The Secret Apocalypse (Book 1) Read online

  My heart skips a beat and almost explodes in my chest. They're alive.

  I can hear whole bunch of static. I can hear running footsteps. And then I hear the screaming howl of the infected.

  "Kenji! We have to go!" It was Jack.

  I can hear Kenji’s ragged, frantic breathing. "If anyone is listening, Please send help. Please."

  The recording ends abruptly.

  I can't believe it. Somehow they’ve survived. Against all odds they’ve made it deeper into the city, to another hiding spot. At that moment I want to get back there.

  "Rebecca, please," says Steve, the journalist. "This story is huge. We need you."

  I stand up and open the bathroom door. The producer and the journalist look anxious, strung out. They look scared. It's as if hearing the recording, hearing all the screams of the infected has made everything more real. "I’ll do the interview," I say. "On one condition,"

  "Anything you want. Name your price."

  "I don't want money. I want you to get me back to Australia."

  "What? You want to go back?"

  "That's right."

  "Why?"

  "I need to get my friends."

  "We can’t make that deal," says the producer. "You know we can’t."

  "As soon as I do this interview, as soon as the world hears that transmission, there’ll be a rescue mission organized. I want to be part of that rescue mission."

  I can't believe the words coming out of my mouth. Who do I think I am? I'm not Rambo. I'm not Superman. I have no idea what good I’d be on a rescue mission. I’d probably just get in the way. But I feel like I should be with my friends. It feels weird that I'm the only one who made it out. I sort of feel guilty, like I have abandoned them or betrayed them.

  I convince myself that I need to get back there, that it's the only way to make things right. I’ll do the interview and blow this thing, this secret apocalypse wide open. And then I’ll do everything I possibly can to help them. And if that means flying right back into the living hell that is now Sydney, then so be it.

  There’s no place I’d rather be.

  ###

  COMING SOON IN 2011

  The 6th Level

  Book 2 in The Secret Apocalypse series

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