Infected Freaks (Book 2): The Echo of Decay by Jason Borrego Read Free Book Online

buildings. The hairs on his neck were standing on end. “Hurry up!” Dozens of rotten bodies littered the space. The ground shimmered in the empty shells of a thousand hollow casings. Abraham felt like he was running through another war zone.
    An RV blocked one of the exits leading out of the chokepoint. On the other side, a large pile of furniture webbed in barbed wire jammed the path. Barriers on top must have been the last stand for those defending that stretch of the city. Upon seeing the spoiled carnage, he wondered if he was heading in the wrong direction. The last thing he wanted to do was lead his grandchildren into a perilous situation. We have to keep moving .
    Panting through clenched teeth, he led them to the back door to the closest adjoining structure and whipped open the uneven frame. Hesitant, Abraham ran a hand though his thinning white hair.
    “This way,” he ordered, dashing to the left. He turned his attention to the end of the hall. A great cluster of fungus bloomed like a huge flower. It covered the entire base of the back wall. It reminded him of decade-old wallpaper. “Is this what the fungus intends to do with the human race?” A dozen butchered bodies were woven into the tangle of soft, pulsating mushrooms.
    “Come on,” Emme slurred, tugging at the frantic boy.
    “Dr. John,” the boy whispered.
    “I’ll kill him,” Hunter said, pointing his rifle.
    Abraham knew his grandson would hurt the boy if he made one more stupid sound. “Shut up,” he muttered, trying to focus.
    Emme covered the boy’s barren eyes and hummed. Had she not been toughened at the barn, she might have screamed herself or so Abraham believed. It couldn’t have been easy for a twelve-year-old to process.
    The sound of something bulky approached the corner. Abraham didn’t wait to see the full shadow of the staggering corpse. He tossed the acquired pipe bomb and ran through another hallway, waiting for the next infected freak to come into his line of sight. The dramatic explosion hammered the swollen walls. Still, he navigated the twists and turns and came to a lobby in shambles.
    An infected freak turned away from a set of doors boarded up with thick slabs of wood. The dead woman’s skirt swirled around her large hips as she regarded them. Her mouth was stained in blood and guts as she came forward.
    Abraham stuffed his pistol in his pants and plunked out his trusty hammer. “You do not belong in this world,” he muttered, thumping the thing across the top of its soft skull.
    At that moment, an unseen infected staggered over the grand oak desk and lashed out, knocking the pistol from his body and the hammer from his hand. The weapons crashed and slid against the marble floor in a thunderous snap.
    Hunter had his back turned, aiming at another creature emerging from the dense smoke behind them. His rifle boomed.
    Emme sunk to the ground and scrambled forward on her fists. “Stay away,” Abraham slurred.
    He struggled against the diseased oddity by grabbing its shabby blazer. The thing’s dull teeth mashed mere inches away from his scrunched face. It’s too strong , he thought, losing grip. Squeezing his eyes shut, he screamed.
    Boom!
    Emme stood, shaking like a dog shitting razor blades. She fired the handgun and tore the back of the infected freak’s skull from its base. “Damn,” she whispered, shivering in what must have been an adrenaline rush.
    Abraham sprang up to his feet and took back the gun. “Oh, sweet girl,” he chafed. He didn’t have time to comfort her. He saw another plague-ridden oddity approaching from the shadows. His feet spun as the gun cracked. The creature was dead as its brains spilled. He had a compulsion to look back at Emme. But he understood survival required him to lead them out of this infested structure.
    “We have to go,” Emme pleaded, picking up the hammer. Her serious face told of hearing more of the abominations. And this time Abraham listened. Desperate, he tore