A hospital was the last place I wanted to be.
The sick officer sagged in the passenger seat, breathing loud and wet, sweat pouring down his face. His head rolled toward the window, then back toward me.
He turned his head in my direction and sniffed the air. “You smell…good.”
His voice was thick now, words sticking together.
This wasbad.
I didn’t take my eyes off him. Things were about to go from bad to worse, and I had to be prepared.
Inside the hospital, glass shattered.
The sick officer convulsed.
His body locked up violently, spine bowing, his head slamming back against the headrest with a dull crack. Foam gathered at the corner of his mouth.
Then he went still.
My pulse spiked as his head lifted.
The eyes that met mine weren’t confused anymore.
They were fixated on me.
He raised his head and sniffed again, like a dog with a scent.
Then turned in his seat and came at me—clumsy at first, then terrifyingly fast—hauling himself over the center console with brute strength, teeth snapping.
I gritted my teeth and lifted my legs, driving both feet into his chest.
He slammed back into the dash, snarling—no words now, not a single sign of human recognition.
Pure animal instinct.
He lunged once more.
I kicked him again in the chest, forcing him back just long enough to move. I twisted in the seat, turning my cuffed hands toward the door handle. Sweat had made my hands slippery, but after a couple of tries, I managed to open it.
The door flew open.
I pitched sideways out of the truck, shoulder hitting the pavement hard enough to tear skin and knock the breath from my lungs. Pain flared white-hot, but I rolled with it, scrambling away as the infected officer tumbled after me.
He hit the ground and came up too fast—unnatural, jerky, already reaching for me with his mouth open and empty of sound.
I didn’t try to fight him.
I got the hell out of there.
Hands still cuffed, I sprinted toward the far end of the parking lot, vaulted a low concrete barrier, and dove between two parked cars as he slammed into the side of one, denting metal with his shoulder.
I kept moving.
A metal signpost loomed ahead.
I turned, backed into it, and forced my cuffed wrists up behind me, wedging the chain tight against the edge.
Then I pulled.
