Infected by V.A. Brandon Read Free Book Online Page A

nose deeper into his blanket nest.
    Amy snuggled under her blanket and leaned against the wall. “Do you think he left?” she whispered, worry filling her voice.
    With a shrug, Justin settled down next to her. “It’s possible.”
    “But why leave his stuff behind? That’s not like Patrick at all. You know he’s a hoarder when it comes to food.”
    “I’m sure he’s on the clinic grounds. Maybe he heard the Runners, freaked out, and sought refuge elsewhere. He probably didn’t have time to pack his things up.” Justin reached out to caress Amy’s shoulder, his touch light and soothing. “We’ll search for him again tomorrow morning. He’s bound to turn up sooner or later.”
    Justin’s words took the tension off Amy. Patrick’s absence would cause a day’s delay, but that was preferable to simply abandoning a person, no matter how annoying said person was. Comforted, Amy scooted closer to Justin, sighing in exhaustion as she felt his arm gather her in. The warmth, coupled with the close proximity of another human being, lulled her into a deep, dreamless sleep.
    ***
    The next morning, the group quickly scarfed down a simple meal of chunky vegetable soup before continuing with their search. Daniel offered to join Amy and Justin, but Amy adamantly refused his help.
    “You should stay with your wife,” she said, nodding at Marie’s sprained ankle. “In fact, why don’t you start loading the food boxes into the station wagon? We might as well take them with us, since Patrick won’t be hanging around here anymore.”
    Daniel inclined his head. “Very well. If you need extra help, please let me know.”
    Amy and Justin headed outside, taking big gulps of the fresh morning air. They decided to go to the woods once more, in the hopes that Patrick had returned for his belongings. Food and water were definitely motives to return, no matter how frightened a person might have been the night before.
    When they reached the spot, they stood there staring at Patrick’s scattered belongings, untouched since Amy had found them hours ago. So Patrick hadn’t returned by the looks of things. Where could he have gone?
    Justin crouched and began tossing everything into the backpack. “I’m starting to have a bad feeling about this,” he muttered, zipping up the bag and hefting it over his shoulder.
    So was Amy, but she pressed her lips together, unwilling to voice her thoughts.
    They spent some time wandering around the woods, calling out Patrick’s name to no avail. About an hour later, they made their way toward The Peak, just in time to see a hoard of Runners moving across the highway. Amy stood on the hill and observed the hundreds of Runners stumbling and trampling over each other, running as if compelled by some unseen force. Did they never get tired? Would they keep running like this until they were all put out of their misery?
    “Look at them go,” Justin said beside her, and she murmured an absent-minded reply. Her thoughts returned to Patrick once more. If he wasn’t on the grounds, he could be wandering up and down the road. It could be that the injuries he’d sustained were affecting his judgment, and were more severe than they’d realized. Concerned, she voiced this troubling possibility to Justin.
    He nodded slowly. “He could be walking around, disoriented. I didn’t notice anything odd last night, but he could very well be suffering from a minor head trauma.” His expression turned contemplative. “It’s possible that he fell and hit his head hard on the ground during the fight.”
    Amy winced. “That’s awful. We have to find him quickly, before something else finds him first.”
    “Agreed.” He headed back down the hill, and Amy hurried after him. “Daniel and I will take the station wagon and search for him. Meanwhile, I want you to stay with Marie. Patrick could turn up at the mansion at any time, so you need to be here in case that happens.”
    “Don’t stay out there too long,