Contamination Prequel (Post-Apocalyptic Zombie Series) by T.W. Piperbrook Read Free Book Online Page A

of the houses still had their lights blazing, but Howard no longer saw any shadows in the doorways. It was as if the residents had returned to bed, unaware of the danger. Or else they were roaming the streets, looking for victims , he thought.
    Howard stopped suddenly. A sound had emitted from a pair of trees in front of them. The girl stopped behind him.
    He aimed his gun. An object had begun to move behind one of the tree trunks. He saw a flash of white from near the ground, and then something jutting out into the open. A tail. Howard lowered his weapon. A cat came slinking towards them, purring. He imagined they had caught the animal mid-chase—probably on the hunt for a mouse or some other rodent. It rubbed against the girl’s legs, and he waved his arms at it, sending it scurrying back behind the trees.
    Howard glanced around them in all directions, but no other figures emerged. He took the opportunity to withdraw a cellphone from his pocket. A text message was waiting for him.
    Status? It read.
    He returned his gun to its holster, and signaled for the girl to wait. Her eyes fell downwards, and she stared at her shoes in compliance. Using his thumbs, he drafted a reply.
    On schedule.
    He hit the ‘send’ button, and returned the phone to his pocket. Later, he would break it into pieces and discard the remnants in various locations. Just to be sure. Though he doubted anyone would ever make the connection. The cellphone had been sent to him by mail, probably purchased from a remote location. He knew he could trust the phone’s sender.
    Right now, he needed to focus to ensure his survival. That was what was expected of him. Only when the destruction of St. Matthews was complete would he be able to relax. He withdrew his pistol once again and began to move. The girl fell in line behind him.
    He would return her to her father, but that was it. Afterwards, the pair would be on their own, along with the rest of this God-forsaken town.

Part Three—Broken Foundation

11
    D an clung to his dead wife for what seemed like an eternity. He parted her hair, kissed her forehead, and tried to ignore the fact that she looked nothing like the woman he loved. The gash on her head had stopped bleeding, but a puddle of blood on the floor served as evidence that she had once been alive.
    His mind was spinning, still trying to comprehend what had happened. Why was he still here?
    He needed to find his daughter. Though he knew Howard was searching the neighborhood, he needed to assist to ensure she was safe and protected. To ensure she was alive . Where the hell were the medics? Howard had called them, hadn’t he?
    His eyes darted around the room, passing over the wreckage that had once been his dining room. Julie’s chair lay on its back. Several of the rungs had cracked, and the back had started to separate from the frame. Next to it was the knife, which gave off only a dull shine—far less threatening without a hand to wield it.
    He had dropped his pistol on the floor next to him, freeing up both hands to cradle his wife’s body. The gun seemed to beckon to him now, a subtle reminder of his duties as a police officer and father. He felt a breeze pass through the house, kicking up a lock of Julie’s hair and draping it across his face. Howard must have left the door open.
    Dan began to think about getting up, about releasing his death-grip on a woman who had already embraced death. Quinn was still out there, and if he lost her too, he would have lost everything.
    Before he could stand, a pair of footsteps clapped against the pavement outside. The rest of the force , he thought. He was sure that Mickey and Sheriff Turner would be on their way—in fact he was surprised they hadn’t made it already. As the noises continued, he realized something sounded off. His fellow officers would have announced their presence. The footsteps he heard seemed muffled, as if the owners were trying to conceal their arrival.
    Dan’s police instincts