Life After The Undead (Book 2): Death to the Undead (15 page)

“You’re right. Let’s
head
back.”
I
headed toward the
cave.
I
stopped
right
before
stepping
into the
darkness
and
stared
at
Quinn.
“You know this isn’t
going
to
sit
well
with
them.
You know
they’re
going
to freak.”

Quinn took a
deep
breath
and
spit.
“Yeah,
I
know.
But
they
knew
the
risks coming
out
here.”

I
clicked
my
tongue.
“Like
they
had
a
choice.”

He
placed
his
hand
on my
shoulder.
“They
always
had
a
choice.
Unfortunately,
it
was
between
being killed
by
people
from
Florida
or
zombies.
The
best
thing
we
can
do is
try
to
keep
this
as
quiet
as possible.
We’ll
tell a
few
people,
those
we
can
trust.
We
don’t
need
to
cause
a
panic.”

Again,
he
was
right.
We
were
in a
tough
spot. At
least
this way
they
had
a
fighting
chance.
At least
out
here
they
could
see
the
threat
coming
at
them
and
have
a
chance
to
defend
themselves. I
moved so
I
was next to
Quinn,
resting
my
head
on
his
shoulder.

“I
guess
we
better
stop wasting
time.”

He
kissed
the top of
my
head
before
we
hurried
back
through the
tunnel.

CHAPTER
5

Two
hours
after
sunset,
Quinn
and
the
others
came
back.
He
made
it a
point
to
speak
to
Lydia,
Chester,
and
Pam,
and they
were
more than
willing
to help block the
cave
entrance.
They
kept it
quiet
so it wouldn’t
scare
anyone.
If
anyone
asked, we
told them the tunnel
wasn’t
safe,
that
rocks
were
falling,
so we
closed
it
off
so
no one
would
get
hurt.
It
was
sufficient.

The
other
groups
who
ventured into the
cave
with us were
waiting
outside
when
we
walked
out.
Luckily,
none
of
them
ran
into
any
trouble.
Once
Quinn
gave
the
okay,
several
families
and
individuals
moved
their
stuff
into the
mountain. Others
stayed
outside.
The
wind died
down
once
the sun
set,
and
even
though
the
air
was
cool, it
was
pleasant.
We
had
to keep the
prisoners
in the
back of the
truck. There was
nowhere
else
to place
them.
They
grumbled
and
were
upset
about
it, but
what
did we
care?
They
made
their
choice.
At
least
they
were
dry
and
protected.
We
made
them
dinner
and
gave
them
blankets.
It
was more
than they
could
expect
in a
third-world
country.

We
had
to
cuff
Liet
to a
handle
in the
semi.
Again,
there was
nothing
to do
with him.
There
weren’t
any
cells
to put him in, and he
couldn’t
be
around
the
general
population. We
were
afraid of
what
he’d do
and
what
others
would do to him.
We
gave
him more
sleeping
pills, too, just
to
keep
him
under
control.
I
felt a
little
bad about
doing
it,
wondering
if we
were
doing
some
long-
term
damage,
but
then
my
shoulder
started
aching
again,
and
I
wanted
to shove
the
whole
bottle
down his
throat.
I
refrained,
of
course.

I
sat next to the
fire,
lounging
on a
blanket and
staring
into the
flames. After
whacking
my
arm
on the
rocks
in the
cave,
my
shoulder
throbbed,
so
I
took
some
pain
pills. They
numbed
me out, not just
my
shoulder,
my
entire
body.
It
was
divine. I
didn’t worry
about
zombies or
helicopters
or
Liet.
I
just
watched
the
blues,
whites,
and
oranges
dance
in the
fire.

Quinn
sat
next to me
and
kissed
my
cheek.
I
turned
my
head to look
at
him,
smiling. Concern
covered
his
face.

“You
all
right?”

“Yeah.
Why
wouldn’t
I
be?”

He
pointed
to
my
face.
“Your
eyes
look a
little
glazed.
Did
you
take
something?”

I
nodded
and
focused
my
gaze
back on the
flames.
“Yeah.
My
shoulder
was
killing
me. I
took a
pain
pill.”

“What
did
you
take?”

I
shrugged.
“I
don’t
know.
Something
out of the
First
Aid kit
Bill
carried
around.”

Quinn
placed
his
hand
on
my
leg
and
sighed.
“We’ve
got
to
figure
out
how to
get
the
brothers out of
there.”

I
placed
my
head on his
shoulder,
suddenly
overcome
by
intense
sadness.
“I
know.
Do
you
think they’re
all right?
Do
you
think The
Families
did
anything
to
them?
Like
tortured
them?”

Visions of
Bill
and
Kyle
tied
to a
table
ran
through
my
head. I
saw
Mrs.
Johnson
hooking
up
electrodes
to
their
chests
and
heads, plugging
it into a
battery,
and
laughing
manically
as
she
flipped
the
switch.
I
squeezed
my
eyes
shut,
attempting
to
get
rid of the
image.

Quinn
picked
up a
stick
and
poked
at
the
logs
in the
fire. “Nah.
I’m
sure
they’re fine.
Why
would they
need
to
torture
them? They
have
no idea
we
were
planning
an
attack.
They
don’t
even
know
who
they
are.
For
all
they
know,
Bill
and
Kyle
are
just two
drifters
who snuck into
their
state.”

I
hoped he
was
right.
It
was
impossible to know
what
Tanya
told them. She
said she
didn’t
mention
anything
about
the
invasion, but
maybe
she
said that for
her
own
safety.
She
didn’t know
what
we
would do to
her.
She
didn’t know if
we
would
get
angry
and
kill
her.
But
then
again,
maybe
she
didn’t
care. Maybe
she
was
hoping
we would kill
her.
She
just lost
her
dad,
her
last
living
relative. What
else
did she
have
to lose?

I
glanced
across
the
fire
to
where
she
sat.
She
was
staring
into the
flames
just like
me.
It
reminded
me of
that
night
my
mom
and
I
spent in the
lookout
tower,
the
night
after
the
explosion
at
the
base.
I
remembered
wishing
and
hoping
Dad
was
going
to
come
back.
I
remembered
needing
Mom to say
something,
to comfort me, but it didn’t
happen.
She
was
lost in
her
sorrow,
tormented
by
the
thought
that
Dad
was
gone.

I
wondered
what
Tanya
thought.
She
hadn’t said
much
since
we
left
North
Platte.
In
fact,
I
almost
forgot
she
was
there. She
drifted
around
the
camp,
lost in
her
own mind, her
head
down while she
chewed
on her
nail.
If
anyone
asked
her
anything,
she
would respond
with a
short
answer,
sometimes
the reply
bordered
on
incoherent.
It
was sad. I
knew
she
was depressed,
trying
to
figure
out
what
to do next, and
I
hoped
she
figured
it
out soon.
She
was
strong
and
another
human,
we
needed
her
help.