The King of Clayfield - 01 Read Online Free PDF Page A

man over at the transmission shop, but he was far enough away not to be a problem. To the north, I could see a group of people gathered around the overturned delivery van by the newspaper office. They, too, were far enough away so long as I got to my car quickly and got out of the lot before they blocked my path.
    It looked like a good time to go. As quietly as I could, I exited the building. Out of habit, I started to lock the door behind me, but stopped myself. I might need a place to which I could retreat.
    I made it to my car okay. I didn’t attract any attention. I knew that once I started the vehicle, they’d come. I unlocked the door, put my food in the back floorboard behind my seat, the tobacco stake in the passenger seat,   and climbed in. The seat was cold, and I could see my breath. I pulled the door shut gently. My hands were shaking as I slid the key into the ignition.
    “God help me,” I whispered.
    I cranked the car, and immediately the group at the newspaper office turned to see. There must have been twenty of them. They came at me fast. I put the car in drive and jumped over the curb onto North Street. I turned right and headed east toward the fire station. I could see them in my rearview mirror chasing me. Then the couple I’d seen fighting earlier, jumped in front of my vehicle. I tried to swerve, but I hit the woman. She flipped up onto the hood, against the windshield, and rolled out into the street. I didn’t slow at all. The crowd shrank in my mirror as I sped   down North Street.
    I kept looking in my mirror at the woman’s body in the road. I’d already hurt two people today–first, the woman I’d beat with the broom handle and now this one. I know the masked woman said they weren’t people anymore, but I still didn’t believe that.   The night before when they went to bed   they’d been human beings with families. What if their families were looking for them or worried about them? What about their kids? It brought tears to my eyes.
     
    When I got to North   5th I took a right so I could connect with Broadway. I immediately wished I   hadn’t.
    The intersection of Broadway and North 5th by Clayfield Water and Electric was blocked by a head-on collision. It was bad. The driver of the car on the right was halfway out the windshield. The front end of the other car was folded up so that the hood was pushed into the interior of the car.
    There was a crowd of infected around the wreck. There were people crawling on the vehicles. They were all in various states of dress. I couldn’t   understand   how   some of them   could stand to be in the cold without their coats…or pants. They all turned toward me. I stopped the car. I knew I had to get out of there quickly. I put the car in reverse, and threw my arm up on the back of the seat to head back the way I came, but there was a little boy behind the car. He couldn’t have been more than six years old. He was infected like the others. He had a vacant look on his face. He just stood there. I faced front again, and the crowd was approaching. I turned back, and the little guy was still there.
    “Move dammit!” I yelled. I was crying. I was scared. “Move!”
    I laid on the horn. The boy jumped a little, but didn’t move from his spot. Then the crowd started hitting and rocking my vehicle. They didn’t like the horn. They were in a crescent around the front end. Some of them were actually snarling. I looked in the mirror; the boy bared his teeth.
    Rabid dog, or no, I wasn’t going to run over a kid. I put the car in drive and stomped the accelerator. I didn’t punch through the way I’d hoped. I wasn’t going fast enough. An elderly man, directly in front, went down and under the car. I groaned inside about that,   but I couldn’t think about that right then.   Suddenly, the car just wouldn’t go. I kept the gas pedal on the floor. I could hear the rear tires squealing. The people were crawling on the vehicle–fists and