The Zombie Wars: The Enemy Within (White Flag Of The Dead Book 8) Read Free Page B

goggles before, but they were limited in what they could be used for, and the men preferred flashlights, anyway.
    I moved around the other side of the trailer and up front as quickly as I could, trying to get in front of the man.  I wanted to stop him without killing him, since he was clearly not from our camp.  When I reached the point I wanted, I turned into the lane, and looked for the man to approach.   A quick glance, showed me…nothing.
    Shit, he moved.  He didn’t come out my side, so he had to have gone out the other side.  I moved across the lane and through the line of RV’s on the other side. As I crossed to the other side, I ducked suddenly and rolled forward as a stabbing blade skimmed over my back. I jumped forward and spun around, facing the man with the glowing green eyes.  He was holding a long bladed knife and held it like he knew what to do with it. 
    I shifted my bowie to my left hand while I lengthened the hold on my pick.  That gave me another ten inches of reach, and the move wasn’t lost on the intruder.  He stepped back and then jumped forward, his left hand reaching for my pick while his knife stabbed towards my throat. 
    I wasn’t going to give up that easily.  I flipped my pick under his grasping hand and held it straight out, holding tight as he ran into the metal end with his mouth.  His knife never got closer than eight inches as he fell back holding his teeth. I swung low for his knee, and as he stepped back out of the way, I stopped the pick and jabbed it upwards again, connecting with the goggles on his face.  His head jerked back, and he ripped the eyepieces off, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the darkness.
    “Who are you?” I asked, waving my bowie back and forth.  My pick I kept between us, using it as a barrier against his attacks.
    “We’re not here to hurt you; we’re here to clear the zombies away. Who are you?” I repeated.  The man stepped back and bumped against a trailer.
    Suddenly, the man cut down viciously, and I easily blocked the attack with my handle.  The sharp blade cut deep, and stuck in the wood. I twisted the handle away, taking his weapon with it, and brought my knife to bear, but the man had already let go and was running away into the night.
    “What the hell?” I asked out loud to nobody. I gave chase, but the man zigzagged through the encampment and out to the prairie. I let him go since I had no idea if he was alone, and I was loathe to raise a general alarm.  I started the long walk back to my trailer, and back by the first encounter, I knocked something with my feet.  Reaching down, I found it was the goggles the man had worn.  Apparently he had dropped them in his hurry to get away.
    I went back to my trailer and stashed the items safely, figuring out what I wanted to do with them in the morning. I took Jake back to his bed, telling him he was a good boy for getting me, and yes, I did get the monster-guy. Sort of.
    Sarah was relieved I was back safe and sound, and I told her I would talk to her about it in the morning. I tried to get some sleep, but it was a long time coming.
    The next day, I took my pick with the knife still stuck on it and went over to Charlie’s trailer.  After the usual morning greetings, I showed Charlie my items and told him what had happened last night.  He was mad for a few reasons, not the least of which at me for not coming to see him last night.  The other thing he was mad about was the fact that our security was bad enough that a man had gotten through without so much as a challenge from anyone before he was wandering around the camp.  I didn’t bother to add that had it been a zombie we’d be in a world of crap right now with newly infected people to put down.
    “Let’s deal with a few things first.  Get the burial crew going, and we’ll have our service this morning.  After that, let’s get the people in charge of security here, and we’ll talk to them as well. We have a city to