Free Infinity by Sherrilyn Kenyon

ate Scott. How cool is that? Man, I wish I’d seen it. That’s what I get for being late to school. I miss al the good stuff that happens.”
    Jason laughed in agreement. “I just hope whatever got into him isn’t catching. I don’t want no one coming up and trying to gnaw on my flesh or me going after someone else. Sheez. My mom’s a vegan. She grounded me for six months last summer when I ate a cheeseburger at McDonald’s. Can you imagine how long she’d ground me for eating a person?” Frank cast a hungry look over to the group where Brynna and Casey were standing. “Oh man, if it is catching, I hope Casey Woods gets it and comes for me. If you gotta die, no better way to go than to get eaten by the head cheerleader.” Jason high-fived him. “Yeah, al right. Sign me up for that too. I definitely want to be her chew toy.” Nick ignored his friends as he caught sight of his lab partner Madaug St. James, who seemed to be muttering to himself as he stood off to the side of the ambulance. An almost stereotypical nerd, Madaug had a black gamer T-shirt on underneath his blue button-down that had been left open.
    His dishwater blond hair was cropped short and he had large blue eyes that were always covered with thin-rimmed glasses.

    Even though Nick knew the name was pronounced “Mah-dug,” he, like most of the people in his class, usual y pronounced it “Mad Dog.” But that always irritated Madaug and right now he looked agitated enough.
    “Hey, dude. You al right?”
    Madaug froze at his question. “Uh, yeah. It’s terrible, isn’t it?
    ”
    “Epical y gruesome.”
    Madaug nodded. “I can’t believe it. I just can’t believe it.” Neither could Nick. “Wel , I guess the bright side is you don’t have to worry about Scott or Brian picking on you today in gym class, right?” Last time Nick had been in school, Brian had worn Madaug’s gym shorts and then forced Madaug into them after he’d sweated al over them.
    Gross and nasty.
    Madaug didn’t respond to his question as he continued to fret.
    Out of the crowd, one loud voice suddenly drowned the others out. “I’m tel ing you people, it’s a zombie attack. Z to the O to the M to the B to the I, E. Zombie. Open your eyes, people, before it’s too late and he eats someone else. Any of you could be next on the Zombie Apocalypse Menu. Heed my words and stock up on ammo! I got a new shipment coming in today!”
    Nick knew that voice. He just wasn’t used to hearing it this early in the day.
    Big Bubba Burdette, the owner of the Triple B store.
    Wow, and Bubba hadn’t burst into flames by getting up this early in the morning. Who knew? He’d have sworn the man was half vampire.
    Standing wel over six feet tal , Bubba was an interesting mix of redneck and Goth. Case in point, he had on a Dawn of the Dead T-shirt with a red flannel shirt pul ed on over it. His baggy jeans were complemented by a nice pair of black Doc Martens that were decorated with red skul s. With short black hair and a goatee, Bubba was terrifying to behold. But the minute he opened his mouth and that thick Southern drawl came out, he looked less like a threat and more like a giant fluffy panda bear.
    At least so long as you didn’t interrupt his watching Oprah in the afternoon. Bubba said anyone dumb enough to do that deserved to have his entrails spil ed.
    And that thick drawl made most people underestimate a man whose IQ was off the charts. In fact, Bubba had graduated at the top of his class from MIT with degrees in both computer science and robotics. Now, he owned the Triple B—a gun and computer store where you could hire Bubba to hack anything in the world, legal or otherwise, and if that didn’t work, he’d shoot it for you just to put it out of your misery.
    The reporters left Bubba as they tried to interview more students.
    Bubba spat a bit of his chewing tobacco onto the pavement. “That’s right, troglodytes, ignore the only one who knows what’s going on. The