Free The Pandemic Sequence (Book 1): The Tilian Virus by Tom Calen

represent the tense thoughts that held much needed sleep at bay. His left hand fiddled with a pen he had fished from the pocket of his jeans some hours earlier. Turning the pen over and over again with his fingers was the only thing that satisfied his craving.
    I need a cigarette , he thought to himself. The concept of thinking of such an insignificant need during the situation he and the others faced amused him. There were moments when he imagined himself fighting off a horde of those creatures below to reach the half-full pack of Marlboros in his truck.
    You’ve watched the Die Hard movies too many times, the voice in his head mocked, and you’re no John McClane yipee-kaying through the airport.
    Forcing his mind away from the nicotine-induced hero delusions, he began to wonder what the coming sunrise would bring. He thought about the chance of a rescue from some unknown source. Recalling how quickly the virus had spread, the number of infected announced by the world’s governments, and the result of the sheriff’s bite wound, Mike was beginning to think that any rescue was unlikely. Four armed men had been overrun in mere minutes.
    The realization left him with one thought.
    “We’re on our own,” he whispered softly in the dark room.
    That was difficult to accept. Before the attack, almost one hundred students had been in the building. Were he and the others all that remained? Or did others now hide in rooms around the school feeling the same sense of defeat and isolation?
    Tomorrow, we have to check for other survivors in the school , he silently decided.
    Mike knew that the school would not be able to support a prolonged stay. There were too many entrances, either through windows or doors, to offer long-term protection. Even if they could raid the cafeteria kitchen for food more substantial than chips and candy, the faculty room was not going to be able to serve their needs indefinitely. He turned escape scenarios over in his thoughts. If more infected blocked the courtyard, the group would have to devise a way past them. Then what? Mike questioned himself. Where do we go?
    Some thirty miles north was a large military base. To Mike, it seemed like the best option. The sheriff had said dozens of calls had come in from the town before the school had been attacked. Reluctantly, he had to assume the small rural community had been overrun just like the school. With their numbers, and if more survivors were found in the school, Mike estimated that at least three or four vehicles would be required to make the trek north to the base. The military and its defenses would be the best protection, and hopefully a source of information as to what was happening.
    Before his next thought took shape, Mike heard a shuffle from the floor to his right. The sound startled him, and he was surprised to see how instinctively his hand had moved to the gun in his lap.
    “It’s Derrick, Mr. Allard,” the running back whispered.
    Relaxing, Mike said, “You should be sleeping, bud.”
    “I can’t. Every time I try all I see are those…those people. It’s like…I don’t know, man, I mean, is this happening?”
    Mike could hear the frustration and fear in the young man’s voice. The first hours of the night had found him ruminating over the same question. Growing up, he had been a fan of horror movies and the zombie, werewolf, and vampire villains terrorizing the foolish characters that inevitably made ridiculously bad attempts at escape. More humorous than frightful, those movies were indulgent breaks from the real world. If he wanted to be really scared, Mike had watched films with psychotic serial killers that hunted unsuspecting victims. To him, the fear was real because the villain could be real.
    Now, though, it was not a serial killer that stalked them, but rather something closer to one of those creatures from horror movies. His mind struggled between acceptance of the situation he and the others faced, and rejection of the