Mutation (Twenty-Five Percent Book 1) by Nerys Wheatley Read Free Book Online

pushed against it until it slid reluctantly open, then squeezed through the gap.  A body slumped against it on the other side, a man with brown hair and a slightly rotund midsection.  Officer David Sharpe.  Alex didn’t know him well, but he remembered attending his bachelor party seven months ago.  A huge chunk had been ripped from his shoulder. 
    Alex turned away, feeling sick.
    Everything was quiet as he continued along the corridor.  There were more bodies, mostly people he didn’t know, a couple that he did.  Belinda the dispatcher was crumpled in a heap in the briefing room doorway, her dishevelled ponytail now matted with blood. 
    He stared at her body for a few seconds.  The hand holding his pistol began to tremble.  Gripping the gun tighter, he walked on.
    After too much blood and death, he reached the inspector’s office.
    “Alex, you made it.” 
    Alex jumped at the voice breaking the silence.  Parker was sitting in the chair behind his desk.  Four more bodies, three women and a man, lay on the floor between him and the door.  The inspector’s pistol lay on the desk in front of him, next to a framed picture of his wife.
    “Sir, what happened?”
    Parker gave a wan smile.  “I made a mistake, that’s what happened.”  He drew a shuddering breath.  “Someone came in with a bite.  I should have put them down straight away.  I didn’t know...”  He winced and for the first time Alex noticed he was holding his left forearm.  Blood stained his shirt sleeve.  “They’re turning fast, far quicker than you could imagine.”
    “I know,” Alex said, staring at Parker’s arm, knowing what it meant.  “Cutter and I saw an attack.”
    “Is Rodney...?”
    “He’s fine, sir.  He went to find his daughters.”
    Parker nodded and sighed.  He closed his eyes.  “I don’t have long.  You need to listen to me.”
    “Yes, sir.”  Alex tried to keep his voice steady.  He’d known Nathaniel Parker for a long time.  He was a friend.
    “There’s no help coming.  They’re sealing off the city to stop the spread.”
    “Sealing off?  How?”
    “I don’t know details.  I just know there are no phone or internet signals getting in or out.  We’ve been abandoned.  All you can do now is get to any loved ones you have here, find somewhere safe and stay alive.  I got Belinda to tell everyone who’s still out the same thing.  Before...”  He glanced at the bodies on the floor and shook his head.  “If you happen to see my wife,” he paused and looked at the photo in the frame on his desk, a look of pain crossing his features.  “If you happen to see Allie, tell her I love her more than I could ever say.  Don’t tell her how I died.”  He paused and his eyelids began to droop, his head lolling forward for a moment before jerking back up again.  “Go now,” he said, his voice slurring.  “I don’t have much longer.”
    Alex felt a tear roll down his cheek.  He wiped at it and nodded.  “I’m proud to have served with you, sir.  Nate.”
    Parker nodded and smiled.  “You’re a great cop, Alex.  One of the best.  You’ll make it.”  He waved him away, reaching for the pistol on the desk as Alex turned to leave. 
    Alex had gone ten feet along the corridor when the single gunshot echoed through the building. 
    All the energy suddenly drained from his body.  Slumping against the wall, Alex closed his eyes and fought the aching despair rising in his chest. 
    There had been no warning this morning, no clue as to what was coming.  No hint of the pain and suffering the day would bring.  The morning had started out as it always did.  How long ago was that?  How long since the world began sliding into oblivion?  And Alex still didn’t understand what was going on.  Eaters everywhere, turning within ten minutes of being infected, people being eaten on the streets.  Was this some kind of spontaneous mutation of Meir’s Disease?  Was it even the same