Read Dead Outside (Book 1) for Free Online

about a hundred times,” I defended myself as I opened the
door. “It won’t happen again. Remind me again why you don’t have to go?”
    “Because,
I have these stupid nursing classes this summer,” she grimaced. “Believe me, if
I had the choice I’d be up there cleaning the cabin.”
    “Yeah
I don’t know who you’re trying to fool,” I laughed. “If by stupid nursing
classes, you mean resting around the house and laughing at my misfortune while
doing one homework assignment you could be doing online at the cabin.”
    “You
know there’s no cell service or internet at that cabin,” she countered.
“Besides, I’d just be dusting like I always do anyhow.”
    “Yeah
but now I’m going to have to dust,” I sighed.
    “Well,
have fun,” she winked. “Tell Mom and Dad I said hi!” she said as she pulled
away.
    I
waved to her and strolled into the familiar Orlando International Airport. My father had worked for the airlines for going on thirty years now and was nearing
retirement, so I’ve been flying as far back as I can remember.
    I
waited in the long line to the ticket counter. Luckily I’m a pretty patient
person, so I didn’t really mind long lines. I usually just let my thoughts
drift randomly, although I couldn’t help but notice that several people around
me were discussing some kind of disease outbreak in Asia.
    “Yeah
apparently it makes you lose your mind and just start attacking people,” the
woman behind me said to another woman next to her.
    “I
think it’s a form of Rabies,” the other woman replied. “That’s spread by bites
too right?”
    A
teenager who couldn’t be older then fifteen or sixteen, about four or five
people in front of me in line, turned around and said, “I heard that those
people didn’t lose their minds, they die and come back to life!”
    I
chuckled slightly, and so did a few other people who heard him. The boy’s
father shook his head and said, “Now what kind of sense does that make? Dead
things can’t do anything but be dead.”
    The
discussion between the women continued until I finally reached the ticket
counter and got my boarding pass.
    The
line through security was even longer because of it being the beginning of
summer. People love to come see that mouse. Several people were discussing the
disease and riots in Asia. After a while I just started drowning out all of it.
They just kept repeating the same things over and over anyhow. The only other
conversations going on were how this was one of the hottest summers on record.
I knew how that felt, living in Florida, but I stayed in air conditioning as
often as possible, otherwise I'd lose my mind.
    It
took me about half an hour before I finally got to the end of the line in
security. I had already taken off my shoes so that I could just place them on
the tray, and emptied my pockets into another.
    I
went through the metal detector without incident, then put my things back in my
pockets, grabbed my bag and walked toward the terminal where my plane was
waiting. Along the way more people were talking about crazed riots, diseases, the
ridiculous heat wave and now something about a soccer game.
    I
reached my gate and checked my phone for the time, it was 6:45. My flight
wasn’t for another half hour so I found a seat near a window and sat down. I looked
out at the night sky and all the lights on the runways, planes, and vehicles.
    I
was just about to drift off to sleep when they announced for my plane to be
boarded. “Flight 646 to Cleveland now boarding.”
    I
stood up, pulled my boarding pass out of my pocket and grabbed my suitcase. It
must be a relatively empty flight I figured, since there were few people
sitting around me. I walked up to the lady scanning the passes.
    “Have
a great Flight,” she said with a smile.
    “Thanks,”
I said returning the smile. “I’ll try not to sleep through the whole thing.”
    While
walking down the tunnel connecting the gate to the plane I stuffed my