Read Online Mutation (Twenty-Five Percent Book 1) by Nerys Wheatley - Free Book Online Page B

back at the bodies before turning away.  “We need to get out of here,” he said.
    Alex grabbed the bag from the car and they took off at a jog. 
    They both headed in the same direction, Alex wasn’t sure whether out of necessity or because they instinctively knew that staying together for now might be safer. 
    The area through which they were travelling was mostly industrial, the streets lined with squat office buildings and small companies.  Eaters threw themselves at the glass of the windows and doors of some of the lobbies as they passed.  Alex still couldn’t believe how quickly the infection had spread.  They saw more eaters on the street, but managed to dodge around corners to avoid being seen.  Most of them were heading for where Alex and Micah had left the mangled car. 
    They also saw normal people, some in cars, some on foot, all of them scared.  His natural inclination as a policeman to help was hard to suppress, but the truth was Alex didn’t know what to do.  He knew everyone’s best bet at survival now was to stay alone or in small groups.  A large group of people would not only be easier for any eaters to see, but would also concentrate their scent.  He could only smell the difference between a Survivor and a normal from a few feet away, but large groups were detectable from a greater distance.
    After they’d been going for a few minutes and were sufficiently far away from where they’d shot the six eaters, they slowed to a walk, keeping close against the buildings on their side of the road.
    The sound of an approaching helicopter made them look up and Alex watched another military chopper, or maybe the same one that he’d seen earlier, pass over a little way along the street. 
    “Where are the rest of them?” he said, frowning as he watched it disappear into the distance.
    “Who?” Micah replied.
    “That’s the second one I’ve seen this afternoon.  Why aren’t they sending the army in to help?”
    “You’re asking me?”
    Alex shook his head and looked back at the ground ahead of him, still frowning.
    “What are you going to do now?” Micah said.
    Alex had been thinking about that, but any plans he had were half baked, at best.  He looked at the sky.  The sun had dipped below the roofs of the buildings around them.
    “Inspector Parker said they’ve sealed off the city.  I’d like to find out what that means, but I’d rather not be outside after sunset.  I can see in the dark, but so can eaters.”
    Micah watched another couple of cars speed past them.  “It looks like everyone’s trying to get out of the city.”
    “Yeah.  Even if we had a car, the roads are going to be blocked leading out.  And add in a few eaters...”  He shook his head. 
    “I wonder how many have turned since this morning,” Micah said.
    “You still bothered about having to kill those eaters?”
    “Just wondering how many more times I’ll have to do it.”
    Alex was silent.  He was wondering that himself. 
    A deafening smash ripped through the air as a metal chair crashed to the ground in a shower of broken glass in front of them.
    Alex almost tripped over his feet in his haste to stop.  “What the...?”
    “Sorry!” a voice called out.
    He and Micah stepped out into the road to look up at the small three storey office building they were passing.  Several people were looking down at them through the remains of a broken second floor window.  A man in a grey suit smiled and waved.
    “I was trying to get your attention,” he called, looking embarrassed.  “I thought the glass would be tougher.”
    “Well, you definitely have our attention now,” Alex called back.  And probably the attention of every eater nearby, he thought.
    “Um, well, we were wondering if you could help us?  Call the police or something?  There are eaters on the ground floor and we’re kind of trapped.  We don’t really know what’s going on.  All the phones are down and there’s no