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

several years ago. She got bloody cancer. You’d almost welcome it now, though, if you had to pick between what these buggers got and that.”
    “Sorry to hear. Hard to lose anyone. The girl there lost both her parents to this.”
    “Poor child,” said Ian.
    “She’ll be okay. We got to stick together. Hopefully find more survivors. What sort of gear do you have inside, maybe we can use some of it?”
    “Come on in, let’s gather what we can. I’ll come with ya, nothing here for me now.”
    Trevor motioned to his son. “Stay outside and watch for any of them. Gonna get some gear.”
    “Sure.”
    The four of them went into the store and looked around. It was a mess with stands turned over and a couple of bodies lying on the ground, their skulls smashed to ruins. Lauren winced at the smell. At one time it would be a nice store to take your kids to get that new baseball glove, but now it was merely a small sanctuary from the chaos outside, at least for a little while.
    “Sorry about the mess,” said Ian. “Guess you’d say it was a rough mornin’.”
    “I’ve had better myself,” said Trevor.
    “Some backpacks back there. Small, compact, they could be easy to carry. I guess I got a bit of everything. Skiing, golf, baseball, hockey. Ah, lad, none of this even matters now!”
    “Hockey equipment?”
    “Ya, lad. All kinds of it. It’s a hockey town, after all. Couldn’t keep the bloody stuff in stock.”
    Trevor smiled and slapped Ian on the shoulder. “Ian, you just gave me a great idea.”

Chapter 12
     
    Jason looked down at his Canucks jersey with disgust. “Figures he would still have a Kesler jersey still in stock.”
    “It’s not like we had much choice. I just grabbed what he had and handed them out.” Trevor went over to Samantha adjusting her shoulder pads.
    Lauren worked on her neck protector. “Not that comfortable, but it will do.”
    “Yeah, I wasn’t going for comfort,” said Trevor. “This hockey gear will keep us protected from bites. It’s not foolproof, but it will do for now. Ian’s filling up the canteens and water bottles, then we’ll be going. There’s small convenience store just inside the mall entrance, he said. We can get some food there to take with us.”
    “Do you think we can make it across that bridge?” said Lauren.
    “I don’t know. We have to get out of the main part of the city, then head through the valley.”
    Ian arrived with the canteens and bottles. “All full, lad, should keep us going for a bit.” He also carried another bat in his hands. “I thought Samantha might be able to use this.” He adjusted the shoulder pads. “Don’t make ‘em big enough.”
    “Samantha,” said Trevor. “Come over here for a minute, Ian’s got something for you.”
    She hurried over to the two men. “Yes?”
    “Can you use this?” asked Trevor. “Just hit them in the head as hard as you can. Might come a time when you need it.”
    “Yeah,” she said. “I can use it.”
    “Good. Glad to see you feeling a bit better. I’m so sorry about your parents.”
    “It’s okat. I will be fine. Just hurts, that’s all.” I miss you, Mom and Dad, more than anything . I’m gonna be strong for you, fight this. I know it’s what you would have wanted .
    Trevor finished getting the packs ready. They had lost most of the gear, but had the weapons, which were the main thing they needed. Food and water would still be easy to come by as it was still in the early stages. They needed to get to the bridge and over it to find shelter before nightfall.
    “We’ll go into the mall, get what we need, and go. Hopefully there won’t be too many of them in there to deal with.” Trevor tuned to Ian. “Say, can you shoot? I got a couple of spare firearms, if you would like one. We need all the help we can get.”
    He laughed. “Geez, no lad. I’d probably shoot myself with one of ‘em. Best keep them to yourselves, I’ll be fine.”
    “Okay, let’s get moving. Stick