Free Infection Z (Book 5) by Ryan Casey Page A

closed. Her lips were sealed. Nobody else seemed to have noticed if she’d said anything.
    But those words.
    He couldn’t get them out of his head.
    “You’re going to get everyone killed.”
    He didn’t want to believe them. Didn’t want to face up to them. But something about them resonated. Something about them made a horrible kind of sense.
    A voice inside his head told him he was going to get everyone killed.
    If he didn’t change, he was going to get everyone killed.
    Hayden wiped the tears from his eyes. He sniffed. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Thank you for… for everything.”
    He brought the machete down on Martha’s neck.
    Hard.
    And as her head disconnected from her body, as more blood splattered onto Hayden, all he could think about were those words.
    “You’re going to get everyone killed.”

Chapter Fourteen
    T he walk towards the wall was a blur.
    The late morning sun peeked through the clouds. There was a distinct autumnal chill to the air, and with it, silence. Silence not like the peaceful kind that New Britain was used to, but an eerie kind. The silence of many lives lost. Of tons of people killed—no, butchered.
    New Britain had changed in this last hour. It had changed, and it would never be the same again.
    Where many of the bodies once lined the streets, there were now just patches of blood. Patches that the infected had risen from. Risen from, then gone away to pursue more prey. It was too quiet here. Stupidly quiet. Hayden wondered if maybe everyone was dead, or if the infected had just moved on.
    But no. He swore he felt eyes on him at every turn.
    He swore he saw movement lurking in the alleyways, creeping up on him.
    He heard Amy crying and his stomach sank again.
    He looked around. Saw Miriam with an arm around her shoulder. Poor kid looked totally wrecked after what happened to her mum. Didn’t help that she was covered in her mum’s blood, either, the taste of it no doubt sticking to her lips. A constant reminder of what she’d witnessed. Of what’d happened. Of what she’d lost.
    Lost, at the hands of Hayden.
    “The ladders over the walls might just be our best bet right now.”
    Hayden looked to his right. Daniel walked by his side. He’d joined them not long ago. They found him running through the street, fleeing an infected. He didn’t have that typical smile on his face anymore. Even his black suit, which he religiously wore with such pride, looked haggard, out of sorts.
    But he was alive. He was alive and he wasn’t infected. That counted for something.
    “You know it’s not going to be as easy as just walking away from here,” Hayden said.
    Daniel sighed. He shook his head. “Then tell me if you have a better option.”
    Hayden could hear a shakiness in Daniel’s voice. A fragility that was rare in someone with such confidence, such assertiveness. “I’ve been thinking of a few places.”
    “Outside?”
    “No, ins—”
    “We can’t stay in here, Hayden.”
    “It’s gone quieter.”
    “That’s probably just because the infected have moved to a more populated place. You know just as well as I do that New Britain is a big place.”
    “Then that’s all the more reason to stay.”
    “What?”
    “It’s a big place. I mean, sure, this part’s been attacked. But that doesn’t mean everywhere’s fallen. There’ll still be places in here we can go to—”
    “Is he seriously still talking about staying in here?”
    Hayden’s stomach sank when he heard Miriam’s voice. It sank even more when he saw the look in her eyes. He was used to her being sarcastic, jokey, but not like this. She spoke to him like he wasn’t even himself anymore. Like he’d done something she couldn’t forgive. And he supposed she was right, in a way. He had done something wrong. He’d let Amy watch her mother die. He’d been the one to try and convince Martha to stay. If they’d been just seconds earlier leaving, then what happened wouldn’t have happened. That was on