Read Mutation (Twenty-Five Percent Book 1) for Free Online

scared,” he muttered, although only Alex was close enough to hear him.  He drew in a deep breath.  “Okay, tell everyone to bring the eaters here.  We’ll put them into the cells until disposal opens again.”
    “Yes, sir.  And sir?”
    “Yes, Belinda?”
    “I can’t reach Officers Jackson and Penny.”
    Parker’s gaze flickered to the floor momentarily, before returning to her face.  “Find out who’s nearest their last known location and send them.” 
    “Yes, sir.”
    Alex watched Belinda hurry away.  The news that the Meir’s Control and Allocation Centre, colloquially known as disposal, had been running the flash rooms sent chills down his spine, even though both he and Cutter suspected they must have been.  They’d seen firsthand when they were there the volume of eaters being brought in, not just by the police, but by the fire and ambulance services too. 
    The flash rooms were built at the very beginning of the Meir’s Disease outbreak, incorporated into the newly constructed disposal centres, when more people were being infected and turning.  The ten foot square metal rooms were for large scale dispatch of eaters.  They could be loaded into the rooms en masse and massive currents of electricity were sent flooding through the space, instantly stopping the hearts of anything inside.  But they hadn’t been used for over eleven years, not since the chaotic first year of the outbreak.  At a push, more than fifty eaters could fit in at once. 
    How many were out there? 
    “Thanks,” Parker said, marking the locations of the latest eaters Alex and Cutter had taken in on the map.  “I’m sorry you’ve been going non-stop all day, but we’re barely keeping up here.”
    “I know, sir,” Alex said.  “We’re fine.”
    Parker nodded and turned back to his map. Alex knew he’d been trying to work out a pattern to the outbreak, to trace it back to its origin.   
    “Have you found out where this started?” Alex said, walking up next to him.
    “The nearest I can tell, somewhere here.”  He pointed at an area called Reaper’s Farm to the north west of the city, an affluent neighbourhood.  “Apart from a few outliers, the infection seems to be spreading from there, although I can’t work out why.  The eaters on the streets now would have been infected days ago, so even if they had all been infected in the same place, logically there shouldn’t be a pattern at all.  But there is.”
    Alex looked at the dots on the map, each one marking where an eater had been picked up.  They did indeed seem to be spreading outwards.  He couldn’t think of any explanation either.
    “If we see anything that might explain it, I’ll call it straight in,” he said.  He spotted Cutter on his way back from the toilets.  “We have to get back out there, sir.”
    “Be careful, Alex.  It’s getting worse.”
    “Aren’t I always?”
    “Do you really want me to answer that?”
    Alex grinned and jogged out to join Cutter on his way to the armoury.  He threw a longing glance at the coffee machine as they walked by the break room.  He wasn’t sure he’d gone this long without caffeine during waking hours since he was seventeen.
    “We could stop for a few minutes,” Cutter said, seeing his look.
    Alex shook his head.  Twice today they’d only just got to someone in time.  A few minutes could mean a death on his conscience. 
    “I’m fine.”  He stretched his arms energetically into the air.  “Detoxing.  It’s good for me.”
    Cutter snorted.  “Well, you look like crap, but if you say so.”
     
    . . .
     
    “Stop!”
    Cutter jammed his foot on the brake, bringing the Porsche to a screeching halt.  “What?!”  He whipped his head around, searching for the cause of Alex’s sudden outburst.
    Alex pointed through the passenger side window.  About fifty yards away, across a small grassed area between buildings, a man was lying on the ground.  Three eaters were on their knees