Read Online Plagued: The Rock Island Zombie Counteractant Experiment (Plagued States of America) by Better Hero Army - Free Book Online

early on when they were working on the cure. Like a feral cat, that girl, but she was Peske’s draw. She kept people coming to his pens first. He was the number one dealer on the Hill because of her.”
    Mason thought of the notes about the research facility here on the island, beneath the prison. He hadn’t been inside it yet, but he knew there were cells inside the lab. Cells meant to hold and control up to ten test subjects. Nothing in the notes said any test subjects had ever escaped, though. And he knew nothing about the events at Biter’s Hill except what was on television, which was very little.
    “So what happened to her?”
    “You know, you ask a lot of questions, kid. Why don’t you start answering some of mine, like what happened to Mike?”
    “I think they cured him , after all,” Mason replied, took a deep breath, and recounted everything that had happened the night before, omitting their encounter with Doctor Kennedy. He didn’t think that would help him at the moment, and it might have incited Hank more than anything.
    “Huh,” Hank said when Mason was finished. “Well, that settles it, then. Thanks for telling me.”
    “Settles what?”
    “I’m getting the fuck off the Island, that’s what. I’ve got one body left, thanks to you, so I’m going to go sell him to another trader and head for the Bend in the morning. I’ve got a bad feeling about this place.”
    “You and me both,” Mason said. “Can you do me a favor?”
    “Depends on the favor.”
    “Can you get me in contact with Doctor Kennedy?”
    “How about I give you her phone number and you call her yourself. I don’t trust that bitch, and the last thing I want is her knowing you and me talked. You got me, kid?”

Four teen
    Mason woke to his alarm clock buzzing , the red LED glow showing 6:00 PM. He put on his uniform and left for his meeting with Kennedy. As he walked toward the Meat Market, several flatbed trucks passed him going the opposite direction. They were hauling caged biters to the prison for the night. Civilians left the market going in one of three directions: the parking lot, the hotel casino, or the same tavern Mason had been in with Hank that very morning. Mason followed two hunters into the tavern and found an empty booth near the back next to the pool tables. A group of hunters were playing a game, glaring at him suspiciously, eyeing him with an almost malicious intent. Mason took off his uniform top so that only his tight brown t-shirt covered his upper body. He flexed his hard muscles and glared back at them. Mason may not have been as big as Matty, but his arms and chest had the solid look of a prize fighter. It was enough to get his point across. The hunters didn’t bother him as he sat waiting for Kennedy to arrive.
    When she showed, she strode in proudly on a pair of high heel shoes, with her lab coat over her shoulder. She sauntered toward the bar in a tight black skirt and even tighter red top. She turned heads looking like that.
    “Set me up the usual, Mac,” she announced. “What’s the special? I’m stuck working all night again.”
    An amber liquid spilled over cubes of ice in a short glass and was placed on the bar in front of her. She took it and turned around to face the room, planting her elbows behind her, her eyes scanning the room from one end to the other. The way she was standing, Mason saw the square outline of her smartphone zipped up in a pocket against her hip. The bartender was telling her what they had on special to eat. She took a slow sip from the glass as she listened. When her eyes reached Mason’s corner of the room, she smiled and turned to the bartender.
    “ The Cobb. Send it over there, will you, Mac? I see an old friend.”
    “Sure thing , Danni.”
    She boldly strode toward Mason, her lips curling upward in a sassy smirk.
    “I thought I recognized you,” she said as she stopped in front of his table. “Jones, right?”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
    “What are you