Free The Dead Series (Book 2): Dead Is All You Get by Steven Ramirez Page B

each table hung a microphone operated by pedals. Despite the acute presence of Death, the room smelled antiseptic and a little musty. I recognized Dr. Fallow standing at the farthest table, recording an observation.
    As Warnick and I headed towards him, Holly hesitated.
    “What’s wrong?” I said, touching her hand.
    “Go ahead. I’ll catch up.”
    “Isaac?” I said, barely containing my excitement.
    Doctor Isaac Fallow was the medical examiner in Tres Marias, as well as a family practice physician. He’d known me my whole life and was my friend. We’d last seen each other when the outbreak started. After we’d witnessed a vicious rampage at the hospital and before the quarantine, he’d taken off for San Francisco to find some answers. I wondered if he’d learned anything.
    Isaac turned to me and smiled. “Dave! Can’t shake your hand—I’m right in the middle of this.”
    “Isaac, this is Warnick. Warnick, Dr. Fallow is a good friend of mine.”
    “Nice to meet you,” Isaac said. “I hope you’re taking good care of my boy here.”
    Warnick smiled. “He’s a handful.”
    “Don’t I know it.”
    I tried to see Evie as just another corpse but I couldn’t. Even in death, the authority and the confidence shone through—something her killer couldn’t take away. Then Isaac removed the top half of her skull with an oscillating saw, and the light went out. Now, she was a body on a slab. He proceeded to trace the path of the bullet, which had exited through her forehead. I had seen too much death over these last weeks and months for this to affect me much. But the sweet smell of brain tissue forced me to swallow my gorge.
    Warnick didn’t seem fazed. “Less blood than I thought there’d be.”
    “We froze her body first,” Isaac said. “And I’ve already removed and weighed the fluids.”
    I turned to Holly and found her seated by the door, her head between her legs. I was surprised at her squeamishness, considering she’d dispatched a fair number of draggers herself.
    “Dave, I can’t tell you how happy I am you survived. So you’re working for Black Dragon?”
    “It’s all Warnick’s fault,” I said. “Oh yeah, that’s Holly over there.” She waved weakly from a distance, not bothering to look up.
    “Holly, you’ve got a good man here.”
    “I know,” she said. “I think I’ll wait outside.”
    “So what have we got so far?” Warnick said.
    Isaac carefully separated the folds of the brain with his thumbs and leaned in close.
    “Well, this is clearly a homicide. Judging from the condition of the body, I’m guessing it happened before midnight. There are no bites and no sign of disease. Unfortunately, the soldiers who found her didn’t recover the spent bullet. But from what I can see, it was a fairly large caliber.”
    “How was it done?”
    “I found bruises on both knees, so I think she was forced to the ground. The shooter must have stepped back and fired from between three and four feet away.”
    “So she was executed,” I said.
    “Looks that way.”

    We needed to get more information from Isaac, so rather than return to the command center we decided to hang out in the hospital cafeteria until he was finished. It wasn’t fully operational yet, so we helped ourselves to coffee and semi-stale donuts. It was good to see doctors, nurses and orderlies milling around. One more sign that a normal life might be in reach.
    Ignoring her donut, Holly sipped hot tea and rubbed her temples.
    “Feeling any better?” I said. “Want me to see if I can find some ibuprofen?”
    “No, I’m good. I can’t understand why that affected me so much.”
    “Blame it on the pregnancy,” I said. Then to Warnick, “I’ve been thinking about Evie. Anyone in Black Dragon could’ve killed her. Most of us have large caliber weapons.”
    “That doesn’t mean anything,” he said. “What about the cops?”
    “How do you know that patrol didn’t do it themselves?”
    “Look, we have a