Free Blood & Dust (Lonesome Ridge Book 2) by Samantha Warren

thrill of the attack. Her mind was set on one thing and one thing only: creating her own army. She had decided that that was the way to go and she was going to get what she wanted. At first, Jeremiah thought it would be fun. He had his own visions of them riding across the West, side by side, commanding a group of undead who heeded their every command.
    But it wasn’t so simple. He hadn’t thought about how, in order to have the army Charity envisioned, they would have to attack and kill people, real live people. People who had families and friends, children and loved ones. People who would scream and cry and fight back. People who didn’t want to die.
    Jeremiah’s eyes stung. He wanted to cry, but no tears would come, so he dipped his head beneath the water and let the cool stream wash the pain away. He tried to think of something nice, something to take his mind off what he had become. A smile pulled at the corner of his lips.
    “Jasper,” he whispered. The last time he had taken a bath, he had been with Jasper. It had been his little brother’s idea. They were heading into town and there was a good chance they’d see Cora Monroe, the dancing girl at the saloon, who just so happened to be the sheriff’s sister. Jeremiah had a crush on her, one that had lasted since they were kids. She didn’t much like him, though, so he did everything he could to try to get her attention, including take the rare bath.
    Jeremiah’s smile twisted and his eyes started to burn again. The last time he had seen Jasper was at the attack. He was with Abby and Hannah, the young woman Jeremiah had hoped his little brother would end up with. Abby had been bitten by the same crazy Indian that bit Jeremiah. His frown turned to a pout. She was surely dead. Was Jasper? Did he survive? Did he and Hannah make it? What about Cora and Connor? Jeremiah could only hope. But he didn’t want to hope. He wanted to know.
    “I could send him a letter,” he mumbled to himself. “Get it touch.” But how? The herd killed everything they ran across. That would include all post carriers. There would be no way to convince one of them to carry a letter back for him. And if he did, if he managed to get a letter to Jasper, and Jasper was alive enough to receive it, how would he write back? Address it to the undead guy who follows the self-proclaimed queen just like all the other sheep?
    Jeremiah scoffed at himself, at his ridiculousness. No, he wouldn’t try to contact Jasper. The only thing that would accomplish is to likely get his little brother killed, if he wasn’t dead already.
    “You could leave.”
    Jeremiah contemplated that option. He could leave. He could go off on his own. But then what? What would he do? No one would take him in. He would truly be alone. And she would be free, without anyone to rein her in and keep her from getting into too much trouble. He shook his head. “No,” he answered himself. “Can’t do that. Can’t trust her. She needs someone to balance her. I gotta keep her in line, I gotta pull her back. She can’t go on like this. I gotta be the boss.”
    Jeremiah sat up in the stream and bobbed his head hard. “Yup, that’s it. I gotta step up.”
    He pushed himself to his feet and shook himself off. His natty hair hung in lumpy, wet strands around his face, but the rest of him was about as clean as it was going to get. He put his stiff, dirty clothes back on, heedless of the stench clinging to them, and threw his shoulders back. With his head held high, he walked back to the group, his purpose renewed.

 
     
    CHAPTER 11
     
     
     
    The moon was sinking low as Summer Rain crouched near some bushes close to the town of Lonesome Ridge, but but far enough away that she could remain hidden. She had returned to this place several times over the past weeks and as each day passed, her determination to find a way into the town grew. Since her last attack, since the day she was stabbed and shot, their defenses had been nearly