Hunger Chronicles (Book 1): Life Bites by Tes Hilaire Read Free Book Online Page A

grate on my nerves.
    I’ve about worn a trough in the middle of my floor when the intercom finally beeps. I leap across the expanse, smacking the button. “Yeah?”
    “Open up, Private Harper.”
    Marine. I reach over and code off the lock. The door opens to reveal Marine, John, and a third man—a rather scruffy looking soldier—standing on the other side. By the blankness of John’s features and grim set in Marine’s mouth, I’m betting that the discussion with the rest of the soldiers didn’t go all that well. The only question now is whether the other soldier weighted down with guns is here for my protection or as an additional hand as I’m escorted out of here. Given the less than friendly look in his eyes, I’m betting on the latter.
    I fold my arms across my chest, swallowing down my disappointment. Shouldn’t bother me. There are other places I can hole up and plenty of zombies to go around. I don’t need the approval of a bunch of gun-loving, testosterone hyped primates. Yeah, but you want it, Eva.
    “Don’t suppose you boys will give me another hour or so. Last I checked sunset wasn’t until 19:30.”
    Marine gave a shake of his head. “It will take that long to iron out the specifics of the mission.”
    “Sir?” I ask, trying not to give away the fact that my heart is galloping down the backstretch in a race between anxiety and hope.
    John must have gotten me, because as Marine stares at me with a furrowed brow, John speaks up. “One of our teams is having some transportation difficulties, grounding their helicopter. They’re stranded in a building in downtown Bakersfield.”
    Oh that’s not good. Bakersfield is dab smack in Zombie central. Route 5 was the beginning of the end. Like a Ford assembly line, the virus had made its way along the California coast, spreading east. From Route 5 to the Pacific Ocean is a virtual walking-undead zone. And Bakersfield is less than a hop, skip, and jump from it.
    “What is your team doing there? There can’t be any survivors in that area.” Best strategy for the zombie wars: Save whom you can and avoid contact with the others. Zombies will die out, eventually. Simple inability to reproduce really does that to a species. If we could keep their food sources away from them, they’d die a lot quicker. From all indications thus far, Marine agrees with this strategy. When he’d recruited me, all he talked about was finding survivors, creating safe havens, and holding the line. Yeah, I’m sure he’d love to do more. Who wouldn’t want to partake in a little kick-ass revenge binge? But I had thought Marine to be above all that.
    Marine jerks his head toward the hall in the general direction of the lift. “We’ll discuss that later. Right now we need to assemble the rest of the team.”
    I nod, grabbing up my sack from the metal frame of my extra-long twin, and follow them out. The halls are not as empty as I would like, but though I receive some prolonged stares, I don’t receive any knives in the back. I wonder if the hospitality will extend to a time when Marine is not around.
    We don’t speak until we’re in one of the meeting rooms on the command floor. Herbie is there, along with another bull of a man who doesn’t even look my way. Juanita and Roy are notably absent. One I’ll miss, one not so much.
    “All right. Here’s what we got.” Marine rolls out a large map onto the table, using his knife, gun, and two hunks of cement to hold down the corners. He points to an area smack dab in the bustling part of Bakersfield. “The team managed to put the helicopter down at Mercy Hospital. It wasn’t secure so they bailed and made it up Truxtun Ave to the police station where they were able to reload and use the radios there to contact us.”
    “What happened then?” I ask.
    “We don’t know. Their radio went out at that point.”
    “What makes you think they’re still alive?”
    “The communication cut off seems to be of a technical nature,