Beyond Death (Book 2): Apocalypse Read Free Page A

soon, I want to die with donuts on my breath and not spinach.”
    “Sure,” Chase agreed and moved on.
    Of course, little was left anywhere, but a few remnants remained. Probably what they couldn’t carry. The state of the store looked like at some time a horde of walking dead had chased out the living. He stayed clear of blood on the floors or anywhere else for that matter. Some food had been splattered and thus wasted.
    As he walked toward the end of the isle, two bags filled, Jayda brought him to a halt coming around from the other isle.
    “Where’s Sherri?” he asked.
    “I left her with Lucas debating candy, even as they’d moved on into another isle,” she answered. “Listen. We need to talk. And I need you to stay calm.”
    “Okay,” he gulped.
    “I’m pregnant. I just found out before we left. And with Richard in the state that he’s in, I want to at least tell him before he dies.”
    “Do you think that’s a good idea,” Chase got out, despite the thoughts flitting through his head. His heart beat hard in his chest and butterflies did a war dance in his stomach. “He’s not in the right state of mind for any news. And as a guy, I’d think learning I was going to be a father as I was dying might make it worse.”
    “I want him to know,” she said.
    “For the record, I don’t agree. Why did you ask me if you’d already made up your mind?” Chase asked, his forehead wrinkled over the throb that started there.
    “I didn’t ask. I was telling you how it was going to go down,” she countered.
    He nodded once and then shook his head. He turned to walk out of the store with his goods. Chase checked the parking lot, and then gathered everyone together. They all got in putting their bags between their legs for lack of a better spot.
    As everyone adjusted, Jayda started, “I have an announcement to make.”
    She turned to the back where Richard lay. Climbing over the seats, she moved in on Dax, and leaned over his seat. Dax raised his gun more toward Richard.
    “Listen, babe. I have news. I’m pregnant. I took a test right before we left the house. I know the timing sucks, but I wanted you to know,” Jayda said loud enough for everyone to hear.
    All Chase heard was the wrestling of Richard’s body as he fought with his bounds. Dax stood, ready to shoot.

Chapter Four
    “I knew you were fooling around with Chase!” Richard screamed from the back over the ramble of the van engine and tires as they moved at a fast clip down the road. “I knew it couldn’t just be out of the kindness of his heart that he called you and came to save you.”
    Chase kept his eyes on the road. He wouldn’t even venture a look at Lucas, who obviously would know that he and Jayda having an affair was an impossibility unless he never slept, because sleeping had been the only time he and Lucas had been apart in recent months.
    “You betrayed me!” he continued on in a hysterical rant. “How could you go back to a guy who couldn’t even be bothered to save your leg? What crap! You’re more fucked than me. I’ll die, but you’ll end up with that loser.”
    He didn’t see any point in screaming back at the guy to defend himself. Dax would be the only one that might wonder if what Richard said was true, but he was too focused on being poised in a shoot to kill stance to care. Richard shut up only long enough to start puking.
    “Damn it, all over my bag!” Dax yelled. “I’m not touching it to even throw it away. Everything back there should be tossed. Shit. That stinks!”
    Chase looked at his watch and just kept driving.
    “We have to keep going,” he said to Lucas. “We will be ditching the van, and all the contents in the back with it, once we get to the checkpoint. At least the guns and food are safe.”
    He followed Lucas’ gaze, and found him holding Sherri’s hand. He shrugged a shoulder at Chase, then nodded and looked away out the front window. Reminded of where his eyes should be, he looked out