Outbreak (Book 1): Emerald City Read Online Free PDF Page B

a dream? she wondered, but Tasha was not sure she had even been sleeping. It was pitch black in her locker. The door was closed as far as it would go. She listened hard but heard nothing. As quietly as she could, she sat up and slipped out of her sleeping bag. She found her pistol on the floor by her bed, stood up, and crept to the door of her locker. She stopped and listened again. Still silent. After a minute she began to relax a little but a sweat had broken out across her lean frame and she was beginning to get cold. Still, she was not completely convinced it was safe so she slipped out of the locker and walked over to look through one of the warehouse windows. It was night, but she had no way of knowing what time it was. Again, she was not sure if she had slept and it could have been the middle of the night or almost sunrise. She scanned the street and saw nothing. All was quiet. Not knowing what else to do, Tasha went back inside her locker and sat down. She began to shiver, so she crawled back into the sleeping bag, her pistol cradled against her stomach, and listened again for something, anything like the noise she thought she had heard. But, there was nothing more than the rhythmic beating of her heart and the sound of her own breathing.
    After a few more minutes, still hearing nothing, she cursed herself for a fool. That is what I get for going up on the roof , she thought. Being out in the open always made her anxious. She laid back down and closed her eyes. She was just getting warm again when she heard something moving in the darkness. She knew immediately it had been a trap. Whatever was coming at her had made a loud noise and then laid in wait to see her come out and expose her hiding place. Patiently, it had let Tasha go back inside her locker and then given her the time to let her guard down. Now Tasha heard it come rushing through the locker’s door, scrambling like it was on its hands and knees. Tasha fumbled for a match, scratched it along the floor and held it up to see what was coming for her. At first she could not tell if it was a survivor or a creeper. As it got closer, she realized it was a man. He was filthy with long hair, but his face …
    “I found you!” he hissed. “We saw you on the roof today and I told them I would find you!” He giggled and Tasha’s blood ran cold with fear. The man had a long rusted knife in one hand and she froze as he scrambled toward her on the floor. What the hell has happened to him? she thought as he rushed at her. The skin on his face was horribly frostbitten. Oh my God, he’s a ghoul, a monster! His infected skin oozed pus and what remained of his lips were black and festering. His nose had almost completely rotted away. His clothes were filthy and gray and the decaying reek of him was overpowering. With a scream of terror, she went for her pistol, but it caught on the fabric of her sleeping bag and she fumbled as she tried to pull it free. By then the ghoul was on top of her and the match wisped out. Suddenly, they were fighting in absolute darkness.
    “I found you,” he repeated. “I knew I would. They laughed at me but I was patient and now you’re mine!” He reeked of rotten flesh and Tasha could feel his rancid breath on her face as he pressed closer to her.
    “No, God, no!” Tasha cried, pushing back at him with her one free hand while she fought to draw her gun with the other. His weight pinned her arm. She felt the stab of his knife at her waist. She realized he was trying to push the blade into her stomach, but the sleeping bag was between them and it was thick enough to slow the dull blade. Tasha twisted to avoid being impaled and clubbed at his head with her fist. He grunted and grabbed a fistful of her hair. Pain shot through Tasha’s head. “Get off of me!” she screamed and pushed at his face. She felt what was left of the skin on his cheek slide away and her thumb drove up and into his eye.
    “Dirty bitch!” he cried and shook his