Zombie Castle (Book 1) Read Free

holidays, had planned to drain the land and turn it into the resort golf course. He had paid enough bribes to the local government bureaucrats to combat any environmental concerns about the destruction of such an important natural habitat.
    Vladimir sat in the sun and enjoyed his cigarette, oblivious to the virus coursing through his veins, and contemplated his future as a millionaire.
    As the sun began to set, he never felt the bite on his neck as a mosquito from the marshes landed gently and fed on his blood.
    There’s no way of telling what virus the mosquito was carrying. It’s highly likely that during the testing period Lawrence would have identified the fault with his creation, put a few more months of intensive work in and redesigned his virus-killer to rectify the problem.
    Instead, the unknown virus entered the scientist’s bloodstream and encountered the genetically engineered rhinovirus. The rhinovirus attached itself to the invading virus, but instead of neutralising it, it altered itself. The new mutated virus was never given a name. In the few weeks it took for it to wreak devastation on the human race, the few survivors had more important things to worry about.
    After another hour’s work, the scientists finished up and went to the hotel in the nearby village where they would be staying until the contract was completed. They ate their evening meal together, and after a few drinks in the bar they all retired for the evening.
    Vladimir was too excited to sleep. He lay on his bed, his mind racing. He was a millionaire, with more money than he’d ever dreamed of. By nature a selfish man, any thoughts about the others and his obligation to complete the work went out of the window.
    Why was he wasting his time in this backwater of a town, when he could be living the life he deserved with a pretty girl on his arm? His mind made up, he reached for his tablet computer and checked the flights from the local airport. There was a flight to Moscow first thing in the morning and from Moscow, within hours, he would be in one of the major transport hubs of Europe. By the following day he could be anywhere in the world.
    Twenty minutes later, the flight to Moscow was booked. In Moscow he would have a two hour wait for his flight to Heathrow. He hadn’t thought any further than that, but figured it would be simple enough to book a hotel for a day or two and plan the rest of his life. He was looking forward to taking things easy from now on.
    Quickly, he packed his belongings, threw his bag on to the backseat of his car and drove off to catch his flight. As he drove along he suddenly sneezed. He grinned to himself, thinking: Well at least I won’t be coming down with a cold. That’d really put a dampener on things! Must be the dust.
    Inside him the virus was behaving very strangely. It wasn’t spreading rapidly around his body. Each time it reproduced, it mutated slightly, but it was only reproducing enough to enable it to survive, not to affect its host too much. Like some predatory creature, it was biding its time.

CHAPTER FIVE
    It was only after breakfast the next morning that Vladimir’s colleagues discovered he was gone. Thinking that he’d overslept, they knocked on his door, entered his room and found it empty. Back in the hotel reception the night porter overheard them talking about him and confirmed that he had seen him drive off in his car hours ago.
    Their first thoughts were that some family emergency might have called him away, leaving him no time to inform the rest of them. But it wasn’t long before their suspicions were aroused. They were all aware of his new found wealth and most of them resented the fact that he had thought of volunteering first.
    Following a hastily convened meeting, the scientists decided to err on the side of caution and wait to see if Vladimir contacted them. They had no wish to antagonise their employer, so they agreed to wait at least twenty four hours before taking any