The Rabid: Rise Read Online Free PDF Page B

the bed.
    As Ruiz leads us towards a building labeled with a boxy black 9, the two other guys from the storage facility come tearing into the parking lot with the Humvees, honking their horns, waving and cheesing for the meager throng.
    “ Pendejo! These two again.” Ruiz breaks off from us, flapping his hands wildly above his head, trying to grab their attention. “Hey assholes, we still got Deadheads runnin' around out there.”
    Both vehicles come to a halt, the two men ducking behind the steering wheels wearing ear-to-ear grins.
    “ These guys, man, they act like we're playing make believe or something, ya know?” He's not looking for a response, simply venting. “We had a guy ripped apart over near the South gate just...what was it, two, three days ago?”
    “ Three days ago, don't remind me, I had to help clean the mess,” Katia says as we resume our march towards building 9.
    “ Wasn't no joke then, ain't no joke now. Stupid asses aren't gonna get real till they're getting gnawed on; it'll be too late then.” 
    At the bottom of the stairs, Ruiz stands aside to let the girls pass, courteous hand extended. “Ladies first.”
    Katia ushers Bethany in front of her. “Third floor, first door on the right.”
    “ Go ahead, Timmy.” Ruiz squeezes me in behind Katia.
    I can feel Ruiz behind me, his gaze boring into my back as I try to avert my eyes from Katia's hips, jumping to-and-fro, inches from my face, a patterned thong peeking from the top of her pants, the tattoo from her stomach spiraling up and around her back. As we round the first landing, she turns to face me and I jerk my head towards the ceiling, taking a sudden interest in the cobwebs and dirt that have accumulated in the corners overhead.
    “ Welcome to the heart beat and the most secure part of our little village.” Ruiz introduces us to a door labeled 933 , two men stand guard on either side, and they clutch automatic rifles across their chests. They look us over as Ruiz turns the gold plated knob and lets the rest of us in ahead of him.
    The living room opens up before us. There’s no furniture aside from a blue metal table with a white nylon cloth running end to end. Atop it are dual computer monitors, lined up side-by-side, same size, their backs to us, their screens casting a warm glow that lights the room around us. A cord runs from the CPU humming away beneath the table. It snakes across the carpet, through a crack in the balcony door, and hooks into a generator humming away outside.
    “ You've got internet?”
    Ruiz jolts with a laughter. “Hell no, at least, not yet. I mean, the bastards couldn’t even keep the infrastructure alive in New Orleans after Katrina. Now we have this meltdown, nationwide. Nah, man, forget it about it. It’s gonna take some doing before we get there, but, make no mistake, we’ll get there.” Ruiz leans around the corner, looking into the kitchen. “All this shit you see here, it belongs to our token nerd. Bytes, where the hell you at?”
    “ Bytes, that's clever,” I chuckle.
    “ Not our doing. He won't tell us his real name.” Katia is standing by the balcony door, looking out over the parking lot.
    “ He only wants to be addressed by his net handle .” Ruiz pounds on the wall. “Bytes, get your ass out here.”
    The bedroom door opens up and a man comes stumbling out wearing pajama pants and a night robe. He rubs his eyes and sets a pair of narrow spectacle s across his nose. “Jesus man, can I sleep? Late night last night.”
    “ Gaming again? All night hack 'n' slash session? Poor Bytes.” Katia pouts and rubs invisible tears from her cheeks.
    “ No,” he mutters, tightening his robe a bit more, “that's not all I was doing. I balanced our stock as well.”
    “ We just got a new shipment in. We'll send you the counts when we have them ready,” Ruiz says.
    “ Looking forward to it.” Bytes grants Bethany and I a disinterested once over. “I see you brought guests.”
    “ Bethany,