Tainted Mind by T J Christian

Author:T J Christian
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: Zombies
Published: 2019-10-28T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

After that evening, Quincy wasn’t the same. Karen noticed it the next morning. Her grandfather always walked the streets in the cool of the morning. He enjoyed the exercise and he usually took time to investigate buildings he hadn’t been in before. There weren’t many of these left—and of those left unsearched were that way because there were Tainted locked inside.

What he didn’t know was that Karen would often follow him and clear those houses out afterward. Three of the dead, the Tainted, was her limit. Any more and the house would remain untouched. She’d tried to clear out four only once—they’d almost overtaken her.

The morning after her grandfather’s episode, he didn’t go walking.

He didn’t go out the second day either—nor the entire week after.

She cooked and with Chris’s help did everything her grandfather used to do around the house. She’d kept herself so busy close to home that the one thing she hadn’t done was gather fresh produce from the gardens north of town.

“We need to restock. Will you be okay on your own this afternoon?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” says Quincy, waving her off. “You go do your thing.” He notices Chris isn’t with her. “Where’s Chris?”

“He’s looking around downtown. I’m going to grab him on my way to the garden.”

“Okay…and yes, I’ll be all right. I’m just going to go rest for a bit.”

Go rest for a bit—she’d heard that phrase all too much over the past week. “You sure?”

He nods adamantly and shoos her away, “Yes, go.”

There’s a distant noise and before she turns to leave, he stops her. “Is that thunder?”

She turns back, “Yes, but unfortunately it looks like it’s going to pass East of us.”

“Yes,” he agrees. Unfortunate for sure. They were due a good downpour. The summer had been dry and rain had been scarce. As fall approached, the rains should increase.

She leans down, kisses him on the temple, and turns to leave. “See you in a few hours.”

“Be careful.”

“I will.”

Karen leaves without a backward glance. It’s the last time they would see one another.

* * *

She’s downtown and stays as quiet as possible— several buildings here still have Tainted bodies. Something rustles to her right and she stops. The nearest store-front was an old craft store with the number five painted on the front window with red spray paint. Something hit the window from within.

The glass made an audible crack.

Karen freezes. Dust and grime cover the window, making it hard to see inside. A figure moves and strikes the window again. Something grey, almost white. In her mind, she translates what she sees as a stick striking against the window, but she knows better. It’s the amputated stump of an arm. The Tainted beyond that pane of glass sees her—it strikes the window with growing intensity—the shattered bone causes more cracks to appear. Surrounding the stump, tattered strings of flesh spread greasy wet globs of oily fluid across the glass.

Her hand tightens on the pickax as she slowly starts walking away. If she can get out of sight before the glass breaks, the thing will probably lose interest.

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