Read Online Until the End of the World (Book 1) by Sarah Lyons Fleming - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Sarah Lyons Fleming
Tags: Zombie Apocalypse
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doing, while others eat. Some sway in an invisible wind. The only sounds are the awful noises that rise from deep in their throats. I’m certain I can smell the tang of blood all the way up here. I put my cold hand to my forehead and close my eyes.
“All the noise attracted them,” James says. “They heard the yelling. Look at them.” We scan the group below. I don’t know what I’m supposed to see besides all those bodies and all that blood. He gestures to the street. “Look at what they’re wearing.”
Over half of them wear hospital gowns, the kind they give you when you check in. But they don’t let you leave wearing them, at least not while they’re able to stop you. Penny lets out a gasp.
“Oh, shit,” I say. My heart sinks as low as the street beneath us.
CHAPTER 14
Penny paces the hall with her phone. We sit in the living room, the news and James’s clicking on my keyboard the only sounds. When my home phone rings, I jump for it.
“Thank God, Cassie,” Maria says. “I’ve been trying you for an hour.”
“Maria!” I say. Penny rushes in. “We got your text. Are you still at the hospital?” There are shouts and heavy things being dragged around in the background.
“Yes. Cassie, do you have a speaker on this phone?”
I find the button and tell her to go ahead.
“Thanks. Penny? Ana?” Maria’s softly accented voice echoes around the room.
Penny bends over the speaker. “Mama! When are you coming?”
Maria takes an audible breath. “Penny, you have to leave the city right now. There’s a man here from FEMA. I’m on his emergency phone. He’s told us they plan to destroy all access out of New York sometime tonight or tomorrow. They can’t control the spread of Bornavirus, so they’re going straight to quarantine.”
“What do you mean, destroy ?” James asks.
Maria’s laugh is short. “They’re calling it quarantine, but they’re leaving the infection to run its course. Bart, the FEMA guy, says they’re planning to bomb or block off the bridges and tunnels. They don’t want millions of infected spilling out of New York. He was supposed to leave the city tonight.”
I never would have thought they’d trap us here like that. At least not while there were so many people still healthy. They’re guaranteeing our deaths.
“So they’ll leave us here to die?” Penny asks incredulously.
Maria sighs, and when she speaks again her voice wavers. “Yes, they will, mija . They are. There’s more. There’s no treatment. They’re killing the sick. We were euthanizing them with a mix of drugs to the brain stem. But it was too little, too late. The hospital’s been overwhelmed and patients are pouring out the doors. We’re all hiding in the basement here.”
“We saw them. I was so worried about you. They’re eating people, Mama,” Penny says. A sob escapes, and she covers her mouth. “They’re all just lying dead in the street.”
“Oh, mija . They may not be dead, as long as there’s enough of them left. All of the infected are dead, or as near to dead as they can be, but still move around.”
James meets my eyes. There’s no surprise in them but a kind of awe. Like how people must have felt when man first walked on the moon or made a test tube baby. Except test tube babies didn’t want to eat them.
“The virus is working in tandem with a parasite. The brain is its host. Somehow it stimulates all those processes that are primal: moving, fight impulses, hunger. I don’t know every detail. The CDC’s been studying it for the past month.”
A month and they still couldn’t stop it. We hear another loud noise on her end and jump. They must be piling up whatever they can find to keep them out.
“I’m here, I’m here. I have to go. Other people need the phone. We’ve got the morgue and cafeteria. We’ve got a generator. We’re safe here. But you all need to leave the city now and go upstate.” Maria knows all about the stash in my basement and up at
“All the noise attracted them,” James says. “They heard the yelling. Look at them.” We scan the group below. I don’t know what I’m supposed to see besides all those bodies and all that blood. He gestures to the street. “Look at what they’re wearing.”
Over half of them wear hospital gowns, the kind they give you when you check in. But they don’t let you leave wearing them, at least not while they’re able to stop you. Penny lets out a gasp.
“Oh, shit,” I say. My heart sinks as low as the street beneath us.
CHAPTER 14
Penny paces the hall with her phone. We sit in the living room, the news and James’s clicking on my keyboard the only sounds. When my home phone rings, I jump for it.
“Thank God, Cassie,” Maria says. “I’ve been trying you for an hour.”
“Maria!” I say. Penny rushes in. “We got your text. Are you still at the hospital?” There are shouts and heavy things being dragged around in the background.
“Yes. Cassie, do you have a speaker on this phone?”
I find the button and tell her to go ahead.
“Thanks. Penny? Ana?” Maria’s softly accented voice echoes around the room.
Penny bends over the speaker. “Mama! When are you coming?”
Maria takes an audible breath. “Penny, you have to leave the city right now. There’s a man here from FEMA. I’m on his emergency phone. He’s told us they plan to destroy all access out of New York sometime tonight or tomorrow. They can’t control the spread of Bornavirus, so they’re going straight to quarantine.”
“What do you mean, destroy ?” James asks.
Maria’s laugh is short. “They’re calling it quarantine, but they’re leaving the infection to run its course. Bart, the FEMA guy, says they’re planning to bomb or block off the bridges and tunnels. They don’t want millions of infected spilling out of New York. He was supposed to leave the city tonight.”
I never would have thought they’d trap us here like that. At least not while there were so many people still healthy. They’re guaranteeing our deaths.
“So they’ll leave us here to die?” Penny asks incredulously.
Maria sighs, and when she speaks again her voice wavers. “Yes, they will, mija . They are. There’s more. There’s no treatment. They’re killing the sick. We were euthanizing them with a mix of drugs to the brain stem. But it was too little, too late. The hospital’s been overwhelmed and patients are pouring out the doors. We’re all hiding in the basement here.”
“We saw them. I was so worried about you. They’re eating people, Mama,” Penny says. A sob escapes, and she covers her mouth. “They’re all just lying dead in the street.”
“Oh, mija . They may not be dead, as long as there’s enough of them left. All of the infected are dead, or as near to dead as they can be, but still move around.”
James meets my eyes. There’s no surprise in them but a kind of awe. Like how people must have felt when man first walked on the moon or made a test tube baby. Except test tube babies didn’t want to eat them.
“The virus is working in tandem with a parasite. The brain is its host. Somehow it stimulates all those processes that are primal: moving, fight impulses, hunger. I don’t know every detail. The CDC’s been studying it for the past month.”
A month and they still couldn’t stop it. We hear another loud noise on her end and jump. They must be piling up whatever they can find to keep them out.
“I’m here, I’m here. I have to go. Other people need the phone. We’ve got the morgue and cafeteria. We’ve got a generator. We’re safe here. But you all need to leave the city now and go upstate.” Maria knows all about the stash in my basement and up at
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