Fear the Dead 2 by Jack Lewis Read Free Book Online Page A

you’re
really doing this, then I’m sending Dan and Faizel with you.”
     
    Dan and Faizel were his scouts, his
most loyal men. Why would he want them to come along?
     
    As if reading my thoughts, he
replied. “I don’t trust you, Kyle. You got this dream of Vasey, and I know you
don’t want to give it up. The bug’s bit you so bad that even if you went there
and saw the wave, I think you’d still come back and say you didn’t.”
     
    I gritted my teeth. On top of
everything he was calling me a liar. I was going to risk my life just for the
good of the town, and this old man didn’t trust me.
     
    “No chance,” I said.
     
    “No arguments, Kyle. They’re going
with you. If you come back with them and they tell me the wave doesn’t exist,
then maybe I’ll listen.”
     
    Justin shifted. “I’ll come too,
Kyle.”
     
    ***
     
    The next morning I packed. I’d spent
plenty of time in the Wilds in the past, underprepared and low on food, and I
wasn’t taking that chance again. I looked at the supplies laid out in front of
me.
     
    My knife
    Four gas lighters
    Food to last two weeks
    Water
    A sleeping bag
    Flares
    20 metres of rope
     
    Nothing I packed would ever be
enough, because you never knew what you were going to run into out there, but
this was the best I could do. I’d been out in the Wilds for a lot longer with a
lot less plenty of times before now.
     
    By the time I got to the town square
it was lunch time. It was an overcast day, and the sky wanted to send us off in
a torrent of rain. A chill ran through the air, as if trying to drive me back
indoors. I was glad I’d put on an extra layer.
     
    Dan waited in the square. He sat on a
small bag, the kind you’d take for a weekend city break. His hair stuck of in
tufts, and his red cheeks puffed out. When I got closer, I picked up the sour
smell of alcohol. Mean-looking bags sagged underneath his eyes.
     
    “You stink of booze,” I said.
     
    “Had a few drinks last night to
celebrate our grand voyage,” he said, sarcasm undercutting his words.
     
    “And a few this morning too?”
     
    “Never leave the gate with a clear
head,” he said. “Because anyone thinking straight would turn around.”
     
    I dropped my bag to the floor, glad
to lose the weight. “You seen Justin?”
     
    He shook his head. “Nope. Why’s the
kid coming with us anyway?”
     
    “No offence, Dan, but I trust him a
hell of a lot more than you.”
     
    “Yeah, I heard you two were best
friends. You’re an idiot, taking him with us. Kid’s a liability.”
     
    Maybe he was a liability once, but
he’d changed. Ever since we’d spent time on the road together, Justin had
toughened up. He knew how to handle himself in the Wilds.
     
    “What about Faizel?” I asked. I
hadn’t expected him to be late.
     
    Dan shrugged his shoulders.
     
    Two figures approached the edge of
the square. One was Justin, the other was a girl. I recognised her face. Mary?
Maxine? Something like that. She linked her arm through Justin’s, and the two
of them walked so closely together it looked like you’d need a crowbar to prise
them apart.
     
    “Sorry I’m late,” said Justin.
     
    His face was unshaven, but his hair
was combed back as much as his mop would allow. He wore army cargo pants that
were too long in the leg. His coat was thick and waterproof, but it seemed like
it was going to drown him. He had a rucksack on his back that was so heavy it
looked like it would tip him over.
     
    “This is Melissa,” he said.
     
    She grabbed his hand, linked it
tightly with hers. When she looked at me, her eyes flinched with scorn.
     
    “Why does Justin have to come with
you?” she said.
     
    It all fell into place. Slacking in
his duties, asking me if he could clock off early. Turning up late to the
meeting. He’d gotten himself a girlfriend, and like all teenage boys who got
laid for the first time, she had become the most important thing in his life.
Despite how much the