Plague Nation by Dana Fredsti Read Free Book Online Page B

wrong with him. He’s taking it out on you.” Wise words from a eighteen year old.
    “Trust me when I say that you have a long way to go before reaching Gabriel’s current level of asshat behavior.” I shot her a grin. “You’re not even in his league.”
    Lil gave a shaky laugh and propped her chin up on her knees. Then she looked serious.
    “Do you think it’s his meds?”
    “I don’t know.” I shrugged. “Could be. Or maybe it was finding out this shit has spread out of the quarantine zone. Could be that’s upped his stress level, so he’s permanently set in jerk mode.” Even as I said it, I felt bad. So I hastily added, “In which case I’ll give him at least a partial ‘get out of jail free’ card.” I looked at Lil and grinned again. “Same with you, kiddo. No one should have to put up with the shit you’re dealing with.”
    Lil jumped out of bed and gave me a bone-crunching hug.
    “You’re the best, Ash.”
    Binkey jumped off the bed in a huff, giving me a look as he made his way into the bathroom. It was obviously my fault he’d been disturbed. A loud, vigorous scratching followed his disappearance—another way for him to express his opinion.
    I hugged her back as the pungent odor of cat poop wafted out into the room. Lil and I both winced.
    “I’ll go scoop that out,” she said, waving a hand in front of her nose.
    “Good idea,” I said, grabbing a handy bottle of citrus room deodorizer and giving a generous spray. The result was orange-scented cat shit. “You might want to re-think his diet, too.”
    Maybe I’ll see if I can find Gabriel, after all.
    We needed to have a heart-to-heart.

CHAPTER SIX
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    I didn’t want Lil to think Binkey was chasing me away— even if it was partly true—so I told her what I had decided to do. Then I went looking for Gabriel.
    He wasn’t in his room on the first basement level, where our living quarters had been set up. There was a chance he was in the med ward. But not even my desire to speak with Gabriel could get me to venture further down into that house of horrors, with all the people dying of zombie bites and the experiments being done on the undead specimens in the labs. Oh, for the naive days when I was just a student. Before I learned that the DZN had top-secret research facilities in an equally secret sub-level of Patterson Hall.
    I was fully expecting to find a Bat Cave on campus, one of these days.
    So I headed for the main floor where the lecture halls were, ending up in front of Room 217, where Simone had taught her courses. The door was cracked open and the lights were on, and as I drew closer it was easy for me to pick up the sound of voices coming from the room. I stopped, not wanting them to know I was there.
    “So, what have you heard?” Nathan’s tone held barely concealed impatience.
    There was a pause before an answer came. It was Simone.
    “The news isn’t good,” she said. “Confirmed sightings in all the locations where Dr. Albert’s vaccine was sent for testing.” There was silence for a moment, then she continued. “We’re still waiting for the reports from more distant locations. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?”
    Eavesdropping is a time-honored method of acquiring information you otherwise wouldn’t be privy to. And it wasn’t like I meant to stumble across their conversation. Therefore I felt very little—if any—guilt.
    “What are you doing about it?” This was Nathan.
    I peeked through the crack in the door just in time to see Simone shoot Nathan a look that should have shriveled his man bits. They were both at the front of the lecture hall. She was standing by the lectern as if preparing to teach a class, while he leaned against the “command central” table that Paxton usually occupied during our briefings and debriefings.
    “Are you referring to me personally,” she asked testily, “or the Dolofónoitou Zontanóús Nekroús?”
    “I consider you interchangeable.” Nathan crossed his