Infected Series (Book 1): Mission: New York Read Online Free Page A

and the three of them left the shop quickly, blinking in the sunlight. A meaty smell of raw meat and the coppery smell of blood hit their nostrils as they walked into the bright sunlight. He had not noticed the smell before as he had not been as exposed earlier to the smell. They moved as silently as they could toward the shop next door. There they saw the shattered window, and looked into the interior. Fortunately the lights were still on and they quickly entered the flower shop. They heard the noise of someone or something moving deeper inside the shop. They spread out, moving behind the counter and into the storeroom at the back of the shop. They heard a scuffling noise, and Simon spoke softly to them; letting them know that if they got the chance they should take out whatever it was inside the shop. Moving carefully Simon reached the door to the storeroom, and carefully pulled it open with the hand not holding the bat.
    Suddenly the creature exploded out of the store room, rushing silently toward them; shoving Simon out of the way, into the wall and that knocked him out. Dawson and Phil were fortunately ready for anything, and the pipe that Phil swung connected squarely with the creatures head. The creature fell, landing hard on the floor and collapsing into a heap. It had only been stunned briefly and almost immediately it jumped back up and roared at Phil, hitting him squarely into the counter. Dawson struck the creature from behind with her machete; striking in a downward arc she hit the creature in the head, severing the brainstem. The creature collapsed writhing, it’s life force extinguished finally. Phil stood, shaking his head and limped back over to Dawson and together they went over to where Simon lay. They reached down and sat him up slowly, making sure he was still breathing. After a minute he regained consciousness, and stood shakily, looking at the creature now lying dead on the floor.
    “Wha..what happened?” he said groggily, looking at Dawson and Phil, standing unsteadily. “W.. we still need to investigate the scream, and see if there is anyone else in here. Let me take a minute to recover, and then we can move out to look further.”
    Dawson and Phil agreed, and they let Simon gather his wits before they moved ahead with their impromptu plan. They continued moving forward carefully toward the open door, and slowly entered the store room when the stench of raw meat and blood hit them. Gagging, Simon nearly retched, but fortunately managed to hold it down. The woman’s body lay sprawled on the floor, her scattered organs destroyed by the creature that had once been a man. Mostly complete she was starting to twitch; the process nearly complete of turning her into one of the creatures as well. Dawson saw the body move and quickly strode up to the woman, and quickly delivered a blow to the head, destroying the brainstem with a single stroke. Another noise came from further back in the store, and they all froze. Looking at each other they slowly moved toward the noise. Stepping carefully they approached the location of the noise, being extra cautious to not make any unnecessary noise. The scratched cupboard stood against the back wall, and the three of them could see the fresh scratches on the wooden sides and door. A scraping noise came from inside the cupboard, and the door opened with a small squeak. Simon spoke softly, wanting to reassure the person that was hiding in there that everything was okay. A head finally appeared from inside the closet; a rather pretty brunette. Her luminous eyes were tearing up and she spoke softly, “Is..is it safe? Can I come out now?”
     
    Chapter Five
     
    Ella climbed out of the closet, stretched and then ran up to the three rescuers, hugging them each in turn; thanking them for their rescue from the creature. They looked at this elfin creature, and smiled. Her story came out then as she told them of her hiding in the closet, after she had seen the creature come