Life After The Undead (Book 2): Death to the Undead (6 page)

Lydia
took a
deep
breath,
relief
flooded
over her
face.
“Thank
goodness.”

“We
want
to be
part
of the
planning
and
the
invasion,”
Chester stated.
His tone
implied
it
wasn’t
up
for
discussion
and
we couldn’t deny
him.

“We
can
use
all
the
help
we
can
get,”
I
told him.

“Are
there
others
who
feel the
same?”
Quinn’s eyebrows
were
pushed
together, his
expression
serious.
“Or
is it just the
fifteen
of
you?”

“Oh,
it’s pretty
much
everyone
in town,
with
the
exception
of
the kids,”
Chester was
overly
serious.
“We
also
want
to know
what
you’re
planning
on doing with
Liet
and
the
others.”

Quinn
looked
at
me
as
he
pulled
his
hand
out his
pocket
and
rubbed
the
back
of
his
neck.
He
focused
back
on the
group.
“We
haven’t
decided on that. Do
you
guys
have
any
suggestions?”

A smile
curled
onto
Chester’s
face,
deepening
the
wrinkles
on his
forehead.
“Oh,
yeah.
We’ve
got
an
idea,
but
I’m
not so sure
you’re going
to like it.”

“Well,
anything
shy
of killing
him,
we’re
willing
to
entertain.”

“We
wouldn’t
kill him
exactly.”
Lydia
looked
at
the
others
before
focusing
her
gaze back
on us. “We
would
just
drop
him
somewhere
in the
West without any
weapons
and
hope
the
zombies
take
care
of him.”

Surprisingly,
I
wasn’t
as
shocked
by
her
suggestion
as
I
should
have
been.
After
all
the
pain,
suffering,
and
heartache
Liet
caused,
a
little
payback
was
in order.
God
knows how
many
men and
women
he
sent to
their
deaths.
Trust
me,
I
entertained
the
idea
many
times
after
we
took over
North
Platte,
I
just didn’t
voice
it out
loud.
I
knew
what
Quinn would
say,
but there
was also another
issue
with the
plan: 
what
if
Liet
survived?
It
was
possible;
people
had
been doing
it in the
West since
the
outbreak. Granted,
his
chances
would
be
less without any
weapons,
but it
wasn’t
impossible.
Then
what
would he
do?
I’m
pretty
sure
he
would relentlessly
hunt all
of
us
down
and
kill us,
maybe
even
torture
us to death.
It
wasn’t
a
risk
I
wanted
to
take.
I
didn’t
want
to spend the
rest
of
my
life
looking
over my
shoulder.

Besides,
we
weren’t
like
him, so we
didn’t
need
to
enact
a
punishment
like he
would.
We
were
the future
of
the
nation,
and
we
needed to show a
little
compassion.
The
possibility
existed
that
no one
would
know what
we’d
done,
but we’d know.
Could we
in
good
conscience
continue
on knowing
what we
did to
another
human
being?
I
couldn’t
speak for
the
group
in
front
of me, but
I
was
sure
it would
haunt
me
forever.

Quinn
placed
his
hands
back in his
pockets.
“Well,
it’s
an
idea
to
consider,
though
I
can’t
guarantee
one
we’ll
employ.”

Lydia
shrugged.
“We
understand. We
just
wanted
to
put it out
there.”

Quinn
nodded
and
smiled.
“We
appreciate
it.
We
have
a
lot of work to do to
leave
the
city,
I
suggest
you
get
home
and
get
your
affairs
in
order. There
will be
plenty
of time
to
talk
about
Florida and
Liet
later.”

The
group
agreed
and
thanked us for
our time
before
heading
home.

“I
guess
I’ll
get
my
things
together,
too,”
Pam
stated.

With a
salute, she
headed
to the
women’s
house.

Tanya,
Quinn,
and
I
walked
back
to
Liet’s
old
apartment. Tanya
plopped down on the
couch.

“My
stuff is already
packed,”
she
mumbled
under
her
breath
before
focusing
her
attention
on digging
out
dirt
from
under
her
nails.

“I’ll
help
you
with
your
stuff,”
Quinn
said,
and
we
headed
to
my
room.

I
stood in the
doorway,
staring
at
my
belongings.
At
one
point,
I
would
have fought
tooth and
nail
for
them.
It
was
my
place
of
normal,
the one
area
I
could
go
to and
feel
safe, the one
place
that
was
all
my
own.
As
I
contemplated
what
I
should
take,
what
was
important,
none
of it
seemed
to matter. I
felt like
a
stranger. Liet
told me
at
one point that none
of the
stuff
was really
mine,
it
was
his; he
was
just
nice enough
to
let
me
have
it.
I
argued
with him about it, but as
I
looked
around,
he
was
right.
None
of the
stuff
had
any
meaning
to
me.
It
all
reminded
me of
him
and
how
much
I
hated
being
under
his control. I
looked
at
the
stacks
of CDs. Which
ones
would
I
want
to listen
to?
Would I
even
have
time
to
listen to
them?
Were
there
any
in there
Quinn could
enjoy
with
me?
I
glanced
at
the
closet.
What kind of
clothes
would
I
need?
How soon
would
winter
be moving
in?
How
cold
would it
get?
How
hot?
Was
there
something
in
there
Quinn
thought
I
looked
good
in?