Falling Apart (Barely Alive #2) Read Online Free Page B

may not have a shortened life span soon. “When do you think you can create the vaccine?”
    The solid, unyielding look she gave me defined dead-pan. “I need your saliva and James’s to compare to mine. All I need to do is isolate the genetic trait in each of our enzymes that links them and then I will know what marker to alter and kill before vaccinating the patient.” Patient, I liked that, because if we called them what they were, we might not be able to do it.

Chapter 3
     
    Yells tore me from the game of chess I played against my mom. Honestly, I didn’t regret the distraction. I’d forgotten how awesome she did at strategic games. Better than the ruler I’d learned about in history class – um, short, French I think? Whatever. Better than him.
    I followed the curses and thuds up the stairs to my floor. The sounds had called the rest of the house as well. Heather maneuvered herself around until she stood by me. Sweet.
    Grandma Jean knocked on Travis’s door. “Is everything okay? Can we help in any way?”
    The shouts stopped.
    Connie’s voice ripped through the panel. “Paul! Get the girls out of here. Travis has the virus and he’s not coherent. Hurry!”
    Not coherent. Hell. I grabbed Heather and Grandma Jean and left my mom in James’s hands. We thundered down the stairs, unsure where to go for safety, but knowing we had to get the hell out of there. Fast.
    Heather and her grandmother matched in weight, balancing me out. At the bottom of the stairs I tucked each one under my arms and carried them to the front. Grandma Jean had the presence of mind to open the door without causing too much delay. My only thought – get to the metal shed. Hopefully, the damn thing wasn’t locked.
    At the brown metal door, I slung the women to the ground and turned with my back to them, hands up and feet in a fighting stance. James thrust Mom into the huddle with the other two and joined me, creating a small but powerful shield. Over my shoulder I growled, “Get us in there, Grandma Jean. I don’t know how strong he’s going to be or how long we can keep him off you.”
    Disbelief hadn’t settled in with the imminent threat. It would.
    A crash and stomps down the stairs. Connie yelled at the top of her lungs to get through her husband’s haze. A bellow and the front door flew open.
    A squirrel scampered up the trunk of a tree – I placed him more by smell than by sight. I couldn’t afford to move my focus from the new Dr. Duncan barreling toward us across the lawn and drive. His arms swung in perfect sync with his legs.
    His eyes, although glazed, hadn’t been smoothed over by a cataract-layer. A bright red spot spread across his lower neck, down under his collar.
    As he approached, I dug my feet into the soft moss covered ground, prepared for when he launched at us. I raised my hands in front of my face. “Stop.” I didn’t yell, or scream, or even whisper, just used a tone I’d use in normal conversation.
    And hell, if he didn’t stop. Just inches from me, he froze. Confusion replaced the hunger etched in the slant of his eyes and the snarl of his lips. He lumbered until his feet rested parallel to each other on the ground. His eyes darted from me to the women and back. He licked his lips.
    If he stopped, would he jump up and down?
    And suddenly, Dr. Duncan jumped – up and down, up and down. What the hell? The man looked goofy with his untucked shirt bouncing over his trousers. He continued bouncing up and down.
    Stop, already.
    He stopped. Connie’s footsteps faltered. “What is going on? Why is he acting like that?”
    “I don’t know. First, he did what I said, and then what I thought.” I lowered my arms. If Travis decided to freak out again or not follow my directions, James had my back.
    Connie moved beside me, facing her husband. He didn’t move, just watched the women over our shoulders, as if waiting for the go ahead – which I would like to add wasn’t going to happen. Connie spoke