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

all. Coby tried to grip the floor, but there was nothing to hold on to. He was being dragged backward by his thrashing legs.

A man Terrier recognized as Neil leapt on top of Coby, his eyes glowing red. He was clearly infected with whatever madness was going around. He bit Coby’s neck, and blood dripped from his mouth. Neil had gone mad like Ivan.

Terrier banged his axe into the ceiling, trying to draw Neil’s attention from Coby. Neil reached down to get them as he’d hoped, and his hand slammed into the glass like he actually thought he could smash through it.

Blood dripped from his mouth and splashed onto the glass, the too-bright spatters looking like some kind of sick art, blocking his view of Terrier. His attention was jerked back to Coby. No matter how hard Coby tried to get away, he couldn’t. Neil was too strong for him.

Terrier protected Natalie from the sight above them, pressing her face against his chest. He continued to watch, forcing himself to see what they were up against. In a few moments, Coby’s body was still, and Neil was gone.

The Madness was spreading on Level Five.

Ryder and Carter pushed open the wooden doors to the Old Dog. The music was loud, and the bar was a lot nicer than the one in the bunker. This one had men and women mixing together and having a good time. People were singing and dancing, and everyone knew the song, except Ryder and Carter.

They’d never heard anything like it. In the bunker and the mountain settlements, music came from people singing and playing instruments. This was coming from a machine.

Ryder felt like they’d stepped back into the past. “Hopefully, some of them will help me,” Ryder said to Carter, but he was no longer by her side. He was at the bar getting a drink, for fuck’s sake.

Ryder strode toward Carter and pulled his shoulder back. “What on Earth are you doing?” she whispered to him.

“Making friends.” He smiled, holding up his drink.

He works fast.

“Hey, miss, I’m Kelvin. Would you like a drink? It’s on the house tonight.”

Ryder stayed him with her hand. “I’m good, thank you.”

“Yes, I’ll take another please,” Carter grinned. Kelvin quickly slid him another drink and moved to the other end of the bar to serve someone else.

“You need to lighten up,” Carter told her. “People aren’t going to help you if they don’t know you.”

Ryder knew that he was right, but she wasn’t going to tell him. She took Carter’s second drink and downed it in one gulp. The beer quickly hit her stomach and quenched her thirst.

She raised her hand and called to Kelvin. “Actually, I’ll have another one.”

Ryder knew that drinking this was like someone else drinking water, since alcohol had no effect on her. But Carter didn’t know that. Ryder winked at him, enjoying how impressed the bearded wonder was by her drinking abilities.

“Why are the drinks on the house?” she asked Kelvin when he returned. She’d learned a long time ago that you never got anything for free. There was always a catch.

Kelvin shook his head sadly. “There was an incident today, and we’re trying to cheer everyone up.”

“What type of incident?” Ryder asked.

“There was a disease outbreak. We lost a few people. Ugly stuff.”

Carter took a big gulp of beer. “How does the disease spread?”

Kelvin leaned closer to them. “We think you get it from being bitten. So, if you see anyone acting weird, keep your distance.”

Ryder and Carter looked at one another.

“Now that you mention it,” Carter said. “We had the same problem yesterday at the settlement. We call them ‘the living dead.’”

Kelvin clinked glasses with Carter. “To the living.”

“To the living,” Carter repeated.

Chapter Thirty

Massimo led the hunters away from his home and away from Pinewood. He didn’t want three trigger-happy idiots near his people. He felt weak from being outside in the sun so much today. He hadn’t eaten his rabbit, and he was emotionally drained as well as physically, but he still had the energy to give these three numb wits a beating they’d never forget. He would knock them into next year and make them think twice about ever coming near his town again.

They’d whispered the whole time they followed him. Well, Yegor had, and the others kept telling him to shut up. He was the runt of the pack, Massimo guessed, and he’d be the first to run away when Massimo turned vampire on him.

The larger one, Sergei, was the leader. He’d try to shoot Massimo, which was why he’d get the beating of a lifetime first, before he could do that. Then, there was his fake friend Pavel. Massimo knew he’d have to take care of him second, since he would shoot as well.

When Massimo reached a turn in the path, he prepared himself to attack. Just after the turn, he quickly stowed the cart behind a tree because it wasn’t like he could pop down to Home Depot and get a new one.

His fangs protruded, and his eyes turned red. Even though he’d not done the eyes part for years, it was just like riding a bike. He was good at being a badass vampire when he needed to be, and he was going to have some fun with these inbred intruders who looked like they’d stepped off the movie set of ‘The Hills Have Eyes.’

Branches crunched underfoot, and he knew it was time. Massimo jumped out at the men in his best, pissed-off, scary vampire pose: mouth open, fangs bared, and eyes glowing red. The hunters, or rednecks, as Massimo thought of them, recoiled in horror.

Yegor pissed himself and took off running, just as Massimo had predicted. The high-pitched whine coming from him as he fled was a little more than Massimo had anticipated. He restrained himself from bursting into laughter at the sight.

Sergei reached for his gun—again as predicted. Massimo darted out of the line of fire and punched Sergei in the jaw,