You and Me against the World: The Creepers Saga Book 1 Read Online Free PDF Page A

managed and had fewer emergencies. He could not argue either point and had accepted the position.
    During one of the CDC seminars in Atlanta, a military doctor had spoken about situations that would require “aggressive containment.” The doctor, whose suit was adorned with medals, had stated that “in a situation whereas there is the danger of exponential spread of a terminal virus, the government would need to use aggressive containment measures to ensure the health and safety of the public at large.”
    A young doctor from Berkeley had asked for a more specific definition of this proposed and hypothetical aggressive containment. The response had been chilling.
    “Any means necessary to completely and successfully eradicate the virus.”
    No one believed that such a situation would ever occur or that any sane politician who hoped for reelection would authorize such measures.
    Apparently, they had been wrong on both accounts.
    Thorn made the turn onto Metro and stayed in the right-hand lane.
    “No, you need to go left,” Susan yelled from the passenger seat. “My apartment is that way.”
    “Susan, we can’t go downtown. I’ll take you to my house.”
    “No, no, we have to. I live with my mom, and she can’t stay by herself.”
    Thorn hit the brakes and stopped short of the intersection. He turned and looked at her.
    “Susan, it’s too late.”
    “What? No, it’s not. Those … those things can’t get downtown quicker than we can.”
    Thorn took her hand; it was a poor attempt to comfort her, and he hated himself for what he was about to point out.
    “Susan. Look over those trees toward downtown. What do you see?”
    She looked for a moment, began to speak, and then tears filled her eyes.
    “Why?” she whimpered.
    Large plumes of black smoke rose into the sky above the downtown area. Several fighter jets circled away over the Gulf.
    “It’s called aggressive containment. The military is bombing every area with a high likelihood of infection. How close did you live to Lee West Hospital?”
    “Right behind it.” Her voice was a near-whisper.
    “I know this is difficult, but the jet that just bombed our hospital is going to circle back and drop more munitions on this area to contain the virus. We need to get out of here. We can’t go downtown because it will be an inferno very soon.”
    Susan nodded, but it was a mechanical response like one of those dashboard bobbleheads. In the backseat, Rosa sobbed softly.
    Thorn looked to his right and saw that the remaining group of infected still galloped toward the street. They would reach it in a few moments. He needed to pass the main entrance before they did, the chaos started, and the traffic accidents ensued. He gunned the accelerator and turned onto Daniels without regard for any oncoming traffic. He sped past the first infected as it did its sick gallop into the lane.

Chapter 3
    The End of the World

    P art 1
     
    What we don’t know could fill a room
     
    Thorn had been correct in his assumption that the government was ahead of the curve but not enough to make a difference. The earliest case of what officially was named VirusXB724a, or X for short, appeared in early June in the small coastal town of Punta Sol, located in the Florida Panhandle. Influenza was rare in the summer months and one that could thrive in the hot humidity of Florida was extremely rare.
    Scientists determined that X was a rogue strand that fit somewhere between the H10N7 group and the H7N7 zoonotic type. If the original incubation was a mammal, tests suggested that the possum had been the most likely carrier. The government scientists who witnessed the mutation first hand understood that without containment, X would mean X-human race. The virus self-progressed from forty-eight-hour incubation to eight hours and to two hours, and then just before Punta Sol’s total eradication, infection occurred within ten minutes of contact through either bite or ingestion of the black bile. The