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

“Thank you.”

Shelly nodded. “Please help him.” She knelt beside the man, who was her boyfriend.

“I’ll do what I can.” Murray ripped the sheet up, and he pushed a strip against his open wound. “Place your hand here,” he told Shelly, and she quickly followed his order. “Lift your hand.” She did as he instructed, and Murray wrapped the makeshift bandage all the way around the man’s neck. “This will help stop the bleeding,” Murray told Shelly.

“Thank you! Thank you,” Shelly repeated.

General Murray rested his hand on Shelly’s shoulder to comfort her. He looked into her eyes and felt her pain. He only wished he’d been able to help her boyfriend earlier.

General Murray moved to work on the next person, but Terrier and Peter were already working on him. He looked around, and everyone was helping someone. This was how the bunker should have been from Day One. Afana had destroyed all of their lives.

Once the men had been bandaged, Terrier hurried over to Natalie. “Had Evelyn been bitten? Was one of the kids infected?”

“No, she wasn’t bitten, and she didn’t bite any of the kids.” Natalie’s breath hitched as she tried to hold in her tears. One of her closest friends had caught the disease and was now dead.

“Are you sure?” Terrier pressed.

The people around them who were listening began to feel uncomfortable in their own skin, as if at any moment they could succumb to the infection.

Natalie nodded. “I’m sure. She was behaving normally, then Chloe told me that Evelyn was acting …weird. She kept stopping the story, and the kids were getting annoyed.” Natalie paused as she looked down at Evelyn’s body. “She was just reading a story a few moments ago.” Terrier rubbed her back to comfort her, and Natalie looked up at Terrier. “I remembered you telling me to look out for people behaving differently…and she was. When I went to check on her…” Natalie raised her hand to her mouth, “her eyes were glowing red, and her mouth was bleeding.”

General Murray took one of the sheets and gently draped it over Evelyn’s body.

“Natalie, Jasmine, can you take the kids to their room?” Mama Lou asked.

Natalie led the kids away.

“How does this damn virus spread?” Mama Lou asked, and others nodded. People spoke among themselves, but no one had the answer.

General Murray wiped the blood from the injured down his pants. “Martin was bitten by an infected, and Advisor George felt that he was going to change. It seems like there are two ways to get the disease.”

Their eyes rested on the ones who had been bitten, and they had fear in their eyes. Originally, they were afraid of dying because of the loss of blood, and now they were terrified that they were infected.

The level fell quiet.

Chapter Thirteen

The wolves had followed Leandro when he walked with the others in the direction of Graham’s cart. Leandro had tried to talk with them again but had once more gotten no response. He’d given up.

Then he noticed they’d stopped, and he turned toward them. Massimo was by Leandro’s side, and he paused as well. The others hadn’t noticed and kept walking toward Graham’s cart.

Massimo looked down at Leandro. “I understand if you want to go with them and be part of a pack.”

I don’t understand. Why would I want to be with those pissing-in-public, butt-licking wolves? Leandro wondered.

Leandro stared up at his dad and shook his head. This upgraded version of his Pops didn’t seem to be the brightest. Massimo and his Merry Men were Leandro’s pack.

The Were headed back down the mountain, and Massimo followed with a smile on his face. He rubbed the top of Leandro’s head. “Glad you decided to stay.”

Leandro looked back at the two white wolves, who were watching him as he left. He wondered if they were his parents, once werewolves who were now trapped as wolves just like him. The difference between them and him was that they had lost who they were on the inside. Their humanity.

Leandro had no intentions of doing that. He’d always be Leandro, even if everyone called him Fluffy. He was Massimo’s son Leandro, and proud of it. So what if he was stuck on four feet? Now he was like Massimo, an upgraded version of himself.

Leandro liked that idea.

The original group and the people from the mountain settlement reached Graham and Black Beauty, and the kids occupied themselves by petting Black Beauty while the adults talked.

Massimo had told the adults from the mountain settlement where his home was, and that they could treat it as their own. When he returned, he’d help them get settled into new homes.

Massimo truly was a good guy. Ryder smiled at Massimo once he’d finished.

Carter was close to tears. “Thank you, Massimo.”

No smart-ass comments, just a nice thank you, Ryder thought.

Massimo beamed. “You’re welcome, Carter and my new friends. The house is going to be lovely and full of life with all of you in it. We’d best be going. Soon Pinewood will be full of people.”

Ryder could see that Massimo was happy with that idea, which pleased Ryder. She’d hoped that once she’d gotten everyone out of the bunker, they’d be able to live in Pinewood.

Everyone said goodbye to the kids and prepared to get back on the road. The kids gave Carter and Ryder hugs. Ryder was looking forward to seeing the kids in the bunker, and soon she would.

“Keep them safe,” Carter told Maxwell.

Maxwell patted Carter’s back. “They will.”

“They will?” Carter said, raising his eyebrow.

“Yes. We’ve decided to help you,” Maxwell told him. Louis and Andrew nodded. “Those are our people that he’s holding, and they’ve been there too long,” Maxwell admitted.

Carter was silent for once as his mind went to Natalie and all the years she’d been living in the bunker. Horrible thoughts passed through his mind, and he could feel his blood boiling. He needed to stop thinking about it and block it out like he’d done all his