a woolen jumper. The child was very young only weeks old, frail and weak barely able to breathe let alone cry.
    Closing his eyes tightly the man’s heart sank as he realized the enormity of what had happened here today. A pang of guilt swept over him as shame and emotional pain sacked him right there and then. It was all too much causing him to drop to his knees and begin to sob. His mind took him back to memories of his own family and his children, all of whom he had lost when the world turned.
    “What the hell am I going to do with you?” he said, addressing the child through blurry eyes as if it was capable of understanding. “I cannot care for you, I cannot do anything for you. Your mother is dead, I killed her, and now there is no-one to look after you. You hear me, no-one!”
    Glancing down at the dead woman he could not help but notice that she looked quite emaciated and sick. The man thought she looked like she had been ravaged by an illness or had some sickness or poison in her system. She was simply ghastly looking.
    Fucking hell, no wonder I mistook you for a creature!
    The baby too looked ill, pale and sickly. Totally reliant on its mother’s milk for nourishment the child’s chances of survival were going to be slim with her now gone.
    What the hell happened to you two? How could you possibly feed him woman, looking like that?
    Bark!
    Jolted back to reality the man rewrapped the baby in its rags, left it to wail on the seat and then refocused his attention on surviving this current onslaught. They were now surrounded, cornered on all fronts with no chance of escape. He checked his ammunition which was minimal for he had not expected to run into such a large swarm as this. What had started out as a pleasant day, welcomed relief from a week-long storm had rapidly descended into a shit-storm of epic proportions.
    He thought about running for it but quickly gave that idea away when he saw that the creatures had now gotten five to six deep around the tram. A couple of rows were easy enough to push through, but at this density