Dead World (Book 1): Dead Come Home Read Free Page B

be here about nine.”
     
    * * *
     
    It felt as though Mike’s heart was forcibly shoving its way up into his throat. The images being flashed across the TV screen were terrifyingly horrific, and he could barely hear the anchorman’s words over all the background noise of the bustling airport. Whatever was happening, it was happening right here in Dallas, according to the ticker at the bottom of the screen.
     
    DFW Metroplex area in a state of emergency.
     
    That little nugget of info didn’t tell Mike much. He still couldn’t hear a damn thing over the racket.
    “What’s going on?” he asked out loud, to no one in particular.
    “Some kind of riot,” answered a middle-aged fellow, decked out in what Mike could easily tell was a custom-tailored designer suit. “Cops are saying most of this is going on in the downtown area. According to them, it started in Deep Ellum early this morning when a bunch of homeless guys decided to gang up on a meter cop. News is saying people should stay off the streets.”
    “Stay off the streets?”
    “Yeah, there have been a lot of accidents, and they showed some poor young girl that got pulled out of her own car a little while ago. Riot cops managed to pull her to safety in the nick of time. One of the bastards that grabbed her even bit off a piece of her ear. Fuckin’ savages, I swear. I’m glad I’m just here on a layover. The sooner I’m out of this goddamn city, the better. Even in New York, we don’t stand for this kind of utter nonsense. We’d have already—.”
    Before the gentleman had even finished his last sentence, Mike had already broken into a dead sprint, making a beeline for the row of payphones he’d seen when he was outside. Luckily, there was one phone still open. He dropped his heavy bag, picked up the phone, and dialed “0” for the operator, planning to dial home collect. All he got was a busy signal. He fumbled for his wallet and yanked out a phone card he’d bought a few weeks ago. For the most part, he’d already used the most of the minutes on it. Now it was his only chance of getting in contact with someone back home.
     
    Should be at least a few minutes left on this thing. Goddammit! I should’ve listened to Bennett when he told me I needed to get a cell phone!
     
    He dialed the ridiculously long series of numbers on the worn plastic card before finally being prompted to enter the number he wished to call. After what seemed like an excruciating length of time, the phone began to ring. Two rings later, and someone picked up.
    “Hello?” It was Ma. Mike breathed a sigh of relief.
    “Ma? It’s Mike. I’m down here in Dallas at the airport. Is everything okay?”
    “Oh, Mikey, thank goodness you’re all right. I saw the news,” Ma’s tone sounded uncharacteristically nervous.
    “Ma? Why are you still at home? Are you okay?”
    “Oh, yes sweetheart, I’m fine,” she replied with that tone she always used when she didn’t want him to worry about something. “We’re having a little excitement of our own out here.”
    “What is it? What’s going on?”
    “Well, apparently there was some kind of a breakout at the state hospital just around the way,” she told him. “Tom came by a little bit before dawn. He almost gave me a heart attack, banging on my door like that. He told me to lock the house up and stay here until he came back. I told him ‘bout needin’ to pick you up, but he was very insistent. I’ve been waitin’ like he told me ever since … but he hasn’t come back yet.”
    Tom was the local sheriff in Lakeside City, Texas, where there was only one sheriff and one deputy. If Tom was out of bed, it meant something was wrong in the somewhat rural area in North Texas just outside of Wichita Falls, where Mike’s mother had moved after his father had passed a few years ago.
    “That’s okay, Ma. You did good to listen to him,” Mike reassured her. “Did you do what he told you? Is the house all bolted