When the Dead Rise (Book 1): The Beginning by C.M. Fick Read Free Book Online Page A

would go. The car swung onto the street then stopped, swaying from the violent turn. Maggie fumbled with the shifter as she watched the paramedic stumble towards her. With the car finally in drive Maggie sped past the house just in time to see Tyrone and the second paramedic stumble off of her porch.
    Poor choices...
    Maggie didn't remember the eight-minute drive to her sisters or her frantic banging on the door; she only remembered seeing her sister's panicked face when the door finally opened.
    "Oh God Maggie, what happened to you?" Anne exclaimed after taking in her sister's state.
    Maggie collapsed, bawling, into her sister's open arms. "Tyrone..." she gasped, unable to catch her breath, knowing she was going into shock.
    "Tyrone did this to you?" Anne asked incredulously.
    "Yes... No.. He's dead Anne." Maggie managed to get out between sobs.
    "Dead?" Now it was Anne's turn to be shocked. "How?"
    "He was dead but now he's not. He's walking around biting people Anne and they die and get back up to bite more people." Maggie looked up into her sister's frightened face. "I'm going to die and come back like them. I'm going to eat people too."
    "No baby," Anne stroked Maggie's hair gently as she spoke in a calming tone, but felt none of the calm she was trying to impart to her sister, "you aren't going to die or eat people. I don't know what you've been through, but you're a mess; you're in shock. Let's get you inside so I can take a look at you."
    Maggie went wild, thrashing against her sister's embrace. "No, not inside. I'm not going to put you at risk. If I die I'll come back and eat you."
    Anne looked down and noticed the wrapping on Maggie's calf; Anne's blood ran cold. Something very bad had happened to her baby sister. She was going to find out who'd done this to her and make them pay. "What happened to your leg sweetie?" Anne asked, unsure if she truly wanted an answer.
    Maggie's hand went down to the makeshift bandage, loosening the ties. Anne gasped when the cloth fell away revealing a nasty bite and a missing chunk of skin. "Who bit you?" she asked, unable to mask the horror in her voice.
    "Tyrone," Maggie wailed.
    "Well we're going to take you to the hospital..."
    "No!" Maggie screamed. "No hospital!"
    "Well baby, if I can't take you inside and I can't take you to the hospital, what do you expect me to do with you?" Anne wasn't sure what to do; she'd never seen anything like this before.
    Maggie looked up to Anne with glassy eyes. "Do you have any orange juice or lemonade? I need to keep my fluids and sugar up because of the blood loss."
    Anne sighed; for someone in shock she'd at least retained her medical training. "Sure thing baby. You wait right here and I'll be back in a few minutes with some juice for you." As Anne hurried back into the house to pour a glass of juice she remembered the sleeping pills she'd been prescribed a year earlier. If Maggie wasn't going to be reasonable, then she'd just have to make sure she was calm until Anne could get her to the hospital. It didn't take Anne long to crush the tiny blue pill, mixing some of the powder in with the juice. Before long, she was handing the spiked drink back to her sister, who chugged the whole thing in one breath.
    Anne sat rocking Maggie on the porch of her home, trying to decide what she'd do after dropping Maggie off at the hospital. She could go confront Tyrone, but the big man frightened Anne. She could go to the police and report the incident - but what would they do... Maggie had been bitten. Is biting considered abuse? Assault? "It sure as hell is," Anne said indignantly.
    Maggie gave a soft groan from Anne's lap; she was asleep at last.
     

Volume 3: Wildfire
    Shifts end...
    Officer Rick Powell and his partner Officer Brett Lewis pulled into the stations parking lot, glad the day was finally over. Their final call of the evening had been a domestic dispute where the woman refused to press charges against her dead-beat husband; those type of calls