The Common Cold (Book 1): A Zombie Chronicle Read Free Page A

conversation.
    “Hello. Hello? Are you okay? You don’t look very well.” No
response. “Hello.” He waved his hand in front of her; her eyes began to follow
it as he moved it back and forth. Thinking he was getting her attention, he
withdrew it again, not wanting to appear too rude. She returned to vacant mode.
“Bloody hell,” he said, and tried one last parting comment, speaking slowly so
she might understand, “I’m going up to my office. Thanks for your help.”
Nothing.
    Giving up, he walked to the lifts and pressed the up button.
The Perspex index board hanging on the wall showed that his company resided on
the third floor. Good, didn’t need her assistance after all. A small bell rang,
and the lift door in front of him opened. It revealed a man standing in the
middle of the mirrored chamber, just staring unblinkingly forward.
    “Excuse me, are you getting out?” Daniel asked him. Blank
stare, ashen face. He sighed, “another one, damn. Right, I’m taking the
stairs,” he said, talking to himself once again. Be damned if I’m ending up
trapped in a confined space with this guy, Daniel thought to himself.
    The stairs were to the right of the lift column, so he began
trudging up the six flights to his floor. En route, Daniel called Janet on his
mobile phone. She picked up on the fourth ring, by which time he was getting
anxious.
    “Hello?” her voice came over the earpiece, much to his
relief.
    “Hi, love. I’m sure glad to hear your voice.”
    “Are you alright?” she asked, concern edging into her tone.
    “I’m okay. It’s everyone else I’m worried about. Something’s
wrong.”
    “What? Listen, I’m just about to go around to the library. I
won’t be long. Was your train journey okay for a first day?” She wasn’t
listening, or couldn’t hear what he said. Bloody mobile phones, he thought,
such a high expectation of cellular technology, and as always, so little
delivered.
    “Listen to me, something’s wrong today. There’s …” The phone
line crackled in his ear.
    “Sorry Danny, I can’t hear you. The signal is crap. Look, I
won’t be long, an hour at most. I’ll take my mobile in case you need to get in
touch. Love you.” The line went dead.
    “Fuck,” he said, trying to redial. An engaged signal greeted
him. “Shit.”
    He ran the last three flights, and came to the entrance
door. It was slightly ajar. It should have been locked, accessed only by key
card. Feeling rather more nervous than could be explained, he gingerly pushed
at the door, opening it just enough to get into the reception area.
    “Hey, Danny. Welcome!” Daniel jumped at the voice coming
from behind him. It was Rob, his American associate, and friend.
    “Jeez, you nearly gave me a heart attack!” Daniel replied,
gasping as he fell against the reception desk.
    “What’s up?” Rob was always an upbeat, relaxed kind of guy,
perhaps a little too much waist-height padding, but typical for most IT systems
workers. He compensated for all that time in front of a computer screen by
using the gym every day, and was surprisingly fit in spite of his daytime
immobility. He had a small beard, and his hair was thinning on top. Daniel
liked to rib him about it, professing that his hair had slipped down his face.
This was never said within hitting distance, though; Rob was quite a bit
bigger.
    “There’s some weird stuff going on out there. I can’t
explain it.”
    “I wouldn’t know. I’ve been here for a couple of days and
last night, sorting out the servers, ready for business.”
    “You didn’t do anything for New Year’s? Bloody hell, that’s
dedication.” Rob just smiled, calculating the overtime he’d made while his
friend was getting pissed, along with ninety nine per cent of the world.
    “Maybe you did the right thing, in the end,” Daniel acceded,
“whatever’s going on out there, it’s giving me the creeps. Have you seen the
receptionist downstairs?”
    “No. When I got here the desk was