“What’s up?” Danny asked him.
Joey examined his buddy. He looked like hell. His eyes were swollen and red. His nose was dripping snot. Even his lips seemed sore.
Great, what the hell has he passed onto me?
“You don’t look good, man.”
Joey laughed. “I’m sound, mate. I’ve done so much coke tonight that I could shake off a stab wound like it was a mosquito bite.”
“Well, you passed whatever you have to me, you dirty little shit. I can’t be doing with feeling rough, man.”
Danny leant forward on his stool and almost fell off it. He put his hand on Joey’s shoulder. “I have the cure, dude. Don’t you worry.” He held up a small baggie of white powder.
Joey snatched the baggie and grinned. “Don’t go thinking this means I’ve forgiven you.”
He tipped the baggie upside down and emptied the powder onto the bar. Immediately, others in the billiards room drew in closer.
Coke parasites. Flash a bit of powder and they come out of the woodwork like lice.
Joey was pleased to find that there was enough in the bag for half-a-dozen lines. Enough to share and still get a buzz on. When he accidently sneezed on the powder and reduced the amount by one line, he was pretty pissed off. The anger only lasted a moment, though, as he and five others took a hit.
All of them got more than they bargained for.
DAWN OF THE DEAD TIRED
Gaz was exhausted. The coke he’d done at Joey’s had worn off and now he felt like shit. In fact, everyone at the party was generally feeling like shit. When he’d finally left, people had been puking all over the place or lying on the floor with a bad case of the sniffles.
Gaz had a headache and a sharp pain in his chest. His vision was also a little blurry. The thing he wanted now more than anything else in the world was his bed. But getting there might not be so easy.
At the back door to his house, Gaz checked the time on his phone: 06:00. The sun was just rising. He used his key to unlock the door and gently clasped the handle to go inside. When he stepped through into the kitchen, his mother was there waiting for him.
“Where the hell have you been?” she demanded.
He rolled his eyes and let the door close behind him. “At a friend’s.”
“All night long? Doing what?”
“Nothing. Just watching movies.”
She stood in front of him and stared into his eyes. “You’ve been doing drugs, haven’t you?”
“Mom, just give it a rest. What’s your problem?”
“My problem,” her voice began to break into sobs, “is that my fifteen year old son is out all night doing God knows what. I can’t cope with you anymore. You’re going to have to go live with your dad.”
Gaz went to the fridge and pulled out a pint of milk. “I’d rather live on the street.”
“Then do that, then. You can’t stay here if you’re not going to do what I tell you.”
Gaz swigged the milk and enjoyed the way it felt against his sore throat. It did nothing for his aching stomach, though.
“Look, mom, I-”
“I don’t want to hear it,” she said, covering her mouth and starting to cry. “Just go to bed.”
Gaz nodded. He was too tired to argue with her. She never gave up with the nagging.
Annoying cow.
Gaz left his mother crying in the kitchen and headed upstairs. He took the milk with him. If he didn’t get at least twelve hours sleep then he was going to be absolutely lagging. The only way to get through the down effects of coke and booze was to sleep through them and that was exactly what he intended to do.
He stomped up the stairs feeling heavier and heavier as he ascended. For a moment, he wondered if he could even make it to the top. He had to heave and push himself just to keep his knees working.
The light on the landing was switched on and the first door on the left was ajar; a black rectangle of shadow between the door and the frame. A small white face peered out at Gaz.
“Jordan, what are you doing up?”
Gaz’s little brother had a sleepy glaze over his eyes but seemed happy to see him. “Where have you been?”
“Not you, too,” Gaz said. “Why is everybody so interested in my life?”
“Sorry.”
Gaz gave his brother a pat on the head. “I’ve just been at Joey’s. I’m going to bed now. You should get another couple hours as well or you’ll be tired at school.”
Jordan nodded his head dreamily. “Okay.”
Gaz patted his little brother on the head again and headed to his own room. Before he got there, Jordan called out to him.
“Hey, can I have the rest of that milk, Gaz? I’m thirsty.”
Gaz turned around. He took one short swig and then handed the rest of the milk over. “Sure thing, bro. Drink it and then go back to bed. Have a good day at school.”
“I will,” said Jordan, swigging from the milk and gasping. “See you later.”
