Life After The Undead (Book 2): Death to the Undead (66 page)

“But
I
didn’t miss
you
as
much
as
I
missed
them.”
I
dropped
my
gaze
to
my
lap. “I
wanted to, but
I
couldn’t.
There
was a
numbness,
and
my
brain told me
I
didn’t
know
you
well enough…”
My
voice
drifted
to
a
whisper.

I
couldn’t
go
on.
My
throat
was
tight,
it
was
hard
to
breath.
He
hated
me,
I
knew
it.
He
thought
I
didn’t care
that he
was
killed,
that
I
went
on with
my
life
like
nothing
happened.
He
was
going
to
leave.
I
couldn’t
blame
him.
He
needed
to know
he
would be
missed,
and
I
couldn’t
tell
him
what
he
wanted
to
hear.
I
didn’t want him to
go,
but
what
could
I do to
stop
him?
I
cared
about
him,
I
truly
did, but not
more
than
my
parents. Surely,
he
understood
that.

“So,
when
you
found
out
I
was
alive,”
Quinn
said
softly,
“you
didn’t want to lose me
again.
You didn’t
want
to
deal
with the pain.”

I
nodded but didn’t look
at
him.

“When
my
dad
went
missing,
I
lost the only
family
I
had
left. Like
you,
I
felt
hollow,
lonely.
I
desperately
wanted
to look for
him. I
had to
fight
my
heart and
conscience
to stay
at
the
ranch
like
he
instructed. I
still
hope
one
day
he’ll show
up.
Even
if
he’s
a
zombie,
at
least
I’ll
know
what
happened
to him.”
He
took a
deep
breath
and wiped his nose
on the
back
of
his hand.
“Helping
others
aids in filling
the void. When
I
met
you,
it
was
the
same
thing
you
felt.
You
reminded
me
of
the beauty
in the
world.
I
wasn’t
alone
with
you.
When
Liet
took
you,
my
world
ended. I
wasn’t
going
to
let
you
disappear
without
knowing
what
happened
to
you.
I
expected
to
find
your
body
on the side of the
road.
Sadly,
I
was
okay
with
that.
At
least
I’d
know
what
happened
to
you.”

I
looked into his
face.
His
cheeks
were
wet.
He
touched
my
face
again.

“It’s
what
we
do to survive,”
he
whispered.
“It’s
how
we protect
ourselves.
I
know
you
care
about
me
because
I
care
about
you.”

“Will the
pain
ever
go
away?”

“I
don’t
know.
But
I
dull it
when
I
fight
for
others,
when
I
put
myself
at
risk
for
them.
Whether
you
believe
it or
not,
these people
and this country
are
worth it.
Even
if they
aren’t
grateful.”

“It
does help a
little,
I
guess.
Especially
knowing
I’m
doing
it with
you.”

Quinn
pulled
me
forward
and
wrapped
me in a
hug.
It
felt
great
to be
in his arms. His
heart
beat
in his
chest,
right
next to mine.
He smelled
like
sweat
and dirt, but
I
liked
it. I
tightened
my
grip
around
him
and
hoped he
would
never
let
go.

“Your
parents
would be
proud
of
what
you’re
doing,”
he
said.

I forced a smile. “So
would
yours.”

CHAPTER
20

Quinn
eventually
took a
shower,
and
I
made
us
something
to
eat.
Do
you
know how
long
it’s been
since
I’ve had
macaroni
and
cheese?
I
ate
an
entire
box
by
myself.
It
was
delightful!
And
I
downed
it
all
with
an
ice
cold
glass
of
milk.
It
had
been
a
long
time
since
I
was
able
to do that, too. We
had
refrigeration
in
North
Platte,
but with
electricity
being
spotty,
I
never really
trusted that
the milk
was
all
right.
Trust
me,
you
don’t
want to drink a
glass
of
bad
milk, makes it
hard
to
want
to
ever
drink
milk
again.

We
settled
back
in
front
of
the
TV
with
our
bowl
of
mac
and
cheese
and
other
munchies. Tanya’s
cupboards
were
loaded with chips and
pretzels
and donuts, and they
were
fresh.
The
packaging
wasn’t
from
brands
I
remembered,
so
I
hoped
the
people
figured
out how to
manufacture new
products.
It
would come
in handy
when
we
repopulated
the
U.S.
With nothing
else
to do, we
stayed
there
all
day.
It
was the
best
way
to stay
out of
trouble
and
gave
us something
to do.
Eventually,
we
fell
asleep.

