The Drift by C. J. Tudor

Author:C. J. Tudor [Tudor, C. J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2023-01-30T00:00:00+00:00

HANNAH

The body was lodged between the wall and the toilet. His head had slumped to one side, revealing a gaping red gash across his throat. More ugly slashes ran vertically up his arms. A large piece of bloody, jagged glass lay on the floor nearby.

“Suicide,” Lucas said flatly, peering over Hannah’s shoulder.

She didn’t reply. She crouched awkwardly in the small space, examining Ben’s body. The cuts on the arms were standard for suicide. At least, for a suicide where a person knew what they were doing. A vertical cut spoke of meaning. Not a cry for help. Slicing up the arm meant you would bleed out far more quickly.

The slash across the neck was less typical. Not many suicide victims chose to cut their own throats. It made death far more unpleasant, for a start. Suffocating, choking on your own blood. It took real dedication to press the knife, or piece of glass, hard enough against your own flesh to make the cut. The tendons there were tougher than people realized.

And there was something else. Hannah frowned.

“What is it?” Lucas asked.

She hesitated. What was it? At first glance, she would say, yes, even with the neck wound, this was suicide. It made sense. Ben knew he was infected, dying. He had taken some glass from the broken window and ended things sooner, on his own terms. But glass wasn’t as sharp as a blade. He would have had to really saw at that artery.

On the other hand, Ben was infected. The virus could affect the brain. Hence the rage and aggression. There had been cases of the infected doing violent harm to themselves and others. It was possible that Ben could have slashed his own neck in a fit of viral rage. Choler.

What was the alternative? One of them had killed Ben. Who would be capable of that? And then Hannah remembered how she had considered putting a coat over Peggy’s face.

Lucas was still staring at her intently.

Hannah sighed. “Some of the wounds are atypical of suicide, but taking into account that Ben could have been suffering from viral rage, I agree—the most likely conclusion is that he killed himself.”

Lucas nodded as if she had given the correct answer, and she felt that flicker of doubt again. Who would be capable?

“Well, that is one problem solved, I guess.”

Hannah wasn’t sure if he meant the suicide or Ben himself.

She straightened. “We need to move him,” she said. “And clean up in here.”

Lucas looked around at the blood-smeared toilet and grimaced. Hannah knew what he was thinking.

The virus spread in numerous ways. It was the most virulent and adaptive the scientists had ever seen. Water droplets, breath, fluids, contaminated meat and blood. Out of all of them, saliva and blood were the ones most likely to infect. If they hadn’t been compromised before, wading around in Ben’s blood was a surefire way to ensure they were infected.

But then, one of them already was.

Hannah stood. “I suggest we use some of the spare clothes to make a stretcher and put Ben with the other bodies.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.