Infected: Die Like Supernovas (The Outlaw Book 2) Read Free

concentrate during a tornado, I was so disoriented. “Wow, this is…this is incredible. How many people like me… like us…are there?”
    “Not many.”
    “Where are they?”
    “We’re scattered, here and there. We don’t all live in a commune, or something like that,” he chuckled around the extinguished stub in his mouth. “I’m the guy that greets the new recruits. And I have four pieces of information for you.”
    “Okay.”
    “Four things you need to know,” he said again.
    “Got it. Four.”
    “It’s a good news, bad news thing,” he said while fishing another cigarette from his pocket. “Two good, two bad.”
    “Give me the bad news first,” I suggested.
    “The first thing you need to know is good,” he said. He lit the cigarette and spewed fresh blue smoke. “You’re not an alien.”
    “Oh…okay. Whew? I guess?”
    “You haven’t been bitten by a radioactive spider. Nothing stupid like that. The changes you’re undergoing are easily explained. You don’t have super powers. Nothing so glamorous. Simply put, you’re sick.”
    “I’m sick?”
    “You have a virus, to be exact. Same as me. Same as the rest of us with this unique condition. We call ourselves the Infected.”
    “The Infected? You said it was a virus, not an infection,” I pointed out.
    “I didn’t pick the name. But you’re right, that’s always bothered me too.”
    “And you’ve determined I have this virus?”
    “Unless I miss my guess.” He pulled the black satchel to him and from it he retrieved a zippered portfolio. He tossed the portfolio onto the helipad and indicated I should open it. Inside were dozens of x-rays and MRIs. The pictures had circles drawn on them, but even with those clues I still didn’t know what I was looking at. “We don’t know much about the virus. Minimal research has been done. We Infected don’t want to be lab rats, so we’re a pretty secretive crew.”
    “What’s this circled between the lungs?” I held up a xray.
    “The thymus. It usually atrophies during adolescence. However the virus stimulates the thymus and keeps it active for the rest of your life, which causes growth abnormalities. The x-ray in your right hand is
mine
. The x-ray in your left is a normal adult’s. See the difference? Same with the MRI pictures. The virus also stimulates the adrenal glands, the testes, the frontal cortex, and lots of other crap I can’t remember. The virus is stimulated by fight or flight episodes. These hyper-aggressive states accelerate the virus’s symptoms.”
    “All these medical documents mean nothing to me. What exactly does the virus do to your body?”
    “I don’t know why I even keep those records,” he sighed. “No one understands them.”
    “Sorry.”
    “What does the virus do? It causes massive physiological changes. Those of us that survive will have a greater volume of adrenaline in our veins, more serotonin, more epinephrin, better circulation, faster mental processes, a higher quantity and quality of quick twitch muscle, greater bone density, better immune system, rapid healing abilities, significantly heightened hand-eye coordination, hyper-accurate senses, great strength…that kind of thing.”
    “Whoa…”
    “Now you see why it’s a secret. Pharmaceutical companies would spend millions of dollars tracking us down and slicing us up to bottle the virus. Governments would try to weaponize us. Our lives would be over.”
    “Aren’t you stronger and faster than pharmaceutical companies?”
    “Sure, kid. To be honest, we could topple a small government. But a small group of us against the might of the American military? Get real.”
    “So you can’t fly? Or shoot laser beams out of your eyes?”
    “Don’t be an ass, kid,” he growled. “You have a disease that causes your body to overproduce parts of itself. You’re not Superman. It’s your body, just sped up and strengthened.”
    “Wait…you just said…
those of us that survive
. What does