Read Online The Zombie Chronicles - Book 2 (Apocalypse Infection Unleashed Series) by Chrissy Peebles - Free Book Online Page A

them in the boxing ring to make a bed, then all passed out.
    A while later, moans jolted me awake. Moonlight streamed in through the windows, and I peered around for a zombie, my heart racing. I reached for my gun. Just as I was getting ready to wake everyone, I noticed Jackie tossing and turning in her sleep; that was when I realized that the moaning noises were coming from her. I walked over and softly touched her arm.
    She sat up, gasping. “Wh-what? Dean?” Her long hair tumbled around her face.
    “ Sorry to wake you. You were, uh…moaning.”
    “ I was having a horrible nightmare.”
    I held my arms out. “Come here, babe.”
    She nuzzled into my shoulder, and I wrapped my arm around her. I held her for a few minutes before she said, “I miss everyone I lost. How can you explain the pain to anyone? I always thought life was a struggle, but out here, it’s about survival. You just survive. You live. You exist. You’re there, but really you’re not. There are no words to describe it.”
    “ I know,” I consoled.
    “ I know I have to live with the scars, but I wonder if the pain will ever go away. It just hurts so bad, Dean!”
    “ Like they say, time heals all wounds .”
    “ Yeah, maybe, but bear in mind they said that before the zombie apocalypse.”
    “ Right,” I agreed, knowing she had a point.
    “ Anyway, how are you doing?” she asked.
    “ I’m worried about Val. What if we can’t catch up to Tahoe?”
    “ We will. Tahoe is staying in one place for the night. His signal is still, and we’re right behind him,” she said. “I’m sorry if I’m kind of being a drag. I mean, the last few days have been a whirlwind for me,” she said softly, so as not to wake the others.
    “ I understand the whirlwind thing,” I said. “I was living a normal life pretty much, and now…well, all of this.”
    “ Yeah, me too. Our lives were stable and then— bing, bang, boom !—all of this!” She let out a long sigh. “We have a lot in common, you and me.”
    “ That we do.” Cupping her face, I could see every detail in the moonlight. She was absolutely stunning with her petal-smooth skin, long eyelashes, and big, brown eyes.
    She touched my hand that was resting on her face. “In the last three days, I’ve escaped death way too many times. What does that mean?”
    I swept a stray strand of hair out of her eyes. “That you’re destined for something great.”
    She smiled and gazed into my eyes. “You’re so positive. I love that about you, Dean.”
    “ Even with all the gloom around us, I choose to be happy every day—or I least try.”
    “ You’re amazing.”
    “ Takes one to know one,” I said, meaning it. I realized at that very moment how deeply I cared about her.
    Jackie ran a hand through her hair, still contemplating something deeply, but she’d clammed up.
    “ You know you can tell me anything, right, Jackie?” I coaxed.
    “ Well, it’s just…I can’t understand why Claire and I were the only ones to escape in our group. One second we were laughing and telling jokes, and the next I was fighting for my life. It’s just consuming me—survivor guilt, I think the shrinks call it. They deserved to live just as much as I did. Why did I survive? Is it fair that I lived and they didn’t? Who decides that stuff anyway…and why? ”
    “ You chose a way out that the others didn’t.”
    “ I should have gone back and tried to save them.”
    “ If you had, you’d be dead right now,” I said, wiping a tear from her face.
    “ Deep down I know that, but it’s still hard to accept the loss. Though time passes and memories fade, I’ll never forget them.”
    “ That’s okay. You don’t have to,” I said. “In a way, you remembering them honors them.”
    “ Maybe, but still, none of it makes sense. And then we escaped death yet again. If you had left us back at the glass house, we’d be dead. What were the chances we’d run into you?”
    “ Fate,” I whispered.
    “ And