Free DEAD: Reborn by TW Brown

going to have to carve it out for ourselves. Funny thing is, your little girlfriend already knows this—”
    “She ’s not my girlfriend,” I snapped, cutting Jon off for what I am pretty sure is the first time ever. “But she is a person and just wants the chance to live , as you put it, without dirty looks and people blaming her for everything.”
    Jon wasn ’t the only person who kept a cold shoulder towards Shelly. From the way Melissa acted, you would think that Shelly had been the person to actually kill Steve. I didn’t get it. Sure, she had been part of that group, but did anybody know who did what exactly? She was paying for everything that happened that day.
    “How long you two been hooking up?” Jon asked with a raised eyebrow.
    “Hooking up!” I sputtered. “I’m not hooking up with anybody. I just think that we should treat people based on who they are now…not something from the past.”
    “The past!” Jon exploded. “It wasn ’t years ago that she was part of a group of raiders that hit our home and caused the deaths of several people.”
    “And she told us her side of it…and since she came back a fter being let go ,” I made sure to emphasize that bit, “she has helped in every aspect of life here including security, including keeping everybody safe.”
    “All I ’m saying is that if something goes wrong out there where there is even less margin for error as there is here at the cabin, she could cause a lot of damage. If that happens, it is on your head.”
    Jon walked away signaling an end to our little conversation. I had not said a word about the reason why Shelly wanted to come…how she was hoping to not return with us. How she ho ping to find a group of others who are immune just like her and stay with them. Of course I also had kept the fact that she was immune to the bite a secret as well. I figured it was her business. The fact that she had shared it with me was one thing, but she was now the second person that I knew who was keeping that same secret.
    And since Jon had not bothered to share the fact that Jake was immune with anybody—especially Dr. Zahn—I felt obliged to keep Shelly ’s secret. I wasn’t sure why, but I had a feeling that this was some good old fashioned pre-apocalypse paranoia.
    Eventually everybody was loaded up that would be making this trip. It would consist of Jon and Jake, obviously. In addition to me, there was Shelly, and Jamal Lockett. The others were all from some of the new arrivals and were the first to step forward when Jon said he had an important but dangerous mission that he needed volunteers for; Jerri Pierce—Jerri was easily in her thi rties and complained at least twenty times a day about not being able to smoke anymore; Erik Herd—he was what we used to refer to as a “nerd” or a “geek” back in the high school days that seem a lifetime ago. And Carol Wills—easily the last person that you would expect to step forward.
    Here is the thing about Ms. Wills. She has to be at least si xty. She apparently decided to take a do-over in life. I’ve heard bits and pieces of her story, which she loves to tell to whoever is sitting beside her at dinner. Her husband apparently was some sort of adventure junkie who decided to sail around the world about ten years ago; I guess he didn’t make it. Anyways, she had all this gear and was about to have a huge garage sale when she found an envelope with what was supposed to be her anniversary present that year: skydiving lessons. It seems that her husband had tried to get her to partake in his adventures every year to no avail.
    Did I fail to mention the fact that they were wealthy and owned a really successful local restaurant chain? I knew of the place enough to know that my family could have never afforded to actually eat there.
    Anyways, she decided to honor her husband by using the certificate. She got hooked and became an adrenaline junkie. Pretty soon she was learning martial art s