Zombie Rules | Book 8 | Who The Hell Is That? Achord, David (most popular novels of all time .txt) 📖

Chapter 40 – Prairie Meets Dong

At about the time Jimbo and his two friends were being attacked at the Wharton School of Business, Melvin was walking little Prairie to the main guard post where True was trying desperately to be patient with Dong’s desire to touch everything.

“Hi, True!” Prairie greeted.

“Hi, Lil’ Bit,” True replied and grabbed her in a big hug. “You know, you’ve grown since I been gone.”

“You smell a lot better since you got back,” Prairie replied, which brought a rare smile from True.

“Well, thank you, ma’am,” he said and then looked at Melvin.

“What’ve you been doing this morning?” he asked.

“I had an early morning meeting with VanAllen and Rhinehart,” Melvin said.

“I noticed I wasn’t invited,” True said.

“Nope, Rhinehart didn’t see the need in both of us being there,” Melvin tersely replied.

True knew what he meant. Rhinehart was an older, rich white man who came from a rich white family. Old money. Back before, his only interaction with black folks was with the hired help.

“How’d it go and what do they want to do next?” True asked.

“They were only interested in a brief summation of our mission. They believe that since those soldiers became infected, there is no further threat from the Chinese.”

True scoffed. Dong had been attentively listening. Whether or not he understood was unknown, but when True scoffed, Dong mimicked him and scoffed too. It caused Prairie to giggle.

“He acts just like you, True,” she said and turned to Dong. “My name’s Prairie. What’s yours?”

He frowned and looked at True for guidance. True patted her head. “Savannah.”

True nodded vigorously in understanding, tapped his chest, and gave a bucktooth grin. “I’m Dong.”

Prairie emitted another giggle. True smiled. “You’re a little giggle-box today, aren’t you?”

“What about our new friend here?” Melvin asked True.

“Garret came by this morning. He had some translation software on his laptop so we could talk a little bit. From what I understand, Dong was a farmer’s kid. Came from a family of rice farmers. He lived in some rural village that I can’t even pronounce. They were isolated, none of his family got infected. The villagers, there were only a dozen or so, knew something bad had happened, so they kept themselves separated. It was like that for a few years, but then soldiers came and rounded them up. He was in a camp for several days and then they were conscripted into the military and brought to America by ship. He was told that the Americans created the plague and they had to wipe it out. He claimed not to know anything else.”

“Have you figured out how old he is?” Melvin asked.

“He said he thinks he’s nineteen, which means he was just a snot-nosed kid when everything went bad,” True said.

Melvin had been casually studying Dong as True spoke. Dong in turn stared intensely at True, occasionally nodding. Melvin couldn’t decide if it was an act, if Dong did indeed understand what True was saying, or if he was acting like he understood in an attempt to fit in.

“What do you think, Dong?” Melvin asked.

Dong grinned and bobbed his head, causing Prairie to grin. Melvin smiled, but continued studying the little man. He sensed Dong was holding back. If that was the case, he wondered if it was going to be necessary to use other means to get him to talk.

He could waterboard the man. Back when he was on the teams, he watched some CIA goons do it to a high-ranking Taliban scumbag. It was a rather simple method of torture and left no permanent physical damage. He watched as Dong made a goofy face at Prairie, who was not giggling uncontrollably.

Melvin found himself grinning as well. No, he wouldn’t torture the man. Any pertinent information the little man may have, they were going to tease it out of him. It would take a while, but it’d work. He’d work out the details with True later.

“Alright, the little princess and I are going to grab a mid-morning snack at the cafeteria. You guys want me to bring you anything?”

“Snack?” Dong asked with a hopeful expression.

Melvin smirked. “Yeah, I got it. I’ll be back in a few.”

Chapter 41 – The Big Meeting

Captain Justin Smithson and Doctor Stephen Kincaid stopped their vehicle at the main gate of Mount Weather. Justin rolled down his window as Melvin and True walked out. Little Prairie was tagging along, along with a small framed Asian man they did not recognize. All were dressed for warmth, including the Asian man who was wearing a brown jacket with sleeves that were at least six inches longer than his arms.

“Good morning,” Justin greeted.

“Happy Thanksgiving,” Melvin rejoined.

“Happy Thanksgiving,” Prairie repeated.

Justin grinned at the little girl and eyed Dong. “Is this the one I’ve heard about?”

“Yep, his name’s Dong,” Melvin said.

“I’m Dong,” Dong repeated with his usual grin.

“You guys let him run around free?”

“Nope. One of us is always with him. Right, Dong?” Melvin asked. Dong grinned and bobbed his head up and down.

“Does he understand?” Justin asked.

“A little bit. We can talk more about it later.”

“Yeah, I’d like that. I haven’t seen the mission report,” Justin said.

Melvin stared a moment, and then at Prairie. “Sweetie, True and I are going to step away for a few minutes. You and Dong stay here. If anyone drives up, let me know.”

“Okay,” Prairie said sweetly.

The four men walked several yards away before Melvin spoke. “I gave VanAllen and Rhinehart a briefing earlier this morning. I had a detailed report, but they insisted I keep it short. They weren’t interested in the details.”

“I’d like to hear about it,” Justin said.

“Me too,” Stephen said.

Melvin and True spent the next ten minutes telling them about Cincinnati. They paused in conversation as they watched a dirty black Chevy Tahoe approaching. It stopped behind Justin’s SUV and two men got out.

“Lookee there, it’s Roscoe and Johnny G,” Melvin remarked. “There’s nothing on today’s schedule saying they’re coming. Let’s go