23 Hours Read Free

really used some fresh meat; Ned would pay top dollar for something to put in his stew besides rat. I don’t know if it was the virus starting to hit me or if it had just been that long since I’d eaten, but even the thought of Ned's stew didn't sound too bad. Hell, just the thought of a plump rabbit or squirrel sent my mouth watering. A deer probably would have sent me into shock.
    I tried not getting my hopes up, I knew the chance of catching any game was slim, but no matter what I was expecting, I was not prepared for what I saw as I peeked around that tree. Right there in the middle of a small clearing was an elderly woman crouched over a stroller. It couldn’t have been easy getting that thing all the way back there, and I could have thought of a hundred better ways to transport a baby, but she seemed harmless enough... at least until she turned to stare at me with those empty eye sockets.
    “Damn,” I growled as I set the kid down and stepped from behind the tree. Half of the old woman’s face was gone, as was the left side of her torso. The remaining muscles showing through the large tears in her billowing muumuu would have been impressive on a woman half her age, but on her it was just disturbing. She wasn’t completely hulked out yet so she couldn’t have been infected more than a day or two ago, but that didn’t make her any less dangerous.
    I moved a little closer, mainly to distance myself from the boy and to give myself more room to swing Excalibur. She continued to stare in my direction for a moment, seemingly unsure whether she should leave the stroller. The blood around her mouth made me really not want to look in there, but at that point the stroller was the least of my worries. With a terrifying roar she leapt at me and I barely managed to dive out of the way before she slammed into the tree uncomfortably close to where I had left the kid.
    “Hey,” I yelled trying to keep her focus on me. Thankfully it seemed to work; she immediately spun around and concentrated fully on me. She didn’t seem to fear Excalibur so I decided to teach her a lesson. With a roar that was a pitiful imitation of hers, I charged straight at her and for a second it worked, I actually saw the shock on her face, just before she roared and rushed right back at me.
    That old bitch wasn’t nearly as big as Willie had been, but she was a hell of a lot quicker, slamming into me before I could even think of swinging my blade. And thanks to my ineptitude I once again lost it.
    My anger flared, partially at that creature and partially at myself. If I failed then I had managed to keep that boy alive, only to provide him to this old woman as a snack and that thought pissed me off.
    On my back and unable to think of anything better, I threw my legs up trapping her head and one of her arms in a triangle choke. I’d seen the move done a few times in MMA but had no training so I was quite impressed with myself. Unfortunately the triangle choke is meant to constrict the blood flow from the carotid arteries to the brain so it had absolutely no affect on her other than putting my crotch dangerously close to her mouth; a thought that hit me a moment too late. Just as she opened her mouth I released the hold and managed to roll to the right, so thankfully she only got a mouthful of my thigh but it still hurt like hell as she sunk her teeth in. Instinctively I brought my knee up, jamming her nose through her skull. Some of the pus sprayed across my jeans which pissed me off even more, so I decided to just let my anger flow.
    As she stumbled backwards across the clearing I ran and grabbed Excalibur from where it had fallen, then it was my turn to growl. The old bitch barely had time to raise her head before I tackled her, slamming her down and then moving to straddle her chest and pin her arms to the ground with my knees. Even though I had Excalibur in my hand I decided to take out all my anger and frustration by beating her face with my fist