Life After The Undead (Book 2): Death to the Undead (46 page)

She
signaled
to her
bodyguard. “Take
her to the
hospital.”

Reluctantly,
Liet
undid his side of
the
handcuff
and
slapped
it onto the
other
man’s
wrist.
I
glanced
at
Liet
over
my
shoulder
and
pushed
out
my
bottom lip.

“Should’ve
shot me
after
taking
care
of
Quinn.”

He
pointed
at
me. “There’s
still a
chance
I
can take
care
of
you.”

I
smiled
and
nodded. “Sure
there
is.”

The
bodyguard
jerked
on
my
wrist.
I
turned to head
out the
door
and
ran
into
Pearl.

“Krista?”
she
squeaked. “What’s
going
on?”
Tears
moistened
her
eyes.

The
man pulled me
into the
elevator.

“Don’t
worry,
Pearl. Everything
is
going
to be all
right.”

The
door
slid shut
as
a
tear
dropped
onto her cheek. I
knew
she
didn’t believe
me, but
what
else
could
I
say?
I
knew
it
wasn’t
going
to be
all
right,
but
I
was
fine
with
my
fate.
I
welcomed
it.

CHAPTER
14

The
best
part
about being a
prisoner
of
The
Families
was
I
didn’t have
to
wait
to be
seen
by
a
doctor. We
walked
into the
hospital
and
went
straight
to
x-ray.

“I’ll
need
you
to remove
the
sling
and
your
shirt,”
the
nurse
said
matter-of-factly.

I
stared
at
the
bodyguard
and
held
up
my
wrist.
“You
gonna
help me
out here?”

He
scowled
and
unlocked
my
side
before
folding his
arms
across
his chest. I
lifted
the sling
strap
over
my
head.

“You
gonna
watch me
undress too?”

He
clicked
his
tongue
and
walked
to the
door.

Luckily,
Private
Lamb
Chop
came
with
us.
She
stepped
into the
room
and took
over
babysitting
duties.

It
took less than
ten
minutes to
have
x-rays
done,
and
then
I
was
placed
in an
examination room to
wait
for
the
doctor.
The
bodyguard
reattached
our
wrists
and
stood
next to me,
scowling.
He
glanced
at
his
watch
several
times
and
sighed.

“Must
be
such
a
waste of
your
time,”
I
told him.
“I’m
sure
you
would
rather
be
killing
innocent people.”

“What?”

In
my
opinion, there
should
have been
more
shock in
his
voice,
but he actually
sounded
more
bored than
anything.

“I
know
about
the
zombies,”
I
whispered.
“The
ones
you
planted
in the
supply
truck
after
your
visit
to
North
Platte.”

He
smiled
and
leaned
forward,
matching
his volume
with mine.
“Good
luck
proving
that.”

The
door
opened
and
the
doctor
stepped
in. He
placed
my
x-ray
on the
light
board.

“Things
look pretty
good.
Some of
your
screws
shifted,
which
might
cause
slight
deformation
when the
bone
heals
completely,
but it
won’t
hinder
your
shoulder
function.”
He
stepped to
me
and
lifted
my
shirt.
“No sign
of
infection. That’s
good. But
these stitches
are
way
over
due
for
removal.”
He
stepped
in front of
me.
“I’ll
get
you
some
pain pills and
send
in the
nurse.
You’ll
have
to wear
your
sling
for
six
weeks,
and
try
to
refrain
from
physical
activity. Anything
else
you
need
me to
look
at? Maybe
this nasty
lump on the side of
your
head?”

“The
lump’s
fine.
It’ll
heal
faster
than
my
shoulder.
But
I
seem
to have
a
strange
growth
on
my
wrist.”
I
held
up the
handcuffs.
“I
think it
might
be
cancerous.”

The
doctor
wasn’t amused. He
nodded
curtly
before
leaving
the
room.
The
nurse
came
in a
few
minutes
later
to
remove
my
stitches.

The
ride
to the
jail
was
uncomfortable.
My
skin
was
prickly
and
itchy
from
the
threads
being
pulled
out. Plus,
I
was
tired.
I
may
have
slept a
lot in the
Hummer,
but it
was
far
from
restful. I
looked
forward
to a
shower
and
a
real
bed. I
also
looked
forward
to leaving
my
present
company.
They
bored me. I
wanted
to
be
alone.

Private
Lamb
Chop took me
directly
to the
showers.
She
undid the
handcuffs
and
cut
off
the twine
around
my
ankles.
The
bodyguard
rubbed
his
wrist
and
scowled
at
me.

“Let
me
know if
she
gives
you
any
trouble,”
he
told
the
private before
leaving
the
room.

With some
difficulty,
I
stripped out of my
clothes.
She
handed
me a
mini shampoo and tiny
bar of
soap.

“I’ll
get
you
a
towel and
change
of
clothes.”

“This
isn’t
enough,”
I
told
her.
“I
need
at
least
two
more.”

She
scowled
as
she
examined
me. I
could
only
imagine
what
ran
through
her
mind. I
knew
I
was
dirty.
I
spent
four
days
in a truck.
Before
that, we
camped in the
woods
and
traipsed
through
caves. Fresh
water
wasn’t a
luxury
to be
used for
bathing. Eventually,
she
slapped
more
toiletries
into
my
hand.

I
stepped into the
concrete shower.
The
smell of
mildew
drifted
in the
air,
and
a
shower
dripped
at
the
far
end
with a plink-plink sound. The
floor
was slick
under
my
feet.
The
water
turned on with a
squeak
of the
handle.
The
warmth
felt like
heaven
on
my
skin,
and
a
layer
of
dirt
washed
down the
drain.

My
mind
drifted
to Quinn. I
fought
back
the tears
forming
in
my
eyes.
How
could
this have
happened?
How
could
we
have
been
so stupid to
walk
into a
trap?

No, stop it. We
didn’t
know
Liet
was
in
that
cave.
How
could
we?
It
was
circumstance,
that’s
it. Still,
there had
to have
been
something
I
could’ve
done.
Maybe
fought
harder,
pushed against
Liet
sooner. My vision became blurry with tears, and my chest tightened to the point it was difficult to breathe. My knees became weak and threatened to give out. It would have been so easy to give in to my grief. I could have lost it right there. But I knew I was being watched. I couldn’t let them know how much Quinn’s death affected me. I couldn’t let them win.

If
only
we’d
taken
care
of
Liet
when
we
had
the
chance.
I
sucked
in a
deep
breath.
I
couldn’t
worry
about
it,
I
shouldn’t. I
couldn’t
change
it.
I
did
my
best.
Still,
it
didn’t
make
me
feel
better. I
held my emotions
until
I
was
physically
exhausted.