Affliction Z: Abandoned Hope (Post Apocalyptic Thriller) by L.T. Ryan Page B

dropped the handgun. Both the pistol and the messenger
bag with the backup weapon were out of arm’s reach.
    A few feet away, Carla curled up into a fetal position.
Cries mixed with coughs.
    What the hell is going on?
    Addison regained her focus. Reaching back with her right
arm, she grabbed a hold of the doorknob and used it to help pull herself
upright. She scooped up the pistol, then walked around her roommate and grabbed
the messenger bag. She slung the strap over her neck and shoulder, letting it
come to rest against her side.
    “Help me,” Carla whimpered. “Please, Addy. Help me.”
    Addison ignored the calls for assistance and went to the
kitchen to collect the duffel bag. When she returned to the front door, she saw
Carla sitting on the ground, leaning back against the wall.
    “Don’t leave me, Addy.” Carla puffed her chest out as she
pressed her shoulders into the wall and rose to a standing position. She
approached Addison slowly. She didn’t look like the demon that’d been ready to
kill Addison a few moments ago. She was Carla, the always-stoned, pain in the
ass roommate who desperately needed Addison’s help.
    “I have to go,” Addison said. “I’ll find you help out
there.”
    Carla lurched forward, wrapping her arms around Addison and
pulling her close. She felt the woman’s tears against her bare neck. Addison
wrapped her left arm around Carla’s back and hugged her tightly. She lifted her
right hand, steadying the barrel of the gun inches from Carla’s head. It was
the right thing to do. The humane thing. She felt her own tears cascade down
her cheeks as she prepared to pull the trigger.
    Carla begged for help over and over. The words impacted
Addison and she felt sorry for her roommate. Perhaps she should leave, never to
return. The situation would work itself out sooner or later. After all, the
reports she’d seen indicated that death came soon after realization of the
first symptoms.
    Addison lowered the pistol, letting it and her hand fall to
her side. She released Carla from her grip. The skin on her face felt cold and
damp as her roommate pulled away. Without reaching up and wiping her face, she
knew she was coated in the woman’s blood and tears.
    “Go lay down,” she told Carla.
    Her roommate turned and shuffled toward the couch. The
journey took thirty seconds longer than it should have. Each step dragged on,
with Carla resetting before starting the next. Then, as she reached the couch
and placed her hand on the back of it, Carla turned at the waist. The fear and
sadness in her eyes was gone, replaced with that burning gaze. Her lip curled
up in a snarl and she grunted.
    Addison had a hunch what would follow. It happened in a
flurry of movements between the two of them. Carla spun around and dipped low,
into a crouching position. Addison shifted the duffel bag forward, then drew it
back until it hit the wall. Carla sprung forward, like a wolf pouncing on its
prey. Addison whipped the bag forward and released it, sending it flying toward
her roommate. Carla deflected the bag with her hands, but at the same time, her
feet became tangled and she went sprawling to the floor.
    Addison brought the pistol up, cupping her right hand with
her left. She aimed at the back of Carla’s head. Without thinking beyond that
moment, she pulled the trigger three times. Two bullets missed, but one hit.
    And that was all she needed.
     

Chapter 14
    Kathy eased down the familiar driveway, carefully avoiding
the potholes. How ironic would it be to make it home from Cincinnati on a
stolen motorcycle only to flip over the handlebars and break her neck? As she
rounded the curve, her house came into view. She wanted to laugh, cry, scream
and shout that she’d made it. She did none of those things, though.
    She’d made it home, but the journey was not over.
    She cut the engine and coasted toward the end of the
driveway, applying the brakes well short of it. She figured Sean would have heard
her