Breaking Danger Read Online Free PDF Page A

Her parents sneaking downstairs on Christmas Eve, placing presents under the ten-foot Christmas tree, relaxing with a glass of wine, making out on the couch, pretending with a perfectly straight face the next day that Santa had arrived.
    Playing in the snow with her gorgeous, dumb-as-a-rock cocker spaniel Fritz on the lawn of their house outside Chicago. Pajama parties. Piano recitals, her first kiss, her first lover, Allan Mercer, who’d been just as gorgeous and just as dumb as Fritz.
    She smiled, eyes closed.
    Lots of good things.
    Lots of not-so-good things too. The death of her parents in a car accident when she was twenty-four. It was the death of her family. No siblings, and her parents had been only children too. They’d been a close, charmed circle, untouchable until the hand of fate swatted her family away.
    That same hand of fate was going to swat her away, too, together with the rest of humanity if she died here and no one found the vaccine and the original virus.
    Oh God.
    Without even thinking about it, a tear trickled down her face. She opened her eyes and sat up straighter. Tears weren’t going to change anything. If there was ever a situation in which tears couldn’t help, this was it.
    Maybe wine would help. Yes, a glass of that really good Damoy Chambertin. She’d bought a case of the ridiculously expensive wine because she was enchanted with the origin name—Côte de Nuits. The Night Coast. Turned out it wasn’t a coast at all, but by that time the vendor had charmed her out of four-hundred dollars. But it was okay, because it was fabulous stuff.
    Right. She had twelve bottles of it.
    A bottle a day . . .
    Would the world last twelve days?
    Probably not.
    Don’t think like that. Don’t think at all.
    Yes, a glass of wine would do her good. She lifted the headset away and frowned. Was that a sound at her door? . . . Something was there . . . just as she removed the headset. More an echo of a sound than a sound itself.
    Was she crazy?
    It couldn’t be an infected. The infected didn’t make soft noises. They bellowed and staggered and crashed into things.
    Suddenly there was the softest of sounds, a gentle rap-rap-rap. Someone knocking! An infected could never knock, they’d just beat themselves bloody against the door. Her heart was pounding. She rushed to the door, tapping out the security code to unlock it just as she heard a deep male voice say, “Dr. Sophie Daniels?” There was another sound now, a deep bellow, the sound of a heavy body crashing against something.
    Oh God, an infected!
    The monitor came to life. Most of the wall sconces had been ripped away, but a couple still functioned. There was a little bit of light, enough to show a tall man outside her door. Very tall. Too tall for her monitor. She could see a strong chin with blond stubble and not much more. He brought his mouth close to the intercom on the monitor. “Dr. Daniels? I’m Jon, Elle said—”
    Jon! Oh God, not dead! Alive, right outside her door!
    On the monitor, she saw his head swivel to the right. There was another bellow, pounding footsteps . . .
    Sophie pulled the door open, yanked the man in and fell backward, and a ton of man fell right on top of her. He kicked out and slammed her door shut. It automatically locked just as the thuds of an infected’s fists could be felt as well as heard. From what she’d seen on the street, the infected could beat themselves to death against doors and walls, like the bonobos. Butting their heads, banging fists and feet until they broke bones and teeth. It was terrifying to see.
    One of the infected seemed to be doing just that. Massive thuds and terrifying screams, sounds no human should ever make, filtered through the heavy door. The vibrations carried through the floor, though, arguably, Sophie would be the only one feeling it. Jon was on top of her and the only thing he was feeling was