The Renegades 2 Aftermath (A Post Apocalyptic Zombie Thriller) Read Free Page A

not enough to get us to the city.
    “We need to stop for gas.”
    Dax glanced down. “We’ll try the next town.”
    “There’s nothing there. I saw it on my way out. It’s been looted,” Ralphie said. “In fact, you’re better off giving Wells a wide berth too. A lot of asshats there.”
    Dax eyed him in his rearview mirror. I could tell he was skeptical of our new addition. We all were. It wasn’t that we weren’t open to have another with us. In all honesty it was a good thing. Baja had leaned back and asked me what I thought of having him tagging along. I told him it was one more person to fire a gun. He replied, “Yeah. I guess in the worst-case scenario, we could feed him to the Z’s and make a run for it.” He grinned. I could always trust Baja to find some odd angle.
    We drove a few more miles until we came across the town that Ralphie was on about. It was called Halleck, Nevada. He wasn’t kidding. The place was a total ghost town. It consisted of two buildings: a post office and a gas station. Dax slowed down to a crawl while we took in the sight of the burnt-out post office.
    “Shit, and there was me thinking of sending a postcard back to Castle Rock,” Specs said.
    The gas station was in a far worse state. A truck had been driven right into the single gas pump they had. What remained of it lay black and burnt. The building had been leveled by the explosion. None of the charred bodies appeared to be moving.
    “You think we have enough to make it to Wells?”
    “How far is it from here, Ralphie?” Dax asked.
    He pushed his face through the open slot like an eager pug dog.
    “It’s a thirty-minute drive.”
    Dax sniffed hard. “I guess we should have enough. There’s gas stations there, yeah?”
    “How are you going to get gas out of them if there is no electricity?” Ralphie asked.
    “Couple of ways. Open the covers where they refill the tanks. Unless the underground containers have been destroyed, there is going to be some inside. Or you can get the side covers off the gas pumps and then slip a hose and siphon out that way,” Specs said as he continued to try the portable radio for a signal.
    “I just think you’d be better off going around Wells.”
    That was it. Dax stopped the vehicle and turned in his seat.
    “What are you not telling us?”
    “Just saying. It’s probably best you avoid Wells.”
    “What is there?”
    Ralphie gulped. His eyes dropped.
    “You want to walk?” Dax said.
    “Dax,” I said.
    “No,” he spat back. “If we are driving into an ambush. I want to know.”
    “It’s not an ambush. But let’s just say the people have gone a little crazy there.”
    “How crazy?”
    Ralphie slumped back down, not wanting to answer that.
    “Let me handle this,” I said. Dax shook his head.
    I hopped out of the truck and came around to the side. I gazed out at the desert that was now covered in snow. The clouds had come down so it looked almost like a fine mist was hovering above the ground. I leaned against the truck, nodded to Jess and she pulled the sliding rear window closed.
    “Listen. We’ve lost a lot of people: family, friends. Forgive my brother for being a little cautious but you aren’t the first person we have allowed to get close only to have them screw us over. Now if there is anything we need to know before driving through that town, you need to tell us now, because…” I scratched the side of my head. “I might let it slide. But my brother, he’s liable to put a bullet in your head if he thinks for one moment you are up to something.”
    “I’m not. I just don’t want to go back there.”
    “But you knew we were heading that way.”
    “Yeah, but I thought you might be taking a different route.”
    “Ralphie, do you have any family?”
    His eyes dropped. He shook his head.
    “How did you lose them?”
    He cleared his throat, looked out, and shivered slightly.
    “My father was the first to turn.”
    He had this faraway look in his eyes as