Free Total Apoc Trilogy (Book 3): Horde Ravaged by TW Gallier

"I'm Olivia. Who are you?"
                I got a real bad feeling when they didn't answer right away. She cocked her head. I could only see her in profile, and it wasn't good enough. Why didn't we consider if the kids had guns? Kids could kill with guns just as easily as adults.
                "I'm Nicolette. He's my brother, Bobby," a girl's voice said. She sounded worried. "They are our friends Colby and Andy."
                "You're not here alone, are you?" Olivia asked. "You have parents taking care of you, right?"
                "Maybe."
                I looked at Ralph. My feelings of dread turned into anxiety over taking care of four children in that dangerous environment. How did we take them safely through zombie infested lands?
                "I have two friends with me," Olivia said. "Do you feel okay with meeting Kyle and Ralph? They'll stay away if you want."
                "It's okay," Nicolette said.
                Olivia waved us out. She pointed at the wall, so we leaned our rifles against the wall next to her weapons. I went out first, trying to look friendly and safe. Not that easy in camo and a scraggly beard. The kids proved to be about the age I guessed. The one girl was obviously the oldest, with short, curly blonde hair. One of the little boys had curly blonde hair, too. The other two kids were dark-haired and about the boy's age.
                "Hi, I'm Kyle," I said. "Nice to meet you."
                "Is that all of you?" Nicolette asked. She looked a little suspicious. Her eyes kept darting back to the open door. "No zombies, right?"
                "Nope. We kill zombies," Ralph said. "We're zombie hunters."
                "Ewwww," one of the little boys said, face all screwed up. "Do you eat them?"
                We laughed. And two other doors opened and armed men charged out.
                "HALT!"
     

 
     
     
     
    Chapter 10
     
                We did anything but halt. All three of us dropped to one knee as we pulled our pistols.
                "Don't shoot!" Olivia screamed. "We're friends!"
                The children that lured us out were already gone. I was so consumed with the armed men that I didn't see where they went. Didn't matter.
                "Road warriors are no friends of ours," a man said. He didn't look any older than us. "Drop your weapons are we'll have to kill you."
                There were six men. Their ages ran the gamut from elderly to teenager. One of them had a pump-action shotgun. Three others had handguns. One man had a machete and the last two held baseball bats. The four men with firearms were in front, with the remaining three close behind.
                We had three M16A2s between us, plus three pistols and Olivia's sawed off shotgun. Unfortunately, we left the big guns in the apartment. The other men had a very slight firepower advantage over us. I was just glad all three of us had the presence of mind to bring our pistols to bear.
                "I don't think so," I said.
                "We have more guns," their spokesman said.
                "You also have more to lose," I replied.
                That caused a stir among them. I knew what they were thinking. Their wives and children needed them. In comparison, we had no one depending on us. At least that was my way of thinking. I didn't want to die any more than any of them did.
                "Listen. We're not road warriors," I said. "We're just three computer programmers trying to get home through a zombie infested world. We don't want to hurt anyone. We don't want to be hurt by anyone."
                They looked back and forth between each other. I had the impression they were more afraid of us than we were of them. I personally was quite afraid at that moment. Two