The Risen: Courage Read Online Free

can’t fight them, but I can get her and Paula to safety.”
    “Wait, we don’t even know if it really is them.” Chapel pleads, trying to edge down the growing adrenaline.
    “Take Hells.” Lawless tells Marxx as he ignores the preacher’s son. He is well aware of the risk that could be taking place.
    “No.” Rhett and I both speak the word together.
    Turning his head to Marxx as he hands Aimes over to his protection. “We are down one already. She fights better than most men could anyway,” Rhett says. It is high praise from him. If only it was something I wanted to be praised for, though. Someone could tell me my hair looks nice today. That would be a better praise with how jumbled my nerves are. Yes, it is extremely “girly” and I’m okay with that.
    “Anyone mind filling me in on who exactly “them” are?” Paula has gained enough insight to know whatever we are speaking of is dangerous. She just wants a better clarification on the matter.
    “It’s not who. It’s what. The Risen.” Chapel’s words, even whispered to spare her a shock, cause her spine to straighten and eyes to widen. She knows the name he dubbed them months ago in a dirty bar of past lives. It was the first time we faced the truth of what was happening as a group, and since then, we have not been able to escape it.
    “…but that is impossible. The chain gate should prevent them from entering. The wooden gate to the courtyard should block them if it fails. They can’t open gates!” Paula stutters over the start of the sentence only to have her words crash into each other as it ends.
    Trying to figure out who gets to tell her the truth of what the Risen can do, we stare at her. We know the facts well. We have seen them open doors. We have seen them fight in groups, silently sharing strategies to kill. We have seen them watch and wait, solving problems presented to them with their eyes. What chance does a fence or a wooden-gated set of doors stand before them if they are motivated? None!
    “You said so yourself, they keep pieces of their former selves. It allows them to think. It helps them figure out stuff. They adapt.” It’s Rhett who breaks the news to her, mumbling it while loading a fresh clip in his gun. His hands tremble a little from the many emotions he has endured today. I sense another roller coaster is about to start.
    He is right. She said so herself when Marxx was bitten that they never truly die. Whatever was in the vaccine takes over the body. It shuts down the brain, making the person appear dead for moments in time until the new mind can take over. As she said, the vaccine takes over the host. It results in the pure hunters they are now where nothing alive is sacred. Not even their own family. That I remember only too well.
    Her eyebrows speak the words her mouth does not. You can almost watch the conversation with just the face she is mentally holding. The scientist inside her must be fascinated with the results, but the humanitarian is struggling with the consequences. They had hoped to remove viruses from people. They have only managed to remove people with a virus.
    “Marxx, follow behind me. Chapel and I will take the lead. Lawless, you and Hells keep our rear safe. Don’t want anything sneaking up like a joke just when we think our shit is safe.” Rhett barks the orders another man would have once given; my chosen father, J.D.
    He was the man who kept us in line and encouraged us in a backhanded way. He was also our doom should we cross him. He taught us the meaning of the word “monster” this morning in his grief over the death of the prodigal son, Lawless. Lawless, who not only survived, but escaped the Risen and returned last night, only to be thrust into the chaos. It was he who then ended the life of J.D. with a single shot to his head, bringing the circle of Karma to a completion. Now he stands silent and brooding. His tongue is darting across his teeth as a sign of his growing anger or