Life After The Undead (Book 2): Death to the Undead (54 page)

“You
doing
all
right
back
there?”
Private
Lamb
Chop
glanced
at
me
through
the
rearview.

“Peachy,”
I
growled.

“You
know,
not to defend them or
anything,
but at
the
time,
they
probably
thought
they
were
doing
what
was
best
for
the
country.”

“Fine.
We
can’t
change
what
they
did to
lead
to our
demise. But
The
Families
have choices.
They
have
helicopters
and
fire
power.
Do
you
know how
easy
it
would be
to
take
out the
zombies
from
the
air? They
need
to do
something.”

“They
are
happy
here.
And so
are
most of the
people. You
didn’t
have
to
go
into the
West.”

Why
did people
keep
saying
that?
Yes,
I
had
a
choice,
and
I
made
it. I
didn’t
want
to stay
in
Florida.
Would
my
life
have
been
easy?
Probably. But
there’s
more
to living
than just
existing.
If
I
had to do it all over
again,
I
would make
the
same
decisions
I
already
made.

“It’s
our
country,”
I
spoke
between
gritted
teeth.
“Why
would we
let
them
win?
Why
should we
hide
while the
zombies
roam
free?
We
can
take
it back. We
should.” I
focused
my
gaze
out the
window.

Why
was
I
wasting
my
breath?
She
didn’t
care.
I
had
to get out of jail. I
had to get
Bill
and
Kyle
free.
If
Florida
didn’t
want
our help,
fine,
they
wouldn’t
get
it.
But
I
refused
to die
down
here.
If
I
was
going
to
be
killed, it
was
going
to be
on
my
terms.
Not because
some
ninny
thought
I
went
against
her
stupid
rules.

The
rest
of the drive
was
accomplished
in
silence,
as
was
the
walk
back to
my
cell.
I
kept
my
back
to Private
Lamb
Chop until
I
heard
the door
click
shut behind me. I
hurried
to the
bars.

“What’s
going
on?”
Bill
asked.

“We’ve
got
to
get
out of
here,”
I
told him.

Kyle
folded
his
arms
across his
chest. “That’s
a
wonderful
plan.
How do
you
expect
to
accomplish
it?”

“Quinn
showed
me
that
every
jail has a
fake
block
in
the
ceiling.
Like
the
hatch
by
the
guard
desk,
it’s
a
means
of
getting
people
into the jail to stop a
riot.”

“Yeah? So?
It’s
in the
hall.
How
are
we
supposed
to
get
into the
hall
if we’re
locked
in our cells?”

Bill’s
attitude irritated
me. Wasn’t he
the one
who
said
I
needed to
figure
something
out?
Why
was
he
crapping
on
all
my
ideas? I
took a
deep
breath
and
attempted
to
calm
down.

“Do
you
mind working
with me
a
little?
I
haven’t
thought
that
far.
I
was
hoping
you
two
could
help
me.
Sheesh!”

Bill
held up his
hands
in
surrender. “I’m
sorry.
You’re
right.
Give
us a
minute.
We’ll
see what
we
can
come
up
with.”

“Thank
you.”
I
was
about to
head
to
my
cot
when
the door
opened
and
stopped
me.
Private
Lamb
Chop
stepped
into the
hallway,
followed
by
Pearl.
My
mouth
dropped
open.

“You
have
a
visitor.”
She
turned
to
Pearl. “Make
it
quick.
I
can
only
keep the
cameras
off
for
a
few
minutes.”

Pearl
nodded
and
stepped into the
room.
She
walked
up to
my
cell
and
placed
her
hands
on the
bars.
“Hey,
how
are
you
doing?”

I
blinked,
wondering
if she
was
actually
there
or
if
I
fell
asleep.

“Look,
I
don’t
have
much time.”
She
shifted
her
weight
from one
foot
to the
other.
“But
I
might have
a
way
to get
you
out of
here.”

“Why
would
you
do that?”

She
cocked
her
head
to the
side,
hurt
covering
her
face. “You’re
my
friend.
You
don’t
deserve
this.”

There
was a
soft
knock
on
the
door.

“I
have
to
go. Be
ready
for
the
power
outage.”
She
hurried
down
the hall
and
out the
door.
I
stared
at
Bill
and
Kyle.

Kyle
shook his head.
“It’s
a
good
thing
you
have
friends
down
here.”

“I
guess.
Pearl is the
last
person
I
would
expect
to
help
us. And
who
knows
what
the
private
is
planning.
Stay
on
your
guard.”

***

We
spent
the
rest
of the day
hanging
out in our
cells,
waiting.
I
paced
the
tiny
space,
chewing
on
my
nails,
trying
to
figure
out what
was
going
on. Pearl
wasn’t
one
for
action.
Never
had been.
She
was
afraid
to leave
Florida,
scared
to death
of
zombies.
Why
would she
go
out of
her
way
to help us now?

And
that
private. Man,
I
had
no idea
what to think
about
her.
She
talked
the
talk,
sounded
like she
wanted
to
change
the
world,
but was she
serious?
I
didn’t know
her,
I
couldn’t
trust
her.
Then, she
made
it a
point to
tell
me
Liet
asked
her
to
stay
on
and
watch
me.
That
really
didn’t
instill me
with
confidence. Liet,
as creepy
and
ugly
as
he
was,
had
a
way
with women.
It
must have
been
the
power
thing
because
he
could
convince
them to do
strange things
for
him. And
I’m
not talking
about
gross
sexual
things. I thought about
the
girl
who
attacked
me in his
office.
Those
kinds of
things.
What if he
convinced
Private
Lamb
Chop
to
let
me
out and
turn
me
over
to him so he
could
kill
me?
He
had
several
chances,
but he
never
took them. Something
was
seriously
wrong
with
that
man,
but
I
wouldn’t
put it
past
him
to
eventually
take
his
revenge.
Never
trust
the insane.