Free Age of Decay (Book 1): Contagion by Brian Lamacraft

badly mutilated corpses. Trevor stared at the one that was decapitated, its stomach torn open, flies buzzing around the hideous remains. Lauren put her hand over her mouth.
    “Go,” Trevor said. They walked until they reached the top of a hill. In front of them was a small strip mall. One car was smashed into another, and as it burned, it sent thick black smoke up into the sky. Several bodies covered the ground with blood and gore. As the got closer, they could see a small group of dead trying to get into a store. Trevor look up at the name, Ian’s Sporting Good s. He also heard the sound of a male voice, thick with Irish accent. He took the rifle off his shoulder. “Someone’s alive behind that pack of them, I heard a voice.”
    “Shouldn’t we just keep going?” said Jason. “It’s too risky.”
    “No, dammit. We have to help people. Not going to be many left living if we don’t band together. Can’t be selfish. Look, you take the left, and I’ll go right. Use the cars for cover, try to draw them away from the door and pick them off.”
    “Ah, ya buggers want more, do ya?” came the voice. “Ian’s got a bat for ya! Bloody bastards!”
    Trevor moved closer. “Hey, we’ll draw them off of you!” he fired into the crowd of dead, dropping two of them as Jason added his own fire. The dozen or so dead lost focus on the man at the entrance to the store and turned to the two men.
    As they moved away from the building, the man inside came out. He was full of rage, a bat clenched hard in his hand. His arms were like barrels, and he had a small gut. He looked to be about forty-five or so with brown hair that was receding past his temples. His lips were covered in a thick brown mustache flecked with gray. “Odds are even now,” he said. “Had ‘nough of you bastards!”
    The man moved fast and brought the bat down on one, shattering its skull and streaking the bat in brains and gore. It topped over as he put his foot into two more and pushed them back. He swung the bat again and again, crushing their skulls. Trevor fired his rifle and dropped another one as Jason shot one that was near him. The man shouted obscenities as he pulverized the skull of another with quick hard strikes of the bat. The three men worked together to topple the dead. When it was all over, the man in the store had killed six of them with just a bat. He wiped sweat from his head. His arms were covered in blood and the remains of the dead.
    “Nice work,” said Trevor.
    “Thank ya, lad. I think I did pretty good. Thanks for the assist. Gone to hell today, hasn’t it?”
    “Yeah, you’re right there. Name’s Trevor. This is my son, Jason. The other two are Samantha and my wife, Lauren.”
    “Pleasure. I’m Ian Patrick. Workin’ today, then got the news on my phone. These buggers began to show up. Killed a couple of people outside, then tried to get in. Thing is, the ones they killed got up . The buggers just got up!”
    “It looks like it’s the flu. Same thing happened to my neighbors. I had to kill them. The guy’s wife just bit into him and tore off his flesh. Craziest thing I ever saw. She had been sick, like all the others.
    “Bloody hell,” whispered Ian. “I tried hitting the first one in the store. Must a hit em, oh four times right in the gut. He barely moved. Wasn’t till I caved in his skull that he dropped like a rock.”
    “Seems it takes a solid shot to the head to kill them. Need to destroy the brain,” said Trevor. “If they bit you, then it’s all over, you turn into one of them. Spreads the infection quite fast.”
    “Damn,” said Ian. “I live several blocks form here, lad, but no way I’m goin back home, with those out here.”
    “You’re welcome to come with us. Looks like you can hold your own in a fight. We’re trying to get to the Port Mann Bridge and then out of the city. I figure the interior will be safer. I got an uncle in Hope. What about your family?”
    “On my own, lad. The wife died