Free Bad Blood (Battle of the Undead Book 1) by Nicky Peacock Page B

need to leave, now,” I whispered.
    The growl got louder and was joined by another chorus of zombie moans. They’d gotten in. Of course they had—British museums were free to get into, even for the undead.
    “The others!” he yelled , and turned to run with me back to the shop.
    Green was still unconscious, and the children had done a bang-up job of looting the shop. I briefly stopped to pick up a British history book. I kicked Green awake then turned to see a zombie shuffle in behind us.
    I sprinted to the door, running up the side of the nearest wall. I kicked the zombie’s head off, then forward rolled over its falling back to end up crouching in front of a second intruder. I threw an upper-cut, taking the second zombie’s head off its rotten neck. There were only two, but if they’d gotten in, others would too.
    “We need to move now,” I said.
    “Move to where? The whole of England’s gone to hell.” Langdon put his hand out to me to help me up. His grip was warm and strong and I had to force myself to let go.
    I noticed the name on his uniform was J. Rollins. I mentally chided myself for calling him Langdon . It was rude, even if it was just in my head.
    “I have a safe house,” I said.
    Green looked skeptical. The kids looked happy, and Langdon—I mean Rollins—looked relieved.
    “What about Lewis?” Rollins asked.
    “He was infected. He’s gone. We need to move now!”
    “I’m trusting you,” he whispered to me.
    “I won’t let you down.”
    We carefully made our way through the streets. I kept an eye out on all sides of us. I was fed and fuelled, and not even a zombie army was going to stop me from holding Langdon’s hand again.
    We reached the Dead Hare, and I knocked.
    “Brit?” asked Tracy.
    “It’s me. Open up.”
    The shutters slid back, and the door opened. I pushed everyone in then stepped in behind them. I saw Nicholas’ face go from relief to anger, and I could smell blood.
    “What the fuck—” Nicholas started.
    “You shouldn’t drop the F-bomb,” Rose sang as she jumped at me.
    I caught her in mid-air and gave her the book I’d picked up. She kissed my cheek and ran off to read it with the other kids and Danny, who looked so much worse than before.
    “Tracy, why do I smell blood?” I asked, pulling her to the side.
    “I fed Nicholas,” she replied.
    She moved her collar aside to show a perfect set of gentle bite marks.
    Well, no hiding what we are now , I thought.
    She must have seen the look on my face. “I won’t tell, I promised,” she said. “We thought you’d been… Well, anyway, I did it to keep him strong. We need him, but”—she grabbed me in a tight hug—“we need you more. Don’t leave without telling us again.”
    I raised an eyebrow.
    “Please?” she added.
    “Promise,” I said. It was odd that I meant it.
    Satan nudged my hand and smelled me. I stroked him as he jumped up. He was then lured away by the smell of museum sweets and crisps.
    Introductions aside, I couldn’t help the smugness slipping off my smile like icing off a cake as Nicholas recognized Rollins, whose first name turned out to be Josh. They shook hands, and Nicholas threw me a warning glance. I caught it and threw him back a satisfied grin.
    “A word,” Nicholas said to me.
    I followed him down into the red velvet underground room.
    “Nice shirt.” He motioned to the Union Jack stretched across my bosom.
    “You fed off the mother?”
    “She seemed the most trustworthy.”
    “I’m surprised half the children weren’t gone.”
    “I’m surprised you left them with me then, seeing as how you don’t trust me.”
    Damn his logical arguments.
    “You wouldn’t have killed any of them,” I said it reluctantly. It was true, but annoying.
    “I’m glad you realize that. In that vein, we need a plan to get them out of here.”
    “Why? Here’s defendable.”
    “But for how long? We need to get them to Scotland, like we were told to.”
    “Okay. There’s also