Safety Lost (Killing the Dead Book 3) by Richard Murray Read Free Book Online Page A

climbed in happily and I had a quick rummage through the food that Grace had provided.
    A small package of tin foil was unwrapped to reveal some cooked chicken which I shared with Emma and then left her munching an apple as I went to relieve myself.
    When I climbed back into the car Candice was awake and staring out of the window, still clutching tightly to her bag.
    “You need to pee?” I asked and shrugged as she silently shook her head.
    I set off driving and managed to get a reasonable amount of speed going since I could actually see the road. After a short while I saw a road branch off to my left but since Candice didn’t say anything I kept going.
    Another side road passed and then finally we were at a junction. Candice told me curtly to take the right hand road before lapsing back into silence. Emma was quietly singing a song to amuse herself in the back seat and I was happy not to have to talk to anyone.
    When the third turn off to the right came along Candice spoke. “Turn here and go straight on. We’ll need to go through the village of Worsthorne and then its straight north for a while.”
    “What then?” I asked her.
    “Then we reach the motorway, cross that and we can make it to the Forest of Bowland and through that to Morecambe on the other side.”
    “The motorway will be a nightmare you should know that” I told her in annoyance.
    “We don’t have much choice unless you want to head straight through Burnley.” She retorted.
    I muttered a few choice words beneath my breath to keep Emma from overhearing them. The last thing I needed was her repeating a load of curse words when we finally made it to Lily and the others. I turned the car to the right and headed towards Worsthorne.
    Narrow streets choked with leaves and the undead. Burnley must have been hit hard enough that the outlying villages had fallen, or perhaps someone from this village was infected elsewhere. Not that it mattered really if anyone was alive in Worsthorne, then they were hiding.
    We passed through quickly with more than one new dent in the bonnet of the car. I was becoming concerned about the petrol level and I was convinced that we would need some fuel soon.
    One more zombie bounced off the front of the car and we were out of the village and driving at speed along the country road beyond. I had to swerve around an abandoned car that had just been left in the middle of the road and the village passed out of sight behind us.
    I was sure that more than one zombie would be following us down the road, but I was equally sure that we would soon outdistance them and in a short time we were approaching the town of Colne.
    It was immediately clear that we would need to abandon the car. The roads leading into Colne were choked with vehicles and a great many zombies.
    “Just great. Now what do we do?” Candice asked.
    “Well I guess we abandon the car and walk” I said with a sigh.
    “We can’t go through them though” she said.
    “No. If we get out here and cut across the fields we can probably reach those train tracks” I said and pointed to the train that sat unmoving on the tracks in the distance. “From there we can see.”
    “That’s a bloody stupid idea.” Candice said with a sneer.
    “No one is asking you to come along” I said with a grin as I climbed out and opened the door for Emma.       
    “Wait. Please. I don’t want to be left alone here.” Candice said her tone now pleading.
    “I really don’t care what you want. I have no interest in coddling you.” I said and allowed a sneer of my own.
    “Please. I’m sorry; I won’t need you to coddle me. I promise.” She said, her tone changing from pleading to wheedling. It was almost entertaining.
    “You won’t leave me will you?” Emma piped up with tears forming as she climbed from the car and I knew I was defeated, so did Candice who played on Emma’s’ fear.
    “It’s ok kiddo, you can stay with me.” She said reaching out to take Emma’s