Live Free or Die Complete Series Boxed Set: Age Of Madness - A Kurtherian Gambit Series Hayley Lawson (ebook reader play store .TXT) 📖

Clint stood by one of the traps. The Mad inside was frantic, thrashing wildly to get to Clint. He lit a cigarette, took a drag, and then put it into Mad’s mouths. His thrashing stopped for a moment since he was confused. Clint took it out of his mouth, but before the Mad started to go crazy again he put it back in. It looked like that Mad was a smoker, and he looked really silly swinging upside down with a cigarette in his mouth with the other Mad around him spinning in a frenzy. The cigarette was keeping him calm, which worked for the group.

Carter prodded the one who swung into the net next to him. “Funny fuckers, aren’t they?”

“It’s like a zombie chandelier.” Leandro snickered and nudged Ryder. “Get it? The Mad’s cigarette is like a light on a chandelier.”

“What’s a chandelier?”

“Um, I’ll show you when we get back home. They have them in that magazine you liked.”

“The one with the puppy bag?”

“Yes—”

Before Leandro could continue Ryder asked, “Do they have a chandelier in the abandoned mall?”

“Yes, a very big one. It’s suspended from the ceiling, with crystals hanging down from it. It’s beautiful.”

Ryder and Leandro noticed that everyone was looking at them, so they stopped talking.

Vicky grunted. “Chandelier, puppy bag, abandoned mall? I’m not sure what you two are talking about, but what the hell is up with these? I’ve caught them in traps all over my woods. I thought Carter was one of them,” Vicky said, giving Carter the eye. “I still think he might be.”

Ryder looked at Carter and laughed, and the others joined in. Even Vicky broke her stern facade and smiled. Carter hadn’t had the best day. His pants and shirt were dirty from the swamp, his hair was matted and looked like Terrier’s dreadlocks, and his bows were all over the place. If he’d had glowing eyes, he could have been mistaken for a Mad.

Carter looked himself up and down. “What? I’ve looked way worse than this. Even in this state, I’m still the best-looking guy here.”

Vicky eyed at Carter and then the other men in the group. “Best looking of them, maybe.” She tilted her head toward the Mad and smiled, revealing her perfect white teeth.

Carter started to say something but stopped, which wasn’t like him.

Ryder had been sure he’d come back with some smartass comment. Ryder’s started to laugh. “That was a good one.” She grinned at Vicky.

“By the look of your gang, you’re going to need my help. Especially if Willard is in it.” Vicky raised her eyebrows.

“You’re going to help?”

“Yeah. Carter wouldn’t shut up about what you’ve been through, but he said he’d stop talking if I came.” Vicky rolled her eyes. “He also promised not to talk to me for the whole journey, and told me that Massimo was offering things to help us.”

Carter nodded.

“Welcome to the gang! It’s going to be fun to get Carter to break his promise,” Leandro said. Finally, he had something to hold over Carter for calling him “Fluffy.”

Vicky took a look at Leandro. “You’re the best-looking man in the group. Are you single?”

Leandro was taken aback by Vicky’s bluntness. “Yeah,” he said slowly.

Vicky moved closer to Leandro like she could smell the fear on him. “How is that even possible? A fine-looking man like you?”

Everyone could feel the tension between the two of them. Leandro looked downright terrified, and Vicky looked like she wanted to eat him up. So much for Leandro being a big scary wolf. One look from a smoking-hot girl and he turned into a puppy.

Jealousy twisted Ryder’s stomach. She’d felt it before, but not over a man.

Leandro looked at Ryder, and Vicky followed his gaze. She smiled. “He’s yours, is he? Nice catch!”

Ryder and Leandro blushed.

Vicky shrugged. “Never mind. Where are you headed next?” she asked.

Ryder and Leandro were silent as they tried to think their way out of the awkward situation, not realizing that Vicky had already done it for them.

“Back to Pinewood to round up a few more people,” Carter told her.

“I’ll catch up with you. I’ve got a few puppets to clean up.”

Looked like psycho killer would be an interesting addition.

Afana walked back into the lab, leaving the door open. All the advisors looked at him in a panic as they moved quickly to get the cleaning equipment out of there. The advisors were smart, in that they’d removed the pool of blood from where Stuart’s body had landed. There was a toxic chemical smell to the lab from their attempt to conceal the smell of blood. It was like they had known they were on the menu today.

The remaining live specimen was still thrashing against his restraints, but he wasn’t going anywhere. The next round of tests would be on him, and they wouldn’t be rushed. Afana would think everything out before moving forward with any more tests.

He couldn’t risk breaking any more equipment, since it wasn’t like he could send the generals down to Wal-Mart to pick stuff up. He never thought he’d actually miss Wal-Mart, but they really did have everything a person needed.

Advisor Robert was by the music player, trying to straighten out the needle. There was a long scratch on the record. Luckily for Afana he had all his songs loaded on to the computers, but it wasn’t the same as listening to them on a record player.

Afana looked around the lab. The advisors were leaving as they finished the cleanup. This was something they were actually good at, so maybe he’d put them to work on sorting out the bunker once Afana had gotten rid of the disease.

He looked at the specimen again, and it stifled his hunger. He didn’t want to turn into one of them. Then he looked at the corpse of the mutant on the table. It must have taken all of the advisors to lift it.

“I asked them to keep it because we could