Free Adrian's Undead Diary (Book 5): Wrath by Chris Philbrook Page B

him over the edge, and we don’t want him snapping, and we definitely don’t want the one kid in town that knows how to work on our vehicles to irrevocably hate our guts.
    Sigh. Bullshit.
    Sooooooo much bullshit. I’m gonna get cramps in my big toe. Lots of pushing.
    I hate zombies. I am starting to hate people too.
    I am packing up for this recon mission after I finish here. I am planning on getting set up near the farm before first light, and staying there until the sun goes down. Ideally, I’ll have eyes on for over twelve hours, and I’ll see something that gives us more information.
    In three days Mike will be here for another water run, and I want his input. I feel like our two groups are allied enough now that we need to go over major things like this. They need us, we need them, and we need to make sure we work together to survive together.
    I really didn’t need this.

    -Adrian

May 7 th

    I smiled today.
    There’s a certain profound power in that little statement for me. I don’t smile much anymore. I laugh every now and then, but I laugh at farts, and people falling down when they’re drunk, so really there’s nothing special about a laugh for me.
    I never get to smile though. I’m almost never genuinely happy enough about anything that I sit there, and let a real, honest smile come cross my face. One where I start to feel better as soon as it starts, and I feel tremendously better once it’s over. It’s like a long hug from someone who loves you. It wraps you up, and gives you a little bit of precious life and love that you needed.
    I smiled today.
    Yesterday I was not smiling at all. I’m starting to feel the walls closing in on us regarding that fucking farm, and I don’t like it one bit. It’s a good thing today went well, otherwise I might’ve jumped the gun and done something stupid.  
    Where to begin?
    Right. The Farm. I pulled my recon mission yesterday. As I said I planned to, I was up before first light, packed and out the door before anyone else was even stirring. In the interest of full disclosure, I didn’t sleep much anyway. It was the first night I slept fully on my back, and between that being a little uncomfortable, and the pre-op nerves, I might’ve racked up four hours of sleep tops. It’s an adrenaline rush to do this shit. Brings back a lot of memories for me.  
    I suppose it didn’t help that I am back to being scared shitless to sleep.
    My ribs yesterday were tender, but manageable. It was sort of a stepped up “stitch in the side” sensation. As long as I kept my chest taped up tight, and didn’t huff and puff too much, I was fine. In good news, putting the IOTV vest on and cranking it tight was an improvement. I put the same vest on I was wearing the day I got blasted, and it still shows the signs of the impact. I look at it as being “field tested.”
    I knew exactly where the farm was, and I also knew just about where the country road was Blake said he was using to get into the area on. The drive through downtown was amazingly devoid of activity, which was a nice surprise. I will say it was very odd to drive in the dark. I haven’t driven with the headlights on for… shit. A long frigging time. Creepy. Ever drive your truck or car down a road that has a lot of deer related accidents? Every second and every foot you go you’re just waiting for one of them to leap out into that little island of light right in front of you, and destroy you and potentially your car?
    Felt a lot like that, only with zombies.
    Fortunately as I said, I think I saw maybe three or four undead, and they were mercifully all off the beaten path. I made sure to keep my speed high enough on the open stretches to more or less ensure that I would lose them. Last thing I wanted was for a few motivated motherfuckers to follow me up in the woods while I was trying to be low key.
    The dirt road Blake has been driving on is an old logging road that comes out in someone’s backyard. From the