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

The room fell silent as Javier collapsed to the floor.

Then the door flew open. Everyone pointed their weapons in that direction and then dropped them, since it was Ryder and Fluffy. They’d been woken by the gunshot. Ryder was armed and ready to fight. A door creaked on the other side of the house, and Vicky appeared with her shovel in her hand. Her hair was as wild as she looked. All these cool weapons, and she still had the shovel.

Carter grinned. “Nice of you three to join us, although we could have done with you a few moments ago,”

Ryder walked barefoot toward Javier. “What happened to him?”

“The Madness got him,” Carter told her.

Ryder scanned until she spotted Willard by the door. “Willard, how did he get the Madness?” Ryder asked. “Was he bitten? Are there more out there?”

Willard came in and placed the gun back on the table before dropping onto a chair. He stared at the gun, unable to look at his friend’s lifeless body.

Ryder walked over and took a seat beside Willard. The others gathered around the table to find out what had actually happened.

Willard held his face in his hands for a moment, then looked at them all with guilt-stricken eyes. “We had split up. I was watching the front of the house, and he was watching the back. I was determined not to fall asleep again, not after last time and what happened to Javier. I was walking around to keep myself awake when I heard him talking to someone. I thought it was one of you guys so I ran around to see, but there was no one there. He was talking to himself.” Willard paused and looked around at everyone listening intently to him. “I asked him who he was talking to.”

“What did he say?” Carter asked.

Willard shook his head. “He said I was the one going crazy, that I was hearing things. I thought he must have been right because I was worn out, like my mind was playing tricks on me or something?” Willard shrugged. “I walked back around the front of the house again. When I did the loop around back he wasn’t there so I circled the house again, but he’d gone. That was when I came into the house, to tell him to get his ass back outside. But I can’t now, can I?” He finally looked at Javier’s body.

Ryder listened to everything Willard had said. “So he wasn’t bitten?”

Willard shook his head. “I don’t think he was. He would have told me if he’d been bitten earlier in the day. There were no Mad bodies outside that he’d fought off.” Willard met Ryder’s eyes as he searched for the answer. “He just turned. I wish he had been bitten. Then there would at least be an explanation.”

Everyone was silent for a moment. Ryder had feared that this would be the case after she and Massimo had spoken about it. The mystery surrounding Javier’s infection proved that there was an invisible killer among them. Maybe the Madness had been there all along, just lying dormant. But why now?

“I’m sorry, Willard.” Ryder rested her hand on his arm, which was cold. “You can take Leandro’s bed if you like and I’ll go on watch,” Ryder offered.

Willard shook his head, “I can’t sleep now. Besides, the fresh air will do me some good.” He got to his feet.

“I’ll come with you, mate.” Carter put his arm around Willard’s shoulder, and Ryder smiled at him. He really was a good guy. They all were.

Carter stood in the doorway for a moment, then stepped back into the house and pointed. “Massimo is one lucky fucker. Javier must have turned as he entered the house or he would have gone after Massimo. He’s dead to the world out here.”

Ryder and the others left the house to see what Carter was talking about. Massimo was still sitting in the rocking chair on the porch. Was he still deciding whether to drink my blood? Ryder wondered. He was asleep, and the glass was empty.

He’d drunk it.

Ryder looked at him for a moment. He looked like he had fewer wrinkles, and it was hard to tell in the light, but she could swear some of the silver was gone from his hair. She rubbed her eyes. It was working. Maybe that was why he hadn’t woken up with the commotion and the gunshot… Or maybe I’m just seeing what I want to see.

There was a little chill in the air. Massimo must be cold, Ryder thought. She wondered whether to wake him and turned to Carter. “Carter, could you keep an eye on him? I don’t think we should wake a vampire.” She shrugged.

Everyone agreed with her. Even Fluffy nodded his shaggy head.

Carter shrugged. “Yeah, totally not a good idea to wake a vampire. I don’t know much about them, but Massimo is totally a badass when he’s a vampire. I saw him fight with the locals.”

Ryder went back into the house for a blanket. She carefully wrapped it around Massimo, trying not to wake him.

Carter and Willard stayed outside to watch the house and Massimo, and the others headed back inside.

Ryder thought about what had just happened, and how quickly things could change. “I think we should check Javier’s body for bites and see once and for all whether he was infected by a bite. We need to know what we’re up against. If we can turn into one of them at any point, that’s some scary shit. Then after that, Vicky, can we borrow your shovel? We’ll give him the burial a true warrior deserves.” Ryder bowed her head soberly at the thought of digging a grave for one of her new friends. She wished Carter were here to liven up the moment. Maybe that was why he’d left with Willard; because he knew he couldn’t.

Vicky’s usual