Life After The Undead (Book 2): Death to the Undead (50 page)

I
raised
my
eyebrows
and
stared
at
her.
Was
that
genuine concern
I
heard in
her
voice?
She
glanced
at
me.
“We’re
not all
ogres,
you
know.
You
are
still a human,
and
I
can care about how
another
human being
feels.”

“Yeah,
but
I’m
a
prisoner.
A
bad
human.”

“Why?
Because
you
helped the
people
of
North
Platte
overthrow
Liet?
It
was
bound
to
happen.
I
know
the
type
of
people
they
were
sending
out
there.”

I
cocked
my
head to the
side,
staring
at
her. “And
what
type
of
people
were
they?”

“Free thinkers,
activists.
The
type
of people
who
might
question
authority.”
She
shrugged.
“Maybe
they
were
good
people, maybe
they
weren’t. It’s
not
my
place
to
judge.”

We
stepped
into the sally
port
where
the
van
waited.
I
had a
hard time
believing
what
I
heard.
Private
Lamb
Chop
sounded
intelligent,
she
seemed
to understand how
the
system
worked,
so
why
was she
content
with
the
situation? Didn’t
she
want
more?

I
took a
seat,
and she
fastened
my
seatbelt
before
climbing
into the
driver’s
seat.
I
stared
at
the
back
of
her
head.
Was she
an
ally?
Could
I
convince
her
to
fight
on
our
side?
She
looked
at
me
through
the
rearview.

“I
don’t
know what
happened
in
North
Platte, so
I
have
no
reason
to
question
why
you
did what
you
did.
All
I
know is it
scared
a
lot of
people
down
here.
The
Families
especially. Like
I
said, it
was
to be
expected.”

I
grunted
and
averted
my
gaze
out the
window.
If
I
said
anything,
I
could
incriminate
myself.
Maybe
that’s
what
she
was
trying
to do,
get
me
to
talk,
tell
her
what
happened,
then she’d take
it to
Liet.
Well,
I
didn’t
want
to
play.

The
garage
door
lifted
and sun
streamed
into
my
window. I
squinted
at
the
brightness.
The
vehicle
moved
forward. As
much
as
I
wanted to
believe
the private
could
come
to our side,
I
highly
doubted she
would. She
was
a
guard,
she
was
afforded
more
freedom
than
most.
She
was
the
elite,
the
pampered.
More
than
likely,
she
was
content
in her
position. Plus,
recently,
I’d
had
back
luck
with
people
I
thought
I
could
trust.
You
get
a little
nervous
when
people
try
to kill
you.

We
pulled
in
front
of the
high
school,
and the
private
hooked
me up
with
the
cuffs.
We
still
drew
a
crowd of
onlookers,
though
this wasn’t
as
large
as
the last. I
chuckled
inwardly.

We
rode
the
elevator
to the
suite.
It
was
like
déjà
vu
as
we
stepped
out the
door
and
into the
hall.
The
bodyguard
opened
the door
for
us, the
same
smirk on
his
face.
I
rolled
my
eyes.
How
irritating
would it be
to do
the
same
thing
day
after
day?
He
opened his mouth to
speak,
but
I
interrupted
him.

“Your
sarcasm
and
wit are
completely
wasted
on
me.
You should really
use it on someone
who
appreciates
it.”

His
eyes
narrowed
to slits.
It
was childish, but
I
stuck
my
tongue
out at him as
I
walked
by.

We
went
to Mrs.
Johnson’s
living
room,
where
she
waited
for
us on the
couch.
A
cup
of
coffee
was
in
her
hand,
a
look of disappointment on her
face.
We
sat
across
from
her.

She
clicked
her
tongue
and
set
her
mug
on the
coffee
table. “You
were
such a
good
girl,
Krista.
You had a
few
issues
with
authority,
but
you
still did
your
job.
You
could’ve
gone
far
in
Florida.”

I
snorted.
“Yeah,
head housekeeper
was
exactly
what
I
was
striving
for.”

“It
would
have
been a
better title
than
traitor.”
Her
tone
was
sharp.

The
anger
threatened
to boil out of
me.
All of
my
muscles
tightened,
and
my
jaw
clenched.
It
took every
ounce
of
self
-
control
to keep
from
screaming
at
her.
“When
did
you
start
caring
about
what
happened
in
North
Platte?”

Mrs. Johnson
waved
her
hand
dismissively
through
the
air.
“If
it
affects
the
people
of
Florida,
it
affects
me.”

“You
mean
if it
threatens
your
power,
then
you’ll do
something
about
it.”

Mrs. Johnson
crossed
her
legs
and
lifted
her
mug.
She
took a sip.
Laying
her
left
hand
on her
lap,
she
stared
into
her
drink
with the
other.
“I
have
a
commitment,
Krista. I
have
to protect these
people. No
one
else
can
or
will.”

“You
don’t
think they
are
capable
of
taking
care of
themselves?”

“No,”
she said
tersely.
“They
aren’t.
Without
proper
leadership,
the world
will
devolve
into anarchy
and
we’ll
be
no
better
than
the
undead
creatures
that
threw
us into
these
dark
times.”