Free AM13 Outbreak Series (Book 2): Forgotten by Samie Sands Page A

Lexi would think of me now, whether she’d be more inclined to listen to me knowing how well I can defend myself. I feel guilty at the mess I made of killing her zombie, but I was so inexperienced then. I probably unnecessarily prolonged her misery. Despite the fact that her turning was her own doing, I could have ended things more pleasantly for her.
    Eventually, after what feels like forever, I arrive at the peak of a hill which overlooks the town. I am stunned, frozen by the sight before me. Nerves tingle in my fingers as I drink everything in. It’s hard to imagine humans ever inhabited this place. It’s more of a deteriorating mess than I could have predicted. Has it really been that long since normal life prevailed? I try to think back over time, but every memory has become infected with the virus. I can no longer picture a time when zombies didn’t rule the world.
    Smashed windows lie in the road, litter fills the streets, and the remains of dead bodies are on almost every street corner, swarming with flies. Rats scurry in and out of drains, picking meat off the odd carcass as they pass. A smoggy stench fills the air; I can almost see the cartoon green lines wafting from the buildings. It’s a ghost town.
    There are still a few zombies loitering about, but the town definitely isn’t overrun as I expected to find it. Most of the infected that remain are very slow moving, or completely still. I look with astonishment at the ones that have slumped to the ground. They look like they’ve just given up. Maybe without the scent of flesh to motivate them, there’s no point in them moving. It’s such a weird and unnerving sight. I find myself wishing I’d thought to carry a camera with me at all times. The stories a photograph of this scene would tell would blow the minds of future generations. It’d show them what life in the zombie apocalypse was really like. If there is any future generation, of course. This could be life forever now, who knows.
    Suddenly, a rabble of movement grabs my attention. My eyes were so transfixed on the initial view that I didn’t take stock immediately. Six or seven zombies are growling and hammering against a church door. They are desperate, lustful, which can only mean one thing—people. My heart lifts and starts trouncing away happily. It looks like I’ve found my first port of call already. It’s not going to be easy to get there, of course, but I’ve lived a boring life for too long. Now I’m going to have to use my brain and fighting skills, just as I trained myself to do. I’m going to have to be so careful though. As soon as the zombies catch wind of me, I assume they’ll all wake up. When they realise I’m in reach, they may never stop.

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER 21
     
     
    DR. JONES
     
    March 5 th
    1:15 p.m.
    All of the seven specimens have now transgressed into the third stage of infection. They are now displaying all the symptoms I summarised in the first page of this report. Although the infection rates may have been varied and at different paces, the end result is always the same. Even the ones that begin the third stage of infection with an element of humanity end up as empty vessels. This is disappointing; I wish I could’ve learned more from them all .
    I’ve been testing the pain levels as the specimens transitioned from stage two to stage three, and they were off the charts. By my knowledge, humans shouldn’t be able to withstand that level of pain; it goes far beyond the expected threshold — even worse than that of childbirth. Maybe this goes some way to explaining why the parietal lobe is damaged?
    Specimen five has not moved at all since entering the third stage of infection. Maybe this process has been too much on her body and the brain activity has not been able to keep up. I cannot determine for certain if this specimen is dead at this point. If she has died, it will take my research in a whole new direction. I will need to find out