Pulse: Retaliation (Anisakis Nova Book 2) by Eloise J. Knapp

attacked by the infected and raided by desperate people.
    A popular radio host had been debating for six solid hours on the subject with various experts and guests. One bit stuck with Dom. He'd said, "If the annies don't kill us, the Russians will! The Chinese will, North Korea. Let's face it people, there are nukes aimed at the US of A, and ending us is on a lot of people's bucket lists."
    There was a website the CDC kept that showed areas of infection. When Dom stopped by the library he always checked. It was a morale boost until this started happening; most areas were green with only occasional spots of yellow and rarely red. Now Washington State was showing massive red and yellow blobs across the Puget Sound.
    Then, two days after the attack, yellow was showing up across the entire country. Articles on CNN rightly speculated that the Washington retaliation was inspiring infected to come out of the woodwork around the country. It further acknowledged many infected were capable of keeping tabs on the country's condition, that they were smart.
    Dom wished they could've been mindless zombies like in the movies. At least then you knew what you were getting into. You knew they couldn't be saved, that they couldn't form attacks.
    They were on day three since they formed their plan. Everyone had a name for it, too. Chelsea called it Operation Phoenix. Wayne liked Project Rebirth, but Dom and Chels thought it was weird. Jim referred to it simply as The Lake.
    Dom liked Jim's the best. It wasn't cheesy or dramatic like the others. He'd say, "When we go to The Lake, we'll need to get water worked out right away." Or, "The Lake should be run like a true democracy and everyone will do their share of work."
    So, in Dom's mind, it was The Lake.
    Preparing for The Lake so far had its ups and downs. By day three Wayne got a decent amount of medical supplies that were already packed away in Jim's moving truck. Most hospitals were lost to hostile takeover. His was on the brink of abandonment and he used that to his advantage. He reasoned since no one would be there soon, no one would need the supplies. Yet after he came back with two duffel bags and a backpack, he stated he wasn't going back and not to ask why.
    They were short on ready to eat foods, but between the five of them they were gathering more every day. Thousands of houses in neighboring cities were abandoned or marked as condemned by the state because they hadn't been properly sterilized. The big, spray painted orange X's were a signal of potential for the group. They drove Jim's truck around and raided as quickly as they could.
    No matter how many times they did it, Dom felt uneasy. Every house was a mausoleum, each family photo and knickknack a ghost. What if these people were still alive and going to come back? They'd notice things missing and it would make them feel more miserable than they likely already did. Plus, no matter what way he looked at it, Dom was stealing. He was a looter, the same as all the other thousands of looters.
    It wasn't like that at first. Dom reassured himself that what they were doing wasn't personal or immoral, it was survival. Anything was up for grabs, and since they weren't hurting anyone there wasn't a problem. Every house they gathered supplies from was the same; a wealth of resources that would help them restart their lives. Them . The living. The healthy.
    Then it happened. At one point Chelsea and Laurie were trying on clothes in the master bedroom of a nice home. Everyone was searching for winter clothes in earnest since winters would be difficult at higher elevations. The three were joking around, pretending they were valley girls at the mall. It felt good to laugh.
    But when Dom found the withered body of a baby in a nursery one room over, he felt sick. The women saw it, too, and the three stood in forlorn silence. After that he tiptoed around every house, holding his breath before he entered a room. Preparing himself for a new