The Last Town (Book 3): Waiting For The Dead Read Free

mixture of sweat and water. Her light-colored blouse was bloodied. She was gasping for air, frightened out of her mind as she looked back at Reese. A small form clung to her. A boy, maybe about three years old, his face buried against his mother’s neck as he whimpered.
    A ragged, bloody hole had been torn out of the woman’s left forearm. She had been bitten.
    “Please,” she gasped, looking up at Reese with those wide, terrified eyes. “Please.”
    “You’re okay, ma’am,” Reese said, and he wondered just why the hell he was saying that. “Are you a patient?”
    She looked at Reese stupidly for a moment, then shook her head. She turned her head fractionally toward the bullet-riddled zombie that lay across the overturned bed. Reese saw its arm was still outstretched, fingers curled into claws. Even in death, the corpse was reaching for its cornered prey.
    “My husband was,” she said. “You’re a policeman?”
    “Yes, I’m with the LAPD,” Reese told her.
    “Take my son,” the woman said. “Please.”
    “Okay,” Reese said, lowering the shotgun entirely. He saw the woman look at the LAPD patch on his tactical vest, and something akin to relief fluttered across her face for an instant. It was crowded out by the fear almost immediately. The lady knew what was in store for her. Reese reached out with his left hand, and the woman leaned forward, trying to push the boy into his arm. The boy cried out, and the woman cooed to him as she gently unwrapped his arms from around her body.
    “It’s okay, baby,” she said. “It’s going to be okay. You go with the policeman. Mommy will be with you in just a few minutes, okay?”
    The boy resisted. Reese stepped in closer and put his arm around the boy’s chest. Working with the mother, he managed to pry him away from her, but he screamed and cried. As he fought against Reese, he saw a flash of red on his shoulder. Blood was welling up underneath his shirt. Reese put him down and pulled back his top. The smooth skin beneath was marred by a bite mark. Even though the zombie that had bit him hadn’t had the time to tear the flesh away, its teeth had broken his skin.
    Reese let the boy run back to his mother, and she looked up at him in shock.
    “What are you doing?” she asked. “You don’t understand, I want you to take him away from me!”
    “I know what you want,” Reese said, “but I can’t. Look.” He pulled the neck of the boy’s shirt aside, exposing the bite wound. The mother’s eyes went wide when she saw the angry injury. She shook her head in denial as tears welled up in her eyes.
    “No. No, no, no,” she whispered as she pulled the crying boy back into her arms.
    “What do you want us to do, Reese?” Narvaez asked.
    “What do you mean,” Reese said, even though he very well knew the purpose of Narvaez’s question.
    Narvaez didn’t say anything, just looked at Reese and waited. Reese didn’t answer him. He moved past the Guard officer and started making his way back to where Bates stood. Narvaez followed him a short distance.
    “Reese, you’re the guy who’s supposed to tell us what to do here,” Narvaez said.
    Reese turned around, suddenly pissed off. “What do you want me to say, Narvaez? Kill them? Is that what you want to hear?”
    “I don’t want to do that,” Narvaez said. “It’s not what I signed up for. But we have to do something with them. We can’t leave them up here.”
    “I’ll tell the hospital staff,” Reese said.
    “What? Why? What good is that going to do?”
    Reese turned back to the Guardsman, almost slipping and sliding in the bloody gruel underfoot. “Because I don’t have any other guidance for you right now, Narvaez. That’s why.”
    “You need to get some, then,” Narvaez responded. “Seriously, man. Someone has to start making some really tough calls, because they’re not the only ones.” The National Guard officer pointed back in the direction of the mother and child they had just