Frequency (The Frenzy Series Book 3)
Frequency
Copyright © 2016 by Casey L. Bond. All rights reserved.
First Edition.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any way by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise without the prior express permission of the author except as provided by USA Copyright Law. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work is illegal. Copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by fines and federal imprisonment.
This book is a work of fiction and does not represent any individual, living or dead. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible,
King James Version, Cambridge, 1769. All rights reserved.
Book cover designed by Marisa Shor of Cover Me, Darling.
Cover Model: Nathan Weller
Cover Photography by Dark Feather Photography
Professionally Edited by Stacy Sanford, Girl with the Red Pen
Paperback and E-book formatted by Allyson Gottlieb of Athena Interior Book Design and Marisa Shor of Cover Me, Darling.
Published in the United States of America.
ISBN-13:
978-1530755042
ISBN-10:
1530755042
To the hubs. <3
There are moments in a person’s life that happen at a slower speed. Time slows, and so do you. Then there are other moments that fly by so fast you’re powerless. You become overtaken by their current, only able to ride out the momentum until something stops either it or you. Most moments fit into neither category. Time is just time; neither fast nor slow, but steady and predictable.
But there is fourth kind of moment: the kind that seems as though it’s happening at a snail’s pace, but in reality is a building wave, ready to crash over you and speed you into a new phase of your life. I was trapped in the fourth kind of moment. Slow but fast. Agonizing but all-consuming.
The frigid dark water was damning and comforting at the same time. My shoulder was on fire. It sizzled, bubbled, and burned. I was done being bitten by creatures who assumed they had the right to do as they pleased; creatures that weren’t human anymore and had forgotten what it meant to be. Humans didn’t do this to other human beings. I’d been bitten by vampire fangs until I felt like a piece of Swiss cheese, holes and all, and now an Infected had bitten me? And not just any Infected…Porschia’s crazy sister. I could feel my skin blistering where each of her teeth cut through my skin, like their enamel was infused with hellfire. Maybe the Infection was made up of exactly that – hellfire. In any event I was about to find out, and powerless to stop the change coursing through me.
Icy cold water splashed onto the makeshift raft as the angry current carried us away from the forest crossing and Blackwater. The sound of Porschia’s frantic voice echoed through the valley. “Saul!” She cried out for me, but she had already seen what her sister did. “Use your ring!” She knew I couldn’t go back now. It was pointless. The ring wouldn’t help me now. Mercedes bit me and now I was as good as dead. I was Infected. Now I would rot like the others. Eventually I’d roam the forest, desperate to find my next meal, regardless of what that meal was; dead or alive.
Mercedes held onto my shoulders as we curved around the city. The guy with us was using a long piece of wood to try and guide the raft, but the river had its own agenda. He growled as the muscles along his back and arms began to shake.
Motioning to me, he held the wooden pole out.
Take it,
he said in my mind. What the hell?
We need to stop in the calm stretch of river, but we won’t make it if the raft gets torn apart by those rocks, and even you can’t survive the rapids now. The Infection is weakening you quickly.
He pointed ahead to a row of jagged rocks that dammed the river slightly. If we hit those, we’d all be swimming in the glacially cold river. Cold chills crawled up my spine.
Standing and moving toward him, I reached out for the pole. If I let the raft smash apart, it would take him and Mercedes both out. It would end the misery I knew would be waiting for me in the city. I wouldn’t rot. Drowning sounded better than wasting away. The stench from his skin and hair almost knocked me back down.
Rot
.
“Saul!” Porschia’s voice faded the faster the river took us. The water was the only thing faster than her, and it was just as deadly. The guy’s eyes zeroed in on my face and he threw the long stick at me. I caught it easily, holding it level at my waist.
We’re close to finding a cure. Don’t be stupid,
he said. The sloshing of the water on the raft rocked us and the row of rock spires was getting closer by the second. Digging the wooden pole into the river bottom, I gritted my teeth and hoped the raft would slow. It finally relented and we passed between the widest gap between two of the sharp rocks, only scraping the right side a bit as we slid through. When we reached a wide stretch of the river and the water calmed, I eased the raft over to the bank.
The guy jumped off the raft and onto the bank. Mercedes struggled to stay upright as she jumped off behind him, slipping and sliding on the wet earth. My pants were soaked and I was freezing as I leapt off behind her. “Do you have fire?” I asked softly.
She nodded and motioned toward the flood wall. In one of the wall joints, the metal had corroded and one could squeeze through the small barrier. Once we were inside the concrete barrier, I grabbed Mercedes’ bicep. “Why did you do it?”
Her brows touched one another in confusion.
“Why did you attack? Why the hell did you target
me
?”
She looked at the guy who was walking ahead of us and then back to me; silent, but swallowing thickly.
“He made you?”
The slightest nod of her head said I was right.
“Who is he?” I jutted my chin toward him.
Mercedes parted her lips and tried to speak, but small screeches from her throat were all she could muster. In my mind, she spoke.
He is the leader of the Infected. Pierce is well-respected here. No one questions his orders. And if you’re smart, neither will you. Trust me on that one.
Trust her? She just fucking killed me! One bite and I was already dying. I could already feel the virus spreading quicker than should be possible. My head began to pound. I clutched my temples and steadied myself with the gritty flood wall stretching tall beside me. Had it always been so tall? My vision blurred and then cleared before blurring again.
We need to get you indoors and warm, Saul.
Warm was a good idea.
Pierce walked ahead, his long, dark hair swishing back and forth. It was stringy and as weak as he looked now. The fight in the forest had obviously taken the wind out of his sails. I watched as he disappeared between two tall buildings. I’d been in the city before on hunts for supplies and food, but this walk was different. This walk had no retraceable steps. I was never going home to Blackwater. I couldn’t go back to Porschia, and I would never see my parents again. I was completely screwed.
My legs shook so violently, I didn’t think I would make it to wherever Mercedes was leading me. After passing a few more buildings, she led me into a brick four-story.
We live here. Pierce wants you to stay with us – not in his room, but in his apartment. You’ll need someone to stay with you for the first few days. I volunteered.
Well how nice, considering
you
were the one who bit me,
I thought. Apparently she heard me, because she looked back at me with wide eyes full of pain. She had been through the change recently, and I wondered how someone so small was able to survive this. I was strong and much bigger than her; I towered over her, yet I could barely stay upright. “Who helped you?” I asked. Did Pierce help her after she was bitten? Was he the one who infected her?
Her eyes were big in her face and her cheeks were sunken in. She shook her head and kept walking slowly to a stairwell. Pointing up, she motioned for me to follow her. On the next floor, she stopped and led me down a hallway. The scent of mold was thick in the air, and dark spots crept up the walls from the floor boards to eye-level. I followed her, trying to keep my legs from breaking in two. Halfway down the hall, she opened a door on the right and stepped inside, grabbing a bucket and pushing it toward me.