Free The Undead World (Book 1): The Apocalypse by Peter Meredith Page A

perked, listening for gunfire. Sarah didn't. After a minute she was too anxious to sit still any longer and she got up and hurried after the men and tried to ignore the derisive looks many of them gave her and her baseball bat. She knew it was practically useless, still it was all she had.
    Before the crowd got to the cars that had been pushed across the road as a makeshift barrier the bell had ceased it 's ringing, and yet the men hurried forward excitedly.
    The army had finally come to Danville!
    “Reinforcements!” a man cried, which had the crowd grinning happily. The last of the cars were pushed aside and through the gap poured a long train of humvees and five-ton trucks all painted in swirled greens.
    A colonel in the lead vehicle smiled sadly at the people and shook his head at the rumor going around. “I'm sorry, but we aren't reinforcements. We're here for supplies. Food mostly, but also gasoline and medicine. It'll be temporary only, and I can assure you that the army will reimburse each of you fully.”
    “ No reinforcements?” an older gentleman asked appearing befuddled at the idea.
    “ Can't spare them,” the officer replied, looking down the street at Danville proper. “Besides, this town seems to be pretty well off compared to the rest of the country. There's not a stiff in sight.”
    “ What about New York?” Sarah asked, shyly. “Have you heard anything?”
    The officer was tall and tan; at his hip he wore a holstered Beretta and he rested his hand on it easily as he gave Sarah a long once over. “I'm sorry; New York isn't such a great place to live these days. It had been classified as Red , but as of yesterday they've changed that to Black . Sorry to be the bearer of bad news Mrs...”
    “ It's Ms Rivers. And...and what do you mean by Black?”
    The colonel breathed out loudly before saying, “It means there's no sign of human activity. The Air Force has been sending recon planes over the different Red zones, and in New York there ain't any more people. It's only stiffs now. Again, I'm sorry.”
    Sarah 's body went numb and her mind switched to off mode at the word stiff , and she was slow to catch up to what was going on around her. Her darling daughter was dead. She had failed as a mother. And as a wife. If she had somehow kept Stewart from cheating. Or maybe she could have learned to accept it. If she had, Brit would still be here in Danville and she would be safe and whole and...
    Someone jostled her and she blinked stupidly. “Sorry,” she said, though she had done nothing wrong. Only then did she realize that the crowd had grown angry around her.
    “ How can you ask that?” the colonel stormed. “Where have you been living for the last couple of weeks? My authority rests in executive order 7239. The United States has been placed under Martial Law! And as stated in the order, all US citizens must acknowledge the authority of military personnel and comply with all orders, whether you find them reasonable or not. Now my men will be going door to door commandeering any excess food.”
    “ Then you've come to the wrong town,” Gary Rivers said. “We don't have excess anything here.”
    The officer wore a tight smile. “Excess is a relative term. Now, if there is any resistance, arrests will be made. And if there's any hoarding, there will be...punishments. So let's not have that happen, ok?”
    No one answered. Instead they looked at each other, wondering what had happened to their country. When the humvees and the trucks pushed forward, the crowd dispersed in a hurry, clearly going to do exactly what they weren 't suppose to.
    “ Hide what you can,” Sarah's father whispered and then left her to empty his root cellar.
    Sarah Rivers, at thirty-five, with her honey-blonde hair and good figure, was still fine looking and this attracted every one of the service personnel as they drove past. Many whistled or made crude comments, which were annoying, however the pair of soldiers, slowly