Dead Days (Book 1): Mike Read Online Free Page B

Probably will in fact.
     
    What if you have to do it to Tess?
     
    That thought jerks me upright.  Could I do that?  If Tess has been bitten, has become one of those things, could I do to her what I did to Alan?  Could I break her skull and watch her blood and brains pour out, through that beautiful corona of dark red hair, over her face, those lips that I’ve kissed almost every day for the last two years? 
     
    Of course I couldn’t.
     
    If she went to work then she’s probably one of them already.
     
    No shut up, she’s alright, I know she is.
     
    How?
     
    Because she has to be!  I try to shut that voice up, for now at least, but terror fills me and I cannot bring myself to start the engine.  That voice has done its work and now I’m crippled with doubt.  I want to go back to my flat and lock the door, like the news told me to.  I don’t want to face those things.  I don’t want to risk driving the relatively short distance to Tess’s place only to find she isn’t there, or worse that she’s become a monster.
     
    A new voice speaks up in my head.
     
    Get it done.
     
    It’s not that easy-
     
    Yes it is.  You’re further out of town, you’ve only seen one of those things.  If you see any on your way to Tess’s you’ll drive right past or right through.  She may not be one of those things yet, you’re probably right about that, but do you think that state of affairs is going to last if you don’t get going?  You know you’re going to do it so do it already and stop whining like a bitch.
     
    In my mind this voice is American, like a Drill Sergeant.  I christen him ‘Mr Get it Done.’
    Mr G says it’s time to go and get Tess, before things go from ‘bad’ to ‘total shit-storm’ and he gets me moving.  I start up the engine and pull out onto the road. 
          The van is a piece of shit, clunky, slow with a ride so uncomfortable it feels like my bones are being shaken apart, but it’s a ride, and I’m going to drive it all the way to Tess.
          As I pass the corner shop, I see Riz/Raz and a couple of burly Asian fellows nailing boards over the shop front.  I pull over and lower my window.
    “Hey, have you seen what’s happening?”
    The men look up, one of them, wearing a large turban and holding a crowbar talks quietly to Riz, eyeing me suspiciously.  Riz gestures for him to calm down and walks over. 
    “Hey man, what’s up?”  he says.
    “What are you guys doing?”
    “Boarding up the shop ‘innit?  My Uncle reckons those rioters are gonna’ come up this way eventually and we gotta’ defend the shop.”
    “I think you’d be better off getting out of town.”  I reply eyeing there improvised defences.
    “Nah man, we’ll be alright.  You got somewhere to go?”
    “I’m going to get my girlfriend, take her out of London ‘til this calms down.”
    “Good idea man, get out into the countryside yeah?”
    “Yeah.”  I look up at one of the men who is leaning against the shop with a mug of something, tea or coffee.  He lets out a cough, and as he raises the mug, I see a bandage on his forearm, poking under his sleeve.  I look at Riz who has seen my expression.
    “You should really think about leaving.”  I say.  
    “We’ll be ok.”  But now he sounds much less certain.  “You wanna bring your missus back here later?  We got room?”
    “Thanks but we’ll be fine.  Good luck to you.”  Before I wind up the window I lean over and lower my voice so the others don’t hear.  “You gotta hit them in the head, that’s what I was told, that’s what the police say.”
    “In the?-  What you talkin’ about man?”
    “Just remember, destroy the brain that stops them.”  He takes a step back as if I might be crazy and as he lowers his gaze he notices the splotches of Alan’s blood on my shirt.  Before he can say anything else, I wind the window up and drive off, looking at his frightened, confused expression in the rearview