Day One (Book 1): Alive Read Online Free PDF

as if the impact were occurring all over again. Only the hum of the windshield wipers made any noise – a rhythmic faint slap, as they swayed from right to left. Rain blotted the window in between their gentle arcs. From where I was sitting I couldn’t see any damage to the hood or windshield, like I was certain there would be. Once again, thanks Hollywood for your unrealistic bullshit.
    Maybe we didn’t hit anyone after all? Maybe it was just an animal and you thought it was a person? My mind assured me, although the only way I’d know for sure would be to get out. Not really an option I wanted to undertake. Straining to see in the rear view mirror, since we stopped at such an awkward angle, I couldn’t make out anything at first. It wasn’t until I looked over my left shoulder that I saw the woman lying in the middle of the road. My stomach sank.
    She lay there a few moments, motionless and it was then that I began to realize that she might have been alive when I hit her, but that wasn’t the case anymore. The weight of the world already burdening my shoulders became a feather. The new weight, the weight of killing an innocent person had taken its place. Fear and self-preservation instantly were cast under and I jumped out, cautiously heading toward her.
    The Woman began to move and moan. I stopped dead in my tracks, getting ready to turn and run back to the SUV. Thank God I had left the door open. In my right hand I noticed the heft of the Beretta, which had tagged along. I can only imagine what my subconscious had in mind, yet it was pretty clear to anyone that might be watching from somewhere close by.
    “Help me,” a soft voice fled toward me.
    What do I do, ask if she’s alright? Of course not. How stupid would you have to be to ask such an obvious question – she just got hit and flew through the air. So I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that she’s not ready to get up and do the cha-cha.
    Was it possible to be a coward and an idiot… at the same time?
    A cowardly idiot. My parents would be so proud of me.
    The woman slowly turned her head toward me and I noticed her, as I knew everyone that lived in the small town. Many of the people I had watched die had been people that had direct influence on my life in one way or another. They had either taught me in school, went to the same church, ate at the same restaurants, and shopped at the same small grocery store. There wasn’t a face that was foreign or unfamiliar to me and with the sight of the battered Woman lying on the ground covered in her own blood, I felt the need to look away. Not because the graphic nature of the scene before me, but simply because I was the one to blame. I was responsible for what had happened to her, no one else. It was all my doing!
    “Oh, Jesus… Mary, I didn’t see you. I was trying to get my phone – call for help,” I babbled, trying to justify my actions with good intentions. “I didn’t see you until it was too late.”
    Mary Johnson, a thirty-two year old single woman that had taught Sunday school too many youngsters, my Daughter included, looked up at me with a stare I will never forget as long as I live. She moved a hand in my direction pleading silently for help to which I would be unable to administer to her. She was in bad shape, a broken leg that I could see and no telling how many internal injuries. I knew that if I tried to move her to the SUV I could easily kill her; yet leaving her here in the road was no better. If any of those things showed up it meant a guaranteed death sentence.
    “I can’t move you. If I do I could easily hurt you more or even kill you,” I said, biting back the tears that were quickly forming.
    Screams filled the rain slick night, but not screams from the dying. I looked in their direction and couldn’t see them at first, but knew they were coming. They were bearing down on Mary and I in the haze of the falling rain with a rapid stride, so whatever I planned to do, the