Sickness Read online

  Sickness

  A Post-Apocalyptic Novel

  Kellee L. Greene

  Contents

  Books By Kellee L. Greene

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Books By Kellee L. Greene

  Mailing List

  About the Author

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2019 Kellee L. Greene

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the express written permission of the author.

  First Edition September 2019

  Books By Kellee L. Greene

  What Remains Series

  Sickness - Book 1

  Book 2 Coming Soon!

  Red Sky Series

  Red Sky - Book 1

  Blue Cloud - Book 2

  Black Rain - Book 3

  White Dust - Book 4

  Indigo Ice - Book 5

  Yellow Heat - Book 6

  Ravaged Land Series (1)

  Ravaged Land -Book 1

  Finding Home - Book 2

  Crashing Down - Book 3

  Running Away - Book 4

  Escaping Fear - Book 5

  Fighting Back - Book 6

  Ravaged Land: Divided Series (2)

  The Last Disaster - Book 1

  The Last Remnants - Book 2

  The Last Struggle - Book 3

  Ravaged Land: Eventuality Series (3)

  The Wall - Book 1

  The Outside - Book 2

  Falling Darkness Series

  Unholy - Book 1

  Uprising - Book 2

  Hunted - Book 3

  The Island Series

  The Island - Book 1

  The Fight - Book 2

  The Escape - Book 3

  The Erased - Book 4

  From Below Series

  Creatures - Book 1

  Desolation - Book 2

  The Alien Invasion Series

  The Landing - Book 1

  The Aftermath - Book 2

  Destined Realms Series

  Destined - Book 1

  Chapter One

  My life hadn’t ever gone according to plan. When I was a young girl, I imagined the person I’d be but I wasn’t anything like what I’d pictured.

  I married my high school sweetheart. He was the only person I really ever dated… if you could even call it that. But he wasn’t my prince charming. Not even close. Hell, I was pretty sure there was no such thing.

  Freddie was an alcoholic monster who was absolutely miserable and wanted everyone else to feel that way too. The only good thing that ever came out of our marriage was Maddie, my seventeen-year-old daughter.

  I was stuck with him because I was unable to afford to find a place for my daughter and me. It wasn’t like he’d ever let us leave anyway, at least not without a fight. Not to mention, there wasn’t a single landlord in our small town that would rent to me because I didn’t have a steady job or an income of any kind.

  I promised my daughter that one day soon we’d get a place but sadly I’d been saying that for more than a year. It was difficult because I didn’t want to hate her father. All I wanted was for Freddie to change back into the person I first fell in love with. Most of all, I wanted him to be a father.

  But that wasn’t going to happen.

  I wasn’t sure what changed Freddie but he had no desire to go back to who he’d been. Freddie liked who he was now even though everyone else hated him.

  If that wasn’t bad enough, my mother had been diagnosed with breast cancer just under a year ago. It was bad. It was aggressive. They didn’t give her long to live but she was fighting her losing battle like a champion.

  It hadn’t been more than ten minutes since Freddie had left for work. The house was quiet. Peaceful. But the walls were stained with bad memories that constantly haunted me.

  I chugged down my mug of black coffee like it was the last time I’d ever drink it. What I really felt like doing was slipping back into my pajama’s and sliding back into my warm, cozy bed.

  A knock at the door interrupted my scrolling through the news on my phone. Shootings. Politics. Drunk drivers. Same news, different day.

  “Miss Kit?” my elderly neighbor shouted at the glass of the front door. Her nose was nearly pressed right up against the dirty pane. “Miss Kit, are you home?”

  I chugged down the last of my coffee and drew in a breath as I pushed myself away from the small, scratched up round table. It was one of the first pieces of furniture Freddie and I had bought together. I quickly pasted on a smile and opened the door.

  “Good morning, Mrs. Wheaton,” I said. My teeth felt like they were turning into hard kernels of corn as the breeze blew into the house, drying out my mouth. “Is there something I can help you with?”

  I already had a good guess why she was at my door.

  “Oh, dear, you won’t believe what happened again but Maxwell Lewis has climbed into your big tree again. He won’t come down even for his favorite treats,” Mrs. Wheaton said rubbing her dry, scratchy hands together. I glanced toward the tree over her small, sagging shoulder. “If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, I could really use your help. You’re just so good at convincing him to come down.”

  “Yeah, of course,” I said looking back toward my empty cup of coffee. When I got back inside, I was going to need another mug or two.

  Mrs. Wheaton held my arm as we walked across the front yard. “Looks like your husband is behind on mowing the yard. Maybe that’s why Maxwell Lewis likes to come over this way… he’s looking for mice.”

  I swallowed hard. “He’s been busy with work.”

