The Omega Protocol Chronicles (Book 1): Exodus by Courtney McPhail Page A

the bike, letting it drop to the ground as he dove for cover. He pressed himself up against the side of a pickup truck, crouching low as the screams and gunfire continued.
    He watched as a few people ran past him, heading away from the gate and towards the people who were drawn here by the screams and gunshots. As the two groups met, he cursed violently as the people were taken down by the people who had ran past him.
    It was then that he realized they weren’t people, they were those things . The fucking sickos that he had seen on television before everything went down. They had made it to the trailer park.
    His self preservation kicked in and he scrambled over to the bike, groaning as he pushed it back to standing and climbed on it. He kicked it into gear and rode back in the direction he had come, heading towards the garbage site at the back of the park. There was a gate there for the garbage trucks and he just prayed that the sickos hadn’t come in that way.
    The park was in chaos, people screaming and running, vehicles crashing into trailers as panic set in. He passed the side street that the Coles lived on and couldn’t help but look for them. He saw Grace ushering the girls into the van while Ian ran out of the trailer with some bags, tossing them in the back of the van and closing it. Ian made his way around the van, ready to jump in the driver’s seat but in his rush, he didn’t see or hear the truck that was barrelling down the road at him.
    Before Jackson could even call out, the truck slammed into Ian, tossing him high up in the air before he crashed back down to the ground.
    The truck didn’t even stop, skidding past Jackson and heading away. Grace was screaming as she jumped out of the van and ran to her husband. Jackson gunned the bike towards them, any thoughts of self-preservation gone as he heard the screams of the girls in the van coupled with their mother’s.
    But he came to a skidding stop when three freaks came out of nowhere and set upon Grace and Ian. Anguished screams came from Grace as they bit into her neck and arm, tearing off chunks of her flesh. Jackson pulled out his gun and shot one of the freaks in the head but he was too late, Grace’s now lifeless body dropping with them. He plugged another bullet in the head of the freak that had been gnawing at Ian’s face, not that it really mattered. Judging by the odd angle of his neck, Ian had been dead the second the truck had hit him.
    Jackson turned away from the bodies and saw Audrey sitting in the back of the van, staring out at him with fearful eyes. He took a few steps towards the van and saw that Audrey had her younger sister’s face buried in her lap, out of the line of sight of what had happened to their parents.
    Even at a distance, he could see the way Audrey shook. The terror in her eyes was like a punch to the gut. She knew what all this meant just as sure as he did. These two girls were on their own now. No parents to protect or take care of them when the world was going to hell in a handbasket.    
    He looked around the park but only found an empty road and empty trailers, their open doors swinging in the breeze. He could hear yelling and gunning engines peppered with gunfire in the distance. Anyone that was left in the park had bigger problems than taking on two orphan girls.  
    “Fuck.”
    He grabbed the water jug off his bike, bidding it a silent and fond farewell before stalking to the soccer mom minivan. He tossed his rucksack and the jug inside as he climbed into the driver’s seat, looking back at Audrey.
    “Keep her head down ‘til we make it outta here.”
    She nodded, eyes filled with tears but she still tightened her hold on her sister who was sobbing quietly into her lap.
    Jackson shifted the van into gear and made a U-turn, heading towards the back gate. It was wide open, the chain link fence hanging at an odd angle where someone had crashed through it. He remembered what Ian had said and headed in the