Stage 3: Alpha is the exciting sequel to Stage 3 by Ken Stark.
“Across the street,” she hushed, grabbing Lucy’s hand and half-dragging her toward the bodega, “Now!”
They were almost out of time. The two charging alphas were joined by another, then two bloodied faces rose up from the belly of a dead man half a block in the other direction and they, too, joined the charge. Sarah all but threw Lucy into the bodega, then she grabbed the dead man’s wrist and set about hauling him clear of the doorway. But the man was big, and after she’d managed to drag him only a few short inches, some part of him snagged on the doorjamb and he would move no more. She chanced a quick look around as she reset her grip, and her heart sank as she saw a sixth and seventh alpha appear from out of nowhere.
No time! No time!
She tucked the tire iron into her waistband and grabbed both of the dead man’s wrists, but even with the better hold, she knew it was impossible. She managed to bully the corpse a single inch further, then she looked again to the advancing swarm and did the math. She’d never get the door closed in time. She’d fucked up. Even if she abandoned this fat bastard and fled, it was already too late. Too late to run, and too many to fight.
It had all been for nothing. After everything they’d been through, she’d doomed them both with a single bad decision. Damn!
She gave the dead man’s wrists one final desperate tug as the last thought she would ever have formed in her mind. If there was a God, she mused haplessly, maybe she’ll take pity on them and make it quick……
Just then, she heard the ripping of cloth and she was suddenly stumbling backward, hauling the corpse after her.
God?…..she thought for one crazy moment, then she saw Lucy at the other end of the corpse, one of the dead man’s ankles tucked under each arm and her face as red as a beet.
“Go, Sarah, go!” Lucy shouted, and Sarah pulled with all of her might.
As soon as the doorway was clear, they dropped the dead man and retreated, but it was too late after all. A big, bald alpha was almost within arm’s reach of Sarah. It would be on her in a second. There was no time to run. There wasn’t even time to defend herself.
In that last second before death silenced her mind, a familiar image arose in her mind’s eye. A little girl’s face. Big green eyes. A big mop of curly red hair.
Sorry, Boo…….I tried….. I really tried…….
She saw red froth dripping from the creature’s mouth in anticipation of the kill, but in those last few milliseconds before making contact, its foot came up against the body of the dead man, and while the alpha sailed through the air, a pair of hands suddenly grabbed Sarah by the shoulders and propelled her through the open doorway and into darkness. She spun around, and there was Lucy, charging in after her and throwing herself against the door. It swung easily on its hinges, but just as it closed to within inches, an arm was thrust through the gap, and before Sarah could gather her wits enough to go to her friend’s aid, the bald creature pushed its way through and came straight at her.
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Check out Stage 3: Alpha or begin with book one now.
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