Free Mail Horror Bride (One Nation Under Zombies Book 1) by Raymond Lee Page B

Nebraska. The military has a base there they’ve set up for survivors. They have food, weapons—”  
    “So do we.”
    “—and medicine. Doctors. We don’t have that and we could need it.”
    “I don’t know.” Otis took off his hat and scratched his head, somehow managing to reach it through the greasy mop of curly dirty blond hair, before replacing the baseball cap. “That’s a lot of road to travel out in the open.”
    “But we’ll be on the move. That’s gotta be safer than just sitting here.”
    “We have everything we need here. We’re both healthy, no need for doctors. This whole thing could blow over. You remember how scared everyone was about that H1N1 a few years ago, and that bird disease. The news works everyone up into a panic and the stuff always blows over.”
    “We’ve never had a nationwide electric outage.”
    “How do you know it’s nationwide?” Otis challenged him. “Might just be us. Might not even be related. We haven’t seen a single one of them zombies.”
    Hank sat back in his chair, mulling this over. “Could be right. We’ll stay for a while but if I start seeing a bunch of them wandering around, we’re out of here and headed to Nebraska.”
    “Good plan.” Otis scratched one of his stubble-covered chins. “If it comes down to us leaving, bringing her along could be dangerous, ya think?”
    Hank’s fork dropped to his plate as he sat forward to glare at Otis. “You saying I should leave my wife behind?”
    “No, I’m just saying she’d make survival harder.” Otis seemed to shrink in his chair which was an amazing feat considering his girth. “I mean, you tell her to run and she’s not gonna know what you’re saying.”
    “She knows simple words like that. She’s my wife. She goes where I go.”
     
    The men talked well into the night, unaware that Janjai understood almost every single word. She simply kept her head lowered, gaze averted, and they suspected nothing. Her supposed meek manner was why Hank had chosen a wife from Thailand. He believed in the stereotype that Thai women were docile, obedient women who lived to serve their husbands and she played his ignorance to her advantage. She’d intended to be a good wife but she hadn’t known the true character of the man she married. All it took was one beating and her loyalty broke. The plan was simple. Her sister had also married an American man, and unlike her, her sister had gotten lucky. Her husband never hurt her and allowed her freedom. All Janjai had to do was wait out the two years until she received her green card and then she was free to leave. Her sister and brother-in-law would take her in until she found work and could support herself.
    Listening to the men talk, she’d picked up on a few things. Communication was gone. Phones, internet, television … Nothing worked. Military and law enforcement were busy containing the outbreak. People were pretty much on their own. She doubted the government would care if a Thai woman ran off from her husband before the green card came. This was her chance. All she had to do was wait for Hank and Otis to fall asleep and she was free.
    She knew Pimjai and her husband’s address, having received it in a letter from her mother. She knew better than to have Pimjai send her a letter from her American address. If Hank knew her sister was in America he would be even more controlling. He already disallowed her to have any money of her own and planned on keeping her as dependent on him as he possibly could. Unaware that she could speak English, he thought escape for her was impossible. Where would she go in a country where she had no friends and could not communicate with anyone?
    But she did speak the language and she did have someone to help her. With a little help from the GPS in Hank’s truck, if it worked, she’d find her way. Besides, she missed her sister and with all the talk of people eating people, she worried about her.
    Hank finally fell asleep