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    VIRO: Book Three
    VIRO: Book Three
    VIRO: Book Three
    Ebook164 pages1 hour

    VIRO: Book Three

    By Barnaby Taylor

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    About this ebook

    A virus has destroyed the world.
    Families are torn apart.
    Will Jake find his missing mum?
    Or will he just become another VIRO?

    REVIEWS FOR THE VIRO SERIES
    'Powerful and poignant, VIRO packs a punch.'
    'Sad and haunting, VIRO is a new take on the zombie genre.'
    'Absolutely thrilling. I loved every page more than the previous, to the point that I couldn't stop reading.'
    'Highly recommend this series to anyone who enjoys zombie stories.'
    'I was left on the edge of my seat when I finished the book with a thirst for more adventure!'

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBarnaby Taylor
    Release dateOct 13, 2018
    ISBN9781999633257
    VIRO: Book Three
    Author

    Barnaby Taylor

    Inspired by his passion for films and video games, Barnaby Taylor loves writing dystopian science fiction and horror. He has recently written the VIRO series about a gang of teenagers struggling to survive in a world overrun by the infected. There are currently four books in the series. VIRO is rapidly infecting the Amazon charts and gaining rave reviews along the way. Here's one of the latest reviews:'The writing style is beautifully compelling, and after the first couple of pages I couldn't put it down. The author very skilfully creates a world and characters through deceptively simple prose that draws the reader right in. It is a fascinating blend of one-after-the-other edge-of-the seat scares, alongside a haunting narrative about what it is to be human.'

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      Book preview

      VIRO - Barnaby Taylor

      VIRO

      BOOK THREE

      VIRO

      BOOK THREE

      Barnaby Taylor

      For Iris, as per usual and always …

      Copyright  Barnaby Taylor 2018

      All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

      ISBN 978-1-9996332-5-7 (Ebook)

      First Edition

      10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

      Barnaby Taylor

      www.falconboy.ie

      Sweetheart

      ‘There you are,’ Mum said. ‘I’ve been waiting for you to get here. The soldiers told me that they’d found you. I knew you’d come back to me.’

      I breathed her close. She filled me. Her arms made me safe. I knew nothing else.

      ‘Mum. I …’

      ‘Sssh! I know, Sweetheart. I know.’

      I held her forever. The more I did the betterer I got. All the pain and terror was going. The evil heartbreak. The loneliness. The horror. The frightenings. All terrible things. The dead with empty eyes. The broken body bits. The blood and mess. Running and hiding. Fighting. Seeing people getting hurt. Getting killed. Being bitten.

      The viros.

      None of that mattered now.

      Mum brushed my hair behind my ears. I liked that. Her lovely hands held my face. All softly. I could smell her. It was like always. My belly filled with warmth. The scared boy was going. I was turning back to me again.

      ‘Let me look at you, my darling.’

      Mum hugged me more.

      ‘I thought I’d lost you forever.’

      I nuzzled.

      ‘Me too. I thought you were dead.’

      ‘I’m not, am I? I’m very much alive, my darling. And so are you. I knew you’d be alright. You’re a fighter, Jake. You’re strong and fearless and kind and capable.’

      Mum’s love flooded me. I overfilled. The radio noise in my head went quiet. The jokes about my face. When people said I wasn’t able. Every tear that Mum cried when she thought I wasn’t looking. The million horrible things didn’t matter now. I could see past them.

      I could hear my thinking easily.

      I washed in the moment.

      The goodness warmed me.

      I opened my eyes.

      I closed them again.

      I opened them.

      I started to cry.

      I was in a bed.

      The narrow room was metal. It smelled rusty. Someone was sleeping on a picnic chair.

      ‘Mum,’ I said. ‘Where am I?’

      ‘It’s me,’ said Ellis. ‘Ellis.’

      ‘Where’s Mum? She was here with me just now.’

      ‘I don’t know. I’ve been here for the last day and night and I haven’t seen anyone else.’

      ‘But …’

      I realized.

      ‘She was so real,’ I said later.

      I had stopped crying.

      ‘So real.’

      Ellis held my hand. She squeezed it tight.

      ‘I know it was, Jake. I heard you talking in your sleep. You sounded so happy.’

      ‘I was but I never will be again.’

      Ellis squeezed my hand.

      ‘Well find her, Jake. I promise we’ll find her.’

      Ellis went quiet. She knew the truth. A promise like this is too heavy to hold. It cannot be carried by anybody. I looked at Ellis.

      ‘Please don’t make that promise. No one is strong enough for that.’

      ‘I only meant …’

      ‘I know, Ellis.’

      We stopped talking. It was alright. I felt we were close. There was no bad between us. Ellis cared. She tried to be kind. It was working. She was.

      Talking

      We were all talking in my metal bedroom. Everyone was here. Baxter licked my hand. Vinnie and Amber hugged me. Abe nodded.