  Freddie could take the blame even though eighty percent of the time I was the one mowing the yard because he was passed out after dinner in the recliner. Of course, Mrs. Wheaton likely already knew I was the one that did most of the yard work. It was just her passive-aggressive way to tell me to cut the damn grass.

  She was also incredibly nosy. Maybe she was hoping I’d talk about what was going on. It wasn’t like she hadn’t heard our fights next door. The walls of our cheap homes weren’t that thick. Hell, the neighbors across the street had probably heard us from time to time, as well.

  “Oh, no doubt he works hard. My husband is a plumber, so I know what it’s like.” A fact she worked into nearly every conversation we had. He’d died over three years ago but sometimes I wondered if she still thought he was alive.

  Freddie wasn’t a plumber, though. He worked in construction. Long hours in the summer, thank God, and not enough money to pay our bills in the winter.

  I hated winters. With it being mid-September, it wouldn’t be long before Freddie’s workload would start to slow and he’d be home more. It was definitely not something I was looking forward to.

  “There he is,” Mrs. Wheaton said pointing at the same spot good ol
d Max the cat liked to run off to whenever he got the chance. I was pretty sure Maxwell Lewis had needed a break from his pet parent and would come down when he was good and ready. “Poor thing. He must be so frightened.”

  “Yeah,” I said walking over toward the fence that was half-coated with green and yellow mold. The ladder was still leaning against it from the last time I’d had to get Maxwell Lewis out of the tree.

  I rested the ladder against a thick branch near the tree trunk and checked to make sure it was steady. My first step was cautious but my second was braver. It wasn’t long before I was face to face with fluffy Maxwell Lewis’s smirking face.

  “Don’t look at me like that,” I said softly. Maxwell didn’t stop grinning. “You might as well stop climbing up the tree. Every time you do, I just have to come up here and get you. This isn’t fun for either of us, is it?”

  Maxwell Lewis slowly blinked at me.

  “Oh, huh, maybe it is fun for you.”

  “Is he okay” Mrs. Wheaton shouted in her squeaky old woman voice that barely made its way up the ladder to my ears.

  “Yes, he’s fine,” I said hugging him to my body with one arm. Maxwell Lewis locked eyes with me for a moment. “You stay because she keeps you fed. I know. I get it. It’s a tough world out there.”

  At the bottom of the ladder, I scratched Maxwell Lewis’s head. Maybe he was just as trapped as I was.

  “Would you be a dear and bring him over?” Mrs. Wheaton asked. “He’s just so rambunctious these days that I’m afraid he’ll get away from me and bolt right on back up that tree. I don’t want to have to bother you again today.”

  “Of course,” I said and she grabbed my elbow while I held onto Maxwell Lewis.

  Mrs. Wheaton nodded her head at the house across the street. “He works really hard but look at his lawn. It’s perfect. Not a single Creeping Charlie anywhere to be seen.”

  I was tempted to take Maxwell Lewis back up into the tree and hide from Mrs. Wheaton with him. Instead, I put mowing the lawn on my to-do list.

  “Would you like to stay for some tea?” Mrs. Wheaton asked. “I have some fresh croissants I could offer you. Well, fresh from a day or two ago, I think.”

  “I’m sorry I can’t. I’m expecting a call from my sister any minute,” I said tapping my back pocket to check for my phone.

  “Oh,” Mrs. Wheaton said unable to hide her disappointment. “Send your daughter over later. I’ll wrap them up for her.”

  I smiled but I already knew I wouldn’t be able to convince Maddie to spend time with Mrs. Wheaton even if I paid her. It would take something far more enticing than some stale croissants to get her to visit.

  “I’ll let her know,” I said waving as I walked backward away from her house. I pointed at Maxwell Lewis. “Don’t let him escape again.”

  “He’s a sneaky one,” Mrs. Wheaton grumbled as she closed the door. Maxwell Lewis watched me until the door closed.

  As I made my way back home to search through the want ads for the thirty-third week in a row, my palms started to sweat. It wasn’t because I knew the jobs hadn’t changed in our small town, they never did. It was because I was worried about the phone call I was waiting for from my sister.

  I suddenly had appreciated the distraction Mrs. Wheaton had given me.

  It had been exactly one week since my sister, Polly, took our mother to New York to receive a new drug. She’d been one of the first of a group of patients accepted into the promising new study. Our mother believed it was her only hope.

  Five days ago, she arrived. The same day, she was injected with the drug. Today, roughly an hour ago, she’d been due for a checkup. If the cancer hadn’t started to shrink, it would be bad news… bad news at a very high price tag.

