Deadlocked by A. R. Wise Read Free Book Online

first rule of sales is confidence in your product. My product was a lie about my own infection and how the virus spread. I needed to sell this better than anything I'd ever sold in my life. “That’s how the virus is spread.”
    “What the fuck you talking about?” asked the chubby one.
    “When you shoot someone, you vaporize their blood.” I did my best to relay everything as if it was common knowledge. It was a sales technique in which you give information in a way that sounds like you assumed the person being sold already knew it. It makes the buyer feel smart and in control of the conversation even though they're being sold.
    “The bullet’s force causes tiny particles of blood to go into the air. I’m sure you’ve seen stuff about it on one of those crime scene investigation shows. The forensics shows. You know what I’m talking about? I think they call it blood clouds, or blood vapor, or something like that.”
    “Fuck you man,” said the one with the gun.
    “No, Jay, I’ve heard of that shit. I think he might be right,” said the chubby one.
    “If you shoot one of these zombies, you’ll end up getting blood vapor in your eyes. That’s all it takes. It was on the news, just like an hour ago. This virus is super contagious. If even a tiny bit of the blood vapor gets in you, you’ll turn into one of them.” I saw the man with the gun glance up at the bloody gauze wrapped around my head.
    When he looked up I took the opportunity to grab his wrist with my right hand and move the gun away from my head. He pulled the trigger, but the bullet struck the ceiling of the hallway behind me and I had enough time to kick his knee. He fell down and I pulled his arm up to my mouth.
    “Drop it or I’ll bite you!” I bit into his arm hard enough to hurt but not enough to break the skin. My left ear rang from the gun blast and my heart pounded as I struggled to hold onto him.
    Jay squealed in terror. He dropped the gun and pulled away from me with all his strength. I was far too weak to hold on and had to let him go. He skittered across the pavement toward his fat friend.
    “Get the fuck away from our truck,” said Laura as she appeared. She was brandishing the dropped pistol.
    “You fucking crazy,” said Jay as he stood up. “You ain’t gonna shoot no one. Give the gun back to us men, cunt.”
    Laura lowered the gun and shot him in the leg.
    "Watch your mouth," she said as Jay squealed and fell into his friend’s arms. The thugs retreated to their truck while we loaded the girls into ours. Laura kept the gun pointed at them as we moved and I kissed her on the cheek before going to my side.
    “Did you really get bit?” she asked.
    “No, babe. That was bullshit.”
    “Mother fucker,” said the chubby one.
    Laura started to laugh. “You really are the best God damned salesman I’ve ever met.”
    “Pays to be a liar, babe,” I said as I got in the truck. She handed me the gun when she got in and I reached out the window to point it at them. “Do yourself a favor and get some food from the cafeteria. There’s plenty there. And I left a bunch of supplies in the nurse's office you can use to patch up the gunshot.”
    “I’m going to kill you two mother fuckers!” said Jay.
    Laura started the truck. I leaned further out the window to say my goodbye. “Oh, and one last thing. Don’t ever threaten my family again.” I fired a shot into his tire. It exploded with a violent whine and hiss as the air escaped.
    I accepted the idea that I might die that day, but it wouldn't be those two pieces of shit that finished me off.

 
    CHAPTER SEVEN – A THUG'S LIFE
     
    Laura drove the truck across the soccer field and back onto the street. I was pretty happy with the result of our confrontation and couldn’t stop from smiling as I did my best to reassure my daughters that I'd been lying about getting bit.
    “Daddy’s a big fat liar, girls,” said Laura and we shared a laugh. Then she stiffened when she saw