Gods of the Dead (Rising Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

forward until my face is next to hers and the headlines fill my eyes. My blood swells painfully in my veins, constricting my chest. “Are these real? Remember what Orsen said about fake news sites.”
    “This is a major news network’s website. It’s as real as anything. Oh my God,” Zoe mutters, still reading. “There’s a new strain.”
    “Where are you reading that?”
    “Here. Look. It’s different than the first outbreak. This one works more slowly. Incubation is closer to a day than a half hour. Some sources are saying it could be as much as a week, but those are anonymous. Who knows how reliable they are.”
    “Is that a video of Tacoma?” I ask, pointing to a grainy still of a city street engulfed in flames.
    Zoe clicks the play button and the video backs up, springing into action from the start. It’s too jerky, impossible to tell what’s happening, but the audio is enough. People are screaming. Gunfire in erratic bursts from somewhere far off. A car is burning in front of a store with broken out windows.
    It looks exactly like the footage that came out of Portland almost a year ago.
    We didn’t see much from inside the quarantine zone. They shut down cell service, internet, and satellite in that area early on. The pictures and video that did make it out initially would go up, but almost immediately they would disappear. Chris said it was the government censoring what we saw.
    “Trent,” Zoe whispers tremulously.
    “What?”
    She points to a map that’s gone up showing the progress of the Fever being reported by surrounding cities. Utah has a dot, Minnesota and Florida too, but the area around Tacoma is bathed in red. It’s bleeding out. It’s creeping steadily toward Seattle and dripping down south.
    “It’s coming toward us,” I mutter deeply.
    She scrolls down, bringing up more and more articles. The military is in motion. They’re being pulled from all over the area, all over the country, and swarming on Tacoma trying to contain it. There’s talk of extending the quarantine again, a move that would easily lock us inside.
    Zoe switches to another site and it explodes with more of the same. This time there are images. People running through the streets. Store fronts in flames. Military green hummers. Uniformed men and women in gas masks. At first I assume it’s all Tacoma but almost half of the tags say Seattle on them.
    “I have to go,” I tell her, standing abruptly.
    She looks up at me with fear in her eyes. “Where are you going?”
    “Home.”
    “No! Trent, it’s out there. It’s spreading. Remember how fast it went through Oregon? You can’t go.”
    “My dad is alone. I have to.”
    She surprises me when she leaps up from her chair and hugs me tightly. My eyes go wide as I breathe in the scent of her and feel the soft press of her body against mine. Suddenly my heart hurts for another reason and the heat I felt in the kitchen is inside me now. Awkwardly, I wrap my arms around her waist and hold her loosely as she clings to my neck until I’m nearly choking.
    “You’ll come back, right?” she whispers into my ear. “You’ll get your dad and come right back here?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “Please? You have to. You guys can’t stay out there alone.”
    “I’ll try.”
    She squeezes me harder one time before loosening her hold on me. I pull back from the hug, freezing when I see her face. It’s so open, so worried. She’s such a pretty girl, I’ve always thought so, and up close it’s even more obvious. Her clear, smooth skin, her bright eyes, the never ending colors of her hair.
    She feels my hesitation as I stare down at her and her eyes clear, her lips curving into an encouraging smile.
    Immediately my body spirals out of control. My palms are sweating and my heart is racing so hard my sight vibrates. I should kiss her. I want to, and judging by the look on her face, she wants me to too. It’ll be easy. I’ll lean forward, tilt my head down just a little,