Life After The Undead (Book 2): Death to the Undead (18 page)

Her
eyes
grew
wide
and
she
stopped
pacing. “To
what?
They
weren’t
there
when
the truck
came.
How
would they
know
if
you
placed
the
zombies
or not?”

Quinn shook his
head.
“They
know us
better
than
that. They
would
have
vouched for
us. The
world
doesn’t
revolve
around
you
and
your
pain,
Tanya. There
are
bigger
things
out
there,
more
people
who counted on
them. You jumped to a
conclusion,
and
out of
anger
and
spite,
you
did
what
you
thought
was
right.
We
could’ve
done
the
same
thing.
We
could’ve
killed
Liet
out of
anger,
but where
would that
leave
us?
With
blood
on our
hands.
With the
guilt
of
knowing
we
killed a
human
being.
He
might
have
had a
change
of
heart,
he
might
have
decided he
wanted
to
help
us, but
we’d
never
know if we
killed him.
Just
like
you’ll
never know
what
Bill
and
Kyle could
have
done
for
the
revolution
because
you
let them
get
captured.”

He
continued
to stare
at
her,
his
face turned
red. Her
anger
softened,
and
her
eyes
became
glassy.
She
plopped
onto the
ground,
her
chin
quivered.
I
thought at
any
moment
the
tears
would
fall. I
wanted to
say
something,
I
wanted
to
break
the tension, but
I
didn’t know how.

Tanya
did
what
she
thought
was
right.
Yes, it was out of
anger,
but how
was she supposed to know? Did
she
jeopardize
the mission and the lives of
our
friends? Yes,
but it
was
done.
We
couldn’t
change
it. I
was shocked
by
Quinn’s
reaction
to it.
He’d
been
so
cool
before,
so
calm.
The
hate
seared
in
his
tone.
He
did his best to
keep
it
under
control,
but we
all
heard
it.
It
was
a
little
scary.

Tanya
took a
deep
breath
and
turned
away.
Quinn
lowered
his
gaze
to the
fire.
He
poked
at
it with his
stick.
I
glanced
at
Pam. She
shrugged,
then
turned
away.
What
could
anyone
say?
The
stress
was
getting
out of hand.
It
was
one
thing
to
plan
an
invasion.
It
was
another
to
figure
out how to free
our friends.
It
was a completely
different
ball
game
when
our
arch enemy
escaped. We
didn’t know
what
he planned. We
could
only
hope
he
would try
to
make
it to Florida
and
die in the process.

Was it the
nicest
thing
to hope
for?
Of
course
not.
But
it
would be
a
lot more
merciful
than
what
would happen if
he
came
back
to the
camp.

Abruptly,
Quinn stood from the
fire.
“We
need to
head
to
Casper.
We
need
to
warn
those
people.”

I
wasn’t
going
to
argue. Anything
was
better
than
sitting
in
that
tension.
I
stood, and so did
Pam.

“You
want
a lookout?”
she
asked.

Quinn
faced
her. The
anger
melted
from
his
face.
His
jaw
muscles
loosened. “I
do, but someone
needs to
stay
here
in case
Liet
comes
back.
You have
the
respect
of
the
people,
you
can keep them
together.
Krista
and
I
can
handle
it.”

She
nodded.

We
headed
to the
semi
Liet
escaped
from.
After
detaching
the
trailer,
we
drove
down the
mountain. I
stared
out the
window, still
searching
for
something
to
say
to Quinn. Nothing
came
to mind.
It
had
been
a
long
night,
and we
were
both
tired.
It
would have
been
best
to
get
some
sleep, but we
didn’t
have
time.
We
wasted
enough
of
it looking
for
Liet,
we
had
to
make
sure
those
people
in
Casper
were
going
to be
safe.

I
placed
my
elbow
on the
door
handle
and
leaned
my
forehead
against
my
hand.
Everything was
unraveling. Everything
seemed so bleak. There
were
zombies close
to the
safe
haven we
led the
survivors
of
North
Platte
to.
If
even
one
of those
things
got
into
camp
and bit
one
person,
it
was
over.
Even if they
stopped
the
threat,
Quinn
and
I
were
done.
No one
would trust us, and they
would probably
blame
us
for
not warning
them. Florida
was
on the
warpath
and had the
people,
weapons,
and
technology
to take
us down.
Liet
escaped.
I
knew he
wouldn’t
rest
until he
made
Quinn
and
I
pay. I
didn’t
even
want
to think
about
what
he
was
going
to do
to us. I
didn’t say
it out loud, but Quinn
was
right.
We
should
have attacked
North
Platte
and
Florida
at
the
same
time.

