Read This Rotten World (Book 1) for Free Online

nice to you? Huh? Save us all some
trouble here, pal."
    Mort walked
over to the back of the police car as Weasel opened the door. Dirty Kurt was
still struggling in the back seat, and he showed no sign of tiring. Mort
plopped down in the back as Weasel slammed the door behind him.
    As the two
police officers got in the car, he studied the bites on their necks, shallow
but bloody. All he wanted to do was get booked and get a good night's sleep.
Mort looked at Dirty Kurt and silently hoped that they didn't have to share a
cell together.

Chapter 9: Dustin and Bill
     
    Dustin hung
up the phone. The police were on the way. He thought about calling the owner of
the bar, an abusive Chinese man who treated his employees like shit, but then
figured against it. It didn't really matter to Dustin; tonight was definitely
his last night slingin' suds behind the bar of The Sleazy Goat.
    He looked
at the puddle of blood surrounding the old man on the floor. What a shame. He
had seen the man in here plenty of times, drinking until close, but he had
never quite remembered the man's name because he had always paid with cash. Oh
well, it wasn't his problem anymore. He just wanted the police to show up and
take his statement so he could get the hell out of there.
    After
stepping over the dead young man on the floor, Dustin hopped over the counter,
his beat up, old Chuck Taylor's squeaking on the lacquered wood of the bar. He
grabbed a pint glass and poured himself a beer, which was at least half foam.
As he turned around, Dustin noticed two things... Teach was missing and the old
man was sitting at the bar looking at him. The old man's gray windbreaker was
soaked in blood and his eyes were vapid. A thin streamer of bloody drool
dripped from his mouth and slowly made contact with the bar, where it began to
coil like a snake.
    Dustin's stomach
flipped at the site. "Hey, are you alright?" The old man just looked
straight ahead, his head bobbing side to side like a cobra being charmed by a
snake charmer. Dustin followed the old man's eyes to see what he was staring
at. Apparently, he was being mesmerized by his own image in the mirror behind
the bar. Dustin raised his glass to his lips, and drained the entire beer,
though it stung his throat to do so.
    When he
belched, everything changed. The old man's gaze shifted from the mirror behind
the bar to Dustin's face. A primal scream erupted from his bloody maw. Dustin,
startled by the unexpected yell dropped the pint glass. The old man began
climbing over the bar, leaving one of his dusty old tennis shoes behind in the
process.
    "Easy,
man. I already called the cops. They're on their way."
    The old man
didn't appear to hear him, or if he did, he didn't care. Dustin backed into the
bar of the office and slammed the door shut. He turned the lock on the door,
and flinched as the door shook on its hinges. He yelled over the thudding,
"The cops are on the way!"
    It made no
difference. The old man kept pounding on the door. Then suddenly it came to
him... Bill, that was his name.

Chapter 10: Code Red and Endcaps
     
    Rudy hiked
across the street. In the still of the night, he could hear sirens. The
buildings around him made it hard to tell exactly where the sirens were coming
from, and as a police car swerved around the corner, he nearly had to jump out
of the way to avoid being run over. If it had been anyone else, he would have
shot them the bird and tried to find some sort of rock to throw.
    But it was
a cop, so he just swore under his breath, and continued walking down the
street. The rain-slick pavement reflected the orange streetlights. The chill of
the night was finally present, and he was glad that the mugginess of the day
was finally gone.
    As he
approached the convenience store, a mom and pop store run by a family of Asians
who apparently never needed to sleep, he saw a man stumbling down the road in
the distance. The man was dressed in a puffy green jacket with an orange lining
that could be seen