Read Apocalypse Empire (Book 1): Apocalypse Origins for Free Online

of the torso. The sound of retching
behind him told James that some of his fellow officers hadn't been able to hold
their food down.
    "What is this?" one officer asked.
    "It's crazy is what it is," another answered.
"I didn't sign up for something like this."
    James looked at that officer and he stopped talking.
"None of us signed up for this. But there still might be some survivors
and we're their only hope of getting out here."
    The officer hung his head. "I know that. This
though...this is crazy."
    James nodded. "We'll get through it. He looked at two
officers. "You two head back out front so you can lead in anyone else that
shows up. Don't want them wasting time like we did."
    The officers in question nodded and quickly made their way
out the room. James carefully made his way into the room, trying to avoid the
blood on the floor. He found himself in the middle of the room and saw a sight
that stopped him cold. There was a body a few feet from him. Someone was
kneeled down next to it and they were pulling something from the body. James
eyes widened when he saw that the figure was pulling something out of the
stomach.
    "Freeze!" James shouted.     
                     
                     
                     
                     
                       
                     
                     
          The creature looked over its shoulder,
blood marring its mouth. It growled and stood to its feet.
    "I said freeze!" James repeated.
    With a sudden burst of movement, the creature charged
towards him only to bet me by a prong striking its chest. Thousands of volts
sent it crashing to the ground.
    "Take that you sick bastard," Jeffries said. He
detached the wire from his taser and placed it in its holster. To their
surprise, the creature started moving.
    What is this? Any normal man would still be recovering from
the shock. Was this some kind of drug thing? PCP or something? That gave users
high pain tolerance. No, that didn't make sense. The electricity
would have forced his muscles to contract. How was it moving? The creature made
it to its knees and howled. It was an animal sound, more akin to a wolf perhaps
than something a human should be able to make.
    The officer’s eyes widened as there were answering howls
sounding throughout the building. The sound of running feet reached their ears
and James looked towards the end of the room. A lot of the answering howls were
coming from that direction. There was another set of double doors there, each
of them smeared with blood.
    The creature stood back to his feet and sprang forward, arms
outstretched. A single shot rang out and the creature crumpled to the ground.
James lowered his gun hand and sighed. He didn't want to have done that, but he
didn't see any other choice. There didn't appear to be any reasoning with these...things.
They didn't seem to be human anymore.
    James looked up as the sound of running feet came closer.
"Shoot to kill," he said. James sighed at the look of horror on their
faces.
    "Look quickly," he said pointing towards the
creature he had shot. "Take a good look! Do you see anything human left? I
don't know what this illness does but these things aren't human anymore. Look
around," he said indicating the room at large.
    "Would a man do this?" He shook his head.
"Even if they are still one of us, they mean to kill us. Can we let these
things loose in the city?"
    At that, the officers’ looks of horror were slowly replaced
with one of determination. They had to protect the city. They couldn't let
these things out of the hospital. They'd go on a rampage.
    James nodded at the look of resolve on their faces.
"Get ready. They're nearly here."
    The doors at the far end of the room burst open and dozens
of those creatures charged into the room. Seeing the officers they howled and
sprinted in their direction.
    "Fire!" James yelled. Shots rang out and several
of the