Free Zombie Theorem (Book 2): The Siege by James Wallace Page A

and squeezed the contents into my mouth slowly. The hot sauce made it taste a little better but still wasn’t on the level of canned chili. I listened in on Cupcake telling the kids a heavily edited story of our escape from San Francisco. My eyelids grew heavy, and I found that the harder I tried to keep them open the heavier they became.
    I felt something hit my forehead, not hard mind you, but enough to bring me out of my light slumber. I opened my right eye slightly and watched Cupcake pick up a pebble and prepare to throw it at me. I snaked my left hand down and picked up a handful of little pebbles and waited. The second Cupcake brought his hand back to throw his pebble I launched a preemptive strike of my own pebbles. They collided against his chest, shocking him. I opened both eyes wide and rolled behind the tree laughing hard.
    “I will get you back, Dan.”
    “You started it, buddy. I just fought back.”
    “Fine. Look, my hands are up! No more, I promise.”
    I picked up three pebbles and slowly brought one eye around the trunk of the tree until I could see Cupcake. His hands were indeed in the air, but I noticed one of the young ladies, Tessy I believe her name was, missing. I kept my body behind the tree and looked around for her. “Where is that girl Tessy?”
    Cupcake hunched his shoulders and shook his head, “I don’t know. She was here a second ago.”
    I heard a sound behind me and turned fast. I almost pulled my Kabar, thinking it was a zombie. Thank God I didn’t. Tessy was there, smiling at me and holding a handful of pebbles. I laughed at her and fake attacked her. She flinched and took off back to the group. As I turned, Cupcake and the remaining kids threw more pebbles at me. I threw up my hands and surrendered. “Ok, I give up! You win.”
    They all laughed at me, and Cupcake motioned me over to them. I slowly made my over, wary of them ambushing me. I sat down next to Cupcake, “Okay, what’s up?”
    Cupcake reached out slowly and took my radio out of its pouch. He hit a small switch, and I heard a static-filled squelch fill my earpiece. “Kuppers called trying to get a hold of you, but your radio was off and you were asleep. You might want to let him know you are back on the air.” He punched my shoulder playfully. I thanked him and headed to the front of the truck before hailing Kuppers over the radio. “Kuppers, I heard you called.”
    “Dan, all of us except Apache are coming back to the truck. She is going to spend the night doing recon on the only passage we found over the river.”
    “Great to hear, but why are you radioing this in instead of waiting to do it when you come in? Over.”
    “Because I want you to grab your pack and weapons and go back to the main road to meet up with her. You need to learn to do what she does. Brian will come back and help with Angel and the kids. Hurry up, but on your way down the dirt road pay attention. Over.”
    I stood there, shocked a little for a second. “Roger that, Kuppers. Over.” I went back to our camp and started collecting my supplies.
    I slid my Zomgo pack onto my back and almost died from the pain that radiated up my spine and into my neck. Cupcake noticed my discomfort and came over to help me get situated. He handed me a little white pill. “Take this, Dan. It’ll take the edge off your pain. I want you to remember something, though. If you are feeling pain, be thankful ‘cause it means you are not dead yet. Be careful out there, buddy. I’ll watch Angel and the kids.” I noticed that his voice would slip into an accent every now and then. I wonder if he even knew he was doing it.
    I clapped his shoulder and thanked him before moving down the dirt road. I stayed to the side and on the grass since it gave me better footing. I jogged most of the time, but when I thought I heard sounds I would slow down and sometimes stop to try and attune to the environment. It wasn’t completely dark yet but enough that I could not see