S.W. Tanpepper's GAMELAND: Season Two Omnibus (Episodes 9-11) Read Free Page B

she’d missed the first couple weeks of school. She’d been a little busy trying to stay alive.
    â€œRoom one-fifteen is down the hall in the other direction,” he told her. He seemed oblivious to the fact that the smile on his face had grown stale. “Hurry off now. You don’t want to be late for Bledsoe’s lecture. He reports all tardies. And I happen to know that you don’t want any trouble right now.”
    She frowned at him, wondering what he meant by that, but he wiggled his fingers at her. “Hurry now.”
    She sighed and turned toward room one-fifteen. She could feel his eyes on her back the whole way.
    â€¡ ‡ ‡

Chapter 2
    â€œDamn it, Reggie! Move it!” Kelly shouted. “Come on! Wake up!”
    Reggie gritted his teeth. “Will you shut the hell up!”
    â€œWatch out behind you!”
    â€œI got it, damn it! Just stay out of my way.”
    Reggie hopped off the zombie he’d just killed with a crushing blow to the back of the head. A second one was coming in fast, reaching out to grab him. Reggie ducked, and the flayed hand, not much more than bones and tendons, passed in a blur before his eyes. He reacted instinctively, sweeping the rusty steel pipe he was holding in his right hand in a broad arc. But he missed, and the sharpened stump of a finger bone raked the air an inch from his nose.
    â€œShit!” He reached reflexively to his cheek and repeated the curse. “It fucking got me!”
    â€œDon’t worry about that!”
    The zombie took advantage of the distraction and rammed into him. Reggie lost his grip on the pipe, and it went skittering over the uneven pavement, coming to a stop at a clump of weeds breaking through a crack in the middle of the highway.
    â€œMove!” Kelly growled.
    Reggie started to scramble away, his heart slamming into his ribcage.
    This wasn’t your idea , he reminded himself. Kelly was the one who pushed you to come back.
    â€œYou know we’ve got unfinished business,” Kelly had reminded him, nearly a week ago now. And Reggie hadn’t argued — hadn’t wanted to argue — despite how obviously fucked up the idea was. He didn’t want to think about any “unfinished business,” especially not the kind Kelly was talking about.
    â€œWe can’t just pretend it didn’t happen, Reg. Ash and Jake, they deserve better.”
    â€œI can’t do it, Kelly,” he’d said, close to tears.
    How screwed up is that?
    Never in a million years did he ever think he’d break down in front of Kelly.
    But Kelly had taken him by the shoulders, looked straight into his eyes, and said, “It’ll be different this time. I promise.”
    Yet somehow the truth felt like a lie. It wasn’t any different. Not really.
    The Player stepped forward, moving faster than a zombie should be able to. It slammed its foot down, trapping Reggie beneath it.
    â€œGet the hell up!” Kelly shouted.
    â€œWould if I could, brah!” Reggie panted. Though he knew it was just his imagination, Reggie thought his protests seemed to antagonize his assailant further. It roared and thrust its bony hands at him, grabbing a handful of hair. Reggie felt his feet go out from underneath, and he was momentarily stunned and disoriented at the strange sensation of falling.
    â€œFocus, Reggie!”
    A crowd of Infected Undead had begun to gather, lured from their hiding places by the noise. The IUs were slower, less coordinated than the Players— at least until they got into a feeding frenzy. Then there was almost nothing that would stop them.
    Dark memories of the room inside Jayne’s Hill, the Undead piling against the door. Watching the wall begin to cave beneath their mass.
    He didn’t want to think about it. He didn’t want to remember. It just brought back terrible memories, made the nightmares he’d been having even worse. Why couldn’t