CHAPTER
6

A bump
caused
my
head
to hit the
window,
and
I
jerked
awake.
I
hadn’t
realized
I
fell
asleep.
I
stretched
and
glanced
over
at
Quinn.
His
eyes
were
focused
on the
road,
his jaw
muscles
still
prominent.
He
was still upset,
still
thinking
about
what
happened
in Dashton.
Again,
I
tried
to think of something
to
say.
Still, nothing
came to
mind. I
glanced
out the
windshield. Casper
lay
stretched
out in
front
of us. A horde
of
zombies
milled
on
the
horizon. I
thought
back
to
the
last
time
we
were at
the
mall.
Hundreds
of
them
had
converged
on our
position,
ready
to attack
and
eat anything
that
ventured
into
the
parking
lot.
Luckily,
the
survivors
in the
mall were
prepared
for
such
an
occasion. I
could
still
smell
the
blood and
feel
the
slick
gore
as
we
hurried
across
the
parking
lot. The
gun
made
quick
work
of their rotting
flesh.
I
wondered
if it was possible
to mount a
mini
gun
on a
semi.
Then,
someone
could
ride
on top and just fire
at
will.
Maybe
it
was
something
we
could
contemplate
when
we
started
killing
zombies.

Quinn
pulled
onto the
exit
that
would
take
us to the
mall.
My
stomach
fluttered.
The
people
weren’t
very
happy
the
last time
we happened
onto
their
sanctuary,
I
could
only
imagine
what
they
were
going
to
say
when we
pulled
up
again.
Would they
believe
us when we
told
them
about
the
helicopters? Would
they
be
willing
to
leave?

“What
do
you
think they’ll
say?”
I
turned
to look
at
Quinn.

He
blinked
and
shook his
head.
“I
don’t know.” He
looked
at
me.
“We
have
to
try,
though.”

“I
know.” I
cleared
my
throat and
wiped
my
sweaty
hand
on
my
pants. “Even if they
don’t
believe
us,
if the
helicopters
do show up,
they’ll
know
what
to do.”

He
nodded
but didn’t
say
anything.

We
pulled
into
the
parking
lot.
Six zombies
milled
around,
obliviously
walking
in
circles,
waiting
for
prey
to
chance by.
They
would
be
easy
to
take
care
of. I
could
still see
the
mess
from
our
last
visit. The
asphalt
was
stained
an
unnatural
brown. Chunks of
flesh
and
body
parts
had
been
dried
by
the
sun, they
were
shriveled
and
wrinkled,
the skin colored like
tanned
leather.
The
smell
of
rotting
flesh
faded,
but
was
still
present.
It
drifted into
the
cab.
I
gagged.
Quinn shut off
the
engine,
staring
at
the
building.

“How
do
you
want
to do
this?”

He
leaned
forward.
“I
say
we
take
care
of the
zombies
from
the
truck. Fire
out the
windows. Then, we
walk
in
again,
just like
we
did
last
time.”
He
glanced
at
me.

“Okay.
Sounds like a
plan.”

He
reached
for
his door handle.

“I’m
sure
you
were
right,”
I
blurted
out.
I
didn’t
know
where
the
words
came
from,
and
I
didn’t know why I
picked that
particular
moment to say
them, but they
had
to come
out.

He
froze,
his
forehead
wrinkled.
“About
what?”

“About
Bill
and
Kyle. I’m
sure
The
Families
haven’t
hurt them.”

He
sighed.
“I
wish
I
could be so
sure.”

I
stretched
across
the seats and
wrapped
my
arm
around
his
neck.
His
arm
encircled
my
waist. I
knew
he
was
worried
about
them.
I
knew when he
said that
at
camp,
it
was
more
for his
benefit
and
not mine. I
could
tell
when
he
confronted
Tanya,
the
rage
burning
in
his
eyes,
that he
didn’t know
what
happened
to
them.
He
was
great
about keeping
his emotions in
check,
which
was
needed
when we
had a
job to do, but he
also
had
emotions,
and
they
always
found a
way
to the
surface.

He
buried
his head in
my
shoulder.
I
stroked
the
back
of
his
hair. We
sat like
that
for
several
moments.
Eventually,
he
lifted
his
head
but didn’t pull
away.

Resting
his
forehead
against mine, he
gazed
into
my
eyes.
“We
can’t
worry
about
them now.
They
know how to
take care
of themselves. As much
as
I
want
to
help
them, we
have
others to
help
first.”

“I
know.
But
you
are
still
entitled
to
your
feelings.
If
you
need
to
talk
about
anything,
I’m
here.”

He
kissed
me.
“I
know.
But
we
have
a
job to do.”

He
turned
away
and opened his door. I
watched
him
fire
a
few shots before I
rolled down
my
window
and
fired
at
the
first
creature
who
wandered
into
my
sights.

The
mall
seemed
more
humid than
I
remembered
it.
We
stood in
darkness,
shining
our
flashlights
at
nothing.

“Hello?”
Quinn
called.
“Anybody
here?”

“Maybe
they’ve
moved on,”
I
whispered.

“I
doubt it. The
boards
over the
windows look new.”
He
took a
step
farther
into the
room.
“Hello?”