Read Online The Dead Hunger Series: Books 1 through 5 by Eric A. Shelman - Free Book Online Page A

engine and slammed through the flimsy pressboard arm with the stop sign painted on it, and flew into the parking lot, the trailer bouncing over the speed bump behind me.  I cringed, remembering Jamie on that trailer.
    No cars moved in the lot and nobody crept around that we could see.  The parking lot served three buildings, and snaked between them.
    “We’ll need more ammo for the Uzi,” said Gem.  “Maybe at the station.”
    “If we can get in,” I said.  “The three of us are okay, so maybe some of them are, too.”
    Gem nodded agreement.  “But it doesn’t mean they won’t help us, either.  If things are as bad as we believe, they may welcome the assist ance of any . . . well, normals out there. They must realize there’s nothing to do but kill –”
    Gem stopped talking suddenly, and looked ashamed.  I touched her hand.  “Look.  I said when we left Jamie’s, I had hope.  I still hold onto some of it.  Hell, I’ve got this fantasy that I unwrap her from that pool cover shit, and she’s back to normal, like I made her some sort of cocoon or something, but I know in my heart . . . well, I don’t even want to vocalize it.”
    “I don’t blame you for not wanting to give up yet, Flex.  I love her, too.”
    “Okay.   I know you do, Gem.  Now, the game plan.  This is it.”
    The building on the left was large and concrete.  There were several police cars parked in front .  No activity.  No fewer than eight dead bodies lay on the stone steps leading inside.  All had massive head wounds but three of them.   Those three had no heads at all.
    Gem pointed.  “There’s an alley.  Turn in there.”
    I did, an d it was even darker here.  But it did curve around and run behind the main building.  There were three open spaces in a row, and I pulled the Suburban and trailer combo into them and threw it into park. 
    Gem had installed batteries in the flashes and the walkies while I drove.  Twice along the way I’d had to run the truck/trailer combo off the road to get around stopped vehicles, and the flashlights came in very handy to see just where an open path was.
    I clipped a radio on my belt.  We’d already chosen channel 19 and tested them.  Range was advertised to be over twenty miles, but I doubted it.  Besides that, I didn’t plan on ever being that far away from Gem again.
    “Let me go,” Gem said.
    “I don’t think so.”  I reached for her arm as she leaned Trina against me and opened the door.  She wasn’t smiling.
    “You can’t stop me , babe.  You’ve got Trina to consider and I made it all the way from Miami to Gainesville on my own.  That’s quite a story, and when we finally do stop and sit and have a nice cup of coffee, I’ll share with you some of the shit I saw and dealt with on my way to find your ass, including where this innocent little girl of yours got this kickass gun.”
    She got out and held the door, the rifle slung over her shoulder and the Glock in her other hand.   “So pardon my rant, but if you think you’ve got some advantage on me mentally, I’ll remind you that you don’t.  As for physically, you are nicely built, but pound for pound, I am quite powerful myself.”
    She shut the door and before she could walk away I waved at her to open it again.  She did.
    “What?”
    “You’ll need this.”  I unclipped the walkie from my belt and handed it to her.  Then I unclipped the other one off the visor.  “Won’t do you too much good if I’m talkin’ to myself, will it?”
    “Smartass,” she said, slamming the door and throwing me a sarcastic salute as she headed into the station building.
    I watched her walk away.  I was worried, but I smiled.  Damn, I loved that woman.  It was good to have her back.
     
    *****
     
    She was gone five minutes before I spoke to her.  “Update, babe.  You in?”
    Gem came right on.  The signal was perfect, and she was crystal clear.  “Not yet.  I’ve been keeping against the