Free Spiteful (The Infected Book 3) by Justin Gowland

you’re not. You’re going to give me that bundle and I’m going to do it for you.” She said.
    “Thank you but it’s not necessary for you to do that.” I said.
    “It’s the least I can do for letting us stay here.”
    “I don’t want you to feel like I expect this treatment. And what do I call you?”
    “I’m Ruby and you’re not putting on me. Thing is, there is very little for us to do here and people are getting bored and when they get bored they start to fight.” She said.
    I hadn’t thought about that. ‘Some kind of leader I am.’ I thought to myself.
    “Well, Ruby, as long as you’re okay with it.” I said, passing the sack of dirty clothes and sheets to her.
    “It’s not a bother in the slightest.” She said, taking the sack of washing.
    “I have to thank you as well.” I said “You’ve given me something to think about with regards to finding things for people to do.”
    “That’s what old people do. Give good advice.” She said, taking the sack and disappearing into the bunk room.
    I looked round the library area and saw a lot of people just wandering from one place to another without actually doing anything. Only the few kids seemed to be actually busy, but saying that, they were all playing on the games consoles.  I needed to talk with Amy, Chris and David about what Ruby had said to me. Leaving the library I took the lift to the second floor and headed for the indoor range. Sure enough, I found Chris and David teaching Mike and Tessa how to load and unload two SA80’s.
    “Morning, lover boy.” Chris said, as I walked into the range.
    “And you, young, sir, can get fucked.” I replied, laughing.
    “Can you remember when Jake asked Rosa and Tom to be a little quieter…?” He started to say.
    “You can stop right there before you dig a deeper hole for yourself.” I said.
    David laughed and carried on watching Mike and Tessa. They ran through the loading drills a couple more times and then started firing single shots down range. I watched and was surprised to see that Tessa was a much better shot than her father.
    “So how are our two recruits doing this morning?” I asked.
    David shouted for them to cease fire. Once they had cleared their weapons and placed them on the bench in front of them, they turned round.
    “They are not too bad.” Chris said.
    “That’s a bit off my mind.” I replied.
    “It was a shock when I fired my rifle for the first time.” Tessa said.
    “Yeah, can be a big shock your first time.” I said.
    Mike and David came to stand next to me.
    “They should be okay to provide fire support by tomorrow.” Chris said.
    I nodded and smiled at them all.
    “Well, I have another problem. You know what they say, if it rains it pours. I spoke with a woman called Ruby this morning and she brought up the fact people are getting bored and when they get bored they fight amongst themselves.” I said.
    “That Ruby is a smart old bird. She was the one that suggested the school as our sanctuary.” Mike said.
    “That old woman has a great head on her shoulders. But the problem is I don’t know what to do about it.” I said.
    “You’ve got your answer already.” Mike said.
    “What do you mean?” Chris asked.
    “Before Tracy turned up at our place, we had someone in charge of that kind of stuff and you’ve already spoken with them.” Mike said.
    “Look, I’m going to need you and Tessa when we go after Tracy and I don’t want you switching jobs every time I need you.” I said.
    “Don’t be bloody daft. I could never balance my bank account, how the hell could I help in running this place? Tessa would rather poke out her own eyes than stop what she is doing now.” Mike said, laughing.
    “Okay then, smartarse. Who would you suggest?” Chris asked.
    “Ruby.” Mike said in reply.
    “The woman Marc spoke with this morning?” David asked.
    “Yeah, she’s great. When we got to the school she jumped straight in and helped everyone get