The Rot (Post Apocalyptic Thriller) Read Online Free PDF

communicate something. Then he started firing off numbers, totally random, no pattern to them at all. “Forty-seven! Hundred and nine! Five, five, five!! ” There was an exasperation to the last one, frustration at not being able to get his meaning across. It didn’t matter in the end, because the flames rose higher – and then the explosion came which made sure that route was blocked off completely.
    The fat man was engulfed in the fireball. Didn’t stand a chance. The heat even reached us up there, and I pulled the nurse away from the rail to try and shield her. “Shit,” I said, glancing down at the devastation beneath us – then looking upwards. Our only way out now was to try for the rooftop, hope there was still a chopper on the landing pad that could get us out of there.
    I motioned for us to start our climb and we began going up those stairs, though I could see from the wincing and the way she held the rail that it was painful for the woman beside me. Once or twice she missed her step, and I tried to steady her – but she would flinch and shrug me off. I couldn’t blame her for being mistrustful of any man at that point. We’d made it up a couple of flights before it happened: a surge of people came ploughing through a door to our left. At least a dozen, maybe even more – too many to take in all the details, but I could tell that the majority of them weren’t right. One man was completely naked, but he’d… done things to his private parts, which were now just a bloodied hole; had castrated himself, and was holding the evidence up high above his head, waving it about. A woman with silver hair, had clawed out her own eyes – she was barking something in Latin. That meant whatever madness had spread throughout this facility wasn’t limited to just the men. A third figure had rough slashes across his face as if a bear had clawed him, but then I saw the knife in his hand, the grin he was sporting – and realised he’d also done this to himself.
    “Stay b—” I just about managed, but they’d barrelled into us so quickly, taken us completely by surprise. I was shoved back onto the stairs leading upwards, while the group grabbed at the nurse I was with. She punched one guy in the face, but there were simply too many of them. Putting the axe down, I aimed the pistol and fired. It had been a while since I’d been on a range, but you never really forget your target practice lessons – and I’d been pretty good back then. I took down two or three on either side of her, wounding rather than killing, but more poured in from that level – must have been a busy one – grabbing her, and pulling her through. She called out for help as she was dragged inside, and I shot a few more people… before I clicked on empty.
    By this time, several had turned their attention to me. I threw the empty gun at one attacker and it bounced off his cheek – didn’t even slow him down. So I lifted the axe, hoping the mere sight of it would be enough to put them off. Guess I hadn’t really learned anything from those other fights. These fuckers couldn’t care less if I had a bazooka.
    I turned the axe around, shoved the handle into someone’s stomach, before bringing it up and catching him under the chin. Someone else grabbed my arm, swinging me into the wall and sending the axe flying out of my grasp over the rail of the stairway. I ducked the next attack, coming up defensively, crossing my arms to shove the guy back – and it was only then that I realised there were several syringes sticking out of his head at various points; it was one of the most surreal things I’d ever seen. I began fighting my way through the throng, fighting to try and get to the nurse, elbowing people on my left and right. Even before the shots sounded – another smattering of machine-gun fire – I saw the woman being tossed and thrown about beyond the doorway. “Hold on!” I shouted, ignoring more gunfire – but it was already too late.