Read Online Red Hill by Jamie McGuire - Free Book Online Page B

before I knew it, I was across the lit four lanes and hidden once again on the other side. A few seconds later, Tobin joined me.
    I had never felt so much comfort from being around a complete stranger. That was just one more thing you didn’t learn from the zombie movies.
    Keeping to the overgrown foliage around the river, Tobin and I trudged through the mud to the looming Blackwell Street Bridge. An army truck passed over slowly, and we had to leap under the steel and asphalt to escape the spotlight they were shining on the river. I held my hands over my mouth. A body was floating facedown on the surface of the water, not two feet from where Tobin and I had walked just moments before. Shots rang out, the body convulsed as it was showered with bullets, and then the truck moved on, the spotlight parallel to its path.
    Tobin reached out and touched my arm. “It’s okay. They’re gone. I need to take a piss, and then we’ll keep going.”
    His words struck me as odd. I had to wait and take stock of my bodily functions, to figure out if I even had to take a bathroom break. All of a sudden, my bladder felt like it was going to burst, and it was all I could do to get my scrub pants untied and my panties around my ankles fast enough to keep from urinating all over myself.
    Tobin met me at the edge of the water. It was dark, and it didn’t seem like a good idea to swim, but we couldn’t risk taking the bridge across, either.
    â€œDid you think this far ahead?” Tobin asked, staring at the flowing river. The rain earlier had made the current stronger, and the water level higher.
    â€œNot really, but we can’t get caught on that bridge. They’ll take one look at us and know we snuck in. They’ll shoot us on sight.”
    â€œAgreed. You used to live here. What do you think we should do?”
    â€œWe can either try to find a shallower place downstream, try to cross here, or use the rope swing on the other side of the bridge.”
    â€œThe rope swing?” Tobin said, dubious.
    â€œThere’s been one on that tree over there as long as I can remember. They keep one there for the kids that live around here.”
    Tobin stared at me blankly.
    I shrugged. “The city pool is on the other side of town.”
    Tobin blinked. “What kind of backward redneck village did my sister move to?”
    Nathan
    â€œ LYLE SHOT A COP , DADDY .”
    â€œI saw that,” I said, not knowing what else to say.
    â€œWhat’s happening?” Zoe said. “Why is everyone fighting?”
    â€œSome of the people are sick,” I said, turning on the police radio. “I think.”
    Reports were coming in that the virus had affected all counties. After a while, the dispatcher stopped talking, so I turned up the car radio. Thirty-two of the forty-eight contiguous states reported casualties and illness. The East Coast reported that those who had chosen not to receive the flu vaccination were not showing symptoms as quickly as those who had. Some reports said that those who had had the flu shot didn’t necessarily need to get bitten or attacked before they caught the virus. They would reanimate no matter how they died. I glanced over at Zoe. She had an egg allergy like I did. People with egg allergies were advised against the shot unless they stayed under the supervision of a doctor post-inoculation. Even though my allergy wasn’t severe, Aubrey and I decided the benefit didn’t outweigh the risk, for me or for Zoe. Well, I did . . . Aubrey left the decision to me. I let a small sigh of relief escape my lips. If I only did one thing right, I’m glad it was that.
    All roads proved to be an obstacle course. If I wasn’t jerking the wheel to the left, I was yanking it to the right, dodging people, other cars, and general debris left behind by the pandemonium. Aubrey used to always bitch about my driving, but we were almost out of town, and I’d