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

done, he handed her a sack lunch. He started to leave the room but as he neared the door he turned around. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a peppermint. He quickly set it in front of her and left the room. She heard the metal lock scrape across the door as it was bolted closed. Caged. Locked away, like an animal. Like a monster.

She dumped the contents of the sack on the table. A sandwich with light-colored meat, probably turkey, and white bread wrapped in cellophane. An overripe peach. And a carton of white milk. She stared at the milk before she swiped her arm across the table sending it flying across the room. He’s not wrong. We are both monsters.

She picked up the peppermint, opened it, dropped the wrapping on the floor, and popped it into her mouth. She stomped over to the cot and threw herself on it. Tears streamed down her face, as one word repeated in her head.

Monster.

Gabby

The residents of Wellspring were reeling from the Collectors’ invasion. Soon after they withdrew, Morgan was discovered hiding under the bleachers, having been left behind by Dr. Neff now that she was no longer useful to him. There were injuries and even deaths from the Collectors’ gunfire and most of the town planted the blame on Morgan for bringing them to their doorstep. They put her in jail while they decided what to do with her. Graciously, the town committee voted to allow Matt to be the one to bring her some food once everyone had returned to their homes. Gabby insisted on going with him.

They walked into the small jailhouse the town had constructed. Its front room held two desks, there was a bathroom toward the back, and a separate room with precisely two jail cells. The residents built it after the initial outbreak, when things were beginning to calm down. The original Wellspring did not have a jail, as the whole area used the county lock-up, which was too far away to be practical now. The town had only used it once before, when a man who entered the town turned out to be infected and they had to lock him up while they waited on the Collectors to get him. Morgan was the first real criminal Wellspring had since the outbreak.

“Matt!” Morgan exclaimed.

“Hello, Morgan,” Matt said. Gabby stood back by the door and Morgan eyed her suspiciously.

“I am so happy to see you. I missed you so much!” Morgan reached through the cell bars toward her brother but he stayed just out of her reach. He handed her a paper bag lunch and she snatched it from his grasp.

“Just answer me this, Morgan. Why the fuck were you with Dr. Neff? How could you do that to us?” Matt stared at his sister as she started to whimper.

“I didn’t do it to you. I did it to her!” she screamed. “When I left the cabin, I got lost. The first people I stumbled upon were Collectors. They thought I was Allison, so they knocked me out and took me to Dr. Neff. He obviously knew I wasn’t Allison.” She sighed and ripped open the paper bag. “It fucking terrified me. So, when he asked me if I knew where Allison was, I said yes. It was me or her. She is responsible for the deaths, for almost everyone we love. I was not going to let her get me too.” She shoved a peanut butter sandwich in her mouth.

“Did they not feed you?” Gabby asked. Morgan shot her an icy glare and then turned her attention back to Matt.

“That isn’t true. Your view of reality is a shit show. The Infected have no control over themselves. Allison was an Infected when she did the things she did. She is not sick anymore. She is just like us, and she is our friend.” Matt paced as he spoke.

“That’s not what Dr. Neff said. He told me all about how the Infected with abilities can’t control them; they run off of unfiltered emotions sometimes even after they are cured. You saw Allison with that nurse and those Collectors! She is dangerous. I was protecting you by turning her in!” Morgan threw her empty juice box at her brother. Gabby moved toward Morgan, but Matt held up a hand stopping her.

“You were not protecting me. You were acting out of your own selfish damn need to get revenge. But it doesn’t make you feel better, does it? No, because the person you are mad at isn’t Allison. It’s yourself, for what you did to Eudora!” He stopped pacing and stared at Morgan as she hung her head and avoided his gaze.

“I miss her. I miss her so much,” Morgan cried. Matt moved toward the cell and reached in through the bars, patting her on her shoulder. She leaned against the bars and cried.

“I’m so sorry, Matt.”

“I know.” Matt took Gabby’s hand and led her from the jail, leaving Morgan crying in her cell.

When Matt and Gabby arrived home, Trevor was dabbing his busted lip from the Collectors at the gym with a rag. He made sandwiches for all of them and they started to eat.

“So, have you told him?” Matt said as he leaned back in the chair.

“No, not yet,” she said as she inhaled the last bite of her sandwich. Trevor gave his friends a questioning look.

“Told me what?”

“Gabby’s part of the Resistance,” Matt said as he fixed himself a second sandwich.

“The Resistance?” Trevor set his sandwich down.

“Dr. Neff torments everyone and only brings misery. But with the Collectors on his side, everyone is afraid to oppose him. I’m part of a network of people who are trying to stop him,” Gabby said.

“Wow,” Trevor said.

“Fucking wow is right. Our Gabby is somewhat of a badass rebel!” Matt exclaimed. Gabby smiled at Matt.

“I can explain it to you more on the way,” she said as she rose. “Pack your bag; we will be gone