N87 Virus | Prequel |Outbreak Kadin, Karri (best english novels for beginners txt) 📖

pleading to escape and unleash all the misery she felt on to the world. She pulled open the door, grabbed the first thing she could that had a handle, a hot pink umbrella, and swung it at the fan. The light bulbs shattered, sending glass shards soaring across the room. Pieces of plastic and wood flew with each blow she landed. When no trace of the fan was left, Veronica fell to the floor, rolling over onto her back, and basked in her defeat of the ceiling fan.

Her phone was in her pocket, digging into her backside. She pulled it out and scrolled through her contact list until she found Asshat. She hit call. Not even one ring. Straight to voicemail.

“Hey, this is Marc Valdes, owner and CEO of Valiant Defense Corp. You know what to do.”

“Hey, Marc. It’s me. Veronica. Alejandro is dead. He’s dead.” Her words caught in her throat and she fought back the pain from saying those words for the first time. “I’m scared. I’m so scared.” Tears rushed down her face and she couldn’t fight the sobs any longer. “I’m so sorry. About the dress and Misty. Everything. I love you. You’re my brother and you need to know that I love you. It’s the end of the fucking world and you need to know that.”

One word rolled around in her head repeatedly until she had to do something about it. Survive. She stood up from the floor and started packing.

Veronica stood at the sink cleaning her wound. The bite was healing nicely and didn’t look infected. Each little tooth mark was deep, but scabbing over. No redness or discharge like the nurse warned her about. All good signs. The antibiotics were working. But they wouldn’t stop the virus from ravaging her body. Antibiotics were useless against N87.

Once her hand was dressed with clean gauze, she took her antibiotic with gross tap water again. At least there was still running water. Who knew how long that would last. She peeked through the window blinds. The sun barely touched the horizon as it fought off the night. The neighborhood was quiet and still. The silence sent a chill down her spine.

She peeled her clothes from her body and searched her skin for black veins. Once she examined every bit of skin and realized there were none; she exhaled the breath she didn’t know she had been holding. She should be showing signs of infection by now. The wait was excruciating. N87 was highly contagious, and she had been in close, intimate contact with two people suffering its effects in the last four days. There was no way she didn’t have it. No way.

Her eyes fell on the white sheet covering Alejandro’s body on the couch. Her heart dropped in her chest as grief rolled through her. She pushed the feeling down, fighting against the urge to give up. He wanted her to survive, to live. Veronica didn’t know what to do with him or if she could even move him herself. She couldn’t throw him out like trash. She couldn’t bury him, even if she could carry him outside to do it with those things roaming the streets. Going outside wasn’t safe, and she would only do it if absolutely necessary.

During the night the TV stopped broadcasting newsrooms and regular shows. Now it just live-streamed videos from cameras set up around the world, frequently switching between streams. Traffic cams, a reporter’s camera that had been left running when their broadcasts had been interrupted by death and destruction, random people who set up video to stream from their homes, pointed toward the street. The world had collapsed. No one knew what to do. No one was coming to help. She was on her own.

Timber’s bark and deep growls pulled Veronica from her tomb of despair. She tried to ignore him, but he wasn’t letting up, his calls growing more frantic by the second. She walked to the window closest to his house and peered outside. Timber was still safely behind his chain-link fence, teeth bared, jet black hair standing on end. Outside the fence, pacing between Timber’s house and hers was a man. Black veins covered every part of his exposed skin, some of which seemed to be fading. He was one of those things, those monsters. His back was to Veronica as he fixated on Timber. Fresh blood covered his hands.

He lunged at the dog as he tried to jump the rickety fence to reach him. His bloody grip on the fence pole caused him to slip. His clothes caught on the loose wires, and his body weight pulled part of the chain-link from the metal poles. The man thrashed around, trying to stand but just tangled himself more. He couldn’t escape the entrapment of the fence. He struggled against the links, trying to reach Timber. Timber took off across the yard, out of the reach of the man’s hands. Smart dog. Timber growled and barked and even snapped at his attacker a few times. But he always stayed out of reach. Poor pooch knew he was in over his head, but he would not surrender. The man-thing kept trying to free himself. The metal sliced into his skin, leaving bloodstains on his shirt, but he didn’t seem to care or even notice. His eyes never left Timber.

Veronica watched Timber barking in the corner of his yard, but his entire body trembled, betraying his fear. Still, he remained poised for battle the moment the Infected freed himself from the fence. Veronica glanced over at the white sheet covering her husband before turning back toward the chaos on the other side of the glass. The monster man had made it to his feet and freed one arm. Still tangled in the wire, he pushed forward toward his target, dragging the chain link fencing behind him. Veronica took off to her garage and grabbed the axe off the wall Alejandro had always used to cut