Live Free or Die Complete Series Boxed Set: Age Of Madness - A Kurtherian Gambit Series by Hayley Lawson (pdf e book reader .TXT) 📗

made her human had been destroyed when the Madness had taken over. They were no longer people. They weren’t even animals. Even the supposed monsters were no frightening thing, compared to the hungry husks of humanity that now roamed the Earth.

Ryder jerked her arrow free with a sickening pop and blood sprayed from the Mad’s ear. Ryder leaped away from the spray as the Mad fell, but it was too late. Freshly clean Ryder was covered in blood splatter once again. At least she had another reason to have a shower, which wasn’t such a bad thing.

Ryder watched the woman fall to the ground and wondered how many more of them were out there. Ryder knew the Madness spread by people biting one another after what she’d seen in the Old Dog, but why were people turning Mad? When she’d asked Massimo earlier in the day, he’d thought it was a disease.

She thought back to the Old Dog and the craziness that happened and how it had spread. When one person bit another, they turned and bit someone else, and so on. Ryder thought hard, replaying everything she’d seen in the bar that night. Some things she didn’t want to remember, like how many people they’d killed.

The person that had started the killing had seemed normal, well a little drunk, maybe, but they’d had no wounds that she’d seen.

Then there were the people in the mountain settlement where Carter was from. He said they had just started going Mad. Maybe getting a bite isn’t the only way to turn Mad? That scared Ryder. How were they supposed to fight something they couldn’t see?

Her thoughts were broken by the sound of heavy boots approaching. Ryder gripped her arrow, ready to fight again. She relaxed when she saw that it was Massimo and Fluffy.

Massimo grimaced at the bloody corpse of the Mad by Ryder’s feet. “I’m so sorry,” he apologized. “The alcohol has affected our senses, I’m afraid. Otherwise, we would have heard and come to your aid sooner.”

Ryder waved him off. Shit, even that hurt. Getting out of bed tomorrow was going to be a bitch. “It’s all good. I took care of it.” She winked, not wanting Massimo to feel down after the day they’d had. “We need to guard this place against these things. This is the second time they’ve come by the house. We can take turns.”

Massimo nodded. “That’s a good idea.” He looked like he was ready to fall asleep. “We’ll get some of the others on the first rotation.” Massimo paused for a moment. “You really do have good ideas, Ryder. Has anyone told you that?”

Ryder grinned at Massimo. “You did, one second ago.”

Massimo looked a little confused. “I did? Did I?” he asked in an uncertain tone. Massimo glanced down at his glass. He’d brought his drink to the fight with him.

“Were you planning on getting the Mad drunk?” she teased.

Massimo had a boyish grin on his face. “I think I may have celebrated too much.”

“Massimo, do you think the disease is spreading another way?” She quickly filled him in about what she’d seen at both the Old Dog and the mountain settlement. “I think there are two ways of getting the disease. One is to be bitten, we know that. The other… I don’t know.” Ryder reached up and grasped at the air. “Could it be in the air?”

Massimo sobered instantly. “I had considered that it could be something inside us. The person you described in the Old Dog had been acting oddly for the last few weeks. I thought he’d just been eating magic mushrooms. Come to think of it, that’s what Graham had said Andrew’s behavior was like. Maybe that could be one of the signs before they changed, then something must have happened in the last few days or weeks to turn the disease on inside of them like a switch had been flicked. Or, as you said, something in the air.”

Ryder gulped. “If it’s in the air, we’re fucked.”

Massimo nodded in agreement. “I wish we had the technology from before the WWDE. We’d be able to search the internet to find out how much of the world is affected.”

“The internet?” Ryder had heard Massimo mention that word a few times now, but she had no clue what it meant.

Massimo’s eyes were misty with recollection. “Oh, how I miss the internet. The internet was a wonderful thing. It had all the world’s information on it. You could use it to shop, or even stay in touch with every one of your friends, wherever they were in the world. Or like most people liked to do, spy on their ex’s lives on Facebook.”

Ryder was lost. Massimo may as well have been speaking another language with all the sense he was making.

Massimo rested his hand on Ryder’s shoulder. “Let’s get you inside, and get the guys on guard. You must be starving, and there isn’t an ounce of fat on you for a reserve. You’re just like a supermodel.”

Supermodel? Ryder didn’t feel super at all as they walked back to the house, Fluffy walked beside Ryder with a little wobble, like he was going to fall to sleep very soon. Ryder hoped she could soon sleep as well. She was exhausted.

Massimo took Ryder’s arm to stop her and placed a finger to his lips, and Ryder heard the sound of feet running toward them. They quickly spun to see a group of Mad running at them. Ryder put an arrow to her bow and shouted to the others that there were Mad, but Ryder wasn’t sure they’d be able to hear her over the music.

Ryder wasted no time and let the arrows fly into the oncoming Mad. Massimo bared his fangs and ran at the Mad, with Fluffy right beside him.

Fluffy flew through the air and sunk his teeth into a Mad’s clothes, which were ripped to shreds as though the Mad had already been in a lot of fights. Ryder knew