Free Twenty-Five Percent (Book 2): Downfall by Nerys Wheatley Page A

eaters fell behind him.
    Micah ran for his bike while Alex climbed onto his. Too late, he realised he’d left his helmet by the tree. He glanced back, but couldn’t even see the tree past the mob of eaters crowding the road. Turning away, he turned the key and flipped the start switch, relieved when the engine roared into life. The bike seemed to have fared better than he had.
    Movement ahead of him caught his attention. A lone eater burst from the trees, launching itself with astonishing speed at Micah who was climbing onto his bike. The eater grabbed his arm and pulled. Caught off balance, Micah was dragged to the ground, the eater dropping onto him. He cried out, frantically pushing at the body on top of him, but the eater was too strong.
    Alex threw his bike into gear and sped towards them. As he watched in horror, the eater plunged its head down at Micah’s face.
    A shot rang out.
    The eater went limp.
    Alex leaped from his bike and heaved the dead eater away. Micah lay on his back on the ground, still clutching his gun, his eyes wide. Spots of blood covered his face. Eater blood.
    Alex pulled him upright. “We need to go.”
    Micah nodded without a word and climbed onto his bike, wiping his sleeve across his face.
    With the horde almost on them, they sped away.

8
     
     
     
     
    Alex took a deep breath of the fresh air and immediately wished he hadn’t.
    Wincing, he shifted onto his left buttock on the bench and glanced at Micah staring into the distance beside him.
    They’d driven a couple of miles before stopping at a wooden bench beside the road. A small brass plaque on the back bore a dedication that Alex hadn’t bothered to read. Golden, recently harvested fields surrounded them. It was a rural idyll.
    It had been four minutes since Micah was spattered with infected blood.
    “How did you know they were out of ammunition?” Alex said, as much for a distraction than because he wanted to know.
    Micah jolted out of whatever thoughts he’d been lost in and glanced at him. “I didn’t for certain. It was just something about the way they held their rifles, like they couldn’t rely on them. I had a hunch.”
    Alex gaped at him in disbelief. “A hunch? You risked our lives over a hunch? ”
    Micah smiled slightly. “It was a very good hunch. And I was right, mostly. I think we can say that in a very real way what I did was, in fact, save our lives.”
    “How about instead we say that in a very real way you are out of your mind?”
    “You don’t have to put it on the list after I’m gone.”
    A void tugged at Alex’s gut. This was what he was trying not to talk about, for both their sakes. “You’re not gone yet.”
    “You saw the blood. There’s no way I’m not infected.”
    “You know there’s a chance you’re immune after being infected the first time?”
    Micah looked back out at the fields. “I thought of that. But it’s never been tested, has it? Until now.”
    “So, as I said, you’re not gone yet.” Alex tried to sound confident and unconcerned. In truth, he was scared out of his mind.
    They sat in silence for half a minute.
    “At least if I am immune,” Micah said, “I’ll know about it and won’t have to wear those stupid evening gloves.”
    “I thought you thought they looked cool.”
    “That’s because I had to wear them. Now I don’t, one way or another, I can admit I think they look like evening gloves. It’s embarrassing.”
    Another minute passed. A bird sang in a tree nearby. Alex looked up at it. It was black, so he went with it being a blackbird.
    “You stopped to take the keys from the bikes before coming to check on me?” he said. It was one of the things he’d been thinking about while trying not to think about the imminent possibility of Micah turning.
    “A log in the road seemed fishy. I thought it was better to not risk it. I didn’t want to lose another bike.”
    “Well, good to know where I stand in your estimation. Just behind the motorbikes.”