Dying to Live by Roxy De Winter Read Free Book Online

Pretty soon the subject moved on and Xin was talking about her family. She told him about her father, who had loved her dearly but sadly passed away just a few years ago, and how she regretted that he hadn’t lived to see her receive her doctorate. She told him about her mother, who had moved away to California last year and how she wished their relationship had been better.  Before this Xin had hoped to visit her, once she had finished her work in Nevada.
    He found that he liked hearing her tell him about herself and learning more about her. They seemed to have a connection and he felt that they could quickly become good friends.
    “Could I ask you something?” she asked tentatively.
    He didn’t word a reply but sat back in his chair, smiling, and spread his arms wide in a gesture that told her to ask away.
    “When we were talking on the plane, you said you don’t have a wife or kids, but you said ‘not anymore’? I understand if it’s something you don’t want to talk about...”
    “It’s fine,” he said, still smiling but sadly now. “I did have a wife, Marie. I had a daughter called Jessica too. We had a house in the same town I was born in, in Australia. Jessica was four years old. One night a friend called me quite late in the evening and told me his car had broken down. I’m a pretty good mechanic; I’d always watched my brother work on cars when I was younger. So, I headed out to help him. While I was out, some kids in the neighbourhood were drinking and smoking in the woods behind our house. The police said that the fire started from a dropped cigarette butt. It was so dry at that time of year that the whole place went up. A lot of houses in the neighbourhood were affected, but they all had the time to get out. The fire was directly behind my house. Maria and Jessica probably didn’t wake up until the flames were already licking at the doors...” A single tear rolled down his cheek and Xin reached out and placed her hand on his.
    “Oh no, Pete. I shouldn’t have asked. I’m so sorry,” She apologized.
    “No, its fine,” he said, composing himself quickly. He didn’t go on, but he didn’t need to. Instead they talked about other things; their work, their interests and hobbies. They discovered that they had similar tastes and that they shared opinions. Soon enough, they were laughing again and Pete was glad that he had told her.
    They seemed to forget about the impending danger as they sat there, but were quickly reminded of it when they heard a loud crash of breaking glass and shouting coming from the reception. The atmosphere that had been so relaxed and easy going just five minutes ago, became tense and unsure. People were looking at each other questioningly and the bar staff were hurrying towards the lobby. There was more shouting and people began to leave their tables to go and investigate the noise themselves.
    “Here we go again,” Pete sighed, getting up from his seat. “We should see what’s going on.”
    Xin stood up and followed him towards the double doors that led out into the reception. Mentally, she chastised herself for becoming distracted from her objective. She had come here with the intention of scoping out the situation and so far had done nothing.
    Pete followed the growing crowd into the lobby and saw that the smashing sound, had in fact, been the glass front of the hotel breaking under the impact of a car colliding with it. The car was now a crumpled, mangled mess that was wedged half inside the building and folded around one of its metal supports. It took only a quick glance towards the driver’s side of the car to know that the woman who had ploughed into the building was infected. Her hair was a dirty blonde and hung in ratty tails across her face. Although her face was covered in blood and dirt, Pete could see the snarl curling her lips. She struggled in frustration, trying to get out of the car and lunge for the nearest spectator. The crumpled door did not want