But he never would see his brother again.
THE CIRCLE OF DEATH
Jordan wanted to go home. He felt sick in his tummy and his eyes were itchy. He wanted to lie on the sofa with mommy and watch cartoons, but the teacher wouldn’t believe him when he said he was sick. It was because he was always fibbing and trying to go home. He hated school and missed his mommy. Today, though, he wasn’t lying. He really was poorly.
It was the last break of the day and there was only English class to sit through before he could go home. He didn’t mind English – it was much better than Math. Maybe, if he wasn’t feeling better later, mommy would let him have tomorrow off.
His friend, James, was nearby, playing games on his mobile phone. James’s dad worked in a phone shop so James always had the latest ones that were out.
“Can I have a go, please?” he asked.
James smiled and handed the phone right over. James was a good friend.
“You still feeling poorly?”
Jordan tapped at the touchscreen and nodded. “Yeah. I want to go home, but the teacher won’t let me.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Jordan started a puzzle game with fruits. The flashing colours hurt his eyes slightly but he didn’t mind. He wanted to play.
“What lesson do you have next?” James asked.
Jordan didn’t reply. He was too engrossed with the flashing fruit. Usually he found games like this boring, but somehow the movement held him captive. His hearing went dull.
“Hey, Jordan, did you hear me?”
Jordan was busy. He moved the fruit about, matching colours and winning points. Time seemed to slip away as a headache took over the small spaces inside his skull.
The movement. I like the movement. I like things that move.
When the lesson bell sounded, Jordan didn’t hear it. Neither did he hear James ask for his phone back. When the other boy snatched at the phone, to take back what was his, Jordan was surprised by the rage that filled him. He leapt at James and managed to catch his finger between his teeth. James pulled his hand back and immediately started crying.
I’ll kill you…
What…what am I doing?
Jordan put his hand out in desperation as his friend ran off to tell the teacher. He didn’t know what had happened. He had just felt so…mad. Something inside of him had made him bite his friend and now that it had happened he felt dizzy. His headache had suddenly gone, leaving behind an all over numbness. His vision had gone a funny colour, too, and it was hard to catch a breath. Most of all, though, Jordan just felt scared.
He curled up on the floor and started to cry. He didn’t know what was happening to him as he waited for the teacher to come and tell him off for biting James. He just wanted his mommy to make it all better.
But she never would.
CLOSURE
Treadwell examined the bank of television monitors displaying news feeds from all four corners of the Earth. The explosion of the Spirit of Kirkpatrick in t
he middle of the Mediterranean Sea was an unforeseen complication. The spread of the nano-virus throughout mainland Europe had been vastly hindered by the ship’s failure to reach land – but the Easter-Virus had managed to get out anyway. Its eventual spread would be unstoppable. The ominous news reports flashing on the television screens made this clear.
It will be unstoppable.
Most of the news station were reporting early occurrences of the virus, but they were yet to understand the full ramifications of what it could do. They had no idea what the Easter-Virus was designed for – what it was engineered for. The self-replicating nano-delivery system was working perfectly, making sure that every single victim got a massive and immediate dose. Symptoms would occur in less than one hour in most cases. Full presentation of symptoms would take up to a full twenty-four hours, though. That was when the virus would become truly unstoppable. That was when patients would start to actively hunt down anyone healthy and deliberately infect them. The virus would become less infectious in itself at that stage, but its carriers would become far, far more deadly. Even killing them would not stop them – the nano-virus was programmed to maintain a clumsy, yet effective control over the carrier’s motor functions even after death.
It is a true marvel. Man’s greatest inventions.
Treadwell smiled and rubbed at the coarse black stubble on his chin. The death toll had not even started yet, but once it did it would rise and rise until the world population dwindled. Then New Dynasty could begin its real work. Rebuilding the world as a utopia. A world without famine, war, greed, and laziness. It would be a productive world full of marvels, instead of the corporate mess the current one was. Gluttonous companies like Black Remedy, TBD PharmaTech, and Christoil would have no place in the new world. Their death grip on the international economy and its Governments was about to come to an end. New Dynasty were poised to take over.
But before that could happen there would be a period of slumber. Beneath the Earth, the members of New Dynasty would lie in wait while the virus did its work above. Soon every nation on Earth would be cleansed, while the future leaders of the new world lay safely in bunkers that had been three decades in the making.
