Life After The Undead (Book 2): Death to the Undead (65 page)

Quinn
nodded
his
agreement,
and
we
walked
around
the
building.

Not only
was
the
window still
unlocked,
it
was
still
open.
No one
thought
to
close
it
after
I
climbed
inside.
But
you’d
better
believe
Quinn
and
I
did
afterwards.
We
also
closed
all
the
shades
and
propped
chairs
under the
doors. We
weren’t
taking
any
chances.
We
stood in the
kitchen,
staring
at
each
other,
Quinn’s
rifle
propped on his
shoulder,
my
hand on
my
hip.

“Now
what?”
I
asked.

“We
wait.
You
heard
Tom, we
can’t
do
anything
until we
get
the
signal. We
should make
the most of
our
downtime.”

I
scowled.
“I
feel
weird
doing
that. I
feel
like we
should be
doing
so
much
more.
I
hate
sitting around
and
waiting. It’s
so pointless.”

Quinn
shrugged. “Maybe,
but we
have
to.
Patience
is a
virtue,
you
know.”

I
sighed.
“I
guess.
Well,
first
things
first then.
I’m
going
to
take
a
shower.
I
feel
like a
dirty
dish cloth.”

Quinn
smiled. “Enjoy. I’ll
go
after
you.”

I
showered
as
fast as
I
could. I
wanted to
spend
as
much time
as
possible
with Quinn. I
went
back
into the
living
room,
my
hair dripping
wet,
and
noticed
Quinn
had turned on the
TV.
He
sat
on the
floor
with
the sound
off,
closed
captions
scrolled
across
the
screen.
He
watched
Looney
Tunes.
He
looked
at
me
as
I
walked into the
room, his
eyes
wide,
a
boyish
smile
on his
face.

“Do
you
know how
long
it’s
been
since
I’ve
watched
cartoons?”

I
couldn’t
help
but smile.
“At
least
two
years.”

“At
least.”
He
patted
the
floor
next to him.
“Watch
with
me.”

I
sat down,
and
he
wrapped
his
arm
around
my
shoulder.
I
snuggled
into him, putting
my
arm
around his
waist,
and
sighed.
Daffy
and
Bugs
were
on the
screen,
talking
to one
another. Daffy’s
beak
opened
and
closed,
and
the
words
scrolled across the
screen.

“And
I
told
you
we
weren’t
going
to be nice
to the
neighbors,”
it
read.

Quinn
chuckled.

“I
remember
when
I
used
to do this
after
school.”
I
commented. “I’d
jump off
the
school
bus,
run
to
the
house,
drop
everything
in
front
of
the
door,
and
plop
down on the
couch.
I
sat
there
until Mom
called
me
for
dinner.”

“It’ll
be
like
that
again,
Krista.”

“It’ll
never
be
like
it was.”

Quinn moved so he
faced
me. I
sat up but
refused
to
look into his
eyes.

“It’s
going
to be
different,
for
sure.”
He
put his
hands
on
my
knees. “But we
have
a
chance
to start
over.
To
learn
from the
past
and make
things
better.”

I
snorted
and
looked
at
his
face. “Utopias
never
work. Didn’t
you
learn
that
in school?”

He
cocked
his
head
to the
right
and
regarded
me. “I
don’t
expect
the
world
to be
perfect. But
I
do
expect
things
to
change.”

“Of
course
they
are
going
to
change!
They’ve
already
changed.
Why
do
we
have
to
be
the
ones
to
make
it
change
again?”

Quinn
leaned
forward and
placed
his
hand
on
my
cheek. “Krista,
what’s wrong?”

I
took a
deep
breath.
“I
don’t want to risk losing
you
again.
If
I
had
my
way,
you
and
I
would
head
back
to
your
ranch and
disappear.
I’d
tell
you
to
forget
about
all
these
people.”

His
hand
slid into his lap.
“What?”

I
sniffed. “After
my
parents
died,
I
became
extremely
angry.
I
wondered
why
they
abandoned
their
only
daughter. Sometimes,
I
wished
they
were
damned to
wander
the
earth
as
zombies.
In
reality,
I
missed
them
horribly.
I
missed
them
so much, it
hurt.
It
felt
like
I
had
a
deep black hole in
my
chest.
The
only
way
to
make
the hole
go
away
was to fill it with
anger.
I
figured
if
I
went
to
North
Platte,
having
to watch
my
back
and
fight
for
my
life
would
help
me
forget
about Mom
and
Dad. But
when
Liet
starting
acting
crazy,
it only
made
me miss them
more.”
My
voice
cracked
and
I
took a
couple
of
ragged
breaths.

Quinn
sat
silently,
gently
rubbing
my
knees.

“After
meeting
you,
I
didn’t
feel
so lonely
or
angry.
You
showed
me the
world still
had
beauty,
that there
were
things
worth
fighting
for.
The
hole
shrunk.
Then,
when
I
thought
Liet
killed
you,
that
world
ended.
The
hole
returned,
and
I
had
to fill
it with
anger
again. But—”
I
choked
on the word. I
contemplated
not
telling
him
the next
part.
I
wondered
if
I
should bury
it
deep
down.
But
then
I
looked into his
eyes.
They
were
moist with
tears,
and
sadness
shrouded
his face. I
averted
my
gaze
toward the
TV. I
stared
at
it but didn’t
see what
was on.