did something soon.
"Almost there," Alison shouted back. All the more reason to do something about the crowd- wherever it was Jeremiah was taking us, we didn't need these fuckers beating on the door. Jeremiah said the address and I repeated it in my head. From Jeremiah's face I could tell he wanted to help me, but he was in no shape to do anything but stay alive. Alison and Jeremiah cut close to the hospital to make the left, and that's when I saw my answer. It was just to the right of them, on the street corner, painted in that beautiful, shitty green I knew so well.
A subway entrance.
"I'll try to lose them," I shouted to the others. I glanced back at the Bleeders on my tail. They were even closer than before, but I had to make sure they'd follow me and me only. "Come and get it, assholes," I yelled and fired a round into the air, feeling good about myself until the kickback jerked my arm down and nearly dislocated my elbow. As I reached the stairs, I made a mental note to stop doing the things I saw in movies.
I took the stairs down two at a time with the Bleeders fumbling down after me. There was no way for me to look back and make sure they were all there, but from the sounds they made there was no shortage of bodies following me down into the ground.
The station was empty of people on both sides. Not a single train ran on the six tracks that spread out in the dark ahead, and if my guess was right it would be like this all over the city, with transit completely broken down in a matter of hours when people abandoned their jobs or didn't show up in the first place. My plan wasn't the safest idea I'd ever had, but if I was right at least I wouldn't be struck by a train.
So I had that going for me.
I hopped down off the platform and onto the tracks, very carefully landing at the center before jumping between the metal columns to reach the next so I didn't trip and fall.
The Bleeders followed me onto the tracks, but they weren't as careful. The first tumbled off the platform and cracked his face on the metal track. He grunted but was silenced as the next ones trampled him and crushed his skull and limbs into the ground.
If my other guess was right, I had to put a little distance between me and the Bleeders before the fireworks started. You see, I was careful where I stepped because I didn't want to trip, that's true, but it was more than just that I was avoiding.
An explosion went off behind me, like a lightning strike trapped in a bottle, and I crouched down into a ball and covered my head. The air lit up white-hot for a second, then sparks followed, showering down in the dark where the Bleeders had crushed the first into the third rail.
A series of electrical explosions followed all down the line as the system overloaded. Circuit-breakers tripping if I had to guess. I stayed still and waited for the show to finish, watching the tangle of Bleeders fry on the line as more jumped down from the platform and joined the party.
Alison said the virus gave them brain damage, and I had to agree. It wasn't even like they'd lost their intelligence, more like they were so angry, so focused on what they wanted, that they ignored everything else. Even the things that could kill them.
Once the electricity died and I'd had my fill of the stink of cooked skin and hair, I came back up to street level and followed the address Jeremiah told me, which was only half a block away. I took the right down a dead end to what looked like a random building where Alison waited under a half-open sliding metal door to let me in. There were signs out front that said what the building was, but I didn't bother to read them. All I wanted to do was get inside. I ignored everything else.
Once I was inside, Alison slid the metal door shut and locked it behind us.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The building was bigger on the inside than it had looked on my way in. The front of it was a
"Almost there," Alison shouted back. All the more reason to do something about the crowd- wherever it was Jeremiah was taking us, we didn't need these fuckers beating on the door. Jeremiah said the address and I repeated it in my head. From Jeremiah's face I could tell he wanted to help me, but he was in no shape to do anything but stay alive. Alison and Jeremiah cut close to the hospital to make the left, and that's when I saw my answer. It was just to the right of them, on the street corner, painted in that beautiful, shitty green I knew so well.
A subway entrance.
"I'll try to lose them," I shouted to the others. I glanced back at the Bleeders on my tail. They were even closer than before, but I had to make sure they'd follow me and me only. "Come and get it, assholes," I yelled and fired a round into the air, feeling good about myself until the kickback jerked my arm down and nearly dislocated my elbow. As I reached the stairs, I made a mental note to stop doing the things I saw in movies.
I took the stairs down two at a time with the Bleeders fumbling down after me. There was no way for me to look back and make sure they were all there, but from the sounds they made there was no shortage of bodies following me down into the ground.
The station was empty of people on both sides. Not a single train ran on the six tracks that spread out in the dark ahead, and if my guess was right it would be like this all over the city, with transit completely broken down in a matter of hours when people abandoned their jobs or didn't show up in the first place. My plan wasn't the safest idea I'd ever had, but if I was right at least I wouldn't be struck by a train.
So I had that going for me.
I hopped down off the platform and onto the tracks, very carefully landing at the center before jumping between the metal columns to reach the next so I didn't trip and fall.
The Bleeders followed me onto the tracks, but they weren't as careful. The first tumbled off the platform and cracked his face on the metal track. He grunted but was silenced as the next ones trampled him and crushed his skull and limbs into the ground.
If my other guess was right, I had to put a little distance between me and the Bleeders before the fireworks started. You see, I was careful where I stepped because I didn't want to trip, that's true, but it was more than just that I was avoiding.
An explosion went off behind me, like a lightning strike trapped in a bottle, and I crouched down into a ball and covered my head. The air lit up white-hot for a second, then sparks followed, showering down in the dark where the Bleeders had crushed the first into the third rail.
A series of electrical explosions followed all down the line as the system overloaded. Circuit-breakers tripping if I had to guess. I stayed still and waited for the show to finish, watching the tangle of Bleeders fry on the line as more jumped down from the platform and joined the party.
Alison said the virus gave them brain damage, and I had to agree. It wasn't even like they'd lost their intelligence, more like they were so angry, so focused on what they wanted, that they ignored everything else. Even the things that could kill them.
Once the electricity died and I'd had my fill of the stink of cooked skin and hair, I came back up to street level and followed the address Jeremiah told me, which was only half a block away. I took the right down a dead end to what looked like a random building where Alison waited under a half-open sliding metal door to let me in. There were signs out front that said what the building was, but I didn't bother to read them. All I wanted to do was get inside. I ignored everything else.
Once I was inside, Alison slid the metal door shut and locked it behind us.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The building was bigger on the inside than it had looked on my way in. The front of it was a
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