N87 Virus | Book 1 | After the Outbreak Kadin, Karri (booksvooks TXT) 📖

whatever he did in there. It was hardest on my mom. She had just had my little sister two weeks before. She was their miracle baby and my mom wanted to show her off to the world.”

Morgan wiped away tears and sniffled. “My dad went into protector mode. He secured the house and was on the high alert all the time. After a week of the world going to shit, we realized we should have left town, but it was too late. The infection was spreading through our town like wildfire. All we could do was stay. Then one night my uncle showed up. I don’t even know how he made it to our house. But he had been bitten. At this point we didn’t know how the virus worked. We didn’t know you would for sure get sick from being bitten. He turned up at our house, and everything went to crap. Matt and I lost our family that day.”

Morgan wrapped her arms around her torso and squeezed. Her hands were shaking. “We hid in the woods, making our way to less and less populated areas. Trying to avoid the Infected as much as possible. Matt dealt with them when we encountered them. We had a lot of close calls, but we avoided other people for months. As it got freezing, we realized we couldn’t stay out in the woods alone any longer. Food was so hard to find. When we first tried to go into a town, we encountered Collectors. We thought they were like the police or the military—you know, people you can trust. They wanted us to pay them to allow us into the town, but we had nothing. We had nothing of value, not even food.”

Morgan was crying now. Tears streaming down her face, formed damp puddles on the blanket below her. She stared off toward the ceiling like she wasn’t seeing it, she was seeing something else, her mind was somewhere else. Her voice quickened, and her breathing became rapid. Allison reached out and held her hand as Morgan shook. “They beat up Matt, like bad. He was unconscious for days after. Once they had him down, they drug me into a tent and raped me. I tried to fight them, but they kept hitting me. I was afraid they would knock me out like they did Matt. I knew we wouldn’t survive if we were both knocked out. They would have dragged our bodies back into the woods and left us for the Infected. So, I just stopped fighting, and I let them. I laid there, and I let them. When they were done, they said I had paid our dues and could go into the town.”

“I’m so sorry that happened to you.” Allison held her friend as she cried. Fury howled up from her core, her blood sizzling and popping under her skin. She fought back, her friend’s touch keeping her anchored as Allison ran her fingers through Morgan’s hair.

Allison awoke to the sound of whispering. She opened her eyes but didn’t move her body. Light came through the windows of the garage doors and Allison saw shadows moving against the wall. Three shadows. She gently shook Morgan and placed her hand up to her lips, quieting her as she woke. Morgan’s eyes widened as she heard the voices.

“Where is she? We will find her. The only factor left to sort out is how much pain we will cause to you two in the process.” Nurse Catherine’s voice pierced the air like a cat fight in the middle of the night. Allison’s stomach dropped.

“I’m telling you they left us,” Trevor said before a thud sounded and he groaned in pain.

“He’s telling the fucking truth! Some Infected showed up, and they drove off and left us.” Matt’s voice sounded weak. Allison’s hands shook and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. Matt sounds hurt.

“You’re lying. Infected haven’t been in this area in months. We will search every building until we find them. And then we will kill you for wasting our time. If you tell us where they are maybe we will let you and your sister live,” Catherine said.

Allison slipped out of the truck, her feet silent as she tiptoed across the garage. Morgan followed, crouching near a door with a small mail slot in the middle of it. They peeked through the slot, peering out at the front of the shop. Catherine kneeled over Matt, who was on the ground with his hands bound behind his back. His swollen face was covered in purple bruises, fresh blood running down the side of his head. Allison felt the heat rushing to her skin as she stared at Matt’s broken face. Trevor was next to him, on his knees, his hands also tied behind his back. One of his eyes was swollen shut, the skin black with a bruise. What do I do? Catherine stood in front of Matt with her two companions behind her, the same men from the campground. Both Joe and Kevin had guns holstered on their hips. Catherine kicked Matt in his stomach before stepping away, sweeping some loose hairs behind her ears, revealing a fresh cut across her cheek and tugging on her shirt to straighten it out.

“I really hate hurting people. I’m a nurse, it’s against my nature. But you know what I hate more? Liars.” She kicked him again as Matt tried to scrunch his body up to protect his stomach. Trevor rose to go toward Matt but Kevin hit him from behind knocking him to the ground. Joe then stepped on Trevor’s back, pushing him into the asphalt.

“What do you want to do with them?” Joe asked while applying pressure to Trevor’s back. Trevor gasped like a fish. With every breath Trevor struggled for the warmth howled up from Allison’s core, making its way to the surface as her body vibrated with rage. Joe laughed as Trevor gasped, trying