RecruitZ (Afterworld Series) Read Free Page B

television.
    “I can’t even pretend to imagine what you went through,” Abby started.
    I turned and stared at Abby. Her blue eyes connected with mine. I arched a brow and leaned back on the couch waiting for what she really wanted to tell me. I knew all my friends were thinking it, but it was only Abby who had the balls to say anything to my face.
    “But you’ve gotta let go. Quit pursuing something that doesn’t exist,” she said.
    “So now you don’t believe me? What I saw?” I whispered, leaning over the table.
    “The other witnesses never saw any vans pull up, Becky. I just think with everything that you experienced, you may’ve thought you saw something like that, but…” her voice trailed off as her eyes filled with tears. She looked over at the bookcases and then looked back at me.
    That wasn’t like her usual lecture. Nope. It was completely different. She was dropping me off in the crazy bin and possibly not planning on picking me up again.
    “I know what I saw.” My words steadied. “It was a planned attack. I’m not the only one who’s experienced something like it, either.”
    Her gaze dropped from mine, and she crumpled a napkin in her hands.
    “Don’t you see what you’ve become?” Her mouth pursed together disapprovingly, and I wanted to shake her. Snap her out of whatever delusional fairytale she was living in. I wasn’t the one with the problem.
    “What’s that?” I questioned, watching her fingers tear through the napkin.
    “You’ve become completely obsessed with conspiracies and things that aren’t true. I mean look at your reading material.” She pointed at the bookshelves.
    “So you think I’ve become some wacko?”
    She just told me everything I needed to hear. I now knew I had to walk a fine line, even with my friends. There were places for people like me, and no matter how much I hoped my friends wouldn’t volunteer me for one, I was no longer sure.
    “It’s not that. I just think that you’ve become obsessed with a possibility that’s unrealistic.” She looked away. “The government’s trying their best to capture the rogue zombies, but their first mission was to get everyone vaccinated. We all know that a zombie floating around here or there isn’t that abnormal, and unfortunately, they can still rip us apart.”
    “So Gavin was just another casualty of war?” I questioned, ignoring her statement about a rogue zombie. We had a horde attack us, not a straggler.
    Her eyes softened and she reached for my hand.
    “I think you know the answer to that.”
    “I know what I saw.” I pulled my hand away from hers and wrapped it around my beer bottle that was unfortunately empty.
    “You’re wasting your life. He never would’ve wanted this.”
    “Then tell me… why wasn’t I killed? Why did the zombies leave me alone?” My pulse was racing. “Why was there a horde of zombies and where did they all go?”
    “Sometimes bad things happen, and it doesn’t mean anything beyond the obvious.” She turned her face to look back at me. “I’m only telling you this because I care about you.”
    “Our histories are being constructed right now, and I want to ensure my story is heard,” I said, kicking my legs out in front of me.
    “And what story is that?” she asked.
    I glared at her.
    “It’s the story of truth. Not just what some want represented. If we don’t start acknowledging the things that are going on around us, history will repeat itself, and the next time, it might not be possible to stop. What I witnessed was unstoppable. They were on a mission. It didn’t matter that we were vaccinated. They used their strength, not their disease. I lost my best friend, my world, Abby.” I gulped away the tears. They wouldn’t help. Only the truth would help.
    She shook her head and moistness formed on her lower lids.
    “I care about you. We all do.”
    I needed to watch my step. I had to maintain control and that was even more evident with every one of