Life After The Undead (Book 2): Death to the Undead (28 page)

Quinn shook his
head.
“Who
knows?
I’m
sure
they
have
another
safe
house
somewhere. That
guy
we
saw
on the
roof
was
probably
the
last to
leave.
I
bet
they
left
five
minutes
after
we
did.”

I
wanted
to hunt
them
down,
find
out
where
they
had
gone.
It
wasn’t
fair. They
couldn’t
just up
and
leave
after
sentencing
us to
death.
I
felt
cheated.
I
wanted
my
revenge.
In
actuality,
though,
I
wouldn’t
have
gone
through
with actually
feeding
Duncan
to the
zombies.

Liet
shot me,
and
he
was
still
alive.
I
was
pretty
confident
I
would
have
punched
Duncan,
however.
I
couldn’t
let
him
get
away
without some
punishment.

I
looked
at
Quinn.
“Do
you
want
to
go
in? Just to
make
sure?”

He
shook his
head.
Disappointment
covered
his
face.
He
probably
had visions of
revenge
dancing
through
his
mind, pushing
him
through
the
zombie-infested
streets,
and
they
were
dashed, just like mine.

“Nah.
We
need to get back.
Figure
out
what
that
building
is behind the
caves
and
formulate
a
plan
for
invading
Florida.”

“Do
you
want
to head back
and
get
our stuff?”

He
thought
for
a
moment.
“No.
I
think
we’ll
just
leave
it
there
for
a
while.
Even
with the
creatures
following
us, there
were still so
many.
I
doubt the
place
is
safe. It’s
just some
clothes
and
food.
We’ll
get
it
later.”

I
nodded.
“Okay.
Works for
me.” I
rubbed
my
shoulder.
“Do
you
think
you
can drive?”

“Oh,
yeah,
sure.” He
tossed his
guns
in the
backseat
and
opened
his door.

I
scooted
over
to the
passenger
seat
and
leaned
my
head
against the
headrest.

Quinn put the
truck
in gear,
and
we
headed
to the
highway.

“Do
you
think the
spotter
saw
us?”
I
asked
as
we
drove
out of town.

“At
the mall?”

I
nodded.

Quinn
sighed.
“I
don’t
know.
It’s
hard
to
say.
If
he
was
smart,
he
would have
just
high-tailed
it out of
there
after
the
truck exploded.”

“Do
you
think
they’ll
come
after
us?”

Quinn
glanced
at
me.
“No. They
wouldn’t
waste
their
time.”

“How
can
you
be
so sure?”

“Because
we
don’t
know
where
they
went.
If
we
followed
them
and
threatened
their
new
sanctuary,
I’m
sure
they
would just shoot us on the spot.
They’ll
fade
back
into the
shadows
and live
their
lives
like
this
never
happened.
I
doubt
we’ll
ever
see
them again.”

I
placed
my
foot on the
dashboard.
“For
their sake,
I
hope
we
don’t.”

Quinn
placed
both hands
on the
wheel.
His knuckles
turned
white
as
he
gripped it
tighter. “Yeah,
I
have
to
agree
with
you.
That
was pretty
messed
up
what
they
did.
But
you
can’t
blame
them.”

I
chuckled. “Oh,
yes
I
can. And
I
will. The
last
thing
we
need is another
bounty
on
our
heads.
There’s
already
enough
people
trying
to kill us.”

We
both
sat
in
silence for
a
while. I
replayed
the
whole
scene
from
the
jail
in
my
head.
We
were
lucky
to
get
out
alive,
especially
with the
shape
I
was in.
My
hearing
started
to
come
back,
along
with the
ringing
in
my
ears. I
hoped that wouldn’t
last
for
long.
My
whole
body
hurt, too. Every
muscle
felt like
it
was
on
fire,
and
my
bones
ached.
My
shoulder hurt so bad it
pulsed. I
desperately
wished
I
had
a
pain
killer,
but those
were
in the
bags
lying
in
the
street.
It
made
me
hate
Duncan
and
his
crew
that
much
more.
It
made
me
continue
to hate
Liet,
too. I
wanted
so badly
to make
him
feel
like
I
did, to shoot him in the shoulder
and
see
how
well
he
handled
it.
If
he
was
still in our
possession,
I
probably
would do it.
It
would
relieve
a
lot of
anger
and
make
me
feel
better.
Too
bad
he
wasn’t still in
our
possession.

“Do
you
think they
found
Liet?”
I
asked.

Quinn
clicked
his tongue. “I
doubt it.
He’s
not
stupid. He
won’t
go
back to the
camp.
He’ll
head to
Florida.
He’s
needs
backup if he
wants
to take
us
down.”

I
looked
out the
window.
That
was
the
first
thought
to
cross
my
mind too, but
I
was never
sure
with
Liet.
He
didn’t
always
act
logically.
I
chewed
on
my
thumbnail.
I
really
hoped
he
headed to
Florida,
but something
at
the
back
of
my
brain told me
not to
count
on it. I
hoped
I
was
being
overly
cautious.

