Read Online Alien Virus by Steve Howrie - Free Book Online Page A

coat and handbag. Pulling some money from her
purse she whispered urgently to Gareth, “Let’s go... now .”
She dropped the change into a saucer and they made their
getaway.
    “I’m going to call the Police – you’re
harbouring a criminal!”
    They left the café without looking back, and
quickly walked back along Inverleith Row. Suddenly realizing they
could be leading Emily to Kate’s flat, Sandi forced Gareth to take
a sharp turn into the Botanical Gardens.
    “Where are we going?” he asked.”
    “Anywhere safe.” They walked for about five
minutes through the gardens before stopping for a rest. Finding a
bench in a secluded spot, they sat down, hot and flustered.
    “Do you think we lost her?” asked
Gareth.
    “I think so. What was that all about?”
Gareth took a deep breath and proceeded to tell Sandi all about
Emily – how they met, how long they’d been going together, and what
he had said to her in the pub the other night.
    “I suppose you thought she could be one of
us – seeing things like we do, and be part of the team.” He nodded
wistfully.
    “At one time it seemed like that. Then she
got scared. Her mother was worried about her health – what with all
the scares about salt and that – and asked her to go to the doctor.
She wasn’t ill, not in any way, but she wanted to put her mum’s
mind at rest, y’know. Anyway, the doc says: ‘You’re putting your
life in danger – don’t you know how dangerous it is going without
meat and taking in so much sodium? You’re heading for a heart
attack.’. Anyway, she was frightened and thought it best to be safe
than sorry and when back to the animal eating and cut out salt.
That’s when she changed. I think the virus took over then – we
never saw eye–to–eye after that.”
    “But she still wanted to see you?”
    “She did. I’d like to think she still loved
me. But now I know about the virus, I don’t know what’s controlling
people any more. You know, another potential victim – one more
human for the parasite to control and eat. ” Sandi winced at
the picture. Being eaten from the inside by an alien bug was not
something she wanted to dwell upon. After spending nearly an hour
in the gardens, watching the autumn leaves fall from the huge
trees, they decided it was safe to wander back to Kate’s flat –
keeping their eyes peeled along the way.
    Inside the two - bedroomed apartment,
Sandi put on the kettle and invited Gareth to relax in the
lounge.
    “Kate said I could play anything from her CD
collection – so what d’you fancy?”
    “I don’t suppose she’s got any Zero
Seven?”
    “What! You can’t be serious…”
    “I know they’re not everyone’s taste,”
Gareth replied defensively – a little hurt.
    “No, I mean – I love Zero Seven. ‘When it
Falls’ was so cool.”
    “Amazing! Well, put it on then.”
    Sandi made some tea, and fetched the bottle
of Shiraz she’d picked up from the local corner store. They sat
closely on the sofa relaxing with the warmth of the drinks and each
other.
    “Gareth, how did you get into all this?” He
settled further back into the sofa, recalling those memories.
    “I was working in a Wholefoods store off
Nicolson Square, in the student area. An English guy comes in and
asks for cashew nuts. I tell him the ones we have are very, very
salty, and the boss had told us not to sell them. He says – great –
the saltier the better, and asks for two kilos. So I say – you’re
having me on, right? That much salt is harmful. He says – no, salt
isn’t bad for you – quite the opposite. I asked him where he’d
heard that, and he tells me he works at the University and one of
his colleagues of his is doing a load of research in Microbiology
and come up with some interesting results. So I’m intrigued now,
right, and ask where I can read this research. He says it’s not
published yet, but if I wanted to come down to the Minto Hotel at
around five pm, the man would be