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

been matted down.  “About
a week ago I heard static on our comm channel.  Nothing unusual,
especially now, but a faint message came through that I’m not
sure I was supposed to hear.”
    My
hand falls away from my forehead.  “What was it?”
    “The
message said ‘blood is the key.’  That’s when
the riots really began and we were called in.  My guess is
someone else was listening in on that same message.”
    I
rest my head back against the futon cushion.  “It’s
not like that message was much to go on.  How could someone take
those four words and create such chaos?”
    “What
other source of hope did they have to cling to?”
    “Hope?”
I snort.  “How does ‘blood is the key’ bring
hope to those lunatics out there?”
    “It
doesn’t, but if they want people to follow them they have to
pretend that it does.”
    “So
the leaders of these gangs tell people there’s something in
blood that can save them and their brainless minions will do whatever
it takes to get it?”
    “Pretty
much. That’s why they hit the hospital.”
    I
frown, thinking back to the odd sounds I heard at the hospital.  “Was
my attacker trying to collect my mother’s blood as some sort of
cure?  If so, there’s no way gutting her would have
worked.  I’m no doctor, but I’m pretty sure mixing
the wrong blood is a bad thing, not to mention how easily it could be
contaminated when collected incorrectly.”
    “Desperation
drives people to crazy things, including what happened to your
mother.  I don’t know what they are doing with the blood,
only that they are rounding up survivors for it.”
    I
heard the screams on the street, knew innocent people were being
hurt, but I never dreamed they were being rounded up like animals.
 The idea sickens me, but a sudden idea makes me mouth fall
open.  “They’re making their own blood bank,”
I whisper.
    “It
would seem so.” Cable’s hands drop to his sides, his
fingers uncurling against the floor.  Color flees from his
fingers under the pressure.  “They are systematically
taking out quadrants of the town at a rate faster than we can keep
up. We are low on men.  Half of the guys I came here with have
turned, others were mowed down.  A few are missing and presumed
dead.”
    His
jaw clenches.  “Before anyone really knew what was
happening, they hit every gun, pawn and redneck shop they could find
to stock up.  They raided grocery stores for food and blew up a
shopping center after they depleted its resources. Then the bastards
built walls around themselves.  They are shut up tight near the
center of town.  I lost several good men trying to breach their
wall.”
    “How
could they build walls so quickly? It’s only been a couple of
weeks.”
    An
explosion rattles the window. Cable glances toward the window, his
expression grim. “Like that. They blew up entire city blocks,
downed buildings all around them.  They have snipers on the
rooftops.  We try to get near them and they pick us off.”
    Wrapping
my arms around me, I feel a shiver ripple along my spine.  “Why
not just drive a tank in here and blow them all to hell?  Don’t
you have jets or something with bombs?”
    “Sure.”
 He shoves his hat back on his head.  “We could do
that, and risk murdering hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent men
and women in the process.”
    I
notice that he doesn’t mention anything about children and
figure he’s trying to gloss over that fact.  I appreciate
that side step.  I’ve never been one of those people who
liked seeing kids get killed in movies.  It’s just sick.
    Lowering
my head, I fight to ignore the growing ache in my neck.  My
muscles are taut.  My stomach churns as I sink a little lower.
 I’m tired, more so than I ever remember being.  My
mother used to brag to her friends that I was the healthiest kid she
ever met.  I can count the times I had a cold as a child on one
hand.  The flu hit me once every couple of years.  I