Torn Apart (Book 1): Terror In Texas Read Online Free PDF Page B

didn’t mean to.”
    He turned to face Tate. “You did what you had to do.” He got to his feet and glanced around the near-empty parking lot. “What are you still doing here?”
    “What do you mean? I spent the night here. I’ve got a load to pick up down the street at two this afternoon. What in the fuck is going on? Why is all the lights out? Where is everyone?”
    “You don’t know?” The man took off his jacket and laid it over the face of the young man at his feet. “You don’t know about the infection on the base?”
    “I saw something last night on the television about an attack.”
    She got an uneasy feeling and noticed for the first time how really quiet it was. There were no cars or trucks moving on the streets around the truck stop. Traffic lights were out. She looked back at the building just as Pablo, Maria, and half a dozen others stumbled through the shattered glass storefront of the truck stop. Each was covered in blood and bore terrible wounds.
    “Fuck girl. You just woke up to a new world and it ain’t pretty.” The old man declared. “We gotta get outta here!”

Chapter 4
Hiding
    The big blue dumpster sat at the side of the building her mother had pointed toward. With the boxes of empty bottles and lack of food garbage, Amy was pretty sure it was a bar where people spent their time drinking beer.
    When she saw the metal lid on the dumpster, she wondered if they would be safer in the building with the people or in the big metal box. She knew drinking men were not always nice so she decided on the box.
    “We’re going to hide in the box, Claire Bear,” Amy whispered. “I have to put you down for a few minutes. Don’t cry. We have to stay quiet.” She handed the baby a toy from her pocket.
    Amy dropped the diaper bag at the side of the metal box and sat her sister on a clean piece of cardboard. She slid cases of empty bottles to the side of the blue dumpster and made steps with the boxes. She propped open the lid with an empty cardboard box. It left her just enough room to ease a single case of empty bottles over the side and slide it inside the dumpster. She worked two more cases over the edge of the metal container. When she was satisfied with her steps up and down, she made her way back down to her sister. She could still hear moans from beyond the fence when she picked up Claire and the bag.
    The baby whimpered and Amy pulled her close and whispered. “It’s okay Claire Bear. Mommy will come for us soon. We’re just going to play hide and seek, okay?”
    Amy held Claire close while she made her way up the stacked boxes. She eased the bag over the edge and dropped it. She stepped over the side and climbed down the steps of stacked boxes inside.
    She flattened a piece of clean cardboard on the bottom of the dumpster and set Claire down. She stood up and pushed the lid high enough to pull the cardboard free. She tossed it away and lowered the lid.
    The enclosure was dark inside and smelled of wet cardboard, but Amy felt safe for the first time since her mother had pulled them from the car. Tears slid down her face as she hugged her sister.
    Even with a heavy quilt wrapped around the baby, Amy was worried Claire would get cold in the metal box if mommy didn’t come before night. But this was the safest place she could find.
    Inside the dumpster, Amy looked around. In the gloom of the closed up container, she saw cardboard boxes and a couple bags of trash. She turned on the fairy light toy Claire had been playing with and shined the pin light around the container. She decided she could make it better. She let Claire play with the flashlight and moved across the container where she flattened boxes across the floor. She slid a larger box to the corner and turned it on its side.
    She picked up one of the bags of trash and stood up. She pushed the lid up an inch, peaked out and saw no one in the dimming afternoon light. She tossed the bag out then closed the lid. She listened for a moment