Free The Truth is Contagious (The Contagium Series Book 4) by Emily Goodwin

before I let the arrow go, another crazy
leapt out from behind a tree and tackled me.
    I was pushed off balance, and my arrow didn’t
hit its target.
    It hit Hayden instead.

Chapter 4
     
    “Hayden!” I screamed as I fell to the ground.
My head hit on a fallen log and the bow bounced out of my hand. The
pain radiated, making my ears ring. “Hayden!”
    The crazy moved on top of me, pinning my legs
down. The arrows in the quiver stabbed into my back. She grabbed my
wrists and snarled. Her curly red hair was matted with dirt and
blood. One of her blue eyes was clouded over and unmoving. Saliva
dripped from her mouth and she bent over me. I twisted my body to
the side with enough force to knock her off.
    I brought my legs up and kicked her square in
the chest, pushing her onto her back. I scrambled to my knees and
pulled the knife from the sheath and slashed the blade across her
face. I turned my head just in time to avoid the spray of
blood.
    “Hayden!” I desperately called and turned
around. He wasn’t dead—thank God—and was fighting off two crazies.
I grabbed an arrow and raced forward, driving it into the back of
the skull of one of the crazies.
    Her body went rigid, arms and legs
stiffening. Then she fell, taking the arrow with her. I grabbed the
other crazy by the shoulders and yanked him off Hayden. Hayden
recovered quickly and shoved his knife into the crazy’s open mouth.
I dropped the body and looked at Hayden, panting.
    “I hit you,” I stammered, eyes wide with
horror.
    Hayden held up his left arm and the cloth of
his shirt was torn, but there wasn’t much blood. “Clipped me.”
    “I am so sorry.”
    “I’m always getting shot when I’m around
you,” he said with a smile. “It could have been worse.”
    “Be mad at me, please.” I needed him to be
mad at me; I was mad enough with myself.
    “No time and you didn’t mean it,” he said and
pressed his hand over the sliced open flesh on his arm. “This place
is crawling with S1s.” He shook his head. “It’s like they’re
gathering together.”
    I grabbed my bow and arrow from the crazy’s
neck and flew back to Hayden’s side. I carefully peeled his hand
off of his wound. The cut wasn’t too deep, but paired with the open
gash on his leg and Hayden was a walking sponge for infection.
    “You have blood on your cheek,” he said and
used his thumb to wipe it away.
    “So do you.” I readjusted the quiver and
pushed the bow into place on my shoulder. Keeping our knives in
hand, we took off again, going slower this time to look for
crazies.
    The end of the trees couldn’t come soon
enough. A small bit of relief flowed through me when we stepped
back into the tall weeds. Bugs flew around us, attracted to the
sweat and the blood that clung to our bodies.
    We paused, inspecting our surroundings for
crazies. When we didn’t see any, we continued on.
    “Where are we?” I asked aloud. On the other
side of the river was a large plot of pavement. A bunch of
dilapidated old buildings sat on the surface. In front of us was an
old covered merry-go-round. Beyond that was the rickety skeleton of
an old roller-coaster. “You have got to be freaking kidding me.
We’re in a theme park?”
    “An abandoned one by the looks of it,” Hayden
said.
    “Way to pick the destination,” I mumbled. “I
didn’t even know there was a theme park in Arkansas.”
    “Looks like it was abandoned years ago.”
Hayden peered into the merry-go-round. “Wait a minute.” He sheathed
the knife and drew his gun. “Riss, look.”
    I took a step closer to the merry-go-round. A
pile of blankets was gobbled in the center of the sun-faded
animals. They were dirty and haphazardly thrown around but one
thing was certain...
    “It’s a nest.” I blinked. A tingle of cold
fear ran its finger across my spine. “What the hell?” Hayden looked
behind us before stepping closer. I followed. “Do you smell
that?”
    “Ugh, how can I not?” he asked and wrinkled
his