My
head
was
on Quinn’s
chest,
drool
flowed
out
of
my
mouth.
I
sucked
in
the
spit and
stretched.
I
noticed
the puddle
on his shirt.
Crap!
How
gross
was
that? Quinn
was
going
to freak
when
he
woke
up. I
tried to
wipe
it
away.
Maybe
he
wouldn’t
notice.
His eyes
opened
slowly
and
he
extended
his
arms
over his
head.

“What
time
is it?”

“Um,
uh.”
I
fumbled
for the
remote.
“I
don’t
know.”
I
hit a
button, hoping
it would display
the
time.
I
glanced
back
at
Quinn.
He
wiped
at
the
wet
spot on his shirt.
“Sorry.”
I
cringed.

He
chuckled. “It’s
fine. It’ll
dry.”

“Looks
like its six
thirty.”

As soon
as
the
words
were
out of
my
mouth, the
TV
blinked
off.
It
stayed
off
for three
seconds before
coming
back
on.
Ten
seconds later, it
went
off
again.
I
turned to
Quinn. He
glanced
from
the
TV
to me,
eyes
wide.

“I
think that
was
the signal.”

My
heart rate
increased. “Really? That
fast?”

He
shrugged. “He
told
us
the
power
would
go
out.
Unless
it’s a
huge
coincidence,
I
say
we
need to
pay
Mrs.
Johnson a
visit.”

I
nodded.
“Right. Okay.
We
can
do this.”

Quinn
pulled
the
right
half of
his mouth into a
grin.
“It’s
going
to be
fine.
Just
remain
calm,
stay
alert,
and
we’ll
come
out of
this alive.”
He
ran
his
fingers
through
my
hair
before
planting a
kiss on
my
lips.

I
kissed
him back, wrapping
my
good
arm
around
his
neck.
We
stayed
like
that for
several
minutes.

Eventually,
he
pulled
away,
but not far.
The
tips
of
our
noses
almost
touched.

“I
won’t
let
anything
happen to
you,”
he
assured
me.

“I
know. I
won’t let anything
happen to
you,
either.”

He
pulled
away
and
stood.
Grabbing
his
handgun
off
the
couch,
he
placed
it in
his
holster.
Then,
he
grabbed
his rifle
and
placed
it on his
shoulder.
I
fastened
my
one
arm
sword
onto
my
good
arm
and
put
my
Zigana
at
the
small
of my
back. I
didn’t bother
with the
holster.
The
gun
wouldn’t
have
been in it
much
anyway.
I
didn’t
realize
how
much
I
missed
my
sword
until it
was
gone.
The
weight
had
become
comfortable,
secure. I
felt
naked
without it.
Both
of us would
have preferred
more
weapons,
but we couldn’t carry
much more
weight.
We
were
going
to have
to make
do with
what
we
had.

“How
do
you
want
to do
this?”

I
took a
deep
breath. “Well,
walking
through
the
front
door is out of the
question.
There’s
probably
a
service
entrance.
We
could try
that.”

Quinn
nodded. “We’ll
have
to assume
with
the
power
out,
her
bodyguards
are
going
to be extremely
cautious.
So we
need
to
be
too.”
He leaned
forward
and
gave
me
another
kiss.
“Good
luck.”

“Pfft!
We
don’t
need
luck!
We’re
that
good.
We
can
do this with our
eyes
closed!”

I
wished
I
felt
as
brave
as
I
sounded.
In
reality,
I
was
scared
to death.
My
stomach
cramped,
my
palms
were
moist. I
hadn’t
been
that
afraid
since
the
first
time
I
went
into the
West.

He
smiled
and
headed
for the
window. I
sighed
and
followed
behind
him. My
heart rate
was
incredibly
rapid,
my
legs
felt like
jelly.
It
was
one
thing
to
go
up
against
a zombie,
you
knew what to
expect.
They
wanted
to
kill
you
and
eat
you.
They
were
simple.
Humans
were
not
that
simple. Their
motivation
varied.
They
also
carried
weapons. Zombies
had
numbers on
their
side, but
they
weren’t
going
to shoot at
you.
There
was comfort in
knowing
that.