Life After The Undead (Book 2): Death to the Undead (34 page)

I
nodded
and
grabbed
his
hand,
pulling
myself
to
my
feet. “Good
idea.
Pam,
Tanya,
you
ready?”

Quinn
glanced
sideways
at
me.
“I
think we
can
handle
this.”

“Probably. But
it’s
always
nice
to have
some
backup.”

He
turned
so his back was to
Tanya
and
he
was
close
to
my
ear. “I
don’t think it’s a
very
good
idea
for her to
go
with us. She
has
no
zombie-killing
skills.”

Quinn
was
right.
She
didn’t
have
any
experience
killing
the
undead,
but
I
wasn’t
comfortable
leaving
her in
camp.
What if she
ran
away?
What if she
had
a
way
to
contact
Florida?
If
she
was with me,
I
knew
she
couldn’t
do
anything
nefarious.
I
could’ve
left
her
with
Pam, but
she
didn’t
seem
to think keeping
an
eye
on
Tanya
was
top
priority.
I
needed
her
by
my
side. I
needed
to know she
wasn’t
going
to betray
us
again.

“This
will be a
good
opportunity
to
teach
her some,”
I
whispered.
“With any
luck,
there
won’t be any
creatures,
and
she’ll
learn
how to
sweep
an
area. Worst-
case scenario,
there
are
a
few
creatures
and
she learns
how to shoot them.”

Quinn
placed
his
hands
on
his hips and
glanced
over
his shoulder
at
her,
letting
a
slow
breath
out of his
nose.
He
turned
back to
me.

“Fine. But
I’m
not
going
to be
responsible
for
her.
If
anything
happens,
that’s
on
you.”

I
nodded. “I
can
live
with that.”

“Where’s
her
gun?”

Crap!
I
didn’t think of her
needing
a
gun.
If
I
had it
my
way,
she
wouldn’t
have
any
weapon,
but
then
Quinn
would be
suspicious,
and
I’d
have
to
tell
him about
what
she
did. It’s
not that
I
didn’t think Quinn should
know, it
was
just
that
I
didn’t know
what
he’d
do.
It
was
obvious
he
was
upset his
friends
were
prisoners in Florida.
If
he
knew
it
was
all
Tanya’s
fault, would he
completely
lose
his
mind?
I
needed
him
to
be
strong,
to stay
focused
on
what
we
had
to do,
I
didn’t
want
to risk him
leaving
and
heading
back
to the
ranch.
We
still
had
a
lot to
do,
and
a
lot of
people
counting
on
us. I
needed
his help.

“I
have
a
gun
Krista
gave
me when we
left
North
Platte,”
Tanya
spoke
quietly.
“I
think
I
left
it on
my
bed.
I
can
grab
it
before
we go into the
tunnel.”

Quinn
nodded. “Okay,
then.
Let’s
head out.”

He
headed
toward
the
cave.
Pam
followed
right
behind
him,
staring
at
me
with
eyebrows
raised,
questioning
what
I
was
doing. I
waved
my
hand,
dismissing
her
concerns.
Tanya
looked up
at
me.

“If
any
thought
of harming
us
crosses
your
mind,”
I
pointed
a
finger
at
her,
“be
rest
assured that
I
am
faster
and
I
will not
hesitate.”

She
paled
slightly.
“I’m
not going
to do
anything.
I
told
you,
I
want to make it up to
you.”

I
gestured
with an open hand
toward
the
cave. “After
you.”

She
turned
and
stepped
into the
darkness.
We
went
to her
sleeping
bag,
and
she
grabbed
her
weapon.
She
fashioned
the
belt
around
her
waist
and
adjusted
the
gun
so it sat
comfortably.
We
caught
up to
Pam
and
Quinn.

The
tunnels
felt
tighter,
the
air
thinner.
I
was
sure
it
was
because
I
was
nervous,
wondering
what
Tanya
was
going
to do. I
wanted to
believe
I
was being
overly
cautious,
I
really
did. I
mean,
Tanya
seemed to
be
genuine.
She
sounded
like
she truly
wanted
to help us,
but
I’d
fallen
for
that
before.
I
couldn’t
ignore
the
fact
that
Pam
left
her
alone,
even
after
I
told
her
not to,
and
Tanya
didn’t run.
She
could
have,
and
no one
would have
gone
after
her. Maybe
she
was
scared.
Maybe
she
knew
her
best
chance
was
with
us. Or
maybe
she had
different
orders.
If
Florida
wanted
to
crush
the
rebellion,
all
Tanya
had
to do
was
get
rid of
Quinn
and
me.
Without us,
the
rest
of
the
survivors
would
scatter
to the
wind.

It
wouldn’t take
much in
the
tunnels.
She
could
hide
behind
a
rock
on one
of the
corners,
waiting
for
me, then
fire
a
bullet
right
into
my
stomach.
Yeah,
the others
would
hear
it, but
she’d
have plenty
of time
to
get
away
before
they
figured
out what
happened.
She
could
shoot
Pam
in the
back.
Then,
when
Quinn came
back
to
see
what
was
going
on, she
could shoot him in the
head.
She
wouldn’t
get
past
me,
but she
would
have inflicted
extreme
damage.
My
palms
began
to
sweat
and
my
heart
rate
increased.
Why
did
I
let
her
have
a
gun?