  I hadn’t given much but what I had given was all we had left. Freddie had gone ballistic when he found out what I’d done. Polly and her fiancé had given an amount of money that would have made Freddie pass out and not from drinking too much. The amount of money would have been enough for Freddie and me to live on for several years in addition to sending Maddie to college.

  When the phone rang, I nearly jumped out of my skin. My fingers were like wet sausages as I tried to pick up the phone.

  “Yes, hello?” I said mashing the words together into one.

  “Were you out for a jog?” Polly asked. I could imagine her pinched expression as she stared at the phone.

  “No,” I said smoothly. “You know, I don’t get exercise.”

  She chuckled. “That’s right. Were you in your creepy basement and had to run up the stairs because it felt like something was following you?”

  “Yeah, that’s exactly what I was doing,” I said rolling my eyes. I didn’t want to chit-chat, I wanted to hear how our mom was doing. “How was the checkup?”

  “Everything is looking good. The cancer has shrunk nearly fifty percent in just this short time,” Polly said.

  “Fifty percent or fifteen percent?” I asked making sure I’d heard her right.

  “Fifty,” she said annunciating the word carefully.

  My mouth instantly dried. “That’s… that’s… insane.”

  “No, it’s amazing. Do you realize what this means for people all over the world?” Polly asked. “Hoyt needs to invest in this company as soon as possible. It’ll help pay for the wedding.”

  “Maybe I should invest in it.”

  Polly cleared her throat.

  “Oh, right. I don’t have anything to invest.”

  “Sorry,” she said her voice fading slightly. “I need to call Hoyt before I head back to sit with mom. She’s going a bit stir-crazy locked up in that facility.”

  “Poor mom,” I said frowning. “She hated hospitals even before dad died. When can she get out of there?”

  Polly sighed directly into the phone. “It’s going to be a few more weeks. They’ll want to make sure the cancer is gone before the release her.”

  “I bet she’s not happy about that. How long can that take?”

  “She’s not. Could be weeks? Months? They don’t know.”

  I could hear Polly’s TV blaring in the background as if she’d just raised the volume. There were faint sounds of sirens and a voice speaking quickly over the noises.

  “When can I talk to her?” I asked.

  “I’m not sure. Maybe tonight? I’ll ask the nurse when I get back there,” Polly said. Her voice had started to fade. “There’s something going on not far from here. I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

  I swallowed hard. “What’s going on?”

  “I’m not sure,” Polly said. “I haven’t ventured out much around town, so I don’t know the area well. I’ve only been at the hotel or with mom when possible. Oh, and this divine bagel shop on the corner. It’s probably all I’ve eaten since arriving. Anyway….” Polly’s voice became a fuzzy, jumbled mess. I couldn’t make out the last few words before she was gone.

  I stared at the phone for a few moments before I pushed the chair back and walked over to the small TV in the living room. The volume was at full blast from the last time Freddie had watched his shows in a drunken stupor.

  I frantically lowered the volume then clicked through the channels, stopping at the breaking news on the local channel. My heart thudded sharply. Whatever it was that was happening in New York, was occurring at the facility my mother was receiving her treatment.

  My first thought was that there was a fire.

  My second thought was that there was an active shooter.

  I couldn’t make sense of the words rushing across the bottom of the screen or the words coming from the confused newscasters’ lips. The only thing that was clear as that something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong.

  Chapter Two

  I frantically tapped in the only number I had for the facility. No one answered. It just kept ringing and ringing and ringing.

  “We just got an update from those inside,” the newscaster announced as he pressed his fingers to h
is ear. “The New Burberry Medical Research Facility is on lockdown. I repeat the facility is on lockdown.”

  “Lockdown?” I asked squinting at the TV.

  “Our sources say they are handling the situation. There are no further updates at this time,” the smooth-faced man said before repeating the same things he’d said since I’d turned on the TV.

  I tried to call Polly again but she didn’t answer. I stood there with my arms crossed as I stared at the TV, feeling absolutely helpless.

  Worried.

  Frightened.

  The only thing I could think to do was to call Hoyt. Polly and Hoyt had been dating for five years and engaged for one of those but still, he wasn’t one of my favorite people to talk to. He thought I was lazy. I thought he was a self-centered, conceited asshole. He always had this look on his face as if he knew all my secrets and that he thought he was better than I was.

  “Hello, Mr. Parker’s office,” his secretary said in her perky Southern accent.

  “Can I speak with Hoyt, please?”

  “May I ask who’s calling, please?”

  “It’s Kit,” I said firmly.

  “Oh, hello, Kit!” she said in an even bubblier tone. She knew me from the times I’d gone with Polly to the office but even if she hadn’t known me, she probably would have pretended to. “Hoyt’s in a meeting. I’ll have him call you back soon, okay?”