Dead by Dawn by Bret Wellman Read Free Book Online Page B

voice.
    “Look, I’m real sorry about the other day. I don’t know what got into me.” You got into me…
    “Go away.”
    “Do you need anything? Soup or something.”
    “I need some peace,” said Carl. He was growing louder, angry.
    Fine, wallow in your own self-pity for all I care.
    Adam left him there and went out to watch some television. He wished he could be farther away from Carl than the tiny hallway, but the living room would have to do.
    It took him all but ten minutes of channel surfing to discover nothing was on. When he gave up, he began searching through the DVD collection. Adam had personally bought every movie in the collection and therefore saw them all at least twice.
    In the end he settled for a movie he hadn’t seen in a while, Shawn of the Dead.
    Adam slipped it into the DVD player and kicked back, preparing for a long day of movie watching. Much to his delight, Carl never came out of his room once for eight hours. The two of them had never gotten along better under one roof.
    His mom got home around 5:30, carrying a pizza box and can of soup.
    “Hey Honey, how was your day?”
    Adam shrugged. “It was fine.”
    “How is Carl?”
    “He didn’t want to be disturbed.”
    She frowned. “Well it’s about time he got up and moved around. It’ll be good for him.”
    She set down the pizza and soup and headed into the back room. Adam waited on the couch, not sure if he should leave or wait for pizza.
    When his mom came out Carl was practically hanging from her elbow. The man looked like death. His lips were turning blue and his skin was ghost white. He did little more than shuffle as he walked along and his eyes were glazed over. Adam couldn’t be sure, but it looked as though he’d lost a lot of weight as well.
    “He’s freezing,” said Adam’s mom. “Watch him while I call the doctor.”
    Adam scooted as far away as he could as his mom set Carl down on the couch. He didn’t know what the hell the guy was sick with, but he didn’t want to catch it.
    Carl didn’t move or talk, he just sat there, staring straight forward. Adam watched him, unsure of what to do.
    Eventually his mom came back in, twisting her hands together. “The doctor told me to take him to the hospital.”
    After seeing Carl come out of that room, he could have told her that. The man looked like death on two feet.
    “No hospital,” Carl mumbled.
    “You’re really sick Darling. You need to go. At least get checked out,” said Adam’s mom.
    She touched his elbow and he yanked it away. “No hospital.”
    “Do you want to die?” asked Adam. “Is that it? You’re really sick man. You need a doctor.”
    “I’m fine.”
    “No you’re not.”
    Adam grabbed him and was shocked to find he felt like ice. Carl tried to jerk away, but was too weak to make any headway. Adam was able to pull him up.
    “No,” Carl moaned.
    “Oh, be careful honey. He’s very sick.”
    Carl was almost dead weight as Adam struggled to get him to the front door. His mom followed closely behind, her hand was out as if to catch the overweight man were he to fall.
    They stepped outside the front door and Carl gasped.
    “The sun!” he cried, “it’s burning me!”
    “You’re fine,” said Adam, inching him towards his mom’s car. He had to admit, the man was suddenly much more alert. The sunlight seemed to pour a little bit of life back into the guy. He tried to resist, pushing with more force against Adam than he had probably given all day.
    He had his eyes closed and was moaning as if in pain. The neighbor across the street who had been watering his flower beds stopped to stare.
    When Adam finally had Carl in the passenger seat and buckled in, he had the strong urge to take a shower. He felt sick to his stomach just thinking about whatever germs were now crawling all over him.
    “Thank you Adam,” said his mom. “You were a big help today.”
    “You don’t need me to come with you?”
    “No no, we’ll be fine. I’ll have