Free The Beginning of the End (Book 1): Toward the Brink by Craig A. McDonough Page B

of someone in front of the car. He slammed on the brakes and pounded on the horn. “Get out the way, you moron. You wanna get yourself killed?”
    He wiped his eyes and saw more people running across the road, coming from the parking lot of Albertsons. He brought the SUV to a halt and got out.
    “What’s going on? Why are you running?” Tibbuts held onto the door for support as he questioned a group of people. One woman ran straight past, tears streaming down her cheeks: green tears!
    A man stopped to answer Tibbuts. “There’s sick people inside, officer. They’ve attacked people and spewed up green shit. Their eyes have turned bright red, and they’re …”
    “And they’re what, boy? Out with it!” The man under questioning was a good ten years older than Officer Tibbuts, but he had come to enjoy calling people “boy” when Mulhaven wasn’t around.
    “They’re trying to eat the ones they attacked!”
    “All right. You better keep on moving,” Tibbuts said, adding, “Do you know that woman that just ran past?”
    “No, sir, I don’t.”
    “Keep it that way, okay?”
    Tibbuts grabbed the Remington 870 from the front of the SUV. He wiped the green sludge from the stock of the shotgun then made his way unsteadily toward Albertsons. He didn’t feel well, but he was still a cop, and he was going to do his job, a job that Mulhaven would be proud of. As he entered the car park he became concerned that everything he saw was red. Burning red.
    Is this what happens before you go blind?
    # # #
    “I’ve got it under control. Just ease those pistols back in your holsters,” Mulhaven said.
    “Sarge, she just blew the captain’s head off and …”
    “I saw it. I was right here. Now put your fucking weapons away!”
    Once the four officers holstered their weapons, Mulhaven explained.
    “You two. You were down at the medical center. You saw what came out, didn’t you? Well, the captain had become one of those creatures you saw and was about to attack this man. This lady grabbed the shotgun and did the only thing she could to save his life.”
    “Sarge, he’s holding the captain’s gun. How could the captain attack him if …”
    “Are you calling me a liar?” Mulhaven bellowed, taking the shotgun from Cindy.
    The officer shook his head vehemently.
    “Right, you two follow me,
and
you four still have people to evacuate, don’t you?”
    “Yes, Sergeant.”
    “Then get on with it!” He turned to Elliot and Cindy and said with a hushed voice, “Get in the car, and do it before they have time to think it over. Elliot, you drive.” Mulhaven grabbed the two Colt Deltas from the twitching body of Captain Brandt.
    He got into the captain’s SUV with the kids who had become his friends, and Elliot drove off.
    “Don’t make it look like we’re escaping from our latest bank heist. Just drive easy.”
    “Where we going?” Elliot asked.
    “National Guard base,” Mulhaven said.

Nine
    Communications were down across the state, or so it appeared. The most affected were the police and emergency units. Some TV stations were running while others, particularly those running local content, went to a commercial break and didn’t reappear. The National Guard had their own comms and so far had no problems with phone calls. The Internet was still present, but local sites weren’t updating.
    The communications systems were in perfect working order, including the phone system. There just weren’t enough people around to operate or maintain the equipment, which included answering the phones—no one living at any rate.
    No one was more frustrated by this than the Twin Falls Chief of Police. He, along with two officers and a civilian administrator, had barricaded themselves in the storeroom at the rear of the second floor. When several police in the station began throwing up green fluid, collapsed to the floor, then rose up, their eyes red and glaring, the storeroom was the only safe haven on offer.
    “Great. Just