Free Zombie Rage (Walking Plague Trilogy #2) by J. R. Rain, Elizabeth Basque

*
     
    I was still trying to process all of what Brice had told me. I was just about finished with my rounds at the zoo. I’d seen some tracks the police hadn’t found, and called them in to Brice. Then Carla called me.
    “ Hey,” I said from my truck, exhausted. I was gulping down my second cup of coffee, preparing for my rounds at the observatory.
    “ Jack!” Carla’s voice was urgent.
    “ If you’re calling to tell me about the animal attacks, I already know.”
    “ Okay, what do you know?” she asked. I could tell she was in a hurry.
    I explained everything Brice had told me.
    “So, you know what the media has officially let out,” she said. “Jack, there’s more. Much more.”
    I sighed. Of course there was much more. “Tell me,” I said simply.
    “Jack...besides the zoo animals, there have been at least two dozen murders. All of the victims had their skulls bashed in and their brains consumed. Or missing.”
    “ Jesus.”
    “ And two of our officers were outnumbered and attacked. Bitten. They said they fired several times, but the perpetrators didn’t stop until they were shot in the head.”
    I rubbed my temples with one hand, and felt for my gun with the other. I locked the truck’s cab doors. It got worse.
    “They’ve been treated at the local hospital and released.”
    I paused. “Carla, you know what this means.”
    “I know. But I can’t say anything, Jack. I can’t say anything that would compromise you and your brother. Anna. Even Jared.”
    “ Honey?” I didn’t realize I’d used the term until it was already out in the open. “How can you not say anything at this point? Your force has to know what’s going on. And how can it be that they don’t have information on the meteors and the infected?”
    “ I’m not sure. Perhaps the Chief knows and he’s keeping it under wraps to avoid mass panic. It’s L.A. Can you imagine the pandemonium if this became public?”
    That made sense. A couple of dozen reported crimes could mean that many more had gone unreported. As of yet. How was this spreading so quickly? This infection could blow up in a matter of days. Hell, it was mushrooming right now.
    I thought for a moment. “How about if I put in an anonymous tip?”
    “ Good idea,” Carla sounded relieved. “But from a pay phone. And you have to keep the call to under a minute. Can you go somewhere like Sunset Boulevard? That’s a hard area to trace.”
    I thought of my daughter. And her boyfriend. Alone at my house. I didn’t like it, for more reasons than one. “I’ll get Anna and Jared first.”
    “I don’t think your home is safe yet,” Carla said, referring to the fact that I had been questioned by the goon squad here at the park, that maybe someone was following me.
    She was right, of course. Griffith Park Observatory might not be the most popular attraction L.A., but there were plenty of cars in the parking lot now. Any one of them could be the agents.
    So, how to get to Anna and Jared without being seen, without leading the bastards to a home they knew nothing about, a home that was in my ex-wife’s family’s name? I had an idea.
    “ Carla, can you do me a favor?”
     
     
    Chapter Twenty-three
     
     
    “Oh, those poor animals!” Anna cried into the phone. She and Jared had strict orders to stay at home; they had been studying when I called. Or so they said.
    “ I know, angel, I know.” I tried to calm her. “I want you to come here. I don’t want you two alone.” I knew Carla had gone to work around one in the afternoon, and I’d wanted the two kids to get as much sleep as possible. It was now late afternoon and it looked like I would have to work a double.
    “ You want us to come there ?” Anna was shocked.
    “ Not really,” I answered, “but I’d rather have you close to me.” I looked at my watch. It was getting late. Dark. And the fog was rolling in. “Carla’s on her break right now. She can’t come to the house, because, you know...”