The Abandoned Trilogy (Book 1): Twice Dead (Contagion) by Suchitra Chatterjee Page A

“He’s good with computers.”
                  I could tell by their expressions they didn’t believe us. Adag who had chosen to be silent for the time being took umbrage at this, her eyes narrowed and she said disdainfully, “Typical person who has never interacted with disabled people before.”
                  The sound of glass shattering and screaming put a stop to our conversation. Two soldiers stumbled out of the door that lead to the residential area of the home, one of them had blood gushing down his cheek where he had been bitten. There was a hole in his face right down to the bone. He tripped, rolled, clutching at his face, blood running through his fingers in thick gluttonous ribbons, his shrieks were like nothing I have ever heard before but sadly would hear again.
    The other soldier fell to his knees, blood gushing out of a wound in his neck, caused when Gregory’s arm had smashed through the toughened glass in the hidden door the soldiers had located in their more intensive search of the building. A piece of flying glass had sliced the side of his neck open. Gregory had not bitten him, but his companion hadn’t been so lucky.
                  The soldiers had found the TOR door, they had opened it cautiously, but it was not cautiou s enough for what was now behind it.
                  “On the floor! Down! Down! Down!” Mitch screamed instinctively, his coffee cup flying out of his hand. He dived for Seb hauling him out of his wheelchair and rolling with him so that they were both under the dining table.
                  Seb swore whilst Adag in turn flung herself on Phoenix who was curled up into an even tighter ball and like Mitch; she rolled with him, getting them both behind the sofa on which Stevie was still sleeping on.
    I hit the carpeted floor covering my head with my arms, but I was nowhere near to the sofa or the table so I was in a more exposed locality and because of this I watched a tragedy unfolding before me.
                  Gregory was Twice Dead. Our friend was gone. What had taken its place was a shell of flesh and bone whose strength had increased with the transformation. He swayed, almost gracefully I thought stupidly from where I lay. He was drooling a black bubbling froth and his eyes...his eyes were no longer Gregory’s eyes.
    The gentle giant of a man we had once known was gone. Despite my fear, I felt a surge of grief, followed by anger mingled with fear.
    The wound on his neck was now like a thick piece of flesh and it was no longer pulsating. When he tilted his head, it stretched, but did not tear. The rest of his skin was like smooth grey clay, the type potters use, his teeth were stained with blood and he was hungry. He was spitting blood and skin from his mouth, he was heading toward Wolf and Captain Lacks-Renton who had both dropped to one knee, and I could hear the bullets whistling as they hit Gregory in the chest.
                  Captain Lacks-Renton blew part of Gregory’s head off with one of her well-aimed bullets. From where I lay, I saw the top of his skull separate from his cranium; it flew through the air and hit the wall to the side of his. There was no spray of blood, just solid bone that slid down the wall like the top of a satanic cup. It rocked gently on the floor, but Gregory did not fall to the ground. His brain was exposed, not pink and mottled like a normal brain, but a thick black mass bulging upwards.
    He still had his eyebrows I thought stupidly, but a flap of skin dropped over one eye, and he stumbled slightly.
    The soldier who had been hit by the glass was leaning against the wall, blood running through his fingers as he feebly tried to staunch the flow. He was going to bleed to death before anyone could help him I thought. Around me it was pandemonium, the crack of bullets as they hit Gregory’s shredded chest didn't even slow him down.
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