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

Ryder looked at Massimo. “What, like the bunker?” Ryder was thinking that the world before WWDE was better than today.

Massimo quickly shook his head. “Oh. Oh, no. People were allowed to travel freely around the world, and could live where ever they wanted.”

Ryder's eyes lit up. “Nice! Like life before the bunker.”

Massimo let out a little laugh. “Yes. Some city dwellers felt like they were living in a bunker, though. They were living in very, very tiny apartments, with not enough room to swing a cat. In some city apartments, they could stretch out their arms and each hand could touch a wall. They were very small.” Massimo stretched his arms out to illustrate.

Ryder was a little confused. “That doesn’t sound like much fun.”

Massimo was enjoying this conversation. “In New York City, there were over eight million people all living on top of each other.” Massimo smiled fondly. “New York was a fun city. I’ve got a lot of good memories.”

Ryder left him to his memories for a moment.

Massimo shook himself. “Sorry, where was I? Oh, yes—WWDE. It is thought that the World’s Worst Day Ever was started in China by a grieving father with access to a deadly computer virus.”

Ryder didn’t have a clue what Massimo was talking about, and by the look on her face, Massimo knew it. “How can a computer virus be deadly?” She knew next to nothing about computers, other than that Afana used them to run the bunker and watch the people on the levels.

“Back in the day, computers ran the world,” Massimo explained. “The virus made everything the computers ran fail, and without them, civilization failed.”

Ryder raised her eyebrow, “A bit like the Madness, then?”

Massimo’s eyes widened at Ryder’s perception. “Actually, you may be right. At first, the virus spread using the social media networks. People all over the world spread the code unwittingly through their online communications.”

Ryder remembered that Massimo had mentioned something similar earlier. “Like on Facebook?”

“Yes, like Facebook. Since all the computers talked to one another, the virus spread quickly. But computers weren’t there just so people could talk to one another. They also powered everything: medical equipment, utilities, water, nuclear bombs. They all ran on computers. The virus spread fast and far, and before they knew it, it was too late.” He shook his head soberly.

“How do you know all this stuff?” Ryder quizzed.

Massimo sighed and kicked a stone into the foliage. “I worked with computers; it was my job. We worked out what was going on before everyone else, but it was too late. The virus had already spread.”

Ryder came back to her insight about the Madness outbreak. “This virus sounds like the Madness, which is spreading fast. How do you think people are getting it without being bitten?”

Massimo thought about Javier; how he hadn’t been bitten, yet had become Mad. “It’s like a new piece of code has been added? A switch was flicked, and it turned on the Madness.”

Ryder frowned at Massimo. “Where did the switch come from? Do you think it was inside us all along?” It felt good to put her suspicions into words.

Massimo stared at Ryder and placed his finger on his lips as he thought. “Ryder, you may be onto something. There are nanocytes inside me. They are what made me into a vampire. Maybe those who turn Mad have nanocytes in them.”

Ryder waved her hands at Massimo. “Nanocytes?” Ryder was more than confused by the words.

Massimo pressed his thumb and forefinger together. “Nanocytes are tiny computers which are in my bloodstream. Leandro’s too, although he has a different kind than I do. Possibly, just possibly, others have nanocytes as well? What if someone was screwing around with them, and the result was the Madness?” Massimo wandered in thought for a moment while he considered the implications. “Bethany Anne would never have allowed anyone to play God like that.”

Ryder gave him a quizzical look. “Bethany Anne?”

Massimo shook his head. “A tale, or rather many tales, for another day, my dear.”

Ryder shrugged and let it pass. “I wonder if there is a way to switch the Madness off?”

“I honestly don’t know,” Massimo admitted. “Does Afana have much modern equipment in the bunker?”

Ryder nodded. “On Level One, there is loads of stuff that looks like it’s from the future, but really it’s from the past. The advisors use the equipment to run the bunker.”

Massimo nodded, “I’ll take a look at it once we’ve taken over the bunker.” He grinned.

Massimo looked like there was no doubt in his mind that they would overthrow the bunker. Ryder liked his confidence.

Ryder took a deep breath. They were near the tree line in front of the bunker. Only a few days ago Ryder had run for her life through these woods, and Fluffy had protected her from the tiger and then dragged her out of the stream.

She looked down at Fluffy, who’d walked alongside her for most of the journey. Ryder was grateful for the company. She stroked Fluffy’s back. “Thank you for protecting me.” Fluffy looked up at her and chuffed. He really was a handsome wolf, but she knew Leandro was still in there.

Every so often, Fluffy would sniff the air. Ryder thought he was checking for the Mad or people from the bunker.

Fluffy was always protecting her.

She wondered how his hangover was, then laughed when she remembered Massimo telling her that he didn’t drink and had never been drunk. She kind of understood why he had decided to do that as a wolf. Ryder had been drunk more times than she could remember; sometimes out of choice, other times not. Thinking about drinking made Ryder thirsty, so she took a sip of water and then drank some of Massimo’s hard alcohol. That way she could have a clear head, since one balanced the other.

She had noticed when they were leaving Massimo’s house that Tightwad also had two water flasks. She guessed that his