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

other to pieces right in front of the door. There was no way Samantha would have been able to open it, much less make it past the carnage beyond.

Terrier looked around the level. Decso was still watching him. Where was Samantha?

Advisor Robert handed off the blood samples to the other advisors in the lab and instructed them on which tests to run.

“Your idea to test the efficacy of your blood as a cure is pure genius,” Robert enthused. He stood by Afana, the two of them watching the transformation of the two specimens.

Afana nodded, used to Robert’s toadying. “Of course. I’m interested in what the results will be.” Afana wasn’t looking for a cure. His main priority was to find out if he was immune to the disease. Anything else they discovered would be incidental.

Robert and Afana were an arm’s length away from the two specimens. Their eyes were becoming redder by the second, Specimen Two’s sclera were fully red, and the bright blue of his iris was filling up with red so rapidly it was as though the glowing color was being injected into them.

Specimen Two’s eyes were soon completely red and glowing brightly. Robert jumped back two steps when he thrashed violently against his restraints. Afana didn’t move. The specimen foamed at the mouth as he fought against his gag in an attempt to bite his way free.

Advisor Stuart came into the lab and placed the tray he was holding down on the table nearest the door. He said something to Robert and Afana, but they couldn’t hear him clearly over the opera music and the ruckus the specimens were making.

“Speak up!” Afana ordered.

“I have the results.’” Stuart didn’t realize he was shouting until it was too late.

Afana raised an eyebrow at Robert, who quickly ran over to the music player and turned it down with the gentlest of hands. He knew he’d lose more than his hands if he broke it.

Afana waved for Stuart to continue. “You think you have found a cure already? That was very fast,”

Stuart gulped. “Yes, sir.” He said quickly.

Afana waved his hands. “More information!” Why do I always have to pull the details out of these men?

Stuart waved the clipboard he was holding. “It’s your blood, Afana, we confirmed it. It’s the cure.”

“Really. Did you repeat the tests?”

“Yes, but I think we should triple-check by testing on a live subject.”

Afana gave Stuart an appraising glance. “You do, do you?” Maybe I’ve misjudged him. He may be a good replacement for Robert. He did smell better. Robert had a moldy old-man smell about him. He wasn’t going to be around forever.

“Let’s run the tests,” Afana agreed. He was ready to know once and for all whether he could catch this disease.

“I was hoping you would say that. I prepared some syringes just in case,” Stuart told him. Even Robert looked impressed.

“Robert, train Stuart to be your replacement.”

Robert nodded. “I was just thinking the same thing, Afana.”

Stuart looked back and forth between the men, pleased with what had appeared to be his promotion. “Stop grinning and get to work,” Afana snapped. His eyes flashed red for a brief second, but that was enough to wipe the smug smile off his face.

Stuart picked up the tray of syringes, which rattled as his hands shook, and brought them over to Afana.

“Stop shaking!” Afana ordered through gritted teeth, which only made Stuart shake even more.

Robert stepped in. He took the tray from Stuart and passed Afana a syringe. Robert had learned years ago never to carry things on a tray since there was no way to stop your hands from shaking around Afana in these situations.

The two specimens were still thrashing, all rationality gone now the disease had completely consumed them.

“I will test Specimen One first. We will give him small doses so we can see how he reacts over time.” Afana talked to the others like he was in a normal lab back before the world went to shit and he began keeping hundreds of people hostage just so he could feed himself.

Afana injected his blood into Specimen One and stepped back. Now they had to wait.

“Wait for me,” George screamed at Murray and Martin. He was in a panic after he realized that staying on Level Five meant certain death.

Really? General Murray looked over his shoulder and saw George scrambling to pack his tools away.

Murray couldn’t leave George to die down here, however annoying the scrawny advisor was. “We’d better help him,” Murray told Martin.

The two men headed back to George. They gathered his tools and put them into his box.

“Gently,” George cautioned.

Once everything was in the box, they headed toward the exit. General Murray wanted to run, but he knew that would draw too much attention to himself and his son.

They remained on high alert for any men with the disease, and unfortunately, it wasn’t long until they came across them. Men with glowing red eyes bounded out of the shadows toward them. General Murray dropped the toolbox.

“I told you to be careful,” George snapped.

“Look!” Murray grabbed George’s face and turned him toward the oncoming mob, which shut him up immediately.

George scrambled behind Murray and Martin, hoping their guns would protect him.

“Go for the kill shot,” Murray told his son, and the two men did just that. They fired as the infected men came at them with grasping hands. Their gunfire echoed off the tunnel walls briefly, but was muffled by the noise of the fans.

The first wave of red-eyed men fell to the floor, but more kept coming and they continued shooting until there were none left.

Murray checked his pockets. “I’m out of ammo,” he told Martin.

Martin fumbled in his pocket to get more bullets. They slipped through his fingers as he tried fruitlessly to stuff them into the guns. He scrabbled around on the floor to pick them up.

“I’ll get them,” Murray told him. He scooped the bullets up and steered his son back toward the tunnel they’d