Read Online Saint Pain (Zombie Ascension Book 3) by Vincenzo Bilof - Free Book Online

world.
    “You’re out here alone,” Angelica said. “You’re not afraid to die. I’m not sure why I haven’t killed you. Maybe after I eat.”
    “That’s all you think about? Killing people?”
    “I like staying alive. It suits me. Death was always a normal part of things, we just didn’t take the time to look around. To experience it. I had three brothers in jail for being involved in all kinds of crazy shit. I haven’t changed. I was waiting for it to happen. Something like this.”
    Whenever Bella met a sole survivor, they would ramble for a while and do something stupid to get themselves killed shortly after. It was like the presence of another survivor rocked them back to the real world, and they suddenly realized they didn’t want to be alive anymore, but they wanted to confess their sins and bleed what remained of their humanity. Bella carried their names, their stories, their burdens.
    “Why aren’t you dead yet?” Angelica asked.
    Bell shrugged.
    “You were careless. Walked in a straight line. Right down the middle of the bridge. You’ve been alive this long, and you do shit like that.”
    Brian might have something to say if he was here. His ghost might have something to say. “Mom, we can’t trust her. She’ll kill you just because she’s used to it. It’s what she does. She kills people because it’s a habit. Trust me on this. Trust me.”
    She always trusted Brian. He promised he would come back and he didn’t, but that’s only because he was on the other side of the bridge. He was in Detroit somewhere with Desmond.
    “What were you talking about earlier?” Angelica asked. “You were staring at that car and mumbling something.”
    She wanted to get personal. This woman, who called her names. This woman, who ate her food after threatening to kill her.
    “Mom, just get away from her,” Brian said. “Please.”
    Brian wasn’t with her. She knew he wasn’t there with her because he was in Detroit with Desmond. He had crossed this bridge to come looking for Desmond without her. Why did he leave? Desmond would coach her out of thinking negative thoughts; he would tell her to keep moving forward, not to think about things that might cripple her emotions, might stop her from doing the right thing. Desmond had been a good man, one of the best men to have ever lived, his heart full of justice and love. He was always right.
    “You said you were a trader,” Bella said. “Who do you trade with?”
    “This is my turf,” Angelica said. “Nobody crosses the bridge without paying. You’re the only one stupid enough to come this way. Who would come to Detroit? You would be going north. You Canadian? You should be going north.”
    The same argument. Everyone went north where it was colder, where it was easier to die. Easier to die because everyone was going north. That’s what Brian had told her, and it made sense. Running through the Canadian wilds would be suicide, even though anything and everything was suicide now.
    “This is your turf,” Bella said. “I get it. Why don’t you join the people you trade with? Who are they? They must think you’re valuable if they’ve kept you alive.”
    Angelica was sexy in her own way, with an exotic face which lent itself to the gypsy persona, and she would have fetched a fair price. A month’s worth of food or more, maybe some ammunition, too. How could a woman like that keep herself from the greedy hands of the people she traded with?
    Bella allowed her eyes to wander over the wasted skyline and the slow Detroit River. Why didn’t Angelica go south where it was warm? Maybe because everyone else was going south. She liked it here. This was her home, and she relied on herself.
    There was an acknowledgement between the two women; they were alone and had survived alone.
    But Bella wasn’t alone. Brian was out there, and so was Desmond.
    “I think I might let you live,” Angelica said. “I want to think about trading you.”
    Angelica was