Glory (Book 3) by Michael McManamon Read Free Book Online Page B

walked along behind Joe. Carl and Big Mike were up far ahead of him. They had left the camp a while ago . Left his prize…
    Rick couldn't stop thinking of the young girl. For some reason, she made him feel important. Like he had come through with something in all of the shit that had happened. Something that h e owne d .
    He wanted to call out to Joe and tell him that he was going to turn around. He had no more intention of following Carl and Big Mike to find more supplies. He already had what he wanted : the young gir l .
    At that, he realized that he didn't even know what her name was. He hadn't asked. That would be the first thing he did when he got back.
    He also didn't trust Carl. The man was insane. The way he had killed that man a few days ago . Smashed his head in with a boulder . That was too much.
    Plus, there was the way he had talked to hi m when he had arrived back at camp. Carl had no right. The young girl was Rick's. No question about it.
    Shi t , Rick thought . What had he gotten himself in to ?
    He picked up his pace to catch up to his friend.
    Once there, he reached out and slowly touched Joe's arm. He didn't want Carl and Big Mike to notice.
    Joe turned to look at him.
    "What the fuck are we doing?" Rick asked. His voice wasn't much more than a whisper.
    His friend shrugged his shoulders.
    "Then why the fuck don't we get out of here? We could go back to camp or something? Take the girl and start a crew of our own?" The wor d cre w sounded funny to Rick as soon as he said it. It was something out of a bad 50's movie.
    "I don't know," Joe said uneasily. "You think it's a good idea?"
    "Sure, it's good idea. We don't needed these guys. We can survive fine on our own."
    "Yeah…but I don't know."
    "Fuck," Rick said a little louder than he felt comfortable with. He shot a look up at Carl and Big Mike. They hadn't noticed. "I don't know, I don't know. Do you know anything?"
    Joe looked hurt by Rick's comments. And, for some reason, Rick felt bad about saying them. He didn't want to hurt his friend. Joe was one of the only people left in the world that he trusted. Him and Jim. But Jim's face had been blown to bits.
    "I'm sorry, man," he said. "I didn't mean that. It's just the situation, you know? It's driving me crazy."
    Joe accepted his apology with a nod of his head and a smile on his lips.
    "It's you and me, pal," Rick continued. "We're in this together."
    "Yeah…but I still don't know if it's a good idea to leave."
    Rick didn't, either. Actually, he was pretty sure that i t wasn' t a good idea. If Carl and Big Mike saw them walking away, they'd probably come after them and beat the shit out of them. Or worse, kill them.
    Yet, he wanted to leave anyway. "We've gotta get out of here. You with me?"
    Joe thought about it for a moment. Then he nodded his head.
    But before they could make a move someone shouted at them from the front of the line.
    "Hey!" It was Carl.
    Carl's hand was raised his hand, but Rick didn't know what it meant. It looked like a sign from the army or something. Except Rick had never been in the army. For all he knew, neither had Carl. Maybe the guy just lifted it from a war movie. He wouldn't put it past him.
    "You two, get up here," Carl continued. "There's something that I want you to see."
    Rick swore. He didn't want to take any more orders from this guy. He wanted t o giv e orders. Unfortunately, he didn't think he'd be able to do anything about it at the moment.
    "Let's go take a look," he decided. "We can take off later. Sound good?"
    Joe nodded his head and the two ran up to catch up with Carl and Big Mike. Carl with his tattoos. The one of the snake on his fuckin' arms. And Big Mike with that big shotgun.
    Fuck, these guys were crazy.
    Rick slowed down and as he approached them. "What's up? There a problem?"
    Carl glared at him, annoyed, but he gathered himself and pointed out over the distance. "See that?"
    Rick looked. He couldn't see much of anything.
    Then he noticed them. It