Read This Would Be Paradise (Book 1) for Free Online Page A

apologetically.
    “What do you have in there?” he asked, eyeing the suitcase warily.
    “Oh you know, everything.”
    “I’m Darren, by the way,” he flashed his white teeth as he smiled; scrunching his nose, making sure that it was not seriously injured. At least I hadn’t made it bleed.
    “Bailey, and this is Zoe,” I said pointing my thumb at her.
    She wiggled her way over, the prospect of a good looking guy too much to pass up.
    “Bailey, that’s a nice name,” Darren said, pulling a line from every pick-up line ever.
    “Well, my mom’s a raging alcoholic so…” I struggled to keep myself from laughing at the look of shock that over took his face and ruining the joke.
    “You’re kidding right?”
    “Don’t mind her, she’s always like that,” Zoe barged in, saving the poor guy. He laughed a little in relief.
    “Which shelter are you guys heading to?”
    “The high school,” Zoe answered.
    “Me too,” Darren said. “Seems like a better choice than the Superdome.”
    “So, you here for Mardi Gras, too?” I asked.
    “Yes I am, not that there will be any more partying going on.”
    “By yourself?” I prodded.
    His face faltered a little bit. “No, I got separated from my group last night and haven’t been able to meet up with them.” His reply sounded off to me somehow.
    “They probably headed to one of the emergency shelters too,” Zoe beamed at him, as I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
    Here we were in the middle of some viral outbreak, and Zoe was flirting up a storm. Well, at least she was good at it. The more we talked to Darren, the more I faltered in between believing him and feeling that something was off with him. I suppose I could have just as easily been separated from Zoe at the hospital, so maybe his tale of losing his friends was the truth.
    “So zombies, huh?” Darren offered when our conversation hit a lull.
    “That sounds so ridiculous,” I sighed.
    “How else can you explain it?” Darren countered.
    “Maybe mad cow disease has made a comeback and this time got passed on to humans?” I mused.
    “Maybe, but I saw a girl bite and chew on another yesterday. You saying mad cow turns people into cannibals?” Darren asked.
    “Hey, I never said I was a scientist,” I put my hands in the air in mock surrender. “It’s just that the word zombie seems absurd.”
    “They’re only zombies if they’re dead,” Zoe pointed out. “Are the sick people dead?” None of us had an answer to that.
    I thought back to when the doctor and woman bled out in the hospital then started to move around again once I thought they were dead. So far, it seemed George Romero had it right, except for the movies that came after Dawn of the Dead ; now those were just terrible.
    The bus came to a halt outside the school. It was surrounded by police cars and emergency response teams, like a medieval army defending a castle. As we filed out of the bus we were directed into the building by people in generic reflective vests. I felt Zoe grab onto the back of my shirt so that we didn’t get separated and Darren followed close behind.
    “How many?” a man at the entrance asked holding up his clipboard.
    “Two,” I answered.
    “Make that three,” Zoe corrected.
    Great, another stray .
    “Anyone in your party sick?” he asked with a serious, no-nonsense face.
    “Nope,” I answered calmly even though I was sweating on the inside. What if they found out I was scratched? Would I even get a chance to explain that I didn’t catch the sickness?
    “Go on through the main doors,” the man said ticking off something on his clipboard. 
    I followed the parade of people in front of me leading to the main doors. Before we got through, we heard a bunch of shouting back at the man with the clipboard.
    “What do you mean he can’t come in?” a hysteric woman was yelling, motioning to her son.
    Standing beside her, the small boy must have been no more than ten years old. His face was ashen and