Life After The Undead (Book 2): Death to the Undead (14 page)

I
lowered
myself, not realizing I
had
been pushing on
him.
“Sorry.”

He
continued
walking.

When we
were close
to the
opening,
we
slowed and
pressed
our
backs against the
wall.
We
side-stepped
cautiously
to the
entrance.
My
shoulder hit a
couple of
protruding
rocks,
sending
waves
of pain
through
my
back.
I
winced.
I
hated
that
I
still
wore
a
sling.
I
hated that
I
would be
in one
for
several
more weeks.
I
cursed
Liet
in
my
mind. I
wouldn’t
have
been
in that
situation
if it
weren’t
for
him. I
shook
my
head,
an
attempt
to
clear
the
thoughts.
We
had
a
job
to
do,
and
thinking
about
the
past
wouldn’t
help. We
continued
through
the
tunnel.

We
reached
the
end,
and
Quinn
signaled
for
me to
say
back. He
poked
his
head
around
both
sides
of the
opening,
taking
in the
area.
From
my
vantage
point,
I
could
see
pine
trees
and
nothing
else.
He
jerked
his
head
to the
side,
and
we
stepped into the
fresh
air.
The
ground
was
mostly
level.
I
don’t
know
why,
but
I
half
expected
to
walk
out onto a thin
ledge,
the
mountain
falling
away
beneath
us. I
figured
we
would
have
to carefully
shimmy
our way
to the
side,
praying
and
hoping
we
didn’t
slip
into oblivion.
However,
with
the
forest
stretched
out
before
us, it made
a
lot more
sense
of
how
the zombie would
have
gotten
into the
cave.
We
took a
few
steps
farther
into the
trees.

A
bird
twittered
overhead,
followed
by
a
flap
of
wings.
A squirrel
chattered
in the
distance,
and
a
twig
snapped.
None
of
it
concerned
me, but
I
kept a
vigilant
eye
out.
It
was
too
easy
for
things
to
sneak
up on
you
in
the
trees.
I
was under the
impression
that the zombie
was
a
fluke
occurrence.
I
didn’t see
any
towns or habitations,
so how did it
get
into the
cave?
More
birds
flew
over,
tweeting as
if
everything was
normal.
I
lowered
my
gun
and
removed
my
hand
from Quinn’s
back.
He
took a
couple
more
steps, then stopped,
turning
to
face
me. He
glanced
at
something
over my
shoulder.
His
eyes
went
wide
and
his jaw
dropped
open.

It
was one
of the
moments
from
a
horror
film.
From
his
reaction,
I
knew
I
didn’t
want
to turn
around,
but
I
also
wanted
to
face
my
attacker.
I
hoped
it
was
a
bear.

Please
let it be
a
bear
. I
turned.
Right
next to the
tunnel
opening
was another
zombie.
This one
was
an older
man,
his hair
gray,
his
black
dress pants
shredded
to the
knee.
Half
of
his white, button-up shirt
was
untucked,
the
rest
of
it
covered
in dirt.
Like
the
woman
in the
cave,
his skin
was
pretty
much
intact,
except for
the
chunk
that
had
been
ripped
out of his
neck.
He
turned
his
glassy
eyes
toward
us, his mouth
opened.
Before
he
could
moan,
I
raised
my
gun
and
shot. The
bullet
tore through
his
jaw,
exploding
his
head
on the
rocks
behind him. His body
crumpled to
the
ground.
I
looked
at
Quinn.

“Where
are
they
coming
from?”

He
shook his
head
and
scanned the
trees.
“I
don’t
know.
There
has to be
some kind of
town
around
here.
Unfortunately,
we
don’t
have
time to
find
it
right
now.”
He
gestured
with his
eyes
toward
the
sky.
“The
sun
will
be
going
down in
a
few hours,
and
we
need to block this
opening.
We
don’t
want
anything
surprising
us in
the
middle of
the
night.”

I
glanced
from
him to the
cave
to the
trees.
My
throat
felt
tight.
I
still couldn’t
understand
why
there
were
zombies that far up
the mountain.
And why
did they
look so
fresh?
Most of
the
zombies we
ran
into had
been
turned
years
ago. Their
clothes
were
extremely
tattered
and
decomposition
was
setting
in.
These
ones
looked
like
they
had only
been wandering
for
months.
Maybe
I
was
wrong. Maybe
the
cool
mountain
air
kept
them
preserved.
God,
I
hoped
the
cool
mountain air
preserved
them.

“Why
don’t
we
just do a
sweep? See
if
we can
find
their
source.
We
still have
a
few
hours.”

He
shook his
head.
“We
don’t know
how long
it’s
going
to
take
or how many
there
are.
There’s
only
two of
us,
and
you’re
wounded.
I
think it’s
best
if
I
get
some
of
the
guys
to
help
me
block off
this
opening,
then they
can
do a
search
while we
head to
Casper.”

I
sighed.
Of
course
he
was
right.
I
forgot
about
warning
the
people
in
Casper.
We
needed
to get to
them as
soon as possible. We
had
no idea
when
Florida
would
do their
patrols.
The
sooner
we
got
to them, the
better.