Forsaken World (Book 1): Innocence Lost by Thomas A. Watson Page B

her feet, hitting her attackers with everything she was worth. They heard glass breaking upstairs, and a loud thump hit the roof over the porch. “They climbed up to Jason’s window?” Ian asked, stepping away and turning to run upstairs as a figure fell off the porch roof and landed hard. The porch was several feet off the ground, and they watched as the figure slowly stood up.
    “Oh fuck me,” Lance said, backing up and watching Jason stand, lunge toward Patricia, and grab her shoulders. Picking her up off the ground, he pulled her to his face as Patricia screamed. They watched Jason’s face dive at Patricia’s neck, and the scream cut off like a switch.
    When Jason pulled his head back, a fountain of blood shot in the air in spurts as Patricia’s mouth moved, but nothing came out. They both saw the huge hole Jason had bitten in her neck. “Why did Jason attack her?” Ian asked, moving to the front door.
    Lance grabbed his arm. “Before you open that door, let me get Allie out of here.”
    “That’s my brother,” Ian snapped.
    “He’s like the others now; he just killed Ms. Patricia.”
    “Maybe she did something to him,” Ian said, looking back outside with tears now pouring out of his eyes.
    “Leave my wife alone!” they heard outside.
    They turned to see Ms. Patricia’s husband run at Jason with a bat. He cracked Jason across the head, and Jason’s massive body didn’t budge but he did drop Patricia. Jason spun to his attacker and lunged, catching Patricia’s husband and taking him to the ground. Patricia’s husband wasn’t much bigger than either of the boys, and Jason’s enormous body smothered him. Jason lowered his head as the man fought back feebly.
    “He’s killing him,” Ian sobbed quietly.
    Not looking away from the grotesque scene, Lance put a hand on Ian’s shoulder and felt his body shake as he cried softly. “I loved Jason too,” Lance said, catching his breath as tears ran down his face.
    “How? He was just talking to us,” Ian sobbed, looking up as Patricia’s husband stopped screaming as others dove on the pile.
    Pulling Ian back as more came into the yard, it suddenly hit Lance. “He was bit.”
    “You need to stop, Lance. This isn’t a zombie movie or game. How did this infect Jason?”
    “Then how do you explain it? Ian, he just walked off the roof over the porch,” Lance said, looking outside as Jason stood up. “He broke his leg,” Lance said, pointing.
    Ian looked out at his brother and noticed his right leg was bent at a weird angle, but that didn’t seem to bother Jason as he hobbled down the street. Another scream sounded. “That’s not my brother anymore,” Ian said, wiping the tears off his face.
    “I’m going to check Jason’s room,” Lance said, moving toward the stairs, and Ian followed. “No, one of us needs to stay down here in case one gets in. Allie’s alone.”
    “I’ll stay,” Ian said with a snorting sob.
    “I’ll be right back,” Lance said, turning for the stairs. “Why didn’t the alarm go off when the window upstairs broke?”
    “None of the windows upstairs are alarmed,” Ian said, moving to the den. “I’m going to wake Allie in case we need to move fast.”
    Thinking that was a good idea but not liking it, Lance nodded as he eased upstairs, bringing the shotgun up to his shoulder. As he reached Jason’s door, the rotten egg smell made his eyes water. Trying the door and still finding it locked, Lance went to Ian’s room and dug in his backpack, pulling out a pocket knife.
    Moving back to Jason’s door, Lance drove the blade between the latch and door frame and pried as he pushed on the door. A loud ping sounded as the door flew open. Startled, Lance brought up the shotgun as his eyes watered from the smell. “There’s no sulfur here, so where the hell is the smell coming from?” he mumbled, seeing Jason’s empty bed and the busted window.
    Easing closer and looking down the street, he saw Jason’s massive