The Hunger (Book 1): Devoured by Jason Brant Read Free Book Online Page A

need to get out of here ASAP,” Don finally said.
    “How?” Lance turned to him. “There are armed guards and military personnel outside the door. A colonel or a major already threatened me.”
    “Why?” Liz asked.
    “Said I was a troublemaker or taking liberties or something like that. Seemed like an asshole.”
    The door to the room opened and Doctor Brown stepped through.
    “Good morning,” he said.
    Lance looked him over, shocked at how fatigued the man appeared. Dark circles hung under droopy eyes. Half of his shirt was tucked in—the other half dangling over his belt. Bloodstains dotted his coat.
    “Liz, Don, this is Doctor Brown.” Lance eased back onto his bed, glad to be off his feet again. It was amazing how years of office work had sissified his legs. Every time he took some pressure off them, he felt orgasmic.
    Don stepped forward, offering a hand. “Doc Brown? Really?”
    “Please save the Back to the Future jokes for another time. I’m too tired to pretend that you’re the first person to make the connection.” He gave Don’s hand a feeble, exhausted shake before turning his attention to Liz. “Are you Lance’s wife?”
    Liz hesitated. “Yes.”
    Her response surprised Lance. He’d expected an emphatic ‘hell no’.
    “I wish I could say it’s a pleasure to meet you, but under these circumstances, it’s not.” The doc stepped away from the door, lowering his voice. “I only have a few minutes, but I promised to keep you in the loop, so here I am.”
    “You look tired, Doc,” Lance said.
    “We don’t have time to sleep, unfortunately. We’re trying to get ahead of this thing, but it’s not looking good.”
    “No shit, Doc. They’re shooting people out there.”
    “They’re shooting people in here too.” Brown shook his head. “I can’t even begin to explain the things I’ve seen. Two of the people under our care were killed this morning by military personnel.”
    Liz gasped. “How can they do this? Why are they doing this?”
    “The men were shot in self-defense. They attacked several of our orderlies and broke loose. The soldiers shot them before they could hurt anyone else.”
    “How many people are infected now?” Lance asked.
    “I don’t know. We have at least fifty cases in the hospital, but we’ve had more people coming in all night.”
    Don said, “And three more were just killed outside.”
    “If people out there are infected and not seeking medical attention, then we have no idea how widespread this is.”
    “Our television doesn’t have any signal so we aren’t up on the latest. Has the government said anything?” Lance had chills running up his spine. He was starting to wonder if this was it.
    The end of it all.
    “They cut off the communication systems inside of the hospital. Something about quelling any panic, which sounds like a load of crap to me. I only know what the CDC is telling us, which isn’t much. They’ve declared martial law though—no one is allowed out on the streets unless for medical emergencies. All interstate travel is shut down too. At this point, they’re following some preplanned protocol to contain an outbreak. We’re in full-blown crisis mode.”
    Cutting off the phones and television signals to the hospital felt like a too little, too late situation to Lance. If the people outside the building suffered from the same things as those in here, then what was the point in taking out their communications? He knew the government was slow and inefficient, but this was ridiculous.
    “And what about the disease? Is it contagious?”
    Doc Brown stepped further inside. “Incredibly contagious. The CDC thinks it is airborne, which would basically decimate the population, but I don’t believe that. We have two doctors and a dozen orderlies that are showing symptoms and all of them have come in contact with the patient’s blood or saliva.”
    “Saliva? Are you telling me we’re dealing with zombies here?” Don asked.