Life After The Undead (Book 2): Death to the Undead (10 page)

I
placed
a
hand
on her shoulder
and
took a
deep
breath.
I
wanted to tell her it
was
all right,
that
things
were
going
to be
fine,
but the
words
caught
in
my
throat.
I
didn’t know
if
things
were
going
to be
all
right.
I
didn’t
even
know if
Kyle
and
Bill
were
still
alive.
Plus,
I
was
kind of angry
at
her
for
her
cowardice.
I
couldn’t
tell her
that,
and
I
wouldn’t,
but
she
did
mess
things
up a
little.

“We’ll
fix
it,
don’t
worry.”
It
was
the
only
thing
that
would
come
out of
my
mouth. I
patted
her
shoulder
and
headed
to the
passenger
seat
of
my
semi.
Tanya
climbed
into
her
seat.
The
door closed
behind
me
as
I
walked
away.

Quinn
glanced
at
me
as
I
stepped
into the
truck.
“You
all
right?”
Concern
covered
his
face.

I
nodded.
“Yeah. I’m
fine.
Sorry. I’ve
got
a lot on
my
mind.” I
nodded
toward the
back.
“How’s
our
prisoner
doing?”

“Sleeping
soundly.”

“Good. Let’s
hope
he
stays
that
way.”

Quinn put the
truck
in gear,
and
we
rolled
down the
highway.
As
we
passed
through
the
abandoned
guard
towers,
I
couldn’t
help but think how
much
better
the
world
was
going
to be once
North
Platte
was
gone.
Maybe
it would actually
force
The
Families
into
action.
Of
course,
we
weren’t exactly
sure
Florida was
going
to
attack
us, we
were just
being
cautious.

Three
miles outside
of town,
we
ran into a
zombie
horde.
With a
smile on his lips, Quinn
pushed
the
pedal
to the
floor.
I
rolled
my
eyes,
but
couldn’t
stop the smile
from
curling
onto
my
lips.
The
creatures
thumped
against
the
front
of
the truck, a
couple
hands
and
a
few
arms flew
over
the
top.
Blood
and
ooze
coated
the
hood, a
few
drops
landed
on the windshield. Quinn
sprayed
the
ichor
off
with
wiper
fluid.
He
looked
at
me.

“This
is so
much
more
fun
when
you
don’t
have
to
get
out to clean it up. I
hope
we
always
have
people
around
who want to wash
trucks.”

“Yeah,
it’s not without its
charm.”
I
smiled
back.

As
we
smiled
at
each
other,
something
large
flew
over
the
hood
and
slammed into the
glass.
A loud popping
resounded
through
the
cab. Instinctively,
I
threw
up
my
good
arm to protect
my
face,
and
Quinn slammed
on the
brakes.
He
pulled
over
onto the
side of
the
road.

Panting,
with
my
heart
beating
a
million
miles
a
minute,
I
glanced
at
him.
“What
was
that?”

He
stared
out the
windshield.
“I
don’t
know, but it
took a
nice
chunk out of the
glass.”

I
looked
at
where
he
indicated
and
noticed a
divot.
“You
can
still drive
it, right?”

The
walkie
talkie
I
had
on
my
belt
clicked
with static,
followed
by
Pam’s
voice.

“You
guys
all
right
up there?”

I
pulled
it off
my
belt and
pushed
the button.
“Yeah,
we’re fine.
We’re
heading
out again.”

Why
hadn’t we
used the
walkies
before?
We
could
have called
Bill
and
Kyle
for backup
in many
situations.
Oh,
well. Live and
learn.

I
signaled
for
Quinn to move, then
heard
something
in the
distance.
It
was
a
sound
I
knew
I
had heard
somewhere
before, but it had
been
so
long,
I
couldn’t
place
it. Quinn put the
truck in
gear
and
pushed
on
the
gas,
drowning
out the
noise. I
grabbed
his
arm.

“Shhh!”

He
stared
at
me.
“What?”

“The
truck.
Turn it
off.”

He
did as
I
instructed,
and the sound
got
louder.
I
cocked
my
head to the
side
and
closed
my
eyes,
trying
to
place
that
noise.
The
walkie
talkie crackled
again.

“What’s
going
on now?”
Pam
asked.

I
put the
speaker up to my
mouth.
“Do
you
hear that
thumping
noise?”

It
was silent
for
a
moment. “I
do.
It
sounds like it’s
behind
us.”

I
rolled
down
my
window
and
poked
my
head out.
My
gaze
focused
on North
Platte. There
were
two
black
dots on the
horizon.
My
mouth
dropped
open.

“Oh,
my
god,”
I
whispered.

The
helicopters
hovered
over
the
courthouse
for
a
few
seconds
before
the doors on the
side
flew
open
and
guards
with
rocket
launchers
shot
their
missiles into the
town.
Flames
erupted
with a loud whoosh. They
circled
the
buildings
and
fired
until
every
last one of
them
was
ablaze.
My
heart leapt into
my
throat.
I
couldn’t
tear
my
eyes
away
from
the destruction. At
least
we
knew
the
answer
to our
question, it
was
no
longer
speculation
if
Florida
was
going
to wipe
us off
the
map.

The
choppers
finished
their
circle
of the
city,
which
took a
few
minutes,
then
headed
down the
highway
toward
us.
My
stomach
knotted
as
they
flew
over,
and
I
pulled
my
head
back
into
the
cab.
Without having to say
a
word,
Quinn
started
the
engine and
put the
truck
into
gear.
We
flew
down
the
road.
I
kept
my
eyes
on the
helicopters
in the
rearview after they circled back around, headed in the direction they had come from.
If
they
had
wanted,
they
could
have
followed
us,
blown us
right
off
the
road. I
assumed
that
since
they
didn’t, they
didn’t have
any
ammo
left. But
that
didn’t
make
me
feel
better.
They
knew
we
left.
It
wouldn’t
take
them long
to figure
out
they
didn’t
kill
anyone
in
the
city.
It
was
only
a
matter of
time
before
they
hunted
us.
The
color
drained out of
my
face,
my
skin felt prickly
and
hot. I
gazed
at
Quinn.
He
was
as
white as
I
imagined
I
was.