900 Miles (Book 2): 900 Minutes Read Free Page A

could n’ t handle ever decided to storm our wall, the best defense would be an offense that started with letting those bastards loose to swarm the Yard.
    “ Tha t’ s the point, Deanna. The y’ re supposed to get loos e… when we want them to ,” I said, trying to fake a little confidence.
    “ I still do n’ t like i t …”
    Nodding, I walking over to the closet and pulled out a scuffed-up black helmet which matched the black body armor I was wearing. Flipping a switch on my belt, I heard a tiny squelch through a two-way radio that rested on my shoulder as I thought back to the origin of the suit. A remnant left over from the fallen men that once guarded Avalon. I always felt a little strange knowing that someone had likely died in it.
    Reaching into my cabinet, I pulled out a nine mil that I’ d been carrying around for the past few months. Having a gun is a funny thing, giving one a false sense of security. In the world of the dead, unless you were a crack shot, it was just a piece of metal that shot projectiles. Effective sometimes, yes, but it didn't let you feel the crunch of the skull to know yo u’ d done the job right.
    For that, I needed my hammer.
    Holstering the gun, I reached my hand back down into the cabinet, emerging with the hammer I’ d had at my side since the beginning. My trusted hammer. I’ d trade it for any gun when going up against the Zs. I t’ s hard to look back now and know how many of the dead that metal head has taken out. One thing was for certain though; I had gotten damn good at killing them.  
    In this new world, I’ d become a dealer of death, and that hammer was my deck of cards.  
     
     
     

 
     
     
    Chapter 3
    Pulling a breath of fire into my lungs, I looked up with my hammer drawn.
     
    Glancing at the red blinking alarm clock resting by the bed, I realized it was nearly time to meet up with my team topside, leaving my son behind. Leaning down, I lifted him up and held his tiny body out in front of my face, capturing one good memory in my mind before leaving the compound. I’ d need it to get me through the horror out there.
    Reluctantly passing Tyler back to Deanna, I stepped over to the mirror and reached back down into the sink to pick up the razor. Just as I reapplied a nice white lather of cream across my face, I heard a squelch through the speaker on my shoulder, followed by a panicked voice ,“ W e’ ve got a stumbler ! ”
    Nearly dropping the razor, I could feel my heart rate spike, beating across the chest plate of my body armor.
    Looking up from the couch, Deanna could see the alarm in my face reflecting in the mirror .“ Wha t’ s wrong ? ”
    “ We have an outbreak ,” I hurriedly said while grabbing a brown towel to wipe the shaving cream from my chin.
    Sweat had already started to bead up across my forehead. I was getting ready to set off for the hunt, and it was never easy. When the creatures first turned, they would be quick, and it usually took the whole lot of us to put them down.
    Again, the speaker in my headset boomed ,“ I t’ s breaking out fast. I t’ s in the Med Center, and this bastard is tearing the place up . ”
    You see, sometimes it seems like we do n’ t value life. People tend to die for the dumbest fucking reasons. In the first months of living in this sanctuary, we had ten people die or get killed. One was an old guy who died banging his wife. We think it was a heart attack, but w e’ ll never know. Two others died in construction-related accidents, crushed by a series of concrete walls which were erected to keep a small section of land safe outside. All the others died from internal fighting, meaning they got in fights and killed each other.
    In each circumstance, the people who died came back almost immediately and caused outbreaks within the walls of our little worl d… it was too easy for this to spread.
    Twisting around, I picked the helmet up off the bed and slid it back under my arm while reaching for the