Free Amanda Carter in the L.A.Z., life after zombies by Jo Lee Auburne Page A

again. “He started seizing from the fever, and it scared the bejeezus outa me, I have to say.”
    “How’s he now?” Amanda asked worriedly.
    “Not good. What took you so long?” Roy said, without it sounding accusatory.
    “What’s next?” Sam asked, walking up on them. The beam of the flashlight in Tammy’s hand had grown weak.
    “Here,” Amanda said, holding out a large army green duffle bag that was packed with a myriad of supplies. “Just sling it over your shoulder because it’s heavy.”
    “No problem. Are we almost done here? Tammy and I are real hungry,” Sam said, without making it sound sarcastic.
    Amanda felt like her head was spinning from all the questions and catching up with the group, and also she was hungry. The third bucket was filled, and Amanda removed the hose.
    “The rest of the work can wait till morning,” Amanda said, “let’s go up top.”

Chapter 10
    R oy, with Sam’s help, had fixed a late dinner of beans and canned corn. This they had with some canned sweet baked bread. Bread was not something that anybody here had had in months, and it was a real treat. Amanda liked how moist it was and saved hers for last, popping crumbs of it into her mouth and savoring the taste of it in between animatedly telling the others the tale of her day.
    Maryanne had spent her time doctoring Jason. In the ambulance, Amanda had found eight bags of fluids, complete with IV lines, needles, and small bottles of medications that she didn’t know anything about. These, along with gauzes, disinfecting solutions, bandages, and other miscellaneous medical gear, she had stuffed into the paramedic’s bag. Fortunately for them, Maryanne knew just what to use the items for, and she had announced that Jason was stabilized before they sat down to eat. This came as a huge relief to Amanda, who had been worried that the delays on her return trip might have cost him his life.
    Members of their group had made many runs in the past, and each time, the rest of the group had always wanted a detailed account of the trip. Tonight was no different, and even though Amanda was exhausted, she found that she still had the energy to entertain them.
    Amanda began with her arrival into town. The key to successfully getting in and out of town on the runs for supplies had a lot to do with being able to fly below everyone’s and everything’s radar. She, being alone, would have been more than seriously outnumbered had she come across any of the groups of raiders. Additionally, she had to avoid any groupings of creepers because she had had enough experience with them to be able to handle them on a one-on-one basis, or even at times, two or three. But encountering any more than that would be a risky, potentially dangerous scenario that needed to be avoided at all costs.
    They found nothing about her trip to be shocking or out of the ordinary though until she recounted how the truck had overheated on the dirt road back. She told them how she had been forced to stop and wait for it to cool in order to replace the fluid and see if it would start again. They could all relate to this, as every time they left the camp to go to town, it was amidst concerns of breaking down somewhere along the way. This was always particularly concerning because of the distances they traveled, the heat, and the certainty that there would be no help forthcoming. Gone were the days of tow trucks and roadside service. Parts to repair vehicles could no longer be readily found or even ordered, and sometimes even when they could find the necessary part to fix a problem, it was a matter of not having the right tools.
    What really garnered the full attention of the group though was when she recounted having seen the impossibly large herd of creepers crossing the desert, heading for her location. This news sparked a lot of questions amongst Maryanne, Roy, and Sam. They were good questions, some of which Amanda had asked herself earlier, but no one had any