Rage by Lee Pletzers Read Free Book Online Page A

stale tobacco.
    He was here somewhere. It was going to be the most exquisite pleasure ripping that fucking doctor’s face off his fucking skull. The bastard had crossed all boundaries of morality and humanity. What’s to say he hadn’t made George? And he was doing the same with me, making me an experiment.
    I followed my nose. In the background, I heard the odd person here or there screaming, then groaning a few moments later. The virus does take hold at a fast rate. The doctor wasn’t lying about that. I was an anomaly—a freak. I didn’t change. I beat the virus or the fever beat it for me, sweated it out of my system and made it nothing more than a smudge in my DNA.
    Glass shattered nearby.
    Gunshots. Loud blasts. Shotguns. Close.
    The aroma of gunpowder wafted from the West. At the T corridor, I went to the East. The doctor wouldn’t be involved in a gun battle. His experiments were too important. Most likely, there was a lot of money at stake. Big boys in suits somewhere looking to take advantage of this situation. There had to be a dollar made here somewhere in amongst all this blood and death and violence.
    A few times, unable to stop myself, I glanced over my shoulder, positive that I could smell someone coming at me, but no one was there and the corridor was empty apart from the smells.
    Silence dropped like a heavy blanket. The guns fell instantly quiet. Had they won? Was each bullet to the head? I continued on my path. This hospital didn’t seem as high-tech as I originally thought. It was old and the paint was chipped in several places. I didn’t expect to see the halls flooded with people but I did think a few doctors or scientists would be wandering around, perhaps a few security guards. They had to be pretty secure to leave our ward unattended.
    They didn’t expect me.
    They didn’t expect RAGE.
    I reached the end of the corridor and turned into a large waiting room for emergencies. It was empty and the exit was wide open. Decay washed over me. Turning, I saw six guards and a few nurses or orderlies racing along the corridor. Some were fresh, a few had bullet wounds and two looked like they had come out of the ground. The guards were fresh zombies and they moved at a fast clip, the others were older and moved slower. I watched them pass. Each one ignored me. I was, after all, one of them now.
    “ More will be coming.”
    I spun around looking for the voice. I couldn’t find anyone. Even my sense of smell failed me. Then I remembered: hospitals had speakers in the ceilings. I looked up and there it was embedded into the tile. I doubted he could hear me so I said nothing and walked towards the exit.
    “ We’ve been experimenting for months now, John.”
    His voice stopped me. Looking around wildly I saw three hallways and the entrance to the nurse’s station. I approached it and looked over the counter, hoping the fucker was there but he wasn’t.
    “ What are you looking for? Me?” He laughed. “You won’t find me there.”
    “ Where are you, you fucker?”
    “ Sorry John, one-way speakers. I can’t hear you, but I can see you. You look beautiful. You are exactly what we need. You’re a weapon, John, a natural weapon. The zombies accept you, you walk amongst them and they couldn’t care less.”
    Access to the speaker system meant he was here somewhere. Even if I had to break down every damn door in this building, nothing could stop me from finding him. And when that happened, I was going to destroy him.
    “ With some training and a gun in your hand, John, oh John, you could end all this. We have your blood and we will create an army of thinking soldiers that can walk with the dead and clean up this mess. Your success is our success.”
    I picked a hallway at random.
    “ You can lead this, John. You can be the hero. Avenge Skyler.”
    At the mention of my sweet daughter’s name, RAGE took complete control. I felt my body going through another change. My muscles tensed, locking up so I