Infection Z (Book 4) by Ryan Casey Page B

probably happened. A zombie had got in there somehow. Bitten Bob. Tossed him out the window. Or maybe he’d tossed himself out the window to protect the others.
    No. The blood on his teeth.
    He’d bitten someone.
    He’d…
    “It just… it just happened,” Deborah said, her voice shaky. “Out of nowhere. Everything was quiet. Then they just… they just turned.”
    Hayden looked past Deborah. Looked at the door. The way she said those words. They just turned.
    It didn’t make sense.
    It didn’t add up.
    Something was wrong.
    Something was…
    He heard a bang against the door. Deborah screamed, tumbled forward.
    And then the banging stopped.
    The room went quiet.
    Hayden stood there. Stood there, heart racing, staring at the wood. He knew what the sensible thing to do would be. Turn around. Walk away. Leave. Each and every one of them.
    But he knew he couldn’t.
    He had to see what was behind this door.
    He had to see to understand.
    To really believe.
    “Hayden! What the fuck’s going on?”
    The voice from behind made the tension seep from Hayden’s body. He turned. Saw Miriam standing there. She was holding a pipe.
    Hayden smiled at her. Nodded. He felt bad for feeling relieved at seeing her again. Because something was wrong. Something terrible had happened.
    But he couldn’t disguise his relief.
    He was pleased to see Miriam.
    Pleased she was okay.
    “They just turned,” Deborah repeated, her words growing more slurred.
    “Who just—”
    “All of them. Bob. Will. Rajiv. One second they were okay. Next second they…”
    “Are you saying they were bitten?” Miriam asked.
    “No,” Hayden said. He turned around. Took the pipe from Miriam’s hand. She didn’t put up much of a protest. “No, she isn’t saying that at all.”
    He looked around at the remaining group members, all of them peeking at Hayden, at the door. Fourteen of them. Fourteen of twenty-two.
    The other eight, missing.
    In this room.
    On the ground outside the house.
    “If they weren’t bitten, then what’s this all about?”
    Hayden tried not to think back to Riversford as he put a hand on the door handle.
    He tried not to think about little Tim Striker.
    The way he’d just turned.
    Turned, without a bite mark.
    Turned out of the blue.
    He’d been trying his best not to accept that reality—accept what it might mean for the world—for a long, long time.
    He took off his jacket. Covered his face with it. Wasn’t sure if it was any good. Wasn’t even sure whether his suspicions were right.
    But if they were, he couldn’t risk it.
    He couldn’t risk a thing.
    He felt the handle reach the end of its turn.
    Waited a few seconds. Held his breath.
    Then, he pushed the door open.
    He heard the creak. Heard it echo right through the rest of the cabin.
    The first thing he noticed was the window. Smashed. Specks of blood around the serrated edges of the glass. So that’s what’d happened to Bob. Definitely crashed out the window. Poor bastard.
    But it was the rest of the figures that Hayden noticed most.
    The four figures crouching down on the bedroom floor.
    Ripping into three twitching bodies.
    The figures of children eating the bodies of adults.
    The figures of adults eating the bodies of children.
    Hayden heard a few curses behind him. A few gasps as the rusty smell of blood filled his nostrils. But he didn’t process them properly. Didn’t take them in as he looked back into the room. Back at the group members. The group members who definitely hadn’t been bitten. Who’d definitely just… turned.
    One of them—Rajiv—lifted his head. A piece of flab from Bhvishya’s belly rolled down his chin. He glanced up at Hayden and snarled.
    Hayden backed away.
    Closed the door.
    Held it shut as Rajiv and the rest of the zombies battered at it, tried to get out.
    “What now?” Miriam asked.
    Hayden stood there. Stood there holding onto the rattling door. Listening to the sounds of the fallen group members. The turned group