CHAPTER
9

In
the time
we
were gone, the
survivors
had
placed
a
barricade
across the
only
road
into
Dashton.
It
was a
tree,
so it
looked
like
it
happened
naturally.
It
wouldn’t
raise
suspicion.
They
also
had
lookouts in the
forest
on
either
side.
If
someone
tried to
get
into our safe
haven
uninvited, they
wouldn’t
make
it
far.

Quinn
pulled
up to the
log
and
slowed, cursing
under
his
breath.
At
that
point, we
didn’t realize
it
was
done
on
purpose.
He
leaned
forward
and
glanced
out the
windshield,
sizing
up how easy
it would be
to
move the
tree.
The
bushes on
my
side of
the
truck
rustled,
and a
worker
stepped up to the
road,
an
automatic
weapon
slung
across
his
chest.
He
glanced
into the
truck
and
signaled
the
others.
I
rolled
down
the
window.

“Sorry,
guys.
We
didn’t
realize
it
was
you.
Didn’t
you
take
a
semi out?”

I
scowled.
“Yes.
We
ran into some
trouble.”

“Sorry
to
hear
that.
You’ll be
back
at
camp in no time.”
He
turned
and
disappeared
into the
trees.

The
others
moved
the tree
out of the
way,
swinging
it
open
like
a
gate.
I
glanced
out the
back
window
and
wondered
how they
rigged
it to do
that.
It
was
a short-
lived
curiosity.
I
was just happy
they
looked out for
everyone’s
well
b
eing.

We
parked
the truck next to the
other
vehicles
and
stepped
out.
My
knees
gave
out and
I
almost
fell,
but
I
caught
myself
on the door
handle.
I
still
couldn’t
believe
how
sore
I
was.
It
bordered
on
ridiculous.
My
first
task
was
to find some
pain
pills and
something
to
eat.
I
took a
few
cautious
steps
on shaky
legs.
When
I
knew
they
weren’t
going
to
give
out,
I
went
to find a
First
Aid kit.

Quinn
and
I
met
at
the
fire
after
I
found
what
I was looking
for.
The
group
had made
a
stew,
and
we
ate
heartily.
They
wanted to
know
what
happened
out
there.
The
looks of
defeat
on our
faces
increased
curiosity,
along
with the
fact
that we
lost a
semi.
Nobody
asked,
though,
and
we
weren’t
ready
to
talk
about
it.
There
was no point in
causing
any
more
undue
stress.
The
survivors
had
enough
to worry
about,
they
didn’t
need
to know more
humans
might
try
to kill them.
Besides,
the
events
were
too
fresh,
too
real.
The
emotions
ran
deep,
and
I
doubted either
Quinn or
I
could
get
through
the story
without
getting
overly
agitated. Eventually,
we’d
tell the
story.
When it
didn’t
irritate
every
fiber
of
our
being.
Pam
sat across
from
us
at
the
fire,
and
she
would surely
ask
what
happened.
Of
course
I
would
tell
her,
and
then it
wouldn’t
take
long for
the
story
to
get
out.
That
was
a
nice
thing
about
such
a
small
community,
but it was also
the
bad
thing.
One
person
could
twist the
facts
and
panic
would
follow.
I
hoped it didn’t
happen,
but
I
wouldn’t be
surprised
if it did.

The
pill took
effect.
My
body
was still
sore,
but the
pain
didn’t
border
on
unbearable.
Quinn put his arm
around
my
shoulder,
and
I
snuggled
closer
to him. We
stared
at
the
fire.
In
any
other
circumstance,
it would
have
been
romantic.
It
was still
pleasant,
but
far
from
ideal.
One
day,
I
told
myself. One
day
we’ll
be
able to
spend
every
night
like this and
not have
to worry
about
anything.
However,
given
the
recent
happenings,
I
highly
doubted
that
day
would ever
come.

“So,
do
I
actually
have
to ask, or
are
you
just going
to
tell
me?” Pam
held
her
hands
out to her
sides,
an
anxious
look on her
face.

Quinn
sighed.
“They
tried to
kill us.”

“Who?”

“The
survivors
in Casper. They
sent zombies to
attack
us while
we
were
sleeping
in the
jail.”

“Why?”
Pam’s
forehead
wrinkled
in
confusion.
She
placed
her
hands
in
her
lap
and
leaned
forward.

I
sat up
reluctantly.
“Who knows? I
can
only
speculate
that it
was
because they
thought
we
would
endanger
them
since
we
knew
where
they
were
hiding.
I’m
sure
they
thought
by
getting
rid
of us,
they
could
ensure
their
safety.
We
tried to
go
back
and
confront
them, but they
were
gone
when
we
got
there.”

Pam
stared
at
us for
a
minute.
“Are
you
sure?”

I
threw
my
hand
into the
air
and
slapped
it back
on
my
leg. “Well,
no.
But
we
couldn’t
exactly
find
them to
ask
them.
They
fled
from the
mall.”

Pam
averted
her
gaze
to
the
ground
and
picked
at
some
pine
needles.
She
threw
them
into the
fire. “Seems
like
a
lot of
hassle
to
go
through.
They
could
have
just
disappeared
and
you’d
never
know
where
they
went.
Why
did they
need to kill
you?”