Life After The Undead (Book 2): Death to the Undead (3 page)

Pam
and
Quinn
released
her,
and
she
pointed
a
finger
in
my
direction.

“You
just
couldn’t
wait,
could
you?
You just
had
to
make
all
of us pay.”

My
throat
felt
tight
and
a
knot
developed
in
my
stomach.
I
swallowed
hard.
“What
happened
to
your
dad?”

Tanya
snarled, “Instead
of
waiting
for
the plague
to
take
its toll, he took
care
of
himself.”

I
lowered
my
gaze
to the
floor.
My
stomach
lurched,
bile
rose
into
my
throat.
I
took
several
deep breaths, but
the
feeling
never
abated.

“I’m
sorry,
Tanya.” I
looked into
her
face.
“I
really,
truly
am. But
I
did not put zombies in the
back
of the
truck.
Why
would
I
harm the
people
I’m
trying
to
help?”

Tanya
shook her
head
and
opened
her
mouth to
speak.

“Think
about
it,”
Quinn
interrupted
her.
“The
Families
were afraid
of losing
control.
They
knew
about
the
rebellion
here
in North Platte,
and
they
knew the
people
would
soon hear about it. They
had
to do
something
to
ensure
the
people
wouldn’t
revolt,
so
they
planted
zombies.”

Tanya
stared
at
him for
a
moment,
letting
the
information
sink in.
“Maybe,”
she spoke
softly.

I
stepped closer to
her. “Tanya,
please,
you
have
to
believe
us, we would never do
anything
like
that.
Smuggle
guns
to kill the
regime,
yeah,
but
we
wouldn’t
infect
Florida
with
zombies.”

Tanya
took a
deep
breath.
“Maybe.”

“Didn’t
Bill
and
Kyle
tell
you
what
was
going
on?”
Quinn
asked.

Tanya
faced
him.
“They
did.”

“What
happened
to them?”

She
took a
deep
breath
and
averted
her
gaze
to the
floor. “After
the
attack
and
my
dad’s
suicide,
guards,
um,
did
random
house
searches
and
they
were
arrested.”

Pam’s,
Quinn’s,
and
my
eyes
grew
wide.
“What?”
Quinn
glanced
from
Tanya
to
me.

“Arrested? Why?”

“They
were
outsiders,”
she
responded.
“I
guess
they
felt
they
were
a
threat
to
The
Families
and
Florida.”

“Did
they
find
out
about
the guns?” I
stammered
out
the
question.

Tanya
looked
at
me.
“No.
Those
are
still
safe.”

“How
did
you
get
here?”
Pam
chimed in.

“After
everything
calmed
down,
I
took the
boat
Bill
and
Kyle
came in on
and
found
their
vehicle
in Texas.
I
made
my
way
up here
to
you.”

“Do
you
know
what
happened to them?”
Worry
coated
Quinn’s
eyes.

“I’m
sure
they’re
not dead.
I’m
sure
The
Families
kept
them
for
interrogation.”

Quinn
rubbed
his
hand
over his mouth,
staring at
me.
“What
are
we
going
to
do? Everything
is ruined. I
told
you
we
had
to attack
simultaneously.”

Confusion
and
anger
coursed
through
my
body.
“It’s
a
moot point now.
We’ll
figure
it out.
It’ll
be
fine.”

What did he
expect
me
to
do?
I
couldn’t
change
the
past.

The
room
was
silent
for
a
long
moment.
The
group
glanced
at
each
other out
of the
corners’
of their
eyes,
then
averted
their
gazes
to
the
floor.
My
head
spun.

When we
first
took
over
North
Platte
and
found
out
there
had
been
a
spy,
I
felt like
I
was
losing
control
then, but
after
Tanya arrived,
I
knew
I
lost
my
grip. An
all-out
attack
on Florida
was
out
of the
question.
They
would
know
what
was
coming.
Plus, we
were
grossly
outnumbered
by
Floridian
soldiers.
Despite
the
tragic
nature
of the
event,
a zombie
attack
wasn’t a
half
bad
idea.
It
would
keep
the
soldiers busy
long
enough
for
our
people
to
get
in
and
take
control. There
would be
some
collateral
damage,
but in
the long
run,
it would lead to the
liberation
of
the
people
of
Florida.

I
shook the
idea
out of
my
head. How
could
I
even
think of
that? There
were innocent
people
down
there.
Children.
It
wouldn’t work.
Besides,
three
zombies had
already
done
enough
damage.
I
couldn’t
believe
Tanya
thought
we
sent the
attack.

Quinn
grabbed
my
arm and
directed
me
away
from
Tanya
and
Pam.

“We’ve
got
to
evacuate
the
city.”

“Why?”

“Don’t
you
see
what’s
going
on?
Florida
sent men
up
here
to
investigate
what
happened.
They
planted
zombies in
the
back
of the
truck
and
blamed it on us. They
are
trying
to
rally
the
masses
against
us.”

“Yeah?
So
what
else
is new?”

“The
people
they
sent here
were
the
dregs
of
society.
They
were
causing
problems in
Florida.
They
are
still
causing
problems.
This
is the
perfect
excuse to wipe
us
off
the
planet.”

My
stomach
knotted.
The
color
drained
from
my
face.
I
didn’t
want
to believe
it, but
I
knew
Quinn
was
right.
They
were
probably
on their
way
to
level
the
city.