Free The Infected: A Post Apocalyptic Thriller by Matt Cronan Page A

towers etched their way across the back of her mind. She forced herself to keep her eyes open. To not drift off before she had a chance to say what she needed to.
    "In case we don't wake up," Sam said, "I want you to know that I've loved you since the day I met you. And whether that was ten years ago, or twenty, or 300, that feeling's never changed. If I could do it all over again, I would let you—"
    Jordan interrupted her with a kiss. She melted into his arms and he pulled her closer. The kiss was sweet and rough and the best of her entire life. He pulled away and smiled and then they fell asleep in each other's arms.
    Sam didn't dream of the burning city. Moments after they dozed off, Cole Porter burst into the room. He was yelling, but it took Sam a moment for her brain to catch up to the current situation. The unfamiliar place. Cole's thick southern drawl. The shouting. Everything was foggy.
    "Gotta go now!"
    His words clicked and panic rushed through Sam's body.
    "Now!" he yelled.
    They scrambled to their feet. Sam's head throbbed again, worse than when she had nodded off. She touched a hand to her head and felt it was puffy and swollen.
    "What's going on?" Jordan asked.
    "We got word the Minister is sendin' the transport out early. After it leaves, they're lockin' down the city for good. 'Til they find her." He nodded toward Sam and her head throbbed harder as her pulse quickened.
    "What transport?" Sam asked.
    "The blood truck," Cole said. "They take the samples to Concordia every week. Leave in the middle of the night when everyone's asleep. They're sendin' off the latest samples and they ain't openin' the gates again until you two are dead. It's our only shot of getting' you two out of here alive."
    "What are we waiting for?" Jordan asked.
    "But…" Sam started but her voice trailed off. The news that Rebecca's death was the result of Holden's ill-thwarted plan was still fresh on her mind.
    "If we stay, they'll kill us," Jordan said. "At least this way we have a chance and I'm not ready to lose you."
    She hesitated for a moment longer and then said, "Okay."
    They followed Cole back to the conference room. She expected to find Holden and Robertson waiting for them but the room was empty. A small fire erupted in Sam's guts.
    "Where are they?" she asked. She didn't try to mask the panic in her voice. "Where are Holden and Robertson?"
    "They went on ahead," Cole said as he jerked open the door leading back to the train yard. "There's a whole mess of soldiers guarding the gates. They're getting in position. Didn't want to put you two in any more danger than necessary."
    The knot in her stomach clenched tighter as she stared into the pitch-black darkness beyond the doorway. This was it. No matter what happened, they had spent their last night in New Hope. By sunrise, they would be dead or traveling through the wastelands. She swallowed hard and plunged into the lightless hallway.
    Cole led them back outside and through the train yard. They sprinted to the main road and jogged away from town and toward the city gates. Sam said a silent goodbye to their old lives as they passed her apartment unit. The few belongings she owned would be destroyed. The life before the infection—real or not—was gone forever.
    They ran for a long time as they crossed through the city. The full moon hung low overhead and bathed their path in its soft light. In the distance, the huge steel gates came into view.
    Cole broke from the road and jogged to the concrete wall that extended around the city. They followed him and huddled together when they reached it.
    "We'll hug the walls the rest of the way," Cole whispered. "Gotta keep outta their sights." He pointed up to the top of the wall toward the gate. Through the darkness, Sam could see two men standing on top of it. Both carried long rifles.
    "Snipers," Jordan said.
    "Yeah," Cole said. "Robertson said they're aiming to kill on sight so stay close behind me. I move, you move. I stop, you