The Last Infection: A Post Apocalyptic Thriller by Michael W. Garza Read Free Book Online Page A

sharply.
    “ Don’t you think everyone would be searching for a place like that?” He didn’t bother to let her answer. “It’s been nearly a year and I haven’t heard of any safe place and I’ll bet a good night’s rest that neither have you.”
    Jenn turned to face him.
    “That still doesn’t mean it isn’t true.”
    Chris frowned.
    “And you’re going get them there? Or cut them loose when you reach Vegas?”
    Jenn stood firm as her eyes narrowed. “I’m going to make sure they get there.” She said it as if she came to the decision at that precise moment.
    “You don ’t stand a chance,” Chris said.
    “How do you know that?”
    “The highways are the worst place to get caught on.” He took his hands out of his pockets and crossed his arms. “There's no food out there, there’s droves of the dead and infected everywhere, and that doesn’t even account for all the crazies out there setting up their own version of the new world.” His glare met hers. “And you want to go out in that with a couple of needy kids?”
    “Those needy kids…” she started dangerously loud , and then caught herself. She stopped, took a deep breath, and lowered her voice. “Those needy kids made it here from Cheyenne on their own.”
    Chris didn’t have a response for that. He looked over at the now sleeping children with a renewed respect. “You’re going to get yourself killed…” he managed, “…and them with you.”
    Jenn gave up, turning her back on him. She walked away, leaving Chris with one final thought. “Staying here with no reason to live is like being dead already.”
    Chris wouldn’t let it go, trying to convince himself that he was right to stay put. “W hat if you do make it,” he said, “you get there and discover the coast is covered with as much infected and undead as it is everywhere else, what then?”
    Jenn laid down next to Alicen and settled in, placing her hands behind her head. “Then I’m no worse off than I would have been had I stayed at home and waited for them to come and get me. But at least I can say I tried and at least I won’t be alone.” She closed her eyes.
    Chris was left in the silence. His mind had long blocked out the constant moan of the dead and the ebb and flow of the guttural howls of the infected. His only positive thought came from the knowledge that the infected would have to hide before the sun rose , but he still wasn’t sure how they were going to get down. Jenn’s questions stuck in his mind. He’d avoided asking himself similar questions many times before. The truth was that he didn’t have any good answers and he knew it. He didn’t want to think about it now, but something told him, he would need an answer very soon.

 
    6.
     
    The morning sun brought with it much needed warmth. Chris slept near his new companions , but not close enough to share in the body heat. He wasn’t sure they would have offered. His dirty, military fatigue jacket worked well against the wind, but spending all night outside was too much to ask of it. He’d spent most of the night struggling with his and Jenn’s final conversation. The answers he was searching for eluded him in his nightmare-filled slumber. He knew what his answers should be, but he hadn’t brought himself along far enough to go through with it.
    He cracked an eyelid and discovered both girls up and moving around. Jake didn’t appear to be particularly interested in waking for the long day ahead. Chris sat up and focused in on Jenn and Alicen working on two cans. One was a pried open can of beans and the other ones missing label offered a surprise breakfast.
    Chris cracked his neck , and then rubbed at the pain in his lower back. He dared to dream of a day when he would sleep on a pillow top mattress again. The moans of the dead from somewhere off the side of the building brought him back to his harsh reality. He stood up and approached the edge of the roof, giving Jake a shove with his boot as he