The Infected (Book 1): Jim's First Day Read Free

gotta get to Bill’s office. Talk to you later,” I head down for the stairway.
     My
thighs kill me as I walk down the steps. I threw a lot of kicks at the last
Krav Maga class. On the way down I run into Tracy, our front desk phone
operator. She is my age and distractingly pretty.
    “Did
I show you the photo?” it is going to be about her kids, kind of. I made the
mistake of becoming her Facebook friend and every goddamn post is about her
kids, kind of. I smile big at her and shake my head.
    “Nope.
Haven’t seen them,” I prepare myself for her photos. She pulls her phone from
her pocket. Her photos are always the same kind of funny thing where her kids
are in them, but the photo is her looking super sexy. Why is this sexy lady in
this child’s photo? She flashes me her phone.
    “Look
at this,” she says. Acting very innocent. It is a photo of her right out of the
shower with nothing but a towel clinging to her shapely body and an eight-year-old
making a funny face in the background.
    “Boy,
that is a cute kid.”
    “Isn’t
he? I look horrible. Don’t look at me,” she fishes for a compliment. This has
been happening more and more since she left her weirdo husband.
    “No,
you look...amazing. Better than I do straight out of the shower,” what else can
I say? She is the one that called me down to Bill’s office and I bet she planned
this whole rendezvous.
    “Thank
you. You are so sweet,” she brushes my arm with her hand. I pretend like it
didn’t happen.
    “Okay,
Bill needs me,” I turn and head down the stairs.  
    I
knock at Bill’s open door. I know what three jokes are coming. He is going to
tease me about Krav Maga. He calls it “Teal Macaw”. It is not a clever joke but
he loves it. Then he will say I am wasting my time working out. He never works
out and he has had a better life than me. Then he will tease me about my
numbers, me versus Sam. Bill sits there at his desk. He is always smiling. He
points at a bruise on my wrist.
    “Is
that from Teal Macaw?” joke number one out of the way.
    “Yeah,
I caught an elbow to the wrist in class. Hurt like hell.”
    “Why
do you waste your time with working out? It is hours a week you could be having
way more fun. I never workout and I definitely have more fun than you,” joke
two right on schedule. I look at Bill’s big belly, but I do not say anything.
Bill picks up a print out of the store’s numbers.
    “Boy,
Sam is killing you again this month. If I could make a clone of that guy I’d
get all my bonuses,” joke three, the trifecta. Now we can start our normal
conversation.
    BOOM!
My fillings shake as the ground moves under my feet. I feel intense heat from a
massive explosion outside.

Chapter 2
     
    I
almost shit my pants. Seconds after the explosion there is a loud crash. I step
from Bill’s office doorway and onto the sales floor. I drop my lunch bag. My
jaw drops too. All of the windows facing the Jiffy Lube are blown out.
Shattered glass covers all of the appliances. The front row of washers has
caught fire. An old beat up van has crashed through the wall. Its front end
rests on a knocked over stacked laundry set. The van is on fire too. Sam cowers
behind the dishwasher display. His customer bleeds out on the floor. She has a
large jagged chunk of metal sticking out of her throat. The Jiffy Lube is
engulfed in flames. I step farther out onto the floor. My eyes blink quickly
trying to process what I see. A helicopter has crash-landed on the Jiffy Lube.
    Boom!
    Something
else inside the Jiffy Lube explodes. I duck behind the dishwasher display next
to Sam. He has a slice running jagged down his cheekbones. Blood cascades down onto
his dress shirt. Sam pulls off his glasses. The lenses are scratched to hell.
If it weren’t for his astigmatism he would be blind right now. Thank God for
those nerd glasses. Boom! Another explosion rocks the building.
    “What
the fuck happened?” Sam grabs at me. He is talking louder than normal. A