Spiteful (The Infected Book 3) Read Free

couldn’t change that no matter how much I wished I could.
    The sky had darkened outside the window and I could see storm clouds moving quickly by. After a short while the rain began and it ran like a river down the window. The room temperature slowly began to fall and I curled up trying to keep myself as warm as I possibly could. The shadows in the room began to lengthen and all the light seemed to get sucked into them. Closing my one good I eye, I tried to fall asleep. A blazing light in my face woke me up.
    “Wake up, shithead.” A male voice said from the other side of the light.
    Rolling away from the light I said “Fuck off. I’m sleeping.”
    Rough hands grabbed me and pulled me up to my feet. The torch was still shining in my face and it was beginning to make my one good eye water. I tried to raise my hand and shield my eye but it was held firmly against my side. I could feel someone tugging at my ankle and I felt the cuff come away from it.
    “Come on, shithead. You have a date.” The male voice said.
    Getting dragged out of the room wasn’t my idea of fun but I tried not to fight it too much. This was the first time I had seen anything but the inside of the room I had woken up in. The room I had been kept in was at the end of a hallway. Three other doors were along the side that my door had been on. They were all open but had the same setup as mine had; a mattress and nothing else. The hallway was lit with lamps on boxes. At the end of the hallway stood another door and the man with the torch pushed it open and we walked into a well-lit room. Looking about, I could see people lying on sleeping bags and cots. Children holding hands with their parents and old people huddled together. In the centre of the room were several large tables and chairs. To my relief, I couldn’t see Tracy or Thomas anywhere. But I did see Tessa and her father sat talking to several other men and women at the tables. I was shoved toward the tables and forced into a chair facing them.
    “You’ll keep your mouth shut until somebody asks you a question.” The man who had carried the torch said.
    “What if I hold my hand up first?” I asked.
    Probably not the best thing to have said because I got a punch in the face for it. Breathing heavily, I looked at the table and again my clever mouth got the better of me.
    “But what if I need a wee? Can I hold my hand up then?” I asked.
    This time he pulled a short knife from his belt and held it to my throat.
    “Look, smartarse, you say anything again and I’ll make sure no woman will ever want you again.” He whispered in my ear.
    “Barnaby!” Tessa’s father shouted.
    Barnaby turned round and stalked off to stand beside the tables.
    Tessa’s father cleared his throat “Look, we don’t have long before Tracy and her followers come back from a supply run so can we stop with the fucking stupid comments?”
    I just nodded. I now knew that the people here were not too fond of Tracy and her gang. This could be a good thing or it could be a bad thing.
    “Okay, from what you said this morning I had someone who used to drive trucks go and find a CB. We managed to get it working and we tried to get in contact with my dad. We managed to hear him but for some reason we couldn’t transmit. So I believe you about my father being alive but until I can hear him tell me he is not a slave….well, you know.”
    I just sat there watching him and didn’t reply.
    “You can speak.” He said, looking annoyed.
    “Look, your dad had the same problem and it boiled down to not having enough juice to power the CB.” I said.
    “He might be telling the truth.” Said a man sitting beside Tessa’s dad.
    “How are we going to get enough then?” Tessa’s dad said to the other man.
    It was like watching a tennis match. For the next ten minutes they bounced ideas back and forth. I was tired and I really didn’t think they wanted me outside of my room if Tracy and her friends came back