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Chapter One

Blood trickled down her neck, and the thick walls echoed her shrieks as Jack snatched his daughter up She put her ar

He picked his way, holding her tightly in his arh the mass of bodies and the blood-slimed floor Everyone understood what had just taken place—she been infected by a zo boyfriend, was the only one who dared to go to her side

As soon as he got his daughter past the rasp She looked at no one Jack understood why She’d just been infected, and she was clearly terrified So was he

Jack put a hand on his daughter’s shoulder “Anna, let me see the wound”

“No!” she shrugged free of his grasp, sprinted into the bathroo their silence He heard the click of the lock Locked in darkness After all, there was no electricity

All of thereat hall of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, speechless As usual, Carla had her gun drawn Mike and Joe had their blood-soaked rubber gloves on

Jack’s dark thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Anna sobbing in the dark bathroom They all listened in silence

“Maybe we can stop the infection fro, somehow stop her from” Carla’s voice trailed off Jack didn’t blame her He couldn’t have finished the sentence either Not at the moment

“How do you propose we do that?” Jack asked His voice sounded angrier than he’d intended Then again, he had just watched a zohter “Cut off her ear?”

“Well sort of We’d have to cut off the blood flow soe, so”

Standing there now, as they waited, felt like hours had passed since battling the walking plague, the walking dead Or, as good as dead, since the infection destroyed as human in its victims Turned thehter’s attack—her surprised look as the hand of an infected grabbed her leg and pulled her down Jack watched hi to her in super slo-mo, as if from outside his body He almost reached her in tirenades

Now, Jared was at the restroo out If anyone could do it, he could They were young, and in love The events over the last ten days or so had convinced Jack of this fact After all that had happened, he was over worrying about the too close

Anna has been bitten Those words resounded loudly in Jack’s head, and his heart ached at the thought of her going through what he’d experienced

The cure, after all, was terrifying

But at least there was a cure

Jack repeated that knowledge over and over in his head

Indeed, experience had shown the group one sure-fire way to reverse the infection Still, Jack pushed the horrible cure to the back of his mind, to deal with it later

Jack’s brother, Joe, now threw his gloves aside and slid down the wall next to the office He drew his knees up and held his head in his hands His Army buddy, Mike, followed suit Carla looked up at Jack sympathetically She loved Anna, he knew But for now, she crossed the great hall and joined the guys

Jack’s body felt numb as he walked over to Jared

“Let me try to talk to Anna,” he said Only then did Jack see that the boy’s cheeks were streaked with tears He stepped aside for Jack, who knocked softly “Anna?”

Silence

“Angel? Honey, it’s Dad”