Read Online Z 2136 (Z 2134 Series Book 3) by Sean Platt, David W. Wright - Free Book Online

doing?”
    As the orb filming her pulled away, Adam saw her location: the large spired building he’d spotted piercing the skyline while he was searching for a place to hide.
    “That’s the tallest building in the city,” Adam said.
    “Fortunately half its height is that spire,” Hooper added. “Let’s get going. I figure it’s gonna take at least a day to get there from here.”
    “Wait,” Colton said, pointing at the screen as the orb circled the girl, revealing a small fort made of furniture she must’ve dragged up the stairs. In front of it, a small fire. “Looks like she’s settling down.”
    Zelle had somehow managed to start a fire, likely for warmth since it wasn’t yet dark. Just seeing the fire reminded Adam of how damned cold it was. His coveralls were mercilessly thin against the cold wind that was just starting to pick up. Adam was both surprised and impressed at how quickly the girl had managed to get a coat, climb to the rooftop, and build a fort of furniture not to mention a fire.
    She’d already proved more resourceful than he had—he would’ve jumped out a window to his death if not for Colton and Hooper happening along.
    Zelle dragged the chair and set it in front of her homemade hideout. They couldn’t see what was inside the fort because the orb’s angle was wrong, and it seemed the entrance was just large enough for the girl.
    She sat, retrieved her gun from inside her coat, laid it in her lap, then looked up at the orb and glared.
    It zoomed in on her face and her defiant hazel eyes. Adam felt the distance between them melt.
    Her eyes were hard, exposing the ghost of the happy girl he’d lived next to for so many years. Haunted but hard. As if she were daring whoever was watching to come try and get her. She would use that gun, he had no doubt. But even with a weapon, she was only a child, ill prepared to fight zombies, bandits, and—perhaps worst of all—other players.
    We’ll save you, Zelle.
    The orb pulled back and descended who-knew-how-many stories to the street, where a horde of more than a dozen zombies were milling about as if waiting for something.
    “Jesus,” Hooper said. “How long you think she can last up there?”
    Colton said, “Well, they don’t seem to know she’s up there yet. But come nightfall, that fire may give her location away. If not to the zombies, then definitely to other players.”
    “We need to hustle,” Hooper said, looking up and trying to find the sun in the hazy gray sky. “Looks to be around two, and that building’s at least a mile and a half away.”
    “A mile and a half through hell,” Colton corrected.
    “Like I said: probably take a whole day to get there.” He grabbed the blue receiver from the back of the monitor, handed it to Colton, then stared down at the city.
    “Let’s go get Zelle,” Colton said.
    For the first time in a long while, Adam felt like he had a purpose other than drawing breath. And it felt good to have a purpose.

CHAPTER 8—ANA LOVECRAFT
    Ana sat in the chair staring down at her hands, unable to meet Egan’s eyes.
    How could she look into the stare of a distraught father desperate to save his baby girl from becoming a zombie and tell him “no” because she had to leave and save her own kin—especially after his daughter had saved Liam, and Katrina and her?
    She looked up and met his gaze. “How do you even know I’m the cure? That’s only a theory.”
    Egan asked Ana to hold that thought, then left the room, leaving her to stare at the piles of papers on his desk. Part of her wanted to peek and see what was written on them, but then the door opened behind her and it was too late to snoop.
    Ana turned to see a welcome sight—Dr. Oswald, the zombie cyborg she’d last seen in Hydrangea, the man who’d helped secure passage for Liam, Katrina, and her. He’d risked everything to save them. She’d wondered and worried ever since, imagining that Oswald’s betrayal had surely been discovered by