Read Online Devour: Death & Decay Book 1 by R. L. Blalock - Free Book Online Page B

chest tightened as she reached for the knob, her handing shaking, and yanked open the door. Inside was a pitch-black cavernous garage. A quick sweep with the flashlight revealed nothing unusual. She flipped on the light. The half of the right wall was a workbench littered with small tools and other small handyman’s knickknacks. On the rest of the wall hung larger tools like rakes, shovels, and a leaf blower. The left wall consisted entirely of shelves that held neatly organized boxes. Squarely in the center sat a large, silver sedan.
    Over the usual smells of dust and dirt, the garage smelled like iron. A glossy black pool glimmered from under the back fender of the sedan. Liv shuffled forward slowly, her fingers clenching and unclenching around the handle of her wrench. Next to the rear driver’s-side door a bloody and bent golf club lay discarded on the garage floor. Beyond it, large puddles of blood with dried edges speckled the cement floor. Other smaller droplets covered the side of the car and the floor.
    Liv’s heart raced as she approached the end of the car. Just past the bumper, a man lay motionless in a crumpled heap. She could only guess that it was a man by the physique because his head and face were an unrecognizable gory mess.
    Liv spun around and retched. She had never had a weak stomach, but the smell of iron, the sight of the contorted body, the head that looked like raw hamburger brought her dinner back up.
    Elli startled at the sudden movement. Liv gently jiggled the child as she spat out the last of the bile. She bounced nimbly from foot to foot as she stepped around the blood splatter on her way back to the door. Once in the house, she closed and locked the garage door with the irrational fear that the lifeless creature might still rise to come after her. Perhaps it wasn’t so irrational, considering the situation. She looked around the room. The darkness was more frightening, the shadows more threatening.
    There had been so much blood in the garage. Certainly all of it wasn’t from the dead man. The person he had been hunting had undoubtedly been injured. As she headed towards the stairs, Liv stopped to inspect the front door again. A small streak of blood marked the inside knob. Perhaps whoever had been injured had wandered outside in search of help.
    A soft thump echoed from the second story. Liv looked around. The dog cowered by the sofa, its lips curling back in a snarl.
    Something was upstairs.
    Liv looked up the stairs, then back down at the toddler sleeping in her arms. The downstairs was safe and she didn’t want to take Elli somewhere unsafe if she could avoid it. She had no idea what she would find upstairs.
    But they couldn’t leave. If they went back outside, they would die. Liv had to dispatch whoever, or whatever, was upstairs so the house would be safe.
    The ensuite in the master bedroom would be the safest place for Ellie while Liv confronted the threat. All the walls were interior to the house, so if she began to cry it was less likely to be heard outside and noticed by the infected. There also weren’t any windows that they could use to get to her.
    As carefully as possible, Liv unbuckled the straps of the carrier and eased them off. As she gently laid Elli down on the plush mat in front of the pedestal sink, Elli’s arms shot out and grabbed for Liv’s shirt. She arched and screamed in protest. The sound wrenched Liv’s heart but she had to take care of the threat that lurked within the house. She flipped on the light and closed the door before Elli could right herself on the floor.
    The wails followed Liv through the living room. Upstairs, heavy footsteps smacked against the ceiling. Liv attempted to swallow the fear that rose as she tightened her grip on the wrench and ascended the stairs.
    Like rest of the house, the upstairs was cast in deep shadows. The flashlight revealed no immediate threat at the top of the stairs. The bedroom door directly to her right stood open.