DEAD: Confrontation by TW Brown Read Free Book Online Page A

had currently in their possession. He also set the time for their rendezvous for 4AM at Trashmore Park.
    Going out to the Ford Escort, he loaded in the first of his supplies. “So close to paid off,” he whispered. And now, the credit rating he had been trying to build when he had convinced his mother to co-sign on the loan wouldn’t matter one bit All around the complex, he could hear the echo of the same news reports being played on what sounded like every single apar tment in the place.
    “ Hey…Cameron?” a voice called with a certain tentativeness.
    Kevin looked around and his eyes tracked up to the fourth floor balcony (the apartment just above his ). A dark haired beauty stared down at him with a beer in her hand. She had lived above Kevin for almost five months. He was almost certain that she was a dancer at one of Norfolk’s many go-go bars. She might have said a dozen words to him since she’d moved in.
    “Me?” he asked, trying not to let his eyes pop out of his head. She was wearing nothing more than a bra and G-string.
    “Yes,” the tall, slender young woman replied with a gesture of her hands that obviously was meant to draw his attention to the fact that there was nobody else present.
    “My name is Kevin.”
    “Oh…you sure it’s not Cameron.”
    “I could call my mom and ask, but I’m pretty sure.” He didn’t have time for this and made no attempt to hide his annoyance. She didn’t seem to notice…or care.
    “You been watching the news?”
    “Kinda hard not to…even the Cartoon Network is running this stuff.”
    “So is that doc tor lady right…or are those guys saying that this is zombies telling the truth?” She tried to laugh off the last part of her question as if that might persuade Kevin to give her the answer that he was pretty sure she wanted to hear.
    “I wouldn’t stay in the city too long,” Kevin said. “I think that doctor is spewing what she is told to say by the powers-that-be.”
    “Is that what you’re—” she began to ask, but Kevin’s cell rang. The theme from Sesame Street caused him to instantly forget the current conversation.
    “Yes, Sara?” he answered and headed inside to grab his next load. He never noticed the scowl on his upstairs neighbor’s face. She was not used to being ignored…especially by guys.
    “Kevvy, can I bring my Barbie? Mom says to just leave it here and I can play with it when I get back,” his little sister’s voice pleaded.
    “Let me talk to Mom.” Kevin took a deep breath. Were they really haggling over a Barbie doll while the world fell apart?
    There was the sound of shuffling and a few muffled words. He knew that tone in his mother’s voice. She was at her breaking point. Once she reached this degree of frustration, she was a lmost impossible to talk to.
    “Kevin, if I am going to have to pack every single little thing to keep her entertained…we might as well just stay home,” his mother started in the moment that she came on the phone.
    “Mom, stop.” Kevin put as much authority into his voice as he could. He knew that he was going to need to take charge of the situation right away in order to get his mom to listen and do what needed doing. “It is a doll. It won’t take any room at all and it will keep her quiet.”
    “And then it will be the clothes, and then that gawdawful Dream House. Why did you get her that garbage, Kevin? You know it sets an unrealistic expectation upon girls when they are at an impressionable age.”
    “Mom…STOP!” Kevin barked. “This is not a fucking game. Now get the stuff in the car and you two get moving. This is going to get a helluva lot worse before it gets better , and when it does you guys need to be long gone.”
    There was silence on the line. It was really obvious that his mother was struggling with this. He just needed her to hold it together long enough for the two of them to get to the cabin. If she had a meltdown there, nobody (and hopefully no thing ) would