The Cured Read Online Free

second Henry assumed that’s exactly what it was, but then the brass doorknob jiggled and half turned. Henry was glad he had locked it.
    “Look,” he yelled, “Just tell me if you’re hurt and I’ll let you in. I just want–”
    He was cut off by a deep growl on the other side of the wood. Henry felt his skin tighten and pinch. He backed away from the door. The thing outside hit it with a hollow boom and the door shuddered. Henry pushed the couch back against the door. He tried the police again, but there was only the dead blatt of a busy signal. He paced the living room as the thing smashed into the door again and again. He looked out the window overlooking the parking lot. The landlady’s car was parked halfway across the lot. Henry wondered if the thing outside his apartment had gotten to her. Or if it was her. After half an hour, the thing gave up and either fell asleep or wandered away. Henry wasn’t going to open the door to find out.
    His phone rang and Henry leapt for it, afraid the noise would bring the scrabbling thing back. “Hello?” he whispered.
    “Henry, are you okay? It’s Dave.”
    “Yeah, I’m holed up in my apartment but I’m okay. What is going on?”
    “I don’t think anybody knows. Some of the news stations are saying it’s linked to the flu and others are saying it’s something else. All I know is that it’s worse in the city. I’m taking Elizabeth and Marnie to my brother’s hunting lodge. There’ll be no one there and it’s fully stocked, if we bring a few things, we’ll be able to hunker down for a while. I want you to come with us.”
    “What about that woman from this morning?”
    “What about her?”
    “Well, don’t you have to wait for the police to say it’s okay before you leave?”
    “Henry, the police never showed up. I don’t think they are going to. Besides, you saw, it was self-defense. If they want me they can come find me. Do you want to come or not?”
    “Yeah. Okay. What do you need me to do?”
    “Just get your clothes and whatever canned goods you’ve got and be ready to go. Oh, I don’t suppose you have a gun do you?”
    “No,” said Henry, “do you?”
    “No, but I guess we’ll be okay as long as we avoid people anyway. Be ready and I’ll honk the horn when I get to your apartment.”
    “You can’t do that,” said Henry quickly, “There’s at least one of those– those people in here with me. They are attracted to noise I think.”
    “What do you suggest?”
    “Have Elizabeth call me right before you get here. You turn off your lights and pull around to the back. There’s a fire escape from the bedroom. I’ll climb down that. Just try not to make any noise.”
    “Okay, we’ll do our best, but if you aren’t ready–”
    “Relax Dave, I’ll be ready. I want to get out of here as much as you do.”
     

Four
    Dave was a coward. Henry knew that. He wasn’t just a coward in extreme situations, Henry couldn’t blame him for being afraid of what was happening. But Dave was a coward about everything . When they’d first met, Henry had felt sorry for him. Dave was shy and scared when he moved into Henry’s neighborhood. He was always first to snitch and last to join in. Most of the other kids avoided him, but Henry had tried to take him under his wing. A dubious friendship had sprung up between them. But as time went on, Henry realized that Dave was just riding his coattails until someone stronger came along. Dave regularly betrayed his friends and then his coworkers if he thought it would keep him safe, and he and Henry had argued many times about it. But Henry had stuck with him, felt responsible for him, long after their other friends had dropped Dave. He wasn’t a bad guy, he didn’t try to use people to get ahead. Dave was just chickenshit. Henry didn’t trust him with a secret, but he wasn’t motivated by malice or greed. Just-Plain-Yellow, that’s what Henry’s father had called him.
    And now, Henry was trusting Dave