The Beginning of the End (Book2): Road to Damnation Read Free

up
with her as she made it to her vehicle, “Hey, are you leaving us?”
    Sophie didn’t say
anything as she reached for the door handle. I lay my hand on the
back of hers, waiting for her to look at me, “Sophie, I can help
you. You have to trust me.” She paused taking an extraordinarily
long exaggerated breath, and released it slowly, “Listen, kid. I’m
sure you have every intention of helping me, but I can’t risk going
to New York City. You said it yourself. There are eight million
people in that city, and a majority of them have turned by now. There
are six of you. With all due respect, you don’t have a chance in
hell of getting out of there alive, and I can’t afford to take any
unnecessary risks. I wish you and your friends the best of luck, but
I’ll have to go on alone.”
    I was a little pissed
off, but at the same time, I knew she was right. I didn’t want her
to leave us; I wanted to make sure the cure got to Atlanta. Maybe I
was being a little selfish, but I felt like it was my responsibility,
and in my mind she needed us as much as we needed her. There was no
way she could make it alone. No one could make it alone anymore. I
wanted the world to go back to the way it was, and without the cure,
that wasn’t possible. I didn’t want to put the fate of the world
in one person’s hands. I’d give my life to save my family. What
better way to make sure the serum got there then all of us, as a
group?
    I slid between Sophie
and the jeep still trying to convince her, “Listen, Sophie. We need
you as much as you need us. You have to trust me. I promise you, I
want that serum to get to Atlanta as much as you do. You don’t have
to come into the city with us. We’ll split up and set you and a
couple of us up in a safe house with plenty of weapons just outside
of the city limits. We’ll go in and find my dad, and then there
will be more of us, and we will get the cure to Atlanta. You can’t
make it alone.”
    Sophie moved around to
the back of the jeep and popped it open. She laid her hand on the box
of ZMapp, closed her eyes, and looked up at the approaching storm, “I
don’t know, Bob. What do I do?” she asked herself.
    I overheard her praying
to the sky and wondered who Bob was.
    Sophie squatted down
and sat on the bumper covering her face with her hands like she was
crying, “Can these kids fight the dead and get me to Atlanta, Bob?
Please, give me some kind of sign. I don’t know what to do.”
    Sophie slid her hands
down her face and looked back up into the darkening October sky.

Chapter 3
    After leaving the
message on Ty’s phone, it went dead. The Corporal swore under his
breath and slammed his fist against the wall.
    “Daniels, is
everything all right? I mean, Corporal.” Cooper asked.
    Daniels stashed the
phone in his pocket and used his free hand to rub the pain from his
fist, “Listen, Coop. I don’t know what the fuck is going on here,
but I don’t like it. This was supposed to be an overtime gig to
bring this douchebag to NYPD processing,” he said pointing his
thumb at the convict.
    “Hey,” the convict
interrupted, “I’ve got a name, and it’s not Convict or
Douchebag. It’s Bunker, and if we’re going to be helping each
other, you better stop insulting me and use my name, or you’ll piss
me off.
    Cooper stepped up onto
his tiptoes and tried to square off with the man. The mismatch in
size was humorous, “Listen, Convict. If you think for one second
you’re not going to jail and we will chum up with you, then you’ve
got another think coming.”
    Daniels stepped between
the two men to relieve the tension, “Take it easy, Coop. This isn’t
going to do us any good. I hate to say it, but he’s right. Until we
figure out what the hell is going on here, we need his help.”
    Daniels paused, glaring
into Bunker’s eyes, “But I promise you, my friend, if you try any
funny shit with me, or you try to get away, I won’t hesitate to put
a bullet in your skull.