The Long Way To Reno by Michelle Mix Read Free Book Online

explained. His face told me
how awful that event was. Sheesh, he made me want to protect him. “They
didn’t make it far. It was like they were waiting for us to come out. They were
in the sky, on the ground – they sent in those infected like – to
flush us out, or something.”
     
                I
adjusted a loose strap on my vest, giving him a skeptic look. “If there are
aliens outside, why don’t they come in and finish the job?”
     
                He
shrugged. He was wearing a loose Henley with a big tear at the shoulder.
Revealing a t-shirt underneath. I bet if he wasn’t wearing that T-shirt, he’d
be thin. He looked like he’d get cold faster than I would if he went outside. I
noticed how bloody it was. Remembered how bad it stank when that woman went
psycho on the other one. I handed him the flashlight, then wiggled my arms
underneath my vest and Halo shirt. He kept talking, shining the light randomly
at the floor, not even paying attention to what I was doing.
     
                “I
don’t know if they could fit. They were really, really big. Thick.
Like…like the Maxx,” he said suddenly, and I was jolted at the 90’s reference.
I stilled with the shirt pulled mostly off my head, stunned that someone like
him could namedrop a character so classic. He gave a funny snort, waving the
flashlight around. “Like you’d know what that is, probably beyond your time,
but – “
     
    “I
know who that is,” I said – well, snapped. I held out the shirt, and he
realized what I was doing.
     
                “Oh,
no, that’s okay, I mean - !”
     
    “Just
take the shirt, I’m sure yours smells disgusting,” I added. “I have another one.”
               
                He
noticed this, and then took it with a muttered ‘thanks’. I took the flashlight
back, and he changed quickly. I saw freckled ribs and sunken stomach when his
dark green tee caught to his Henley, and wanted to mutter ‘ew’ aloud. But I
didn’t because I was too tired to be out loud judgmental.
     
                “So,
uh…this Jeff person?” I asked, once he pushed his boring brown hair back into
place. The more time we spent whispering harshly to each other, the more I
started to realize that he was definitely a comrade.
     
                He
shook his head. I noticed that his name badge, reading his name as Harley Troy.
Dashingly plain and boring, fitting for a scrawny guy with boring brown eyes
and wavy brown hair. I remembered the times he nearly collided his picking cart
with mine, and how rude he was with never saying ‘sorry’ or ‘excuse me’.
     
                I
noticed he was looking for my name badge – I must’ve lost mine. I didn’t
bother giving my name unless he asked.
     
                “Not
good news. Yeah, he and the trash guys helped knocked some of the infected
down, but then…he’s always been this, like, power hungry guy. He….” Harley
trailed off, squinting at me, like he didn’t believe me. “You didn’t run into
them?”
     
                “No.
I was hiding. I didn’t know what was going on.”
     
                He
was quiet for a few moments, then continued on with, “He separated people into
groups. Like…old people and young people. Fat, skinny – he, uh…he made
the...”
     
                I
stared at him for a few moments. Wondered about this Jeff guy getting all
‘power hungry’ in the midst of carnage and chaos.
     
                “Well,
basically, he took the guys that listened to him and the younger girls. Left
the others to die. When they did, he and the guys killed them. He had a gun in
his car that he got before – like, the aliens could catch him.”
     
                I
stared at him for a few moments, unsure of how to process that. It sounded so
ridiculous. Everyone knew, in moments of alien invasion and zombie