Free DEAD: Reborn by TW Brown Page B

four cars,” I pointed out, using my ability to state the obvious to lead into my next question. “ So why didn’t you guys just stick to the cars in the rear and make the big score?”
    “Because,” Jon gave me a harsh look, I don ’t think that he cared much for me challenging him in any way, “they have no problem coming down the length of the train to pursue a living target. They just won’t go far, and they always return to those cars. Plus, a few of the ones up close to those cars they seem so fixated on don’t budge. It’s like they don’t care about anything except what is in those few cars.”
    “And not a sound,” Carol spoke up again. “I think we can rule out that there is anybody inside. If there were, we would be hearing some sort of racket. Plus, I ’m sure that had anybody actually been inside, they would have heard you boys making your fuss and called out to you for help.”
    “So we need to take these things down. With the bunch of us, we should be able to make short work of them, but I think you can agree that there are definitely too many for just two people.” The whole time he spoke, Jon kept glaring at me.
    Did he think I was some sort of threat? Or was it something more? Was he hiding something? He had been acting different ever since that whole thing with Steve dying. And now, with Jon and Dr. Zahn at odds with each other, it was almost like they were two politicians trying to win some sort of election. They spent a lot of time talking bad about each other when the other was not present. Of course they were all smiles around each other when members of our little community were watching, but I had seen a few of their encounters when they thought that they were alone. It was not pretty.
    Seeing what I had witnessed between them made me realize that Steve was really the glue that held us together. He was our voice of reason. He didn ’t have an agenda, and when it got right down to it, he didn’t want to be anybody’s boss. That was probably what made him such a great choice. That begged the question: Why do adults feel that there always has to be somebody in charge? Why can’t we just work together and decide as a whole what is best for the majority? Just let everybody do their own thing, and if something important comes up, put it to a vote.
    “Are you li stening?” Jon snapped his fingers in front of my face making me jump.
    “Sorry…” I stammered.
    “So, if I circle around with Erik, Jamal and Jerri, you wait for the signal and we hit them from both sides,” Jon continued after shooting me just another in a string of annoyed looks.
    I had a grandmother like that; she never had a good thing to say about anything or anybody. It got to the point you just learned to ignore her and go about your business.
    Jake made a sound that I assumed to be an affirmative and started down the hill and towards the front of the train. Jon took his group and went to the rear—which was closer to where the zombies were all clustered. I just could not shake the odd feeling that something was definitely wrong here. All those zombies gathered around the last few cars, and even more peculiar, they seemed to have no interest in the caboose. It was definitely something in those few cars.
    I followed along with Jake , Shelly, and Carol. I could not get over how well that old lady moved through the woods. She was like a ninja despite being so—
    “Ever ybody freeze!” Jake hissed, raising a hand.
    I froze, but not before stepping on a pencil-thick twig that made a snap I am pretty sure was heard by everything in a ten mile radius. I looked up and saw Jake ’s disgust, Shelly’s annoyance, and Carol’s…pity? Great, now action-figure granny is giving me the stink-eye.
    Up ahead were about twenty walkers. They were coming down the same hill as us just a bit further to the west. Until I rang the dinner bell, it looked like they might have been heading for the train. A glance down at the main herd