Zombie Road: The Second Omnibus | Books 4-6 | Jessie+Scarlet Simpson, A. (pride and prejudice read txt) 📖

curl up and sleep, to surrender to it, to not do anything. To let it run its course so she would stop feeling the cold, creeping tendrils. She was dying and she could feel it worming through her, sense it curling icy fingers into her brain. She was only going through the motions for Jessie’s sake because he still believed. Because nothing she could say would make him turn away from this task. Nothing she could do would make him leave her to the business of killing her father by herself. She knew it was hopeless, though. Doctor Stevens didn’t have a miracle drug waiting for her. There was no cure.

Even if he could discover one for the slow-moving death, it would be much too late. She didn’t have another week. She didn’t have another day. The spread had reached a critical mass, it had finally infected enough of her that the good blood in her system couldn’t fight back. She had known this day would come. She’d been around Stevens enough, had watched his experiments enough to believe the infection was irreversible. She’d had hope in the beginning when the penicillin seemed to keep it in check but all it had done was slow the spread. It added a few months to her life and she was grateful for it. She had found love, had spent a wonderful summer with a kind and brave man. She would go through the motions of talking to the Doctor for his sake. But before she got too sick to make a difference, she would end the movement that she had helped start. She would end her father for Jessie’s sake so that the world he was building would have one less threat in it.

She reached in the car and stroked Nefertiti who had been watching them with glowing eyes in the blackness of the parking garage. She sensed the mood, knew something was wrong. Her and Bob both, who sat impatiently in the driver’s seat eager to get out but was told to sit. The cat didn’t purr as she usually did. Didn’t arch her back, didn’t knead the seats in contentment with her claws.

“Do you know where cats come from?” she asked Jessie as she stoked her.

He shook his head and watched her as she said goodbye.

“Noah had made a pledge to God never to harm any animal. A sacred vow. When the rains came and the ark was on the water, the devil came down and turned himself into a mouse. He went to the bottom of the boat and started chewing a hole. Noah saw this and, in his anger, he threw his glove to kill him. God remembered Noah’s promise and turned the glove into a cat who ate the mouse.”

She placed her hands on Nefertiti, on either side of her head, and looked into the glowing yellow eyes.

“To this day, that is why the cat chases the mouse and that is why the cat has little bit of devilment inside of him.”

Jessie smiled, pocketed the last of their grenades and slid his blades into their sheaths. Scarlet grabbed the Gatorade bottle of trucker speed, chugged half of it down and closed the door. She tucked the rest into her fanny pack riding tight against her back. They both reached through the bars and ruffled Bob’s fur, scratched behind his ears where he liked it.

“Stay.” Jessie commanded and they slipped into the darkness.

“Stevens labs are separated from the Casino.” Scarlet said. “He’s set up in the hospital basements. If they have any guards, they won’t be enhanced soldiers.”

“I vaguely remember that.” Jessie whispered as they ran from shadow to shadow, staying close to the buildings.

“It’s connected by the utility tunnels so getting into the headquarters will be easy once we get to the hospital.”

The streets were deserted, the Cult kept them cleared of any undead that wandered in, they didn’t want a horde outside of the headquarters drawing attention. The undead were constantly showing up, sometimes days after a truck had come in. The shambling husks were easy enough to put down and dispose of. The Movement was content to remain inside the buildings, they hadn’t bothered building walls around the city. Any retrievers that happened by would think it’s just another dead town if there were no fortifications. They remained hidden from unwanted attention by not being obvious. Everything they needed was inside, they didn’t have to grow crops or raise animals, the supply trucks brought everything in for them. They had plenty to eat and festive banquets every week. Everyone was happy and content, in no small part thanks to the steady supply of a very special powder sprinkled into all of their food. Doctor Stevens had perfected the synthesized scopolamine, the devil’s breath, and everyone was pleased with their position in life. From the lowliest kitchen help and cleaners to the council members. Some were ambitious and wanted to move up in the hierarchy but it would happen when it happened. No rush. They were in the best place on earth and no one wanted to jeopardize that. The Lord of the Underworld provided.

The lower level of the hospital was completely boarded up with plywood covering the windows and doors. The two slipped into the parking lot, kept to the shadows and sprinted to the rear of the building. The quietly humming generator covered any noise they made and their speed made them a blur if any guards happened to be posted and happened to be looking in their direction. The mesh door blocking the ladder going up had already been opened, the lock cut off. Zed didn’t climb and those inside weren’t expecting any unwanted company. Jessie went first in case there was anything waiting for them on the roof, but had there been, they would have heard them coming. Halfway up, Scarlet goosed him with her baton, poked his butt and giggled like a school girl at his yelp of surprise. He had