After The Virus by Meghan Ciana Doidge Read Free Book Online

with a big, locked door between you and them. I’ll lead them out of town.”
    “Oh, yeah? Hide the useless females?” Rhiannon growled, but he cut her off.
    “No. You don’t hesitate or compromise. You’re the gunslinger here.”
    She wasn’t that easily convinced.
    ”I need you to do this Rhiannon. Snickers will be safe with you.”
    So she scooped Snickers up and was gone.
    She left. Just like that. No goodbye. Christ, get your head in the game! You begged. She did. So, heart in his throat, Will turned back into the store.

    ∞
    He almost made it to the truck before he saw It: the Infected. It was lumbering up the far sidewalk toward him. It sniffed the air in his direction and then bellowed.
    He was happy he hadn’t eaten, because despite frozen limbs, he was pretty sure he could and would throw up.
    It dragged two broken chains.
    Two guys, one missing an ear, sprinted from around the side of the drug store after it. They shouted and actually gestured at him to flee.
    He did.
    Why didn’t he just climb in the Ford and drive off? Because he was an absolute, goddamn, going-to-hell idiot.
    He ran; It was faster.
    It didn’t care he used to be an All-Star quarterback.
    It didn’t care track and field had been his yearly charity gig.
    It. Wanted. His. Blood.
    He didn’t know the town footprint. He made a wrong turn, but was actually able to leap the fence that blocked his way. The Infected just tore through.
    Then It had him pinned.
    He noted, as he was choke-pressed against a brick building that he thought might have been the bank, that It still had a couple of fence boards on its arm.
    It bit his shoulder.
    He screamed. He couldn’t help it.
    Then they were there, yanking at its chains. The one-eared guy cursed up a firestorm, but Will couldn’t hear him for the pain of being eaten alive.
    Seeing the missing ear triggered his deadened brain. He fumbled for his knife, conveniently strapped to his thigh in homage to Rhiannon, and thrust it in the Infected’s ear. The blade slid in easier than he’d expected, and the force of the blow dented the side of its head.
    It didn’t like that, but It did drop him.
    “Don’t kill it,” One Ear yelled, and proved he was insane.
    The Infected cat-batted the jutting knife and got it loose along with a chunk of its brain. The mushed brain matter squelched under the knife as it hit the ground. They all, including It, just stared dumbfounded at the goopy pile.  
    The pain in his shoulder focused Will quicker than the others. He got the chain looped around the Infecteds neck seconds before its blood lust awoke.
    It thrashed.
    He had to climb onto its back to keep the chain tight, but he soon figured out that cutting off its airway had little effect.
    One Ear got its attention with a blood transfusion bag.
    His buddy grabbed for the chain.
    It slathered the blood.
    They got it, minimally, controlled.
    Soon as he stepped back, One Ear had a gun to his head.
    “Hurting our pal back there was unnecessary. We only have questions.”
    “Army attacked. I responded,” Will grimaced. He glanced at the burning brand that was his shoulder. It wasn’t as mangled as it felt.
    “Bite won’t infect you, doesn’t work like that, case you cared,” One Ear said, as apologetic as someone could be with a gun to your head.
    “Doesn’t mean it won’t kill me.” He made a sympathy play, but there was little to be had.
    “Drug Mart looked well stocked. But before you patch yourself up, like I said, we got questions. Answer nice and we won’t let our friend here have another taste,” One Ear said.
    “This piece of real estate we’re looking for was sighted heading this way about two weeks ago; she’s on foot, with a dog,” One Ear’s buddy elaborated.
    “Haven’t seen anyone except you —” He started in denial, but ended in a scream as One Ear whacked his gun, hard, across his shoulder wound.
    He might have blacked out for a bit, because when he came aware, he was on his