The Zombie Plagues Dead Road: The Collected books. by Geo Dell Read Free Book Online

the thought as
she stood and walked across the cave to where she had put her
things and spent her first night. She turned and looked back at
him. Mike stood and walked over to help her move her things over to
his side of the cave.
    Several pairs of eyes watched the
move.
    ~
    “ Guess that settles that,”
Robert Dove said to his wife Jan.
    His wife nodded, a slight smile on her
face. For the last few days Tom had been pushing Candace. Jan had
disapproved. Let the girl make up her own mind, she had
thought.
    “ Maybe it’s for the best,”
she said now. “That young man is much more likable,
Bobby.”
    Bob nodded in agreement. The fly in the
ointment might be Lydia who had been making eyes at Tom since
they’d first met, but who, for the last few days, had only had eyes
for Mike. Bob looked over just as a look passed between Tom and
Lydia. Oh, he thought.
    Jan shook her head. She had noticed the
look pass between them too. “Maybe if those two get together it
will level everything out,” she said softly. Tom had made it clear
he was interested in Candace, not Lydia, but the girl had made her
choice. Tom would have to accept it. Jan felt Candace had made the
better choice of the two. She turned her attention back to the
conversation she had been having with Bob.
    Tom watched as Candace moved her
sleeping bags and back pack over to Mike’s side of the cave. He
didn’t see what she saw in Mike, but it was her choice, and she
wouldn’t get a second chance with him. He frowned at his own
thoughts. Don’t be an ass, he told himself. It’s not that serious.
He looked over and caught Lydia's eyes; the question was right
there. He nodded, and she sprang to her feet like a rabbit. A mean
look on her young, pouty face as she looked towards Candace. The
look went unanswered by Candace. She turned her back to the girl as
she walked back over to Mike’s side of the cave.
    ~
    Lydia quickly gathered her things and
moved them over to Tom’s area. Stupid bitch, she told herself. She
can have the cave man dude. She’d only wanted Tom all along, even
the last few days. Chasing after Mike the last few days had only
been an attempt on her part to make Tom jealous. Tom would take her
out of here. She hated this place and everything to do with it,
always had. Tom was tough, tougher than the other guy. She didn’t
think of it in terms of Alpha Male and territory, but it came down
to the same thing. Tom was the top dog. Her top dog.
    The fire burned lower as everyone
settled in for the night. Some happy, some worried, some undecided,
but everyone along for the ride.
    ~ March 13th ~
    Bob leaned around the hood and looked
through the windshield of the old Suburban. He nodded. “Try it,
Tom.”
    The motor turned over a half dozen
times then suddenly fired and rumbled to life. Tom gave it a little
more gas, pulled out the old fashioned choke. The motor smoothed
out and began to run a little better.
    Bob backed away from the engine
compartment, a large smile on his face. “Know what this means?” he
asked, raising his voice to be heard above the noisy
truck.
    Tom grinned and nodded back. “As long
as they’re not electronically controlled, they’ll run. We should
find a few more.”
    Bob nodded in agreement.
    They had found the old Suburban in a
lot out in back of one of the car dealerships on outer Washington
Street. The lot itself was wrecked; the buildings not much better,
but hundreds of new cars and trucks sat on the cracked pavement, or
pointed their noses or tails at the sky where they were half
buried. The Suburban had been set up with a plow, and they all
agreed it was probably just used to plow the lot.
    Before they had even gone looking for a
vehicle, Tom and Bob had gone hunting for a small gasoline powered
engine. Lawn mower, leaf blower, it didn’t matter, just something
small without an electronic ignition or brain. They’d come up with
a heavy duty chain saw. Several tugs and a little choke had gotten
it running. That