Read Online Dead Series (Book 3): A Little More Alive by Sean Thomas Fisher - Free Book Online Page B

upon his lungs.
    Curtis came over
and bent down, whispering softly in Paul’s ear. “You don’t have to do this. Let
me.”
    The Jacobsen house
sliced through his mind with broken claws, plucking his heartstrings until they
snapped. Déjà vu settled in around him like the quiet buzzing in his ears. Paul
kept his eyes on Rebecca, waiting for the unspeakable to rear its ugly head and
take another swipe at his wavering resolve. “I got this.”
    A clock ticked
against the wall.
    His heart pounded.
    Ears rang.
    “Are you sure?”
Curtis whispered.
    Rebecca’s eyes
opened.
    “I’m sure,” Paul
replied, pulling the hammer back until it clicked into place.

Chapter Eight

 
 
    DAY TWENTY-SEVEN

 
 
 
 
    E veryone always said Iowa was flat. But Nebraska was
pancake flat and boring as hell to drive through. The quiet monotony sat in
complete opposition with what was waiting for them on the other side. The calm
before the storm, deceiving in its stillness, pulling at Paul’s eyelids with
both hands. But this was their road. Their path to a new beginning. And even
with the dead lurking in the shadows, it was easy to think – this time – things
would be different. Because, sooner or later, no matter how bad it is, things
always come back around. Pushing against the steering wheel, he cracked his
back and glanced at the others in the rearview mirror. Calvin stared vacantly out
his side window in the backseat, his reflection just as morose as the real him
that hadn’t said two words since leaving the base. Paul turned back to the road
before them and almost smiled. He was proud of Calvin. It wasn’t easy making
the right decision but burying his wife in a shallow grave helped. As did the
six people with shovels to make quick work of it.
    The sun calmly
rose behind them, brushing a far-off speckling of westerly clouds with pink and
orange swirls. Taking his hand from the wheel, Paul put on his shades and flexed
his fingers, glancing at his palm in the light creeping through the windows. He
could still feel the gunshot haunting his hand. Could still see the abandonment
in Rebecca’s yellow eyes when she lifted her head from the table and lunged. He
wiped his palm on his jeans to clear the image, tired of thinking about what in
the world could be causing everyone to turn into monsters. Tired of thinking
how to stop it. Tired of…
    “Are you okay?”
    He turned to
Stephanie in the passenger seat next to him, tires humming beneath them. “I
just had the weirdest dream.”
    She bit back a
smile. “You’re not funny,” she said, uncrossing her legs. “Do you want me to
drive for a while?”
    “I’m good.”
    “The sky is
beautiful,” Calvin muttered to his reflection, head leaning against the glass,
eyes distant and blank.
    Paul and Stephanie
looked at each other, silently communicating their concern, the dirt from
digging Maria’s grave still under their nails. Turning back to the lonely
stretch of Interstate 80, Stephanie grew quiet. The tires clicked with the
cracks in the road as she twisted a ring around her finger in her lap. “What if
we can’t find them?”
    Paul grimaced. The
thought had crossed his mind several times since signing off with Brian this
morning and, unless they stopped to find another ham radio somewhere, there
would be no way to contact them for better directions. If push came to shove,
he guessed there would be no shortage of maps and emergency radios in Colorado.
They could probably find one of each at a police or fire station but right now
they had to keep moving. Gas and pee breaks were the only stops and even then,
he didn’t know if they’d get there in time. But one thing was certain, they
would have no problem dispatching the corpses buzzing around the cabin like
angry hornets. The armory at Camp Dodge had more than they could carry. The big
stuff was long gone but there were enough M4s and handguns to go around. He
wished they had time to hook up a trailer and pack