In less than one year the world’s population would total just ninety thousand – and all of those people would eventually rise from their bunkers like phoenix from the ashes. Treadwell felt honoured to be amongst that small number.
His legacy of software engineering, along with his unrivalled fortune and his willingness to share it with the needy, had bought him a place in the Scottish bunker, buried deep beneath the Highlands. He commanded the five thousand personnel that would go on to represent the British Republic. When the virus was confirmed in America, Africa, and Asia, members of the Dynasty in those countries would also go into hiding. In just the last ten minutes, Treadwell had received word that their American payload had been released in Texas inside a convention centre. Soon the greatest nation on Earth would begin to fall. Soon, everywhere else would fall, too. New nations would rise, led by the Dynastic Council.
A true democracy.
Treadwell watched the television screens for another twenty minutes before getting up. There was a lot of work to be done, lots of preparations to be made. He had a part to play in the greatest event in human history. Mankind was about to enter a new dynasty.
The old one was about to die.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Author’s Note
Ripley Heights was based on the Heights of Abraham and Gulliver’s Kingdom in Matlock Bath, Derbyshire, UK, a place I used to love as a kid. To my knowledge the park is still there, so if you’re ever in the area give it a visit. I promise there’s no zombies.
http://www.gulliversfun.co.uk/matlock-bath
PLEA FROM THE AUTHOR
Hey, Reader. So you got to the end of my book. I hope that means that you enjoyed it. Whether or not you did, I would just like to thank you for giving me your valuable time to try and entertain you. I am truly blessed to have such a fulfilling job, but I only have that job because of people like you; people kind enough to give my books a chance and spend their hard-earned money buying them. For that I am eternally grateful, my friend.
If you would like to find out more about my other books then please visit my website for full details. You can find it at: www.iainrobwright.com. Also feel free to contact me on Facebook, Twitter, or email (all details on the website) as I would love to hear from you.
If you enjoyed this book and would like to help, then you could think about leaving a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or anywhere else that readers visit. The most important part of how well a book sells is how many positive reviews it has, so if you leave me one then you are directly helping me to continue on this journey as a fulltime writer. Thank you in advance to anyone who does.
Buy more Books by Iain Rob Wright
THE FINAL WINTER: UK US
Apocalyptic horror novel where it never stops snowing and something ancient stalks the earth.
ASBO: UK US
Innocent family man is targeted by a gang of sadistic youths
ANIMAL KINGDOM: UK US
Animals turn on mankind and try to wipe make humanity extinct
SEA SICK: UK US
A virus escapes aboard a luxury cruise liner
SAM: UK US
A young boy seems to be possessed. But is he?
About The Author
Published author, Iain Rob Wright, was born in 1984 and lives in Redditch, a small town in the West Midlands, UK, with his loopy cocker spaniel, Oscar, his fat old cat, Jess, his many tropical fish, and the love of his life, Sally. Writing is the passion that fills his life during the small periods of time when he isn't cleaning up after his pets.
He is the author of several novels, including the critically acclaimed, The Final Winter, and the deeply disturbing thriller, ASBO.
Check out his official website for freebies, news, and updates at:
http://www.iainrobwright.com
Copyright
***AN SG HORROR RELEASE***
Part of the SALGAD PUBLISHING GROUP
Redditch
UK, Worcestershire
www.SALGADPUBLISHING.com
ISBN-10: 149031119X
ISBN-13: 978-1490311197
RAVAGE copyright 2013 by Iain Rob Wright
www.IAINROBWRIGHT.com
Cover Art Copyright 2013 Stephen Bryant
www.SRBPRODUCTIONS.net
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the consent of the publisher, except where permitted by law.
Contents
Book Summary
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Epilogue
PATH OF INFECTION (Short Stories)
SEA SICK
DOCTORS AND NURSES
FAMILY MAN
WET WORK
LONG ARMS
WHISTLE-STOP
BEANS
PARASITES
DAWN OF THE DEAD TIRED
THE CIRCLE OF DEATH
CLOSURE
PLEA FROM THE AUTHOR
Buy more Books by Iain Rob Wright
About The Author
Copyright
Ravage: An Apocalyptic Horror Novel Page 38