Life After The Undead (Book 2): Death to the Undead (61 page)

She
nodded.
“I
am.
I’m
going
to
make
it
better.”
Sympathy
covered
her
face. “I’m
sorry
for
what
I did,”
she told the
guys.
“I
wasn’t
thinking.
I
was
so mad.
If
I
could
take
it
back,
I
would.”
Her
voice
choked with
tears.

I
glanced
at
the
brothers.
I
could
tell
they
weren’t
convinced,
but they
didn’t look like
they
were
going
to
attack,
either.
That
was
good
enough
for
me.
“Okay,
now
that
we’ve
got
that
out of the
way.”

I
turned to
Pearl,
who
stood
at
the
back
of the
shed
with an
older
man, probably
somewhere
in his forties.
His
hair
was
salt and
peppered,
his skin
tanned
and
wrinkled
from
working
in
the sun.
He had
on
a
pair of
khakis
and a
white polo. I
glanced
at
his shoes.
Brown
loafers. Not
exactly
my
choice
of
attire
for
a
takeover,
but
what
did
I
know?
Maybe
it
was
comfortable.
The
clothes
I
wore
I
borrowed
from
Tanya.
Someone
might
have thought
a
tank
top and
jeans
weren’t
the
best
clothes
for
a
takeover,
but
I
was
comfortable.

“Krista,
this is
my
uncle,
Tom. I
told
you
about
him
last time
you
visited.”

He
nodded
in
my
direction,
then
nodded
at
the
others.
“It’s
nice
to finally
meet
you
all.
Pearl’s
told me a lot
about
you,
Krista. Especially
the most
recent
events.” His
eyes
flashed
with
mischief.
“I
think
you
and
I
might
have
a
lot in common.”

I
placed
my
hand
on the
butt of my
gun.
It
wasn’t a
threatening
posture,
I
just didn’t
have anywhere
else
to
put
my
appendage. “How
so?”

“We
have
the same
goal
in mind:
getting
rid
of The
Families.”

The
rest
of the
group
stepped up
beside
me,
which
could
have
definitely
been
construed
as
a
threatening
stance.
If
anyone
walked
in at that
moment,
it
would
look
like
we
were
surrounding
Pearl
and
her
uncle,
preparing
to
beat
them. But
Tom didn’t
seem
fazed.

“We
have
to
take
back what’s
ours.
We
can’t
continue
to live in
fear. I’ve assembled
a
group
of
people
who
feel
the
same
way.
We
only
need
some
weapons.”

I
nodded
toward
Tanya. “That’s
where
she
comes
in.”

“I
stashed
them in the
crawl
space
under the
coffee shop. I
figured
it
was
the
best
place
to keep them
hidden.
How
many
people
are
we talking
about
here?”

“Hundreds,”
Tom said.
“Dispersed
throughout
the
entire
state.”

Tanya
frowned.
“I
don’t
think we
have enough
weapons
for
that
many
people.”

“We
have
a
few
guns,”
Tom
interjected.
“And
other
weapons
to
get
us by.
It
would be
helpful
to
have
more.”

“We’ll
give
you
all
we
have,”
I
said.
“And
if
you
need
more,
you’ll
have
to
take
them
off
the
guards.”
A
thought
occurred
to
me,
and
I
placed
my
hand on
my
head.
“Oh,
wait! Liet!
He
brought
down a
stack
of
AR
fifteens
from
the
cave.
We
could
use
those.”

Pam
stepped
forward
so
I
was
in
her
line
of
sight.
“Do
you
know where
they
are?”

I
glanced
at
Pearl.

“Right
after
I
saw
them
take
you
out of the
suite
in
chains,
I
caught
the
end
conversation
between
Mrs. Johnson
and
Liet.
He
said
something
about
guns,
and
she
said
they
wouldn’t
worry
about
them
right
now.
Eventually,
she
wanted
him to
take
them to the
gate.”

“So,
where
are
they?”
Pam
asked.

“I
assume
they’re
still in the
back
of the Hummer he
brought,”
Pearl
stated.

“And
where
is
it?”
Kyle
inquired.

Pearl
smiled.
“The
parking
lot of the
high
school.”

“Perfect,”
I
said. “We
get
that
vehicle,
and
you’ll have
more
guns.”

Tom
nodded. “More
guns
will definitely
help,
but
we’ll
still be
outnumbered.
I
have
a
plan to compensate
for
that, though.”

We
all
moved
closer,
anxious to
hear
what
he had
to say.

“It
will be
a
coordinated
attack.
Since
we
don’t
have the
resources
to hold one
city
and
then
attack
another,
we’ll
attack
simultaneously.
If
we
take
out
each
Family,
the towns
will
fall.”

“Sounds
logical,”
Quinn
stated.

“So,”
Tom
continued,
“the
easiest
way
to get in and
around
the security
systems is to cut
all
of the
power
in
the
city.
My
plan is to take
over every
power station
and
hold it while
a
small
group
takes
The
Families
hostage.
Without
power,
they’ll
have
to
give
into our
demands. People
don’t
want
to live
without their
luxuries.”

We
were
quiet for a
moment,
absorbing
the
information.

“Makes
sense,”
Quinn broke
the
silence.
“Hopefully,
it will
minimize
the
amount
of
lives
lost.
You’ll
still
have
to
deal
with
soldiers,
though.
They
won’t
be happy
about
you
taking
over the
power
supply.”