Read Online The Infected (Book 1): Jim's First Day by Joseph Zuko - Free Book Online

the center of the walking stick to give it
a little better grip so my hands will not slip. I make one for Devon too.
    I
grab a backpack, one of those with the water bladder built into it. I open four
bottles of water and fill the bladder. They also have some of those Five Hour
Energy drinks and the little electrolyte packets that you pour into water. I
add two of the packets to my water. I down a Five Hour Energy now and put three
in my jacket pocket. There’s a display case of Zippo lighters, I grab one with
an American flag on it and drop it into my pocket. I also put a few more bags
of jerky and Snickers into the pack. I find a little medical kit and toss that
in there. Everything I grab and load into the pack, Devon does the same. He
makes sure that whatever I have he has. The last thing I throw in there is the
hammer that my Dad got me. It was not the best in a fight but I might need it
later. Now the pack weighs about thirty pounds. I strap a few more fixed blade
knives to my belt and a machete. I can really feel the weight of everything on
my body. I wish I were in better shape.
    “Okay,
I’m almost ready to go. We need to test these spears first,” I tell Devon.
    “Test
them on what?” he muscles his backpack up onto his shoulders. I point the spear
at the dead bodies on the ground.
    “That’s
so wrong. That’s so, so wrong. We can’t do that. It’s not right,” Devon pleads.
    “We
have to make sure that the tape will hold. We’ll do it to the asshole that
tried to murder us,” I motion for him to go first. He shakes his head, no. I
really don’t want to do this either but I don’t want the knife to fall off the
first time we face one of those infected people. I take a deep breath.
    “Fine,
I’ll go first,” I walk over to the body and step over its legs. I raise my
spear into the air and jam it down into the body. A large spurt of blood shoots
from its body and covers Devon’s new boots. I pull the blade out and another
spurt of blood follows. It works great, better than I thought it would. I try
slicing at something. I swing the spear down at a nearby volleyball and the
knife splits it in two.
    “That
was really cool, dude! Sorry. I didn’t mean to call you dude. Sorry I did it
again.”
    “It’s
fine, just keep them to a minimum.”
    He
nods his head at me, “I will. I promise. I’m gonna try the spear,” he steps up
to a mannequin. He staggers his feet, like you would if you were taking a
fighting stance. The mannequin is dressed in a pair of wild colored swim trunks.
He stabs at its abdomen. The knife cuts through the plastic body like butter.
He almost knocks the thing over. The kid gives me a smile and a nod.
    “Sweet,”
he pulls out the blade and slices at the plastic dude’s neck and the head comes
clean off, “Wow. These knives are sharp,” he stares at the blade. I test it a
few more times on my own mannequin. It is dressed in a fishing outfit. I lop
both arms and the head off in three quick strikes. Devon chops a folding chair
in half. He lets out a little laugh after the thing falls apart. It looks like
he is coming around about these homemade spears.
    “This
thing works like really good. I don’t know if they’re better than a shotgun,
but they’re very cool,” the kid runs his thumb over the edge of the blade.
    “They
feel light and deadly. I guess we’ll see,” I pull and wiggle the blade a little
more. It still feels solid.
    “Sweet
idea,” Devon holds out his fist for me to bump it. I shake my head and I raise
my hand in the air for him to high five it.
    “Old
school,” he raises his hand to match mine. I give his palm a solid smack. The
power comes from the elbow. I really got him. His hand stings, I can tell, but
he acts tough in front of me. When he turns away to secretly rub the soreness
from his palm. I take the opportunity to do it too.
    I
feel good. I am scared as hell to open that door and step out into the city. I
realize I have one last thing to