Free Love in the Time of the Dead by Tera Shanley

asked.
    “No,” he answered miserably. “The guards have been acting off lately. It’s like everyone has a secret and no one talks about it. I guess this is it. Muzzled Deads are the big secret.” He shook his head. “How stupid could they be? Whoever did this, whoever brought them here, they could have killed off the entire colony! All of our family and friends could have died.”
    “We have to be careful who we tell,” Jarren whispered to the group. “We have to make sure to flush out whoever did this or they will just rebuild their little project. They brought Deads in here for a reason. We need to figure out why. Laney, you should go straight to Daniels and alert him.”
    “What if he’s the one who did it?”
    “It’s your job to find out. Go to dinner and make the decision either to tell him or out his plans. Finn, you go with her and act normal. Business as usual, okay? Don’t talk to your buddies or family. You will cause a panic and send whoever did this into hiding. Mitchell and Guist, you two track down the doctor. We don’t have much time here and we need to get things with Laney set into motion.”
    “What are you going to do?” Laney whispered to Jarren.
    “I’m going to wait here. Someone will come and check on their little venture. I’m sure of it.” He held up his rifle. “And when they do, I’ll wing them.”
    She had never met a better gunman than Jarren. He really was the person for the job.
    “Meet back at the barn if anything goes wrong. We’ll sleep there tonight when everyone is finished,” Jarren ordered. He lowered his voice to a whisper again. “Be careful, Laney.” He squeezed her shoulder reassuringly and jogged off toward a grove of trees.
    “You too,” she said quietly to his retreating silhouette. “Come on, Finn. Don’t want to be late for my hot date with Sean-Zombie-Puppeteer-Daniels.”
    “I think you’re wrong about him. He gives everything for this colony. He wouldn’t do this.”
    “We shall see,” she gritted out as she turned her sights toward the populated center of the colony.

Chapter Six
    “I S T HERE A NOTHER E NTRANCE ?” Laney asked Finn from the shadows of the building they were hiding behind.
    Erhard stood guarding the main door of Sean’s house with a handful of other guards. The tension in his stance and the single-minded precision with which he scanned his surroundings while he gave hushed orders to his men said he must have caught wind of her scheduled dinner with the Denver colony leader. An unfortunate and irritating obstacle.
    “There is a back entrance, but it will be just as heavily guarded. Follow me, but stay hidden. Stay close if you can.”
    If the other entrance was guarded too, what kind of plan was Finn hatching to get her in? She didn’t trust anyone on the planet besides the team, so having any faith in Finn’s ability was about as far a leap as possible. On the other hand, there weren’t a ton of options. She slunk through the shadows as Finn walked casually around the house. He waved to other guards and talked cordially to a couple of them, and she smiled when she saw what he was doing. She liked it when people surprised her. To the other guards it would look as if Finn was thoroughly checking and re-checking if each bottom floor window was securely locked. One creaked promisingly, and Finn made a quick motion behind his back. He couldn’t have known where she was in the dark, but he must have trusted her to be close enough to see the gesture. Maybe Sasquatch wasn’t so bad after all. Finn strode over to a group of three guards who would catch her for sure if she ran for the window. He patted them on the back and joked easily with them while he positioned himself on the other side. When their backs were turned and they seemed engaged in conversation with a surprisingly animated Finn, she ran for the window and slid it open. Other than the creaking sound it made when Finn tested it, the window opened decidedly