The Withered Series (Book 1): Wither Read Online Free PDF Page A

prevent the spread of the
disease.  Hospitals were overrun.  All the while I stayed
close to my mother's room.  I knew she wouldn’t get sick,
not with being stuck in a clean room for risk of contracting a normal
infection, but what about me?  I figured the best place to be
was smack dab in the hospital if I started to feel sick.
    The
government gave us hope a month ago when they released the MONE
vaccine.  Our cure for an unnamed  enemy. Our redemption.
    They
were wrong.
    The
injection that was meant to bring us salvation brought us a living
hell.  The death count may have slowed but the human mutations
began within days of the drugs release.  The government
scrambled to figure out what went wrong with the vaccines but it was
too late. Whatever this new pathogen was, it spread quickly through
the populace.
    The
Withered Ones were born.  People not alive but not entirely dead
either.  They walk the streets, unblinking and unaware.  The
only sound they make is a rasping moan and shuffling footsteps.  A
zombie, for all intents and purposes, but nothing like we
anticipated.  I think I could have handled the flesh eaters a
bit better.
    That
was the beginning of the end.
    Desperation
and the remaining scum of the earth rule the streets now.  It
was inevitable that gangs would form, prisons would empty, and evil
would assume control, but the true fear runs much deeper.  In
the early hours of the night, you are left to wonder am
I next ?
    I
suppose that is another reason why I didn’t run when things got
bad.  Where can I hide when our deadliest enemy may already be
inside me?    
    “We
think the vaccines triggered some sort of chemical response in those
already infected with the pathogen,” Cable informs me.  His
voice is lower now.  His grave tone makes me want to hug myself
and crawl back under the blankets and ignore everything outside this
apartment.  I tried to do that at the hospital, but the world
came knocking.   “I’m not sure anyone left
alive really knows how it spread or even why.  It hit so fast
that there was no way to contain it once it spread.”
    “But
someone must know the true source. I mean, they have a slew of
symptoms to pick from, right?”
    Cable
scratches the back of his neck.  “That’s the
problem. None of the symptoms are completely the same.  Some
seem pretty constant, like a fever, but it’s different for each
person.  Half the time it’s impossible to know if they’ve
just come down with a cold.  By then it’s too late.”
    He
rubs his hands along his arm, scrunching up the black fabric.  He
stares beyond me, his expression as blank as those things shuffling
along the streets below.  “There were rumors at my base.
 People were suspicious of government involvement. Terms like
population control and terrorism were thrown around.  Other
people thought it might have been some crazy Middle Eastern dictator
that found a way to use chemical warfare on our food supply.  Others
thought maybe there was a mole in the CDC that tampered with the MONE
drug results.”
    I’d
be lying if I didn’t admit that I’d had similar thoughts
over the past couple of weeks.  I wouldn’t put it past the
government to be somehow involved. Plausible deniability and all that
crap.
    “But
the Moaners started showing up after we were given the vaccine,”
I chime in.  “Shouldn’t that mean that was the cause
of the mutations?”
    He
turns his hands upward and shrugs, shaking his head.  “Could
be, or maybe it was just bad luck.  The CDC was working on this
mystery last I heard, but that was over a week ago.  It’s
been mostly radio silence since them. My guess is they ran out of
time.”
    “Or
manpower,” I mutter, shoving my hair back from my eyes.  It
clings to my cheeks, plastered to my neck.
    “That
too.”  Lifting his hat, Cable rubs his hair.  It’s
sandy blond, like the highlights along his chin, short and probably
at one time was spiked but has since