Free The Infected Dead (Book 2): Survive For Now by Bob Howard

turning in our direction. After a few steps, they were falling into the water and sinking out of sight. That thinned the horde down faster, and we were able to focus on the infected that were still following the Chief.
    By the time he was faced with a decision on where to go, the last of the infected had either been shot or had walked into the water. Through my scope I could see the Chief’s chest was heaving. He was a big, strong guy, but he had just crossed the moat against the current and then jogged down a sandy beach with SCUBA diving gear on his back. Even he would be tired. As I watched, he sat down heavily on the big rock where the jetty began.
    Tom was probably the only one of us he could hear over the wind, so he cupped his hands around his mouth again and yelled, “Are you okay?”
    The Chief gave us a thumbs up and went back to watching the tree line for more company. Jean wrapped her arms around me and I felt a faint sob as she let go of her pent up fears.
    We kept watch over the Chief for the next three hours when we saw the tide was going back out. Before long it had become low enough for him to walk across. It was still hip deep, and the current would have been too much for the average person, but the Chief pushed against it. He kept looking down into the water, keeping his eyes on the bottom. It wasn’t likely that any of the infected would come back out through this end of the moat, but he didn’t want any surprises.
     
    ……
     
    There are a lot of words you could look up in the dictionary that mean good things, and you would find a picture of Chief Joshua Barnes next to each of them. As big as a bear, but he had a kind heart and a gentle way about him that made everyone feel like they were protected when he was nearby. Seeing him stranded on the other side of the moat made us feel separated from the safety we were used to feeling. He was under the protection of our rifles, but having his solid personality over there instead of over here with us made us feel like we were the ones who were stranded. Even Tom seemed unnerved by having to wait for the tide to go out.
    As we watched the Chief carefully crossing on the sandbar bridge that was forming across the northern entrance of the moat, I thought about what it was like when we first met, what we had been through together, and what it had been like living with him in the shelter.
    When the raft that carried the Chief, Jean, and Kathy had appeared out of nowhere, one of my first thoughts was how impossible it looked to see a man that big in a raft. His full, reddish beard made him look a bit like a Viking in a tiny ship. When he smiled that first time, I felt like a friend was smiling at me. Of course he had a way of joking with me that always seemed to catch me off guard. It was just his way of enjoying life, not at my expense, but along with me. We may be facing the end of society as we knew it, but he was going to enjoy the company of his friends. Of that I was sure.
    In the raft he was still wearing a white uniform from the cruise ship, Atlantic Spirit. His expression sitting in the raft with a long paddle across his lap was a look of amusement, and as much as I tried to find something else that was amusing, I was pretty sure he was amused by the sight of me standing at the stern of my Boston Whaler with a weapon in my hands.
    What I learned later was that he wasn’t the kind of person who was amused at someone else’s expense. It was just his way of letting everyone know it was always safe to find enjoyment in the moment, and as amazing as it seemed, he was smiling as he crossed the dangerous gap between the mainland and the dock.
    It wasn’t as if the Chief was our leader. It was more like we worked together in everything we did. We had made two trips away from the shelter, and we had been a team each time. If we tried to make the Chief our leader, he probably would have deferred to Kathy, and even though she was an assertive, trained