The Extinction Series | Book 4 | Spread of Extinction Ellis, Tara (top 10 ebook reader .TXT) 📖

was sick of eating vending-machine food, but after a few more days he’d probably get there.

The machine was already on its side and scavenged, much like the rest of the small store, but he was able to reach inside and dig out some candy bars and even a couple bags of chips. The shelves were only partially stripped and oddly enough, there was even water stacked in the back corner. Standing in the middle of it all, Tyler speculated that they’d only just started panic buying and then looting when they started getting sick. It was the one benefit of an apocalypse from The Kuru. People died so fast that they never got a chance to finish freaking out and destroying everything first.

They’d stopped at the first three cars they came upon, but they’d been dead in the street for a reason. And just like with the food, people had time to drive their cars home and then stayed there to die, so there weren’t nearly as many abandoned ones as Tyler thought there’d be.

He’d seen a handful of people staggering around so far. One other car had passed them going in the opposite direction, the two occupants staring at them suspiciously. Someone ran from the gas station as their truck pulled up, dropping a package of toilet paper in their haste to get away. Tyler didn’t know what he’d expected, but it certainly wasn’t the eerily empty and garbage-strewn streets surrounded by burnt-out buildings. He was thinking it would be more like something from The Walking Dead, instead of The Stand. Maybe if they’d gotten there two days earlier it would have fit the script better.

Fortunately, Peta had at least been right about there being a gradual increase in buildings, and the outer ring was mostly stuff like restaurants, stores, and gas stations. They’d only gone a couple of blocks and a few intersections before coming across the station where they were stopped. The pumps weren’t working, but so long as there was some fuel in the main tanks, they’d be able to get what they needed. Again, it was another one of the benefits to first the loss of power, and then the lack of people wanting or being able to drive around.

With his backpack crammed full, and a case of water under one arm, Tyler headed back outside into the odd early-morning light. The clouds had cleared up, but the haze continued to make the sky really weird. It was a color he didn’t know how to describe. It was sort of like the time there was a big fire near a campground his dad made him go to for a father-son weekend, but the hue was…different. He didn’t know why it always caused a deep gut reaction whenever he thought about it. Maybe it was something instinctual, but Tyler didn’t like it.

Looking away from the sky, he saw that Peta and Jason were both bent over an open ground-cover, working on syphoning the gas with a handpump they found in the attached service station. Devon was pacing next to the truck, while Eddy continued to scan the streets around them, a Glock held openly out to his side. Tyler figured anyone thinking about approaching them might see the gun and think otherwise, which was exactly why Eddy was making it so obvious.

“Why do you think there’s less people here than there was last night at Barinas?” Devon asked.

Devon was looking toward Peta, but Eddy was the first to answer. “It’s been over ten hours since we were in Barinas,” he said. Gesturing to the empty intersection with the Glock, he looked at Hernandez. “We all know how rapidly the infection progresses. I doubt by now that there are many left who haven’t been exposed to The Kuru, and most are incapacitated within twenty-four hours. I don’t find it at all surprising that we’ve seen a further decrease in the population since last night.”

“Which is all the more reason to get the hell out of here,” Jason said, clearly irritated. Standing, he picked up what Tyler hoped was a full gas can and carried it to the truck.

Peta wiped her hands on her jeans before studying Tyler’s bounty. “Why don’t you throw that in the truck, and then you and Devon make one more pass through the store? See if they have any gas cans. I’d love to take all we can get out of there.”

Happy to be assigned an important task, Tyler did as he was instructed. Careful to avoid Hernandez when he lifted the case of water into the bed of the truck, he then patted Marty’s head. “Don’t you need a bathroom break, bud?” he cooed, worried about the dog’s recent mood. “I’ll look for some dog food, too,” he promised. “The wet, stinky kind that you probably aren’t normally allowed to eat.”

Back inside the store, he and Devon made quick work of finding the few useful items that were left, including some cans of Alpo and one gas can. Tyler was busy thinking about how weird it was to find Alpo in Venezuela as he stepped back outside, so he didn’t see the old man at first.

“Ayuadame.” It was a dry voice that was hardly more than a whisper. It came from somewhere off to Tyler’s right, near the corner of the building.

Tyler jumped, and saw that Eddy had already moved so that he was standing further out from the building. It gave him a clear aim at what appeared to be an old, sick man leaning against the store.

“Ayuadame,” he croaked again, reaching out to them, apparently oblivious of the gun.

“He’s saying ‘help me’,” Devon said, giving Eddy a disgusted look. “I think it’s safe to put the gun down, Rambo. I don’t think he’s much of what Jason would call a viable threat.”

Sliding down the wall until he was sitting on the ground, the