Dying to Live by Roxy De Winter Read Free Book Online Page B

his displeasure at the whole idea. Without another word, he tucked a book of matches into her palm. Xin curled her fingers around them and nodded once.
    The lobby was big. Big enough, he hoped, that the explosion would not cause more problems than it solved. Pete lured the remaining receptionist away, making up a tale about somebody fainting.
    Xin hesitantly made her way towards the vehicle. The scratched silver paintwork still caught the afternoon sun light and glinted in her eyes. She squinted against it, shielding her eyes with her hand. The twisted creature that was trapped inside of the car, watched angrily as Xin drew closer.
    “Alright, let’s do this,” Xin said to herself. She looked around, checking that she was not being watched. Feeling only the gleaming eyes of the thrashing woman upon her, Xin struck one of the matches and let it fall to the ground.
    When Pete looked over his shoulder, he saw Xin running from the car. A burst of fire mushroomed outwards. Even from where he stood, Pete could see the zombie. Somehow, it had managed to pull itself over the steering wheel. He watched as the zombie was sent reeling in the blast. The broken shards of windscreen speared her head as she jerked backwards. He saw splatters of gore burst out from the impact and her face mutated in anger. A secondary explosion jarred her further and the light left her eyes. She grew still, just as the scene was engulfed with leaping flames.
    The force of the blast knocked Xin from her feet and she sailed forwards. Pete rushed to her immediately, leaving the confused receptionist stood staring at the scene that was unfolding. As the fire alarm and sprinklers started up, Pete knelt beside Xin.
    “Are you alright?” He fussed.
    Xin was slightly dazed. She couldn’t remember how she had ended up on the cold marble floor and her head was ringing.
    “I think I banged my head,” She moaned, raising a hand to touch it. “Ouch! My elbow too, by the feel of it!” Pain jolted through her arm as she flexed it.
    “Let’s get you up and get out of here,” Pete decided, offering a hand to help her to her feet. Xin took it and shakily found her feet.
    In the ensuing chaos that erupted, they managed to sneak back to their rooms. They decided it was probably best for them to leave right away. The emergency services would eventually discover the match and suspicion could fall upon them. The last thing they needed was to be investigated. Not only could they accuse her of starting the fire, but the police could still be on the lookout for a rebel scientist. So, in order to avoid arrest, they hastily recovered the cases they hadn’t had time to unpack, and left without being seen. They made their escape through a fire door and found themselves outside in the car park.

4.
    ‘Frank Burton is my name. My friends all used to call me ‘Captain’. It’s not an official title but I am a qualified pilot. What seems like a long time ago now, I flew for all of the popular airlines. But I did some things that I’m not exactly proud of and I lost my reputation as a commercial pilot. I started to take the odd contracted jobs from wherever I could get them. I was contacted by ZanChai Pharmaceuticals, at very short notice, to take a client out to America. I needed the money, so I left the squalor of my apartment and my lonely TV meal for one and headed out. I remember the flying conditions were great that night. The flight went smoothly; it was just the landing that caused the problems...’
    “We’ll be coming in to land soon, sir. You may want to strap in now,” Frank warned over the intercom. He could see the airport lights beneath them and he and the co-pilot prepared to bring the plane down. The radio buzzed as though someone below was going to speak to them, but then it went dead.
    “Strange,” stated the co-pilot beside him. Tim was a man of few words. A good pilot, although technically in his retirement years now and the large paunch between him