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

that neat little gizmo so they could work under the hood without stabbing themselves. He pulled out his leather pouch and started rolling a cigarette, a habit he’d picked up from his dad. One he didn’t pursue around his mom, though. Not worth the disappointed looks or the shake of her head like he was doing something stupid. Like sitting here without any cover, waiting for them to open the gate, and he probably had crosshairs on his head from some sniper. He felt the little hairs on his neck stand up and he could feel them watching. Bob felt the change in him and stopped sniffing at the stringer of guts hanging off the back of the car. He stared intently at the wall and a low growl started in the back of his throat.

“Let’s go, boy,” Jessie said. He didn’t have time for this. He was here at their request. If these jerks wanted to be rude, they could drive to Lakota if they needed to set up trade routes. He didn’t like the creepy feeling of being watched. He locked the metal teeth back in place and headed for his door. He heard the wood on wood scraping of the log across the gate being removed and stopped with a hand on the handle, the other hovering near his Glock. He wasn’t feeling any good vibes coming from this place. Not at all like Tombstone, where everything was straightforward and plain spoken. He watched, his eyes seeing easily into the deep shadows, as the big gate swung out. Men with guns. He snatched his door open and slipped behind it, putting the steel and Kevlar between them. Their weapons weren’t pointed at him so he kept his out of sight, but it was in his hand and ready to come up instantly.

“No need to get jumpy,” a gruff, bearded, man said. “We weren’t expecting company, so we had to check you out.”

Lie number one.

If anything, they were waiting to see if any zombies followed him. Which meant they were willing to let him fend for himself if some did show up, not offer him shelter.

“Had to run my plates through your database?” Jessie asked, behind the door, gun in hand.

“What? No,” he said. “We just wanted to watch for a minute, make sure you didn’t act suspicious. We didn’t know who you were. You can never be too careful nowadays.”

Lie number two.

A young man and his dog in a black chop top Mercury was the description Wire Bender had given everyone on his visit list. He was pretty sure there weren’t a whole lot of others running around that matched.

Jessie remained quiet, just watching the man and his three companions come out of the gate and approach him.

“I’m Colonel Norris,” he said and extended his hand as he approached. “Welcome to the compound.”

Jessie kept his gun in his hand, still hidden behind the door, and watched the other men. They were gruff, unshaven, and were watching the wood line. Whether for zombies or an ambush, he didn’t know, but he noticed two of them had their fingers on the trigger of their rifles.

Amateurs.

Jessie ignored the hand and reached down to calm Bob who still had a quiet growl in the back of his throat.

The colonel was nonplussed for a second but recovered quickly and swept the land with his outstretched arm.

“Beautiful view,” he said. “Just look at it. Hard to believe the woods are filled with the undead, hiding out and just waiting for a chance to take a man down.”

Lie number 3, Jessie thought. The dead don’t think and if they were in the woods, they’d already be running for them.

Jessie didn’t look.

He got down to business because he didn’t want to stay here any longer than he had to.

“I have a list of renewable supplies the president has asked me to give to any settlements I can find. In return, he’d like a list of things you can supply in trade. I imagine up here, there is plenty of fur and venison.”

Jessie let it hang, giving the colonel a chance to brag, maybe ease the tension, and was a little surprised by the answer.

“We don’t go outside the walls, it’s too dangerous. We’ve lost men and those zombies are everywhere. Besides, we have plenty of long-term storage food. Unlike the rest of the world, we were prepared. We knew the apocalypse was coming. We’re not giving any of it up and we don’t need help. We’re self-sufficient.”

Then why am I here? Jessie thought.

“Okay,” he said. “Sorry to bother you.”

He clicked his tongue to Bob and with a jerk of his head, the dog jumped up to his place on the passenger seat.

“If you decide you want to join the rest of the rebuilding, give us a holler on the ham,” Jessie said and started to climb back in the car.

“Hold on, hold on, young man,” the colonel blustered. “It wouldn’t be neighborly of us to send you on your way without at least giving you a good meal. Don’t be hasty, come on in for a spell. It’s getting dark.”

Jessie was torn. These guys were rude and had already lied to him three times. Lakota didn’t need them, especially if they had nothing to offer, but he was supposed to be an ambassador of sorts. He was supposed to pull everyone together and it took all kinds. These guys acted like they were still scared of their own shadows. Maybe they’d come around. He relented, decided to play nice.

“That sounds good,” he said. “We’ve been living on canned food for weeks now.” He smiled his crooked smile. “Home cooking would really hit the spot.”

The colonel was happy again and waved the double gate open so he could get the car through. Jessie usually didn’t lock it up but when he parked by the other Jeeps and trucks, he flipped the kill switch that fed juice to the coil.