Z-Risen (Book 2): Outcasts Read Free Page B

charge for now. He went ahead to LA to help secure the base. I heard that he’s got family there. Heard he had them flown all the way across the country,” Donny said.
    “Lee’s an asshole. He tossed my friend Craig, just a kid, out of our helicopter.”
    “He was infected, Creed, you big dummy. Get it through your head. I saw the test results myself and I know what they meant. That kid could have turned at any moment. Any second. Then we could have had a Z right there in the helicopter. One bite and we were all going to be fighting for our lives,” Sails said.
    I couldn’t believe she was defending Lee.
    “So what, you all got a nice little brotherhood thing going on here? Got your secret name and decoder rings? Tell me how this makes the world better,” Joel Kelly demanded. He gripped the edge of the table so hard I thought it was going to snap.
    “Secure that shit, Marine,” Sails said.
    Markus and Donny nodded. Was that it? Did Sails outrank these two yahoos?
    “Look, man,” Markus said. “The military is fragmented and it’s got no command structure. No way to gather forces in one place and enact some kind of plan to deal with this threat. Two hundred years and we’ve never had an occupying force on American soil. That changed a few weeks ago when someone attacked us.”
    “Wait. This was an attack?” I couldn’t believe it.
    “Something hit multiple locations. Some virus, and I swear that’s all we know.”
    “Fuck me.” Joel Kelly said before I could.
    “We were already here and preparing , ready to deploy, when the main bases were hit. The military took devastating losses. Did you guys see what happened at Coronado?”
    “We were there.” I said.
    Markus expelled a breath.
    “Then you know first hand what happened. Bright Star is new, small. We were under the radar so now we’re doing our best to cope. That’s why you should stick with us if you want to survive and fight back. Fucking do what we tell you for a few more days.”
    “That’s terrific.” I choked back a snarl. “Sounds like you guys have all the answers. Don’t need us, right?”
    “We need everyone.” Sails put her hand on my arm.
    She didn’t wear that usual frown and looked like she meant it. I resisted the urge to yank my arm away.
    “And only my unique skills at bashing in Z heads can help save the world, right?”
    “You’d be surprised what one man can accomplish with the right motivation,” Sails said.
    Shit. This was not the way I wanted the conversation to go. I wanted to stay mad at these people for killing Craig, but there was that little part of my brain that kept telling me that there was truth to what they’d told us—that Craig had been one of them. Infected.
    I got sick of thinking about it and changed the subject.
    “We need water,” I said.
    “Should be an ice maker on the floor. If it’s still got water, we can use these.” Donny produced some filtration tabs in little brown packs.
    Joel smiled and snapped up a couple.
    “Come on, Creed. Lets scout.”
    “Fuckin A. I hate it when you say those words.”
    “The fuck do you want, squid? A love poem?”
    “Yeah. Serenade me.”
    “You guys are both idiots,” Sails said.
    “You’d be surprised what two idiots can do with the right motivation,” I replied.
    Sails actually smiled. Well, score one for the good guys.
    “Great. Now we’re all friends again. Hey Sails, if you get bored you can always bunk in with us,” Markus said. “Right guys? There’s enough of the women to go around.”
    Sails moved like a whip. Her hand shot to her side and in the blink of an eye she came up with her Smith and Wesson M&P R8. Ten and a half inches of dark steel met Markus stare.
    “Say ‘the women’ one more time.” She spoke through gritted teeth, and then she did that cool thing they do in the movies where she cocked the trigger. Silence fell in the room while we waited to see if Markus would lose his head.
    “Just fucking around, Sails.”