Free The Dead War Series (Book 1): Good Intentions by D.N. Simmons

evacuate an entire hotel on the premise that they needed to leave the city immediately. Again, that was providing this wasn't some elaborate hoax.
    “I’m sure it’s on the news, turn on a damn TV!” Vincent blurted out without really meaning to.
    The manager huffed. “I do not fully understand what you’re talking about. What kind of outbreak? And wouldn’t it be best to lock down the hotel in order to protect the guests if there is an outbreak? We can even offer room comps for our guests if this is an emergency.”
    “Look, I have to get out of here. Doctors from the Center for Disease Control are on their way to meet up with me,” Vincent said. “I'm not fucking around here. There may not be enough time if you wait; this outbreak is spreading faster than we can contain it. Please, sir, I’m begging you, evacuate.” He didn't bother to wait around any longer to see if the hotel manager took his advice. He ran out of the hotel and immediately bumped into a woman dressed in a business suit. He fell back against the hotel door from the impact and she landed on her side, skinning her thigh.
    “I'm sorry,” Vincent said, bending down to help her up.
    She quickly scrambled to her feet with his help. “You need to run!” she warned him and then did just that, leaving her purse on the ground at his feet. 
    Vincent picked up her purse.
    “Wait, you dropped your purse,” he yelled, but she never turned around.  Taking the purse with him, he continued running down the street towards his Michigan Avenue condominium.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Four
     
    Aaron watched as Vincent crashed into a woman right outside the hotel. The lady ran off, leaving her purse and Vincent ran off in the same direction. He couldn't help but notice even more people running past the hotel's glass doors and having heard a lot of the conversation Vincent had, he knew something big was going down.
    The first thing he wanted to do was warn Cassian, but damn it, he didn't have his phone number! He knew where he lived, they all did but getting there was going to be difficult if what that doctor said was true. And from the look of Vincent bloody clothes, it was.
    “Do you believe him?” Mr. Wellington asked Aaron, bringing him out of his contemplation.
    “I think we should either evacuate the hotel, or lock it up,” Aaron suggested.
    “I'm inclined to agree, but there's no way we can evacuate this entire hotel. That just isn't feasible. I need to make some calls before I can make that decision,” Mr. Wellington said, then he turned heading back into his office.
    Reginald looked at Aaron. “I don't know about you, but I'm started to get pretty fucking freaked out.”
    “Yeah, you ain't alone,” Aaron said as he looked around. “I don't care what he said. We need to lock those fucking doors.” He came from behind the desk and walked straight to the doors, locking them up.
    “Are you crazy, he's going to be pissed at you,” Reginald chastised.
    “Right now, I couldn’t give a rat's ass. You see that shit out there?” Aaron pointed towards the people running by the doors. “That shit's real. Those people are scared out of their fucking mind and I'm not taking any chances waiting around for that stupid bastard to make the right move.” He walked back behind the desk.
    “Excuse me, what do you know? What's going on?” One of their hotel guests asked. As if on cue, other guests began to approach the desk. They watched people running by the entrance doors and Aaron could see the panic starting to rise among the crowd.
    “Please, people calm down. I have secured the doors and no one is getting inside. There's been a reported outbreak and we're doing whatever is in our power to keep all of our guests safe,” Aaron said.
    “Yes, the CDC has told us to lock the entrances to keep those infected from getting in. It's not safe right now for you to be on the streets,” Reginald lied, but with good cause. The last thing