Fall of the Seven Cities Saga (Book 1) Read Online Free Page B

near the stairwell? I’ve known one of them for nearly twenty years. We went to the academy together. He was one of the most even-tempered people I’ve ever met. If there was ever a situation that needed to be deescalated he was the man you wanted. Even the worst criminals calmed down and let him put handcuffs on them. He had a real gift for verbal judo. Absolutely out of character to see him like that. When I saw him attack those people and then charge us, I knew all bets were off.”
    “When I first entered the emergency room one of those infected men was biting the nose off a nurse,” Matt said slowly. “Then that same nurse came back a little while later and started attacking people.” He glanced at Taylor. “That was the man you shot, the one with the bandage on his face. An infection makes sense.”
    Taylor nodded but got to his feet instead of continuing the conversation. “I’ve gotta call my wife and let her know what’s happening.””
    After Taylor left the room, Matt got up as well. He’d never felt the need to own a gun, but suddenly the idea of not having a weapon made him nervous. He wandered the maternity ward and found a hallway that led to a group of offices. The first two doors were locked, but the third opened when he turned the handle.
    There was a reason the office wasn’t locked. There was nothing inside but sheets of drywall and a few paint cans. As he was leaving, he caught sight of a black handle sticking out of a five gallon bucket. Matt walked toward the bucket and pulled out a large claw framing hammer. It was one of the nice ones, metal with a rubber grip and an offset handle.
    He walked back through the maternity ward and stopped at the nursery window. Inside, a dozen newborns lay in bassinets, all wearing little pink and blue hats. It amazed Matt how small they were. He’d never even held a newborn.
    Jenna, the nurse from the front desk, was silent in her approach. Matt didn’t even notice her until she spoke.
    “Precious aren’t they?”
    “Yeah, I didn’t know they were so small,” Matt said. He felt stupid as soon as the words were out of his mouth. Who doesn’t know how big a baby is?
    “I think even parents forget how small a newborn is. But they get big in a hurry. All of those newborn clothes that people buy for baby showers last about two weeks. A month if you’re lucky.”
    “You know a lot about babies,” Matt said. Another stupid thing to say. She must have really wanted to talk to someone because she certainly wasn’t staying for his conversational brilliance.
    She laughed. “Nah, I just work around them. Aren’t you like that with your job? What do you do?”
    “I’m a real estate agent.”
    He was about to say something else when the buzzer rang. Someone wanted to get into the maternity ward.
    They both ran towards the front desk. Through the window they could see a middle-aged black woman, with a messy set of braids.
    “That’s Miss Jade. She’s the nursing specialist. We have to let her in,” Jenna said.
    “You’ve gotta open up,” Miss Jade screamed at the same time. “Help me!”
    Her hand was bloody and it left red smears as she pounded the small window set in the door.
    “Don’t open it,” Matt said.
    Taylor had come up behind them. He had his gun out of the holster, but instead of aiming it at Miss Jade, he was pointing it at Jenna.
    “If you open that door you’re gonna kill every one of these children and their mothers. If you move for that button I’ll splatter your brains against that wall like a plate of spaghetti,” he said in a calm voice. “And if Miss Jade gets in I’m going to kill her too. She’s infected.”
    The words Taylor used might have been laughable in a movie. But the way he said it, Matt knew he was serious. Matt had already seen Taylor kill a man and knew that he wouldn’t hesitate to do it again.
    Jenna’s eyes were wide as she stepped away from the button that released the door. Miss Jade let out a