The Beginning Read Online Free

basketball jersey and the other a wife beater. Martin’s heart began to thump as they approached and he knew he’d made a mistake.
    He should have ran.
    Both quads stopped a couple metres from Martin, cutting the engines and taking their hunting rifles with them as they got off.
    “Martin North? Well, I’ll be damned.” Knicks stared Martin up and down, before exchanging a glance with the man in the wife beater.
    Martin was racking his mind, trying to put a name to these unrecognisable faces, his eyes flicking between them. “Yeah?”
    Wife beater chuckled. “You don’t remember us? The Millard’s? John and Les?”
    A wave of recognition washed over Martin and he hoped it wasn’t apparent in his facial expressions. The Millard brothers lived a couple miles away on Windmill Farm and they’d been best friends as kids. “Oh shit! Man, am I glad to see you boys. What the fuck is going on here?”
    John, who was wearing the Knicks jersey, took a step forward while Les scanned the horizon. “That measles outbreak wasn’t just a measles outbreak. It makes th em crazy.”
    Les’ voice dropped to just a whisper and he shifted nervously on his feet. “It changes them, man. They don’t feel pain, they just want to eat.”
    Martin remembered how the man had chased him to the barn, ripped half his fingernails off just trying to get in. “Yeah, I know. There was one chasing me and I saw a couple running around here.” Martin suddenly remembered where he was going and spun towards the house. “I think they were going towards my parent’s house.”
    “Only a couple?” John had a confus ed look on his face.
    Martin turned and nodded. “Yeah, why is there more?”
    John and Lee looked at each other as if they were about to tell a child Santa wasn’t real. “In the cities it’s worse. Way worse. There are thousands of them. Out here in the sticks it ain’t so bad. But they’re getting here too as well, especially in town. You guys are lucky, your house is about 5 miles out from town. We ain’t so lucky.” John’s voice trailed off.
    This thought seemed to snap them both out of it and a hardened look app eared on their faces almost instantly.
    “Listen, Marty, we’re on a supply run.” John eyed the shotgun Martin had draped at his side. “We’re running real low on ammunition. We could really use that gun.”
    “The Peacemaker? I need this. I saw some infected running towards the house. I haven’t got anything else.” Martin looked between the two hardened faces and realised his requests fell on deaf ears. It wasn’t just the infected that had changed.
    Lee’s hand rested on his hunting rifle and began to tap innocent ly.
    “Sorry, Marty. If we don’t bring stuff back, Big Red will throw us out to those things. Times have .. changed.” John’s look eased. “Listen, come with us? There is a group of us over at Robinships Bakery. There is food and protection. It’s safe.”
    Lee chimed in. “We hate to leave you like this, Marty. Come with us. They could do with a guy like you.”
    Martin couldn’t believe guys who were once his best friends would do this to him. He dropped the shotgun at his feet and turned walking towards his house. He heard running footsteps behind him but carried on walking anyway. The hand on his shoulder was rough and span him round. He was surprised to see Lee’s face there, they’d never got on as well as him and John.
    “Marty, don’t go out at n ight. They go crazy at night. As soon as you get to the house, start boarding it up.” Martin felt Lee press something cold and hard into his hand. “I know what it’s like to lose a parent to this. It’s heart-breaking, man. Look after them.” And with that Lee turned and jogged back to the quads.
    Martin looked down to find a small revolver in the palm of his hand. Checking the chamber he found no bullets. Great, thought Martin, exchanging one useless gun for another.
    He tried to jog the remaining distance to the