Until the End of the World (Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

something rotten wafts past.
    “Let’s go!” James yells, and yanks Penny’s hand.
    My ankle twists as I turn, and I gasp at the jolt of pain. I have to get out of these stupid shoes. Nelly steadies my elbow as I kick them off and we race across the street. Half-Neck follows. By the time we reach her building he’s halfway there. Penny scrambles to get her key in the lock of the outer door. Maybe we should just keep running.
    “C’mon, c’mon,” Penny begs.
    Her hand shakes but her key slides in. We fall into the small vestibule as Penny works on the next lock. Half-Neck appears and spreads his hands on the door. Brown flakes smear off his filthy fingers onto the glass. His eyes are filmy. He sniffs the air with a guttural moan and paws at the door.
    “C’mon, before he breaks the glass,” Penny says.
    We rush through the second door. Once inside the second floor apartment, the door locked behind us, I collapse on the couch. James runs to the window.
    “Oh my God,” Penny says. Her hand’s at her throat, like she’s trying to hold in a scream. “What the fuck was that?”
    We’re all silent, our chests heaving and eyes wide. That’s not what I thought an infected person looked like. He didn’t look sick; he looked like a monster from a horror movie. And he chased us. My skin crawls when I realize he might be chasing other people right now.
    “I’m calling 911.” My voice sounds far away as I dial with a shaky hand. “We can’t let him walk around.”
    After twenty rings I hang up and try the landline. An automated voice tells me they’re too busy to answer. “They’re not answering.” This is not good. This is New York fucking City. “They’re too busy.”
    Nelly watches out the window. “Still there. Penny, when’s Ana coming home?”
    Penny jumps for the phone and presses redial over and over. “Ana!” she yells, when she gets through. “Where are you? Okay, listen. There’s a guy out front trying to attack people. Go to the service door. I’ll stay on the phone with you. James and Nelly will open it so you can run right in. Do not come in the front!” A shrill voice sounds on the other end. “Ana, please. Just do what I’m telling you to do!” She turns to Nelly and James. “She’s five minutes away. Will you go make sure it’s safe? One of you run back up if it’s not.” They nod and leave.
    “They’re on their way down,” she says into the phone. A couple of minutes pass in tense silence. “Is the door open? Go. I’ll see you upstairs.”
    Penny grabs Ana in a hug as soon as she enters. Ana gives her a cursory pat then pulls away and smoothes her long hair. It’s lighter than Penny’s, with hints of gold. She wears brown suede knee-high boots and a long sweater with leggings. The sweater must cost as much as my yearly clothing budget, including my sandals back on the corner. Ana looks a lot like Penny, with her dark eyes and small nose, but she doesn’t have Penny’s curvy softness.
    “So, what’s with the crazy guy downstairs?” Ana strides over to the window. He sits slumped against the glass of the door. He’s not moving. I hope he’s dead.
    “He tried to attack us on our way here,” James tells Ana. “That’s what the infected people are doing. You get the virus through bodily fluids.”
    Ana turns from the window and shrugs. “So, this is that swine flu or whatever? I can’t believe people are going so crazy over it! The bar we were going to go to closed early. Now I get to spend Friday night here.”
    Now that she’s safe, I want to put her out there again. “Ana,” I say, in my best stop-being-a-little-shit voice. “Sorry your Friday night is ruined. But did you hear James? The man tried to attack us. Your mother is stuck at the hospital with these people. There may be a hundred thousand infected in New York. And it isn’t swine flu.”
    Ana sticks out her bottom lip. “Fine, whatever.”
    She picks up her bag and saunters off to her room. I