Blog of the Dead (Book 3): Lost Read Free

town had an HZ problem.
    ‘Sweetie!’ said Charlotte. ‘Oh god, that looks sore.’
    ‘Damn. It’s infected,’ said Clay. ‘Regular infected and badly. Has she been taking her antibiotics?’
    ‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘Things have been a little bit hectic recently, I haven’t kept track.’
    ‘Kay,’ Clay reached over and shook her shoulder. ‘Kay, have you been taking your meds?’ Kay didn’t respond. ‘We need to stop and take care of this before the infection reaches her bloodstream, if it hasn’t already,’ said Clay.
    ‘And if it does?’ I asked, sitting on my knees and hugging the back of my seat.
    ‘She could die.’
    ‘Should we go back to Folkestone?’ asked Charlotte.
    ‘No time. First house we come to, just stop.’
    ‘There,’ I said, pointing to my left. I could see a large bungalow at the end of a long drive just off Ashford Road.
    Misfit swung the car around and pulled up outside on the brick paved forecourt. It was as wide as the sprawling bungalow itself. Standing on the forecourt, I scanned the area. Behind me, an overgrown grassy border with bushes and conifers sprouting from it led to a row of three garages. To my left, a wooden fence marked the end of this property and the beginning of the next, and to my right, I could just see a wooden gate that I guessed led to the back garden. The wooden fence on the right hand side divided the property’s grounds and a one lane road beyond.
    I couldn’t hear anything other than the occasional bird that chirped as though nothing had ever changed in the world. Clay, his spiked boxing gloves hanging around his neck by their laces, tried the front door. It opened. Before Clay could step foot inside the building, Misfit snuck ahead of him and stalked onwards. On light feet, Clay trotted in next, followed by me. Charlotte, supporting Kay, came last.
    I edged my way along a galley style kitchen, my ears straining for any sounds and my nose straining for any smells that might indicate the dead. The thick dust on the work surfaces, completely undisturbed, suggested that no one living had been in the building for a very long time.
    Through the kitchen door and into the gloomy corridor, I could begin to see how big the single story building was inside. To my direct left, at the end of the corridor, I spotted a door with another one facing me on the opposite side. Both were closed. To the right, I could see another six or seven doors leading off either side of the sprawling corridor, and one more at the far end. Misfit, just the other side of Clay, caught my eye. He nodded in the direction of the doors to my left. I nodded back, knowing he wanted me to check them out, and I watched him head to the right, him taking the first door on one side of the corridor, while Clay took the first door on the opposite side. I turned back to the first door and listened carefully with my ear pressed up against the wood.
    I could feel Charlotte and Kay behind me as I gently pushed the door open. I poked my head through the gap and scanned the room: a small, highly polished dark wood table and six brown leather chairs sat at its centre, with a dresser and a sideboard against two of the walls. Other than that, the room was empty. I could see another door leading off the rear and I indicated for Charlotte to stay put while I checked it out. I edged across the dining room and opened the door just enough to see a porch with tall windows that allowed me to glimpse an expanse of patio, a sunken garden and a long overgrown lawn, a low wooden fence cutting it off from the fields at the back. I ducked back through the dining room and rejoined Charlotte and Kay out in the corridor.
    Next I tried the door opposite. I found a living room with a white three piece suite positioned around a flat screen TV. The room was sparsely furnished but the patterned carpet in muted tones of beige, blue and brown and matching curtains, together with the framed prints that covered almost