Read Online The Last Infection: A Post Apocalyptic Thriller by Michael W. Garza - Free Book Online Page A

in park and Chris popped his door open.
    “What are you doing?” Alicen asked. The fear in the little girl’s voice was profound.
    Chris gave her a slight nod and held the calmest face he could muster. “Just stay here. I need to have a look around.”
    Alicen’s eyes slid between Jenn and her brother, and then she jumped in the back seat beside the latter. Jenn’s expression wasn’t much better. She was fishing around in her pocket for something. Chris got one foot down on the pavement before she leaned over and grabbed his arm.
    “Take this.” She held out her gun. “It’s got eight rounds left.”
    Chris started to refuse , then thought the better of it and took the pistol. He left his pipe on the seat and shut the door. The sound of the vehicle’s engine was loud against nature’s backdrop. The wind blew through the tall pines on either side of the road. The rustling limbs shook like scared children in the dark. There was a smell in the air that Chris couldn’t place and something about it clung to him.
    He crept towards the barricade of cars and trucks, painfully aware of his surroundings. His mind played havoc on his nerves drawing him to movement in every shadow. His boots came to a complete stop several feet from the first truck in the road. Rolled over on its side, the facing bed revealed a lengthy toolbox, but not much else. The main portion of the road was closed off by a school bus lying upside down beyond the other vehicles.
    Chris shook his head as he looked over the site, his mind sure of one thing. “Wasn’t the infected that did this,” he said to himself. He eyed the woods with renewed interest as he started back toward the van. He was in the passenger seat a moment later, still unsure of what it all meant.
    “Well?” Jake asked impatiently.
    The last bit of sunlight disappeared as Chris leaned over and switched the engine off. “Doesn’t matter now.” He made sure the doors were locked before turning to face the others. “We stay quiet and the moment sunlight hits the hood of this van, we look for another way around.”
    There was question in everyone’s eyes, but whatever it was they saw on Chris’ face, it was enough to convince them the decision wasn’t open for debate.
    #
    It was dark. The sun disappeared quickly and the surrounding trees blocked out all of the pale moonlight. There was something very unnatural about complete darkness, something Chris had never gotten used to. He sat quietly in the driver’s seat looking back and forth between Jenn and the kids, all of which were as silent as a grave. He never explained himself or his final comments. He wasn’t sure what scared him so much, but his instincts told him something was wrong. He’d half expected figures to leap out from between the trees the moment the light disappeared.
    “What’s the matter?” Jenn asked in a whisper.
    It took Chris a moment to realize she was going back to what he said when he got into the van.
    “I think that blockade was put there for a reason.”
    Her eyes grew wide. She looked out the front windshield with a renewed sense of dread.
    Jake stuck his head between the two front seats. “By the infected?” He looked concerned , but not enough to show he fully understood what Chris was implying.
    “Why?”
    Chris heard Jenn’s question, but he didn’t have a good answer. They sat in silence for over an hour, and then set up a watch rotation after a quick meal. The rotation left Alicen out and she promptly protested and reminded everyone that she’d played an intricate role in her and Jake’s survival. Chris wouldn’t be swayed and the argument ended with the little girl balled up on the back seat refusing to look at anyone.
    It was nearing midnight when the first sign of trouble snapped Chris’ eyes open. As best as he could tell, he’d fallen asleep moments before a tight grip on his arm roused him. He found Jake staring out the passenger side window. Jenn had managed to crawl back