Stone Soldiers 6: Armageddon Z by C. E. Martin Page B

shield their two small children—a boy and girl.
    "You folks okay?" Kenslir asked, looking in through the shattered window of the van.
    The mother nodded quietly, while the father simply stared at the Colonel in disbelief. A large gash on his forehead leaked blood onto his face.
    Kenslir could tell at a glance the van was finished. He drove his left hand into driver's-side sliding door, fingers splayed wide. His fingertips punched through the thin met al, then he squeezed, deforming the metal. With a quick wrench, he pulled the door free from the van and pitched it aside.
    "C'mon," he said. "Let's get you out of here —I have a helicopter on the way."
    The parents nodded and handed their children out firs t. The Colonel set the small, crying children down beside him, then helped the parents out.
    "Any medicines in here?" Kenslir asked. "Anything you can't live without?"
    The little girl, with blonde hair and big blue eyes pointed at a teddy bear on the floor. Her mother snatched it up.
    "Who are you?" the father asked.
    "Over there," Kenslir said, pointing to a nearby apartment building. Five stories tall, with a short set of stairs leading up to the main entrance, it was dark and looked abandoned. It was also the tallest building on its block.
    "Is that safe?" the father asked.
    Kenslir pushed the children along, and the parents followed.
    At the top of the entrance stairs, the Colonel tested the lock, then twisted the knob, shearing the soft metal off in his h and. He held up his other hand for the family to wait then stepped in.
    The door opened into a long hallway, with four apartments adjoining it. A set of stairs led up, and at the far end of the entrance hallway there was an elevator.
    Kenslir waved for the family to enter, pressing a finger to his lips. The father picked up his daughter, while the mother held onto her small son's hand. They all followed the Colonel as he dashed up the stairs.
    They moved quickly —the Colonel forcing himself to go slowly so he wouldn't leave the family behind. His senses strained in the dimly lit stairwell—alert for any sign of danger. Floor after floor they continued their climb.
    By the fifth floor, they were all getting winded —except for Kenslir. He seemed completely unphased by the stair climb, but suddenly held up a hand for them to stop just short of the final landing.
    The family looked around fearfully, particularly back down the stairs they had just climbed.
    Kenslir walked up onto the landing, his senses straining in the darkness. Only the light from exit signs was visible, and it was barely enough to see. The tactical goggles brightened the light, casting a greenish haze over everything.
    In the amplified light, Kenslir could see much better. Unfortunately, one of the a partment doors was slightly ajar. He crept toward the door slowly.
    A form suddenly burst from the door. It was an infected. It looked at Kenslir for a moment, hesitating, then lunged at him. The Colonel's right hand snaked out and he grabbed the creature b y the throat, halting its attack.
    Bright green light flared where the Colonel's hand touched the mold-covered flesh of the creature's neck. Surprise showed in its one, blood-shot eye. The other eye, as well as half if its face, was covered in a fuzzy growt h of mold. It snapped its jaws open and shut and clawed at Kenslir's hand, trying to free itself from his vice-like grip.
    The Colonel jerked the creature by the neck, severing the spine as bones splintered. But it still continued to snap and hiss.
    In one fluid movement, Kenslir reached back, drew a Bowie knife from a back sheath and sliced through the creature's neck, just above his hand. The head flopped off, bouncing along the floor.
    Surprisingly, the body continued to struggle against him, yet no bloo d poured from the cleanly-sliced stump of its neck.
    He pushed the struggling body backwards, toward the open door of the apartment. He shoved it inside, giving it a quick kick to one kneecap