The Undead World (Book 5): The Apocalypse Renegades by Peter Meredith Read Free Book Online Page B

acres? A garden ain’t nothin’ but a real farm is a year-round occupation and, yeah, it involves quite a bit of work.”
    “Hey, before we get too deep into farming and all, maybe we should clear this room,” Deanna said. This half of the barn was comparable in size but as it only held the disgusting mounds of decomposing wheat, it took them only five minutes to go through it all. This left only the stairs going up to the peaked roof in the center of the barn to be investigated. Strangely, this was the only door in the place that was locked.
    This elicited some excitement among the three of them. “I wonder what’s up there,” Deanna gushed.
    “Prolly nothing,” Big Bill said. “There was a little cupola up there. Prolly nothing more than a crawlspace and some insulation.”
    “Do we check it out?” she asked.
    “It won’t hurt,” Neil said. He spat on his hands and took a firm grip on his bat. “Step back.” He took as mighty a hack at the doorknob as his twiggy arms could handle. The bat dented the knob while the force of the meager blow reverberated up the metal and into his hands. The bat bounced out of his grip. “Son of a bitch!” he cried, shaking his hands as if they had been burned.
    Big Bill snorted and Deanna tried to hide a smile. “Let me have that,” Bill said, taking the bat. “You are one funny guy, Neil.”
    He twirled the bat easily as if it was little more than a Geisha’s fan, and then in a big motion, he swung it in an arc to strike the door knob. The round brass bounced off the floor and then rolled in a wobbly arc coming to a rest against Deanna’s sneaker and foot. Bill bent his oversized frame down to inspect the damage done. He stuck a finger into the workings of the lock and wiggled the metal around.
    “Almost,” he said. “Stand back.” He lifted one of his enormous feet and smashed the door backward on its hinges. Behind it was nearly all darkness. There was only one thing to see. Neil’s eyes went wide; there was a man with a gun standing just back in the shadows.
    “Hands up, motherfuckers.”

Chapter 6
Jillybean
    Over the last year of the apocalypse the ex-whores and the rescued prisoners had learned deeply the concept of hopelessness. It showed on their listless faces when the news rippled through the barracks the next day that Neil hadn’t returned. They sat about uselessly moping, pathetically whining, and in at least one case, complaining bitterly. This last was Fred Trigg.
    He actively shone the light of “I told you so” all around him, placing blame and predicting doom despite the fact that he had been in favor of Neil’s trip. Ipes found him completely annoying and began a whisper campaign in Jillybean’s mind to prank him and prank him good.
    Jillybean wasn’t in the mood. She was far too worried over what was happening to her family to even think about pranking Fred, though she was sure he deserved it. “We can’t,” she said around the fingernail she was nibbling at. “He’ll be mad when he finds out it was us and asides we have lots of figuring to do. We have to figure out our next moves; you know, how to live and all.”
    And all? The zebra wasn’t fooled for a second. What does ‘and all’ entail? As if I don’t know. Don’t you remember what Mister Neil and Captain Grey both said? No rescues; it’s out of the question .
    “I know it’s out of the question,” Jillybean agreed. “Because, of course, there’s no question we have to rescue them and Sadie and Eve, too. Just how do we do it without getting captured, ourselves?”
    You don’t!” Ipes cried, pulling at his mane in exasperation . “Because, if you try it, you’ll end up doing it alone, and you can’t do it alone. That’s what I think. No one is going to help you; they’re all too chicken. And you can’t do a rescue alone because you’re too small .
    Jillybean bristled at the accusation and drew herself up to her full three and half feet and said: “And