The Hungry 5: All Hell Breaks Loose (The Sheriff Penny Miller Series) Read Free Page A

it. He let her go. Miller stepped to one side and strolled around to the back of the Hummer. The morning sun glinted off the bumper of an abandoned car three doors down. Scratch shaded his eyes, rubbed his newly grown facial stubble and appeared to ponder his options. He wasn’t a quitter. He opened his mouth to say something else.
    Before he could continue, a woman spoke. “Leave her be.”
    Scratch stopped cold. He looked at Major Francine Hanratty, the mercenary soldier who was standing on the sidewalk nearby. After a few seconds Scratch grumbled a bit but relaxed. “Since when did you become a mother hen, Rat? I thought that was Karl’s deal.”
    Sheppard stepped between Scratch and Rat. He took them both by the arm and pulled them away from the brooding Miller. Rat winced when he tugged her by the wrist. Her bumps and bruises from the battle at Crystal Palace had healed up since they’d arrived in Flat Rock a few days before, though she still had some small aches and pains. The injection of Enhanced Bioweapons Serum, as Sheppard would call it, which was now wearing off, had sped up her metabolism. It had helped her recover quickly. She was almost back to normal.
    “Now’s not the right time,” said Sheppard. “Let her have some space.”
    Rat said, “You’re probably right. Whatever’s bothering Penny will get said when she’s damn good and ready.”
    “You two,” Scratch whispered, “ought to lower your voices.”
    Too late.
    “You guys want to know what’s stuck in my craw?” Miller came towards them, walking fast and with a grim purpose. Her friends winced. She pointed at silent homes nearby. One next door and two right across the street. “Look around you, damn it. This was my home, and these were my neighbors, my friends. I swore to protect each and every person in Flat Rock when they made me the Sheriff, but when the shit really came down, turns out I couldn’t even protect my own damn cat.”
    The others studied her, clearly worried.
    Miller barely managed to hold back her tears. Since coming home to find the town wrecked and her pet cat dead, she’d been close to crying more times than she was willing to admit. In fact, the pressure in her chest had been steadily building. She hadn’t let go much since that first terrible night when the zombie plague hit her jail, not even when her ex-husband Terrill Lee had died, and Miller felt maybe she had the right now. She glared at her friends, frustrated that they didn’t understand, but her anger didn’t last long. It couldn’t have been a huge surprise to anyone that she’d maintained her control.
    “Hell, if you hadn’t saved my life back in that jailhouse,” Scratch said, quietly, “I’d be dead too.”
    Sheppard squinted in the morning glare. “Wait a minute. I thought you were the one who shot her than night, Scratch.”
    “That’s water under the bridge, Karl. I thought we agreed not to ever bring that up.” Scratch’s face softened as he turned back to Miller. “You did what you had to do that night, and you’ve done it every damn day since, Penny.”
    Sheppard nodded. “He’s right, you know. You are one amazing woman.”
    The two men turned as one to Rat, waiting for her to join in the love fest.
    “Don’t look at me,” Rat said. “I’m just along for the ride until I can get back to my bank account. I’m just going to shut up right now.” Miller was not surprised at Rat’s gruff response. Apart from the fact that Rat was never the touchy-feely type, Rat and Miller had a history, not all of it good, though their friendship seemed to have survived.
    “Shutting up is probably a good idea,” Miller said. “You know what? I’m through hurting over all this crap. What’s done is done.” Miller opened the driver’s side door of the Hummer. “This vehicle is packed up, guys. Is the Gravedigger Patrol ready to hit the road, or do you still have some weeping and praying to do?”
    “We’re ready, boss,” said