Omega Virus (Book 1): Beta Hour Read Online Free PDF

video games. They were my friends.
Characters were my friends, but they couldn't come to my rescue. Not even Jeff,
whom for a brief moment, at least, I thought had my back. Of course, he too had
run away.
    I
leaned back and whimpered as the stinking Corpse pushed hard against the door,
trying its damnedest to get in. Not budging. I would starve first before
getting torn apart. I would never let them get me. Never. Ever.

 
    LEVEL 05 – PLAYER ONE PRESS START
       
    Somewhere in
the darkness, I heard a young girl say, “Press Start.”
    It
took a moment to respond. What did they mean?
    “What?”
I asked.
    “I
said, ‘Press Start’!” the same voice demanded. “ Unpause the game or else!”
    I
tried to spot her, but I couldn't see anything.
    “This
isn’t the time for video games!” I argued.
    She
shot back, “If you don’t press the stupid button right now, I'll go home!”
    I
might have pushed the button to get her to quiet down so the Corpse outside
would go away, but I didn’t have a controller, and we weren't playing a game.
We were in real life and that an undead monster stood just outside the door.
Couldn’t she hear it?
    “Okay,
Zachary! That’s it! You’re no fun at all!”
    She
sounded like Tiffany, but I'd never played a video game with her. I only played
them alone, right? Everything felt fuzzy.
    “I’ll
give you one last chance! If you want to be my boyfriend, press start and play
the game! Stop being such a coward!”
    Boyfriend?
Tiffany didn’t like me; in fact, she hated me. She didn’t even want me saying
her name. But something seemed wrong about that. I'd said her name before; it
felt right coming off my lips. Tiffany liked it. She even liked the nickname
I'd given her, ‘ Tiffa ’.
    How
did I know all of this? I could almost swear we'd grown up together. All of the
answers existed in the vortex inside of my mind.
    The
door shuddered and snapped me to the present. The Corpse pounded harder, trying
to get to its next meal.
    “Zachary
Mastiff!” Tiffany shouted. “Open the door! I won't say it again!”
    “ Tiffa ?” My eyes popped open, and I lay in the same dark
office. Serenade's body rested on my legs. I still had the flashlight clutched
in my hands, and the light shone on the pile of mush that'd been her head.
    “Zach,
are you alive in there?” Tiffany shouted. “If you got yourself killed
I’ll—”
    “You’ll
what?” Dave interjected. “You sound like you’re worried about the Noob .”
    Tiffany
snapped. “Hell no! We need all the numbers we can. If you forgot, Wesley
wandered off!”
    “Find
him on your own.” Jeff said, “It’s like you want every guy to be your
boyfriend.
    “No
way! I don’t want a boyfriend! I—I don’t even like boys!”
    “So
you like girls?” Dave snorted. “Hear that, Jessie?”
    “What
is that supposed to mean?” Jessie grumbled. “I’m not into girls.”
    “And
neither am I!” Tiffany said.
    “This
is annoying. Try pushing the door again.” Jeff said, “If we don’t hear him in
their groaning, then he isn’t a zombie, at least not yet.”
    “You
do it!” Tiffany said, “I’m tired of trying. If I hear anyone else put me in a
romantic ‘hypothetical’ again, I’m punching them in the nuts!”
    All
went silent until the door exploded off of its hinges and the filing cabinet
shot forward sending me tumbling and landing upside down. My head ached, and
the light burned my eyes.
    “Hey,
the power is back on!” Dave cheered.
    “Zach!”
Jessie and Tiffany both cried at the same time.
    Someone
started lifting me, but then flung and slammed me into the wall, sending a
sharp pain cracking up my back.
    “What’d
you do that for, Moron?” Tiffany snapped.
    “He’s
got blood on him,” Jeff replied. “Coulda been one of them.”
    “He’s
still breathing,” Jessie said. “Oh thank the gods.”
    “Which
gods?” I murmured.
    “The
gaming ones, idiot.” Tiffany groaned.
    I
looked up and found Jessie