Free Z-Risen (Book 2): Outcasts by Timothy W. Long

need more mouths, but that wasn’t the only reason. They didn’t look like they were capable of taking care of themselves. They were just a notch lower than me on the zombie fucking apocalypse totem pole.
    I moved toward the gate and shut it while Anna pulled up next to the HUMVEE.
    “You fixed the car?”
    “Yep. It just needed a woman’s touch.”
    “Really?”
    “Nah. We picked up an arm along the way, and it was thumping under the car.”
    I actually laughed at that one and gently punched Sails.
    “I hereby grant you the rank of First Class Engineer in the United States of Undead America.”
    “I better get a damn pay raise,” she said.
    “Oh, you will. I’ll put in a call to the President immediately.”
    “Wow, Creed. You’re all heart.”
    “True story. Now about that date?”
    “Yeah. About that,” she said and turned.
    I followed her gaze; a moment later, a rumbling sound reached me.
    Engines. A lot of engines. And they were heading in our direction.
     
    ###
     

09:25 hours approximate
    Location: Clairemont, CA - Undead Central
     
    Our minute of chitchat ended on a sour note, thanks to a bunch of assholes determined to crash our party. Over the last few weeks, we’d run into good people. Mostly good people. There were a few exceptions, of course, like Ken and his bat-shit insane buddy, who were holed up in a little house when they weren’t grabbing female Z’s off the street. Fucking a Z? In the case of Monster Ken and his jackass-in-training, they must have been crazy before the whole end of the world thing occurred.
    From time to time, we’d even come across some looters, but – as Joel pointed out – it wasn’t our job to play sheriff. We weren’t cops. It was a dog-eat-dog world, and the meanest dog would want to find the biggest bone.
    As far as I could tell, we were the only bone in town. A few stragglers were making a living by scrounging, but for the most part, this little town had become full-on Undeadville.
    It’d finally happened. It was bound to. The mercs had mentioned moving fast, but Joel and I had talked them into staying for a day while we did a food run.
    Fuck me.
     
    ###
     

09:35 hours approximate
    Location: Clairemont, CA - Undead Central
     
    “Sorry about the communications, man. The batteries started to die about the time you boys left,” Markus said.
    He held up the dead unit and then tossed it into the back of the HUMVEE.
    “Do we have more batteries?”
    “Don’t know, man. There’s still a lot of shit in the back of the transport. We can check later, but right now we have a bigger problem.”
    I nodded and moved around to the back of the Chevy to help load food into the HUMVEE. I grabbed a box of juice bottles, stuck one of the bottles into my pocket, and maneuvered the rest of the box into the truck. Christy grabbed it and shifted the contents into the back.
    Roz came down the stairs in a rush. She had the last of the supplies from the hotel room in one hand and her handgun in the other.
    “You guys get fucking lost out there?” she asked as she breezed by.
    “We got in some trouble,” I said.
    “Imagine that. You and trouble.”
    “Come on, Roz. We found a great stash of food, but the place was crawling.”
    “I’m sure. This whole town is crawling. Now let’s go before those assholes get here and I have to start shooting fools.”
    Too late. They were already here.
     
    ###

09:45 hours approximate
    Location: Clairemont, CA - Undead Central
     
    The kids in the two new cars roared back toward us. I didn’t really think about options for them. If they were caught, they’d probably be killed, or at least get their asses kicked. The guy in the red sports car did a little wave as he drove past. I waved back.
    Then they were gone.
    The carnival arrived a minute later.
    Donny had been busy moving shit around in the back of the HUMVEE. He whooped once and then slammed a heavy box on top of the transport. Markus conferred with Joel Kelly. Markus