Empty Bodies (Book 2): Adaptation by Zach Bohannon Read Free Book Online Page A

the thought of getting the hell out was appealing. “Okay, when?”
    Lawrence looked down at his watch. “I was hoping we could leave in about twenty minutes.”
    David pointed to the watch on the man’s wrist. “What you gonna do when that battery runs out?”
    Lawrence laughed and shook his head. “Twenty minutes?”
    David nodded, and Lawrence turned around and left the room.
    ***
    It was more like thirty-five minutes when the two men were finally in the ambulance, heading down the swirled parking garage. David looked around, expecting to see Empties, but there were none inside the garage.
    “They ever get in here?” he asked.
    “Occasionally,” Lawrence said. “Of course we have that barrier at the top of the garage. They haven’t made it through that yet, and hopefully it stays that way.”
    Moments later, they were speeding out of the garage, and David finally saw the Empties he’d expected to see on the way down through the parking garage. The sun had made its way up from behind the horizon for the first time in the past couple of days. It had been raining, but the sun was out and warmed the slightly chilled autumn air.
    They passed a sign that said “To I-40 West”, and David looked over to Lawrence.
    “Where we headed?”
    “Going to try and find more survivors.”
    “Why?”
    Lawrence looked over at him and smiled. “Why? Why not?”
    “You’ve got a good thing going back there at that hospital. Electricity, plenty of resources for the group that’s already there to survive. Why risk it by bringing in more people to use those resources? And what if you come across a sour grape who has a different plan than you do for survival?”
    For a few moments, Lawrence was quiet. He concentrated on pulling out onto the interstate before he replied.
    “We have to show that there’s still good people in the world. That we can survive, together… persevere.”
    “And what if there aren’t any good people anymore?” David asked.
    Lawrence traded glances between David and the road. “You trying to tell me something?”
    “No,” David lied, knowing inside that he was one of the bad ones. “Just trying to make you realize what you have. It’s hell out here.”
    “And that’s why we have to help people,” Lawrence said.
    David stared outside and didn’t respond. They were passing through an industrial part of town and he saw a line of warehouses, similar to where he’d spent his first couple of days in the new world. For a moment, he wondered if there were survivors in any of those buildings, but then he looked back out at the road. He considered the man sitting next to him. The group at the hospital had it good, much better than he assumed most people had it out here in this godforsaken world. How could the man be looking to invite more and more people in? With the resources they had at the hospital, the small group who was already there could endure for a long time with little need to go out into the world.
    And with that, David decided: the group was going to need a new leader. Someone else needed to be making decisions.
    Lawrence Holloway was weak, and he needed to go.

CHAPTER SEVEN

    Will
    The sun was out, which, in and of itself, put a smile on Will’s face as the group pulled away from the pawn shop.
    Will sat in the very back of the SUV, cuddled up to Holly. He’d decided to let Gabriel take the first shift driving, which he hoped would be the only shift necessary between here and Knoxville. Dylan sat in the front seat with Gabriel, and Miranda was redressing Marcus’ wound on the middle seat just in front of Will.
    “You feeling better?” Holly asked Marcus.
    He turned his head to the side and glanced back at her. “Yeah. It sure was nice to stay the night under a roof and be able to really stretch out.”
    “No shit,” Will said.
    Marcus smiled for a moment before grimacing and clutching his shoulder.
    “Sorry,” Miranda said.
    “Damn. Go easy,” Marcus told her.
    Miranda