The Demented Z (Book 3): Contagion by Derek J Thomas Read Free Book Online

to the door, wanting to make sure they
were uninfected. He could hear people
talking on the other side.
    “They’re going to let…told…hurry or…them.”
  Only bits and pieces of the conversation
could be made out.
    Tom whisper-shouted, “How many are you?”
    A girl’s voice came back, “Three.”
  A brief hesitation.
  “Please.”
    An infected could be heard shrieking in the background.
  Through the door it was difficult to make out
how far away.
    The voice came back, as well as another, panicked, “Help us,
please…their…she’s sick.”
    Tom instinctively took a step away from the door at the word
“sick.” He looked over at Bear, who was
shaking his head. A look back at the
others got him the same result, more shaking heads.
  Nobody wanted sickness in the room with them.
    A man’s voice on the other side of the
door, “On the road…my wife…please let us in.”
    Silence.
    Nearly shouting, the man said, “Please, they’re out
here. My daughter’s only fourteen.”
    A brief silence and then more pounding
on the door.    A
scream. “Help!”
  The girl screamed.
    It was gut wrenching.
  Hannah turned from the door, unable to even
look at the wooden barricade, as if it was a window to the terror outside.
  Hank moved toward the nearest window, even
though it sat on a wall that didn’t look out front.
  He debated pulling back the blanket covering
it, but quickly decided against it.
    “Be quiet!” Tom
whisper shouted.
    The pounding continued.  
     Angry growls from outside.
    “Kill the light.” Tom
whispered.
    Logan dropped to his knees and snapped off the tiny LED
lantern, enveloping them in darkness.  
Shrieks and growls betrayed the interior’s silence.
    There was a terrified scream outside the door.
  The boom of a shotgun caused Tom to
jump. The pounding at the door started
up again, both angry and panicked. From
the sounds they all could envision the scenario that was playing out just
beyond the door. Even in the pitch black
interior they all stood staring at where they knew the door was.
  More screaming.
    The boom seemed to shake the entire building.
  Everyone was stunned, not immediately realizing
what had happened, and then it dawned on them.  
One of the outsiders had used the shotgun to blast the door, blowing
apart the lock and handle, sending the door slamming up against the interior
wall across from Bear. Faint moonlight
spilled in the opening, highlighting the trio in silhouette.
    With the silence already broken, Tom clipped the bow to his back,
drew a MAC-9, and a flashlight. With a
click, bright light lit up the three faces that were racing inside the
room. A young girl, tears streaming down
her face, was being rushed in by a man and woman.
    Thwak
    Bear was tight to the wall just to the side of the
door. The sudden light and movement had
caused him to panic, letting a bolt fly from his crossbow.
  The daughter had made it inside, while the
mom, following close behind, was in at just the wrong moment.
  As the door was swinging back the bolt caught
the woman in the neck and pinned her to the wood.
  She hung there, grotesquely, blood oozing
from around the fiberglass shaft.
    “Nooo!”
  Tom shouted too late.
    Not ready for her to suddenly stop, the man ran into his
wife’s back, spun sideways and crashed to the floor.
  His shotgun went skidding across the wood
ahead of him. The daughter continued to
race toward Tom, oblivious to what had happened right behind her.
    “Get down!” Tom
shouted.
    Hank raced forward and scooped up the shotgun.
    The father’s eyes glanced up at Hank and then back at the
door, and his wife. He got to his hands
and knees, and scurried back to the door.
    Bear looked up at the man while he finished loading another
bolt in his crossbow. A look of concern
crossed his face. He was unsure what the
husband was going to do.
    They were all surprised when the husband moved behind the
door and