The Dying & The Dead 1: Post Apocalyptic Survival Read Free Page B

happen.
     
    Stephanie
ran her hands through her hair. There was nothing else she could do. No way to
pretend, no way out of it. She took hold of Luna’s mask and removed it. She
opened her daughter’s mouth and stuck her own fingers inside and made sure she
hadn’t swallowed her tongue.
     
    Dale
stepped forward. He knew what was going to happen now. Luna would be taken, and
the Capita would expect her to fall into a coma. They’d wait and see if she
became infected. Only, that wouldn’t happen. They would find out Luna was
immune, and Dale had heard the stories of what would happen next. He couldn’t
let her be taken to the Capita on her own.
     
    “Okay,”
he said. “We’re immune. Me and Luna. Kids always get it off their parents and,
well, she got it from me. My lad didn’t get it.”
     
    Charles
moved forward and stood alongside Dale. He put a heavy arm across his shoulders
and waved a finger in the air.
     
    “But
it’s not always from parents, is it Dale? There’s another way one can become immune.”
     
    “What?”
     
    “I
digress. I don’t really believe your story. No. This is a classic case of a man
trying to be a martyr. It’s scary, trying to be a martyr. Do you know what
happens in the Capita, Dale? Is your mind conjuring up dark images? Dungeons,
torture, experiments? I think you’re brave. You’re stupid, but you’re brave.”
     
    He
looked up at Stephanie.
     
    “Take
off your mask, darling.”
     
    Stephanie
stood up from Luna’s side and backed away from the bounty hunter. Charles
walked up to her. He reached out and took her by the throat, his gloved hand
wrapping around her neck and stopping the flow of air.
     
    Suddenly
Dale’s chest burst with electricity and he felt adrenaline spill into his
veins. He couldn’t watch Charles’s hand close around Stephanie's throat. The
sight of it set a flare inside him. He rushed at the bounty hunter.
     
    Charles
turned, swung his fist and connected with Dale’s nose. Dale fell to the floor
and a fuzzy pain spread through his face. If the pain in his cheeks weren’t
enough, a feeling of shame spread through him. He couldn’t protect his family.
The Capita wanted them, and Dale couldn’t protect them.
     
    Charles
grabbed Stephanie’s mask and pulled it away from her face. Stephanie’s skin was
chalk, her confidence gone as the reality of the situation hit her. Her usually
red lips looked drained of colour like she’d been walking in a blizzard.
     
    “This
man isn’t the children’s father, is he?” said Charles.
     
    Stephanie
didn’t speak. Charles wrapped his gloved hand tighter around her neck, a farmer
wringing the neck of a chicken. He moved his arm and slowly lifted Stephanie
off the ground with an impossible show of strength. She spluttered. She swung
her feet in the air as though trapped in a noose.
     
    “Do
you want your children to see their mother murdered in front of them?”
     
    Stephanie
shook her head furiously.
     
    “Then
tell me. Is he the children’s father?”
     
    “No,”
she choked out.
     
    The
bounty hunter relaxed his grip and let Stephanie touch the ground. He wiped his
hand on his coat, and Stephanie’s spit left a streak on the leather.
     
    “Sorry
about that. But needs must.”
     
    He waved
his gloved hand in the air. There was movement across the field, and a few
minutes later a horse and cart galloped to meet them. A driver directed the
horse by pulling on black reigns, and on the back were four soldiers clad in Capita
uniforms. Three of them had the blank stares of disciplined soldiers, but one
looked at the terrified family with curiosity.
     
    The
fog cleared from Dale’s vision. He put a hand on the ground and pushed himself
to his feet. The wind had picked up again, and it blew against cheeks that felt
flushed with anger. How had his special day changed so suddenly? His future had
changed from an open plain to a darkened maze.
     
    Charles
turned to his men.
     
    “Take
the