Colony Z: The Complete Collection (Vols. 1-4) by Luke Shephard Read Free Book Online Page A

them, but Hannah knew the diseased. It was only a matter of time before they returned for the remaining survivors. And Hannah feared they would be the only ones left.
                 
    And so, Hannah ran on in the darkness with her two children. She had to pick up a sense for what lay ahead in the darkness. She had to learn to listen for their darkened breathing. These were the tactics survivors had. Sometimes, Hannah wondered how she could call herself a survivor when all they did was run. But she was alive. And that seemed to be the only requirement for the title.
                 
    That was when she saw the movement in the darkness. And it was no human movement. This had the slimy, dark imprint of the dead. There was at least one of them between her and the safe room. And she had no plan.
                 
    In all the time they had spent here waiting for her to give birth, it was expected of Hannah to come up with some kind of escape plan. For Owen to come up with more than simply a safe room. If their way was blocked, what then? But no one had seemed to honestly believe the dead would ever find their way in.
                 
    Had it seen her? Hannah didn’t know. Hannah didn’t want to know.
                 
    Michael and Judith Marie were eerily silent. It was as though their intuition told them that this was not the moment to cry. It was time to be patient. It was time to let Mommy handle things. The only problem was, Mommy didn’t know what to do. Mommy had no idea what to do.
                 
    The slow moment dragged on for what seemed an eternity, even though it was only a few seconds.
                 
    And then, suddenly, a great bright light threw itself toward the shadow of the creature. The flame made it scuttle away in fear, downsized to the strength of a child.
                 
    When Hannah turned to see her savior, she found the wild eyes of her husband.
                 
    “Safe room.” Were the only two words he could manage to get out.
                 
    Hannah nodded, gaining back her courage. She led the children forward, each one too shocked to continue with their tears. Daddy had saved them. Not Mommy, but Daddy. And that was enough for Hannah. She had never been daring or a leader, much as her husband liked to believe she was. In this way, it was best to let Owen lead. Because, when things went completely wrong, he knew how best to handle it.
                 
    He had saved them. Again.
                 
    And, as they pushed themselves into the safe room and Owen instructed her to lock them in and to not open the door for anyone without the password, under any circumstances, he gave Hannah a look she knew all too well.
                 
    “Owen, no.”
                 
    “I have to warn them, Hannah.”
                 
    “Owen, that’s not your job.”
                 
    “It became my job when I brought them into this colony and created the Albion Tribe, and I won’t leave them for dead.”
                 
    “Owen, please…I need you… the children need you…”
                 
    “No, Hannah. They need you. You were always the parent. Keep them safe.”
                 
    “Owen…”
                 
    But before she could finish, he kissed her forehead and each of his children and was gone from the room. Hannah was terrified he would never come back. What would become of them?
                 
    She tried to convince herself that she trusted her husband. He would do everything in his power to come back to them, and she would believe in him, no matter what the cost.
                 
    If there was anything she’d learned after all this time, it was that there was much more to Owen than he let on.
     
                 

When Owen left his wife and