Free The Dead Series (Book 3): Dead Weight by Jon Schafer

category, and he always tried to help those in need when he could. But he didn’t agree that some people should do all the work, while others forced them to share the rewards with those who felt entitled to the benefits.
    Hoping he was doing the right thing , Steve replied, “My full name is Steve Wendell. Before D-Day I used to manage a radio station in Clearwater, Florida. We’re trying to find a safe place for a lot of reasons, the biggest one being that we don’t want something taking a big bite out of the better part of our asses. We don’t screw anyone who isn’t trying to screw us, and all we want is to be on our way. We’re looking for a better boat than what we have so we can land somewhere upriver and make our way overland to an aid station. And as for pirates, we took on a boat full of them out in the Gulf.” Pointing to the .50 caliber heavy machine gun still mounted on the stern, he added, “They were in a cigarette boat that suddenly found itself full of holes.”
    As Sean took this in with a cringe, Steve could see he was repelled by the thought of someone dying at the hands of others. He seemed to be struggling with something as he searched for a reply. He started to shake his head and opened his mouth to speak, but a female voice from the background cut him off.
    Steve tried to hear what she was saying, but the distance was too great. As he watched, Sean hung his head in a resigned way as the woman’s voice rose in volume. He replied once or twice to what she said, but it looked like he was losing the argument. The woman’s voice kept up for a full minute but finally tapered off when Sean held up both hands in a show of surrender.
    His shoulders slumped in defeat as he turned back to Steve, and he took a deep breath before saying, “Maybe we can make a deal. We have a situation here that we need some help with. It’s a little hard to explain, but -.”
    Sean was interrupted by the woman’s voice again. This time clearly saying, “Just tell them. Jesus, you’re such a limp rag.”
    Sean open ed his mouth to speak but was cut off again by the sudden appearance of what Steve took to be the owner of the mystery voice. A woman in her early thirties, carrying what looked like an old M-1 carbine, joined Sean at the rail and called out, “Are you really heading for an aide station?”
    Steve called back, “The closest one we can find.”
    “Maybe we can make a deal then. You need a boat, and we need someone to help us get somewhere safe.”
    Steve hesitated , so the woman abruptly said, “Don’t try bull-shitting me. I can see from here that you’re taking on water.” Motioning with her rifle, she said, “Your bow is sitting lower than your stern, so my guess is you holed it coming through all the crap blocking the pass to the Gulf. Besides that, I have a night vision scope and I saw you screwing around with it out there last night. Stuffing strips of your sail into the hole. From what else I can see, you’ve got six people on board. One of them is a little girl. That means you’re probably not pirates.”
    Steve tried to come up with a reply but failed. He was busted and he knew it. Deciding on the truth, he said, “You’re right. We need a boat. Like I said, we escaped from Clearwater, but there’s something you don’t know. The little girl you saw is immune to the virus, and we’re trying to get her somewhere safe. We’re not pirates or a gang; we’re actually trying to do something good. If we can get Cindy to a research lab, maybe they can find a cure for the disease.”
    Sean seemed to perk up when he heard this, but the woman shook her head and replied, “I don’t care about all that. Let’s just keep it simple. From what I can see, you need something we have, and you’re going somewhere we want to go. That’s all that matters. We can make a deal. We give you transportation, but you have to take us with you.”
    Before agreeing to anything, Steve needed to know what he was