Excerpt: First Days (An Apocalypse Novel)

He coughed again, but this time it really stung his chest. He put his hand to his mouth and felt moisture. He walked back to his desk and found a pack of tissues. Absent-mindedly he wiped his mouth and say back down. This hangover is a real bitch, he thought. His head was starting to swim and he was suddenly glad to be sitting down. He threw the tissue onto the desk in front of him and the scarlet tint of it caught his eye. He managed to say ‘Bleeding?’ to nobody in particular when a fresh cough brought with it a pain so sharp that it physically forced him to double over, forcing the blood that suddenly filled his mouth to eject so forcefully that it fanned out over his desk. Eddie’s vision blurred, and as he reached to pick up the receiver he slumped out of the chair and onto the floor. His hands went instinctively to his throat, which felt as though it was being sliced in two. He quickly realised that the blood hadn’t stopped at the cough, and was continuing to stream from his face.