Life After The Undead (Book 1) (15 page)

The
girl
standing
in
the
hall
was
about
my
age
and
had
long,
sandy
-
blonde hair
and
green
eyes.
Freckles
danced
across
her
thin
nose,
and
a
smile
was
on her
thin
lips.

“Hi.”
She
held
her
hand
out.
“I’m
Tanya.
We
heard
there
was
a
new
girl
on the
floor.”

I
glanced
over
Tanya
’s
shoulder.
Two
girls
stood
behind
her,
one
with
black
hair
cut
in
a spike
and
the
other
with
brown
hair
curled
in
ringlets.
The
first
thing
that
popped
into
my
mind
was
Carmen
and
the
Baa-
Baa
Twins.
I
tried
to
hold
back
my
contempt,
to
give them
a
chance,
but
I
was
tired
from
being
on
the
road.
I did
my
best,
though.

“This is
Nancy,”
she
pointed
to
the
one
with
brown
hair,
“and
this is
Pearl,”
she
pointed
to
the
other
girl,
who
both
nodded
in
my
direction.
“If
you
want,
we
’l
l
give
you
a
tour
of
the
place.”

I
nodded
and
closed
the
door.
What
I
really
wanted
was
a
shower,
but I
figured
these
girls
might
have
some
answers
as to
what
was
going
on.

“There’s
not
too
much
to
show,”
Tanya
said.
“Most
of
the
hotel
houses
the
refugees,
except the
conference
rooms
have
been
converted
into
classrooms.
They
think
we
need
to
continue
our
education
and
life
like
zombies
haven
’t
taken
it
over.”
She
snorted
a
laugh.
“Like
we
’r
e
ever
going
to
have
real jobs
after
this!”

We
stepped
into
the
elevator
and
headed
into
the
lobby.

“Who’s
they?”
I
asked.

“The
Families.
There
are
five
of
them
who
set
up
shop
down
here
in
Florida.
There
are
the
Johnsons,
the
Lees,
the
Scorvids,
the
Youngs,
and
the
Sanchez
s.
They
put
up
the
fence
along
the
border
and
bought
the
weapons
for
the
army.”
 
Tanya
held
up
two
fingers on
each
hand
and
bent
them
like
quotes
when
she
said
the
last
word.

I
furrowed
my
brow.
“
The
attack
has
only
been
going
on
for
about
a
week.
How
could
they
have
set
something up
so
fast?”

The
three
girls
stared
at
me.
“Where
are
you
from?”
asked
Pearl.

“Oregon.”

“Well,
the
attack
might
have
just
reached
you,
but
it’s
been
happening
on
the
East
Coast
for
about
three
weeks
now.”

The
elevator
dinged
and
the
doors
opened. The
girls
filed out,
and
I
stared
after
them
in
confusion.

“Three
weeks?
Tha
t’s
impossible.
Nobody
ever
said
anything.
Or
warned
us.”

It
couldn
’t
be
true.
Three
weeks?
That
would
have
made
it
two
weeks
before it
reached
us.
Assuming
my
math
was
correct,
but
that
was
impossible.
We
never
heard
a
thing.
The
news
surely
would
have
picked
up
on
it.
Someone
would
have
said
something.

Nancy
chuckled.
“What
were
they
going
to
say?
The
dead
have
risen
from
the
grave
and
are
attacking
the
living?
From what
I’v
e
heard,
they
wanted
to
keep
it
quiet.
They
thought
they
could
take
care
of
it before
it
got
out
of
hand.
They
tried
to
keep
it
contained,
but
it spread
too
quickly.”

“Who
are
they?”

Nancy
shrugged
one
shoulder
and
folded
her
arms
across
her
chest.
“I
don
’t
know.
The
government.”

The
three
girls
turned
and
headed
toward
the
front
doors.
After
we
were
out on
the
lawn,
they
turned
back
to
the
hotel
and
Tanya
pointed
at
the
building.

“The
third
floor
is
where
all
the
guys
are
staying.”
She
looked
at
me.
“Well,
the
good
ones,
anyway.”
She
snorted
again
and
headed
farther
into
the
grass.

Guys?
Who
the
hell
cared
about
guys
at this
point
in
time?

“Wait
a
second.
I’m
not
done
asking
about
the
zombies.”

Tanya
didn’t
slow
her
pace.
“What
else
do
you
want
to
know?”

“Uh,
lots
of
things
actually,
but
I’ll
start
simple.
Why
more
wasn
’t
done?
Why
wasn
’t
there
some
warning?”

Tanya
stopped
and
clicked
her
tongue.
“I
don
’t
know.
I’m
not
in
charge
of
that
kind
of
thing.”

I felt my
face
flush,
and
I
balled
my
hands
into
fists. Yep,
I
was
right.
Carmen.
Tanya
obviously
didn’t
care
about
anyone
or
anything except
herself.
I
figured
I’d
better
keep
my
questions
simple.
If
she
didn’t
know
details,
maybe
she
had
information
on
the
bigger
picture.