The Beginning Read Online Free PDF Page A

it was too late. Collin had already ripped the cabinet from the door and had unlocked it before Martin could get halfway across the room.   
    Suddenly the door was open and Collin was through the door, striding out into the landing, bellowing loudly: “Come on then!”
    There was a sudden rapid movement bounding up the stairs, too fast to be human. Martin heard the gush of wind rush out of Collin’s mouth as something collided with him at the top of the stairs.
    “Oh, it’s you.” Collin breathlessly croaked.  
    As Martin rounde d the corner he saw a golden retriever on top of Collin enthusiastically licking his face. This image was quickly followed by the sound of footsteps climbing the stairs.
    A woman’s wearily spoke as she climbed the stairs. “Duke, down! I’m so sorry Mr North. I dropped the lead when I saw-“Her eyes rose abruptly as the climbed the stairs and locked with Martins. “Oh, hi Martin.”
    “Kelly. Hi.”
    **
    The dog growled as it entered the bedroom. The heckles on its back spiked up as it approached the bed where Mollie lay. Kelly jumped back.
    “She’s infected.” Kelly blurted out bluntly as she pulled Duke back by his lead. She glanced between both Collin and Martin, as if to check if they knew.
    Collin stared down at his wife, not breaking his eye contact as he replied to Kelly. “Infected? She’s just got a fever. A girl bit her hand out shopping today.”
    “Did the girl have black pupils?”
    “Yes. But you know what kids are like nowadays, with their black fingernails, black leather coats. It doesn’t mean she is infected.” Martin had never seen his dad so distraught, as if he was battling something he couldn’t beat; himself.
    Kelly looked towards Martin for back up, almost pleading. “She’ll come back as... one of them. You need to get rid of her.”
    Martin held her eye contact. She hadn’t changed a bit. Her long brown hair was still cut in the same style she had in high school, but it looked unkempt and a bit greasy now. She’d put on a bit of weight, but it fitted her well.
    Martin had seen how danger ous the infected were, but this was his mom. “Get rid of her? Is there no cure?”
    “I don’t know. It is way worse than the news broadcasts make it out to be. The cities are overflowing with them, the army has retreated. I barely managed to get out. I came b ack to here as I thought it might be safer. When I finally got to my parent’s house on the other side of town it was deserted. No note. Nothing. You guys were the only people I knew here.”  
    The shock of the news was apparent on both Martin and Collin’s fa ces. How had a minor outbreak of measles suddenly turned into a nationwide crisis leading to the army retreating? It must be bad.
    “How?”
    Kelly sat down on a wooden chair in a corner of the room, Duke curled up underneath the chair, but kept two wary eyes fixed on the bed. “It’s the numbers. The infection spreads so fast as the infected are so aggressive that the army couldn’t handle it. Once infected they actively seek to infect others with it. Not on purpose though. The infection seems to kill off most of their brain cells, but leaves them with their survival instincts. The survival instincts that we honed for thousands of years before we invented cappuccinos and heated seats. The instinct to eat. But when they bite you, it transfers. ”
    They all looked ov er to where Mollie lay, a tension settling over the room.
    Collin was the first to speak. “She might not be infected. We have to wait till she wakes up.” That seemed to settle the issue.
    “Okay.” Kelly’s eyes suspiciously surveyed the room, lingering on the windows and the cabinet in front of the door, before resting on Martin. “This is where you’re staying then? Is it safe?”
    “I only arrived last night from the coast. There wasn’t any infection there. Here... I’m not so sure. But we have a bunker over in t he barn.”
      “Great. Let’s go there.”