Free Hell Bound (Book 2): A World Apart by Kathy Dinisi Page A

aisle, I didn't check and jog back to him. Devlin and Mathew hold an almost empty basket.
    “Didn't find much either, huh?” I say looking at their baskets.
    “Nope, let’s grab the others and go,” Mathew says, grabbing my hand and pulling me towards the bathrooms.
    Jake stands outside of the woman's bathroom leaning against the wall chewing on a beef jerky. His legs are crossed and his arms folded over in front of him. His gun neatly tucked into his jeans.
    “What are they doing?” I question.
    “John needed to use the bathroom and Kat is cleaning him up too,” Jake answers.
    Kat walks out of the bathroom with Jake by her side looking a lot cleaner than he did earlier.
    “Let’s go,” Devlin said leading the way outside to the SUV. Athena waits exactly where I last saw her. Sitting patiently by the glass doors. Wagging
    her tail as if she is telling us that she is ready to leave this place.
    “Let’s just walk it to the hunting store. No use wasting gas.” Mathew mentions.
    We all agree as we start walking down the sidewalk. The town is quiet and fairly clean. It’s odd seeing this town look so normal compared to the previous towns we drove through. The hunting store is completely intact. Mathew jiggles the handle, but it’s locked.
    Looks like the owners had time to lock up before they left. Mathew brakes the glass and sticks his hand inside of the door and unlocks it. Walking slowly inside of the store, but not finding anything or anybody inside. We each go our separate ways down whatever aisle of items they may need. I go towards the boot section. Knowing I’m going to need a good pair of boots for the winter.
    Finding a size 7 ½ in women I pull it off the shelf and sit down on the bench next to me. After each of us find what we are looking for we take our items back out to the SUV and jump in. Further down from the main street towards the cute little houses. I haven't seen or heard any zombies since the one that ran into the SUV outside of town. Devlin pulls into a small house next to an old motel.
    “Let’s go,” Devlin says, pushing his door open and getting out.
    Exiting the SUV happy to stretch my legs and wanting to change my clothes to get rid of the stench of the dead. Jake brakes the window next to the front door and unlocks it.
    “After you sexy,” He motions for Kat, She smiles and walks in.
    John tags along behind her. Mathew and Devlin hurry inside the house looking inside every room.
    “Clear!” Devlin screams from somewhere in the bedrooms.
    “They still have running water. Who wants to take a shower first?” Mathew mentions surprised as he turns
    the faucet on in the kitchen.
    “I’ll wash John up first, then I’ll put him
    to sleep while all of you are taking your showers. Okay?” Kat questions.
    “That’s fine with me,” I say looking around at the group waiting for their approval.
    Kat nods and picks up John and walks to
    the bathroom. Rubbing his little head. Mathew and I sit down in the living room, I take a deep breath, letting the stress of the last couple days disappear. Several minutes go by before Kat comes out of the bathroom cradling John. He's passed on out on her shoulder, sucking his thumb. He looks and smells so much cleaner. She lays him on the couch and covers him with a blanket. Devlin stands quietly by the window. I Lean closer to Mathew whispering into his ear.
    “I’ll be back, I want to talk to Devlin.” Mathew nods and leans his head against the couch and closes his eyes.
    Walking over to Devlin trying not to scare him “Hey, you okay?”  Turning his body to face me.
    “Yeah tired.”
    “We all are. Maybe we can sleep peacefully tonight.”
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter 13
    Goodnight sleep tight. Don’t let the dead bite.
    Startled awake from a nightmare. I try to calm my breathing. Dreaming of the little feet I saw back at the gas station. But this time it was Alexander. He was a