Free Pulse by Eloise J. Knapp

relevant breakthrough. Yet the destruction it was causing brought her to one morbid thought: what if there was no world to write her into the books once it was all said and done?
    God, what if she did find a cure, but no one in the pharmaceutical industry was alive to manufacture it?
    Marla shuddered. It was an ugly , depressing thought. This was the makings of a horror movie.
    She and many of the other scientists were in an odd position of experiencing both giddy fascination and complete terror that the infection would hit them. Before he left, Barry made a smart comment that started a fight in the lab.
    “What magazines do you think will feature my work? It is the breakthrough kind of thing that gets a guy noticed. I should probably see a stylist now—”
    Barry was cut off by Suresh. “Are you fucking kidding me? There are literally thousands of people dying every day, and you’re worried about that shit?”
    “I’m just trying to lighten the mood and—”
    Suresh didn’t let it go. “You’re all living in la-la land. It’s fun and cool to be in here, far away from anything that could hurt us, running tests on things that don’t actually affect us. But it will soon and you’ll be sorry.”
    The conversation ended there, Barry put in his place and fuming silently. She’d never admit it to anyone, but she was one of the la-la land people Suresh hated.
    If there was one person who wasn’t clueless or in denial, it was Dr. Baker. She didn’t envy him, having to tell so many people so much bad news. He might not be doing work in the lab, but he was in the thick of things. Normally he was very put together, with his hair neatly gelled back and his clothes impeccably ironed. As the days wore on he became increasingly frazzled.
    No one in the lab had an easy job—except Barry who decided he couldn’t cut it, probably because of the fight with Suresh—but some parts of lab work was easier than that representative, red tape and fancy word junk.
    Marla sighed. Break time was over. She retrieved her laptop and got to work.
     
1 5  The Infected
     
    Taylor and Kyle passed a bottle of bad whiskey back and forth, their thighs and bottoms growing cold from the log they sat on. Katie and Brock made out in the backseat of Kyle's car just behind them. It was their official end-of-the-world party and so far it hadn't gone how Taylor hoped.
    Kyle was helplessly in love with Katie, while Taylor was helplessly in love with him. Brock was just happy to have someone to bone. The whiskey she stole from her dad's stash helped, but didn't sooth the burn completely.
    Overhead the moon was almost full. She stared at it in her liquor-induced state and wished for Kyle to make a move on her, too. Instead he sat, staring into the forest beyond the campfire. Taylor inched towards him, making sure her leg brushed up against his, and followed every tip Cosmo ever offered a girl for hooking up. None of it worked.
    But t he whole thing was an excuse to get together and do things she'd get grounded for, so even if she didn’t hook up with Kyle she still got to drink and maybe smoke some weed. Mildred, Montana was close to North Dakota, but so in the middle of nowhere that she doubted the virus would get there. Nevertheless, they brought a baseball bat and machete and joked about killing some zombies, feeling like a bunch of badasses. She couldn’t wait to tell Natasha about it at school.
    They aren't zombies , her little sister said. They are sick people!
    Taylor rolled her eyes and left for the night , climbing out of her bedroom window. They were zombies and it was the apocalypse. Plain and simple. It was cool.
    "Hey, did you hear that?"
    Kyle pushed himself off the log they sat on and took a few steps forward.
    "I didn't hear anything."
    "Listen."
    Down the slope ahead of them she heard twigs cracking, but that wasn't anything unusual. They were in the forest a few miles outside of town; there were bound to be animals.
    He picked up the