      ‘When the mortar exploded,’ said Vinnie, ‘we all thought you were dead but one of the soldiers grabbed you anyway and we ran for the trucks.’

      ‘It took ages for the soldiers to wipe out the viros,’ said Amber. ‘The Tall Man’s men got caught up in the battle. None of them survived.’

      ‘The roads back to the army base were full of viros,’ said Vinnie. ‘There were two tanks in front of us and they had to force a path through the swarm for the trucks to follow.’

      ‘It was awful,’ said Ellis. ‘You had the best idea, Jake, by passing out. You slept through all of it.’

      ‘I heard shouting,’ I said. ‘I thought I was flying.’

      ‘When we got here, the soldiers took us straight to the front of the queue and dropped us off here.’

      ‘What is here?’

      ‘The soldiers call this place Wait-and-See City,’ said Vinnie. ‘They dump any survivors they find here and wait and see what happens to them.’

      ‘That sounds bad.’

      Amber nodded.

      ‘I guess but you should see the queues. Lines and lines of people all waiting to be let in. Refugees from all over the country. It is better in here than out there.’

      ‘Someone told me that it used to be a town but the army took it over and turned it into a massive refugee camp,’ said Vinnie. ‘Apparently, there are even mine fields along the perimeter to help keep us safe.’

      ‘This place is just one big concentration camp,’ said Abe. ‘A giant prison ringed with concrete blocks and hundreds of these containers stacked up on top of each other.’

      ‘I’m amazed that the army were able to get this place ready so quickly,’ said Vinnie. ‘Unless …’

      He paused.

      ‘Unless what?’ said Ellis.

      ‘Unless they knew way before everyone else that this was going to happen,’ said Amber. ‘That soldier in the ornamental gardens told us that they had all been mobilized a week before the outbreak but what if it had been longer?’

      ‘How could they know?’ I said.

      ‘Easy,’ said Abe. ‘I bet they knew all along but also knew that if they told anyone then everyone would panic and the world would fall apart.’

      ‘But it has anyway,’ I said.

      ‘It has,’ said Vinnie, looking at Abe. ‘But at least they were ready for it when it did happen.’

      ‘That’s bad,’ I said.

      I cried. My tears were angry.

      ‘If they had told us earlier then Mum wouldn’t have gone to work. She would have stayed with me. I wouldn’t be wandering the streets looking for her. We wouldn’t all be lost and lonely.’

      ‘You’re right, Jake,’ said Amber. ‘It’s awful but it was going to happen anyway and could they really have told everyone?’

      ‘The radio said no one knew,’ I said. ‘Were they lying?’

      ‘Some people probably were,’ said Vinnie, ‘but other people definitely didn’t know.’

      Abe snorted.

      ‘Since when has anyone ever believed anything they tell us on the radio. All these politicians and presidents lie all the time. The only difference this time is that once they had told this lie there was nothing left for them to ever lie about again.’

      Sea

      A big grey beach. The sky and sea are the same colour. I have my pyjamas on. I am barefoot.

      Mum’s in the water. She is washing her hands. I walk out to her. It is freezing.

      ‘What are you doing, Mum?’

      Mum turns around. Her face is rotten. It’s all ripped. Blood all over it. She smiles. Her teeth are broken.

      ‘Nothing, darling. I’m just washing my hands.’

      ‘Why?’

      ‘The blood won’t go away, darling.’

      ‘Can I help?’

      ‘No. No one can.’

      ‘Let me. Please let me.’

      ‘I can’t ask you to help me wash the blood of other people off of my hands. No mother could ask that of her child.’

      ‘I want to. I only have you.’

      Mum stops washing her hands.

      ‘You’re too late, darling. I’ve got a new family now. They’re keeping me very busy.’

      Mum has empty eyes. They look at me.

      ‘I need you to know I waited, Jake. I waited as long as I could, but they kept looking for me and even though I tried to hide I just couldn’t stay hidden long enough for you to find me before they did.’

      My heart breaks like a useless toy.

      ‘But Mum, I need you, not them. They’ve got plenty of people already. I haven’t got anyone.’

      Mum hugs me. She stinks.

      ‘Come with me, darling, Come and join my new family.’

      ‘But how? How do I do that?’

      ‘Easy. Just let me bite you.’

      ‘Will it hurt?’

      ‘Terribly. The pain is terrible.’

      ‘So why should I?’

      ‘Because like all pain, it will pass and once it does then you and I can be together forever.’

      Mum holds me tight.

      ‘Think of it, Jake. No more pain, no more upset. No more name-calling and feeling like you are different to everyone else.’

      Mum’s broken lips kiss my neck.

      ‘A single bite and everything will be back to how it always was; you and me against the world.’

      Stronger

      It was more days before I felt stronger. Ellis sat with me all the time. We didn’t always speak. I didn’t mind. My brain was too full. My dreams about Mum were so real. I thought she was living in my head. Was she trying

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