Free Infected (Book 1): The Fall by Caleb Cleek Page B

face.
    “Uh-huh,” he replied, looking down at the floor.  His eyes betrayed the bravery he was trying to portray.  Water began to build along his lower eyelid and his lower lip quivered.   Suddenly, he lunged at me and wrapped his arms around my neck.  Still fighting back the tears, his body shook uncontrollably.
    I wrapped my arms around him and whispered in his ear, “It’s over.  She can’t hurt you now.  She will never be able to hurt you again.” I tightened my grip around him, not wanting to let him go.
    And then the Pussy Cat Dolls started singing from my left shirt pocket, “Don’t cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me.”  I hated the ring tone.  Katie thought it was hilarious and had insisted that I make it “her” ringtone.  The entire week after she put it on my phone, she would call me from her phone whenever we were together in public.  She would laugh and laugh as I attacked my pocket, trying to silence it.  Shortly after I got married, I learned that once my wife made up “my” mind, there was no point trying to convince her I had a say in it. 
    My phone started into its second incantation and Toby let go of my neck, stood up straight and blurted out, “Can I tell Mom how you just blew that lady away?”  Eight year olds are resilient.  The trauma he just experienced was unimportant compared to the great reaction he would get from giving Katie the scoop.
    “I think you better let me tell her about this one, buddy,” I said, tussling his hair.  I extricated the phone from my pocket, wondering how she had heard about the shooting so fast. 
    “Hey, Katie,” I said, not knowing exactly what else to say.
    “You are not going to believe what just happened,” she said, giving me a chance to think about how I was going to tell her the extent of my day.  “Claire Mantell just came by and asked me if I would take care of her dog and horse for a few days.
    “She was saying something about how she was getting away from town while the getting was still good.  You know how she can get,” Katie said in frustration. “She was raving about a plague that was going to wipe out the town.” 
    “Wait a minute,” I interrupted.  “Claire was at our house?”
    “Yeah, she was here ten minutes ago.  I’m probably going to get sick now. She kept coughing in my face.  She was trying to telling me about something that happened at the Knick Knack Shack.  She was so intent on getting her story out that she wasn’t covering her mouth before coughing.  After the second time her cough sprayed saliva on my face, I started trying to edge her out of the house. 
    “I don’t know what I was thinking when I told her I could watch their dog if they ever left town.  That woman is crazy!  She wasn’t making any sense when she spoke.  I finally told her to have a good trip and not to worry about Otis.  I pretty much had to push her out the door. She is always strange, but if you take her normal strangeness and multiply it by ten, that was how she was acting today.”
    My churning stomach felt like it was going to give back everything I had eaten at Mary’s.  I placed my arm against the wall for support, fearing my legs might give out.  I could deal with my exposure, but Toby and now Katie?  It was too much.  I could feel a knot forming in the back of my throat.  I was fighting hard against the tears I could feel welling up in my eyes.  I had never cried in front of Toby and I wasn’t going to let him see it in my last hours.
    “Honey,” I said, trying unsuccessfully to keep an even voice.  “Something bad happened this morning.”
    I wasn’t doing very well keeping my voice even because she picked up on it and interrupted me.  “Connor, what’s going on?  You better tell me the truth.  Don’t you dare try and hide it from me.”
    “Katie, you know that I have never lied to you and I won’t start now.” I stopped, trying to find the words that would convey what had