Free Queen of the Dead by Ty Drago

Sharyn replied. “That’s what I spent last night doin’, riding around the city and wasting Corpses. The last one was with Will in an alley near the prison. For all the others, I was alone.”
    â€œWhy alone?” Helene asked, “How come we didn’t know about it until now?”
    â€œTop secret,” the Boss Angel replied. “We’re turning up the heat here, brothers and sisters. For the first time, we got us a practical yet lethal weapon to use against the Deaders. Until we were sure it worked, Tom and I figured we’d keep it quiet…just in case somebody…” Her words trailed off.
    But we all knew what she meant.
    In case somebody got grabbed by the Corpses, who had this God-awful way of getting someone to talk.
    â€œAny other questions?”
    â€œHow big a group is going?” Burt asked.
    Sharyn considered this. “I’m going. So are Will and Helene because they’ve had a look at the place…at least from the outside. I’ll take three others.”
    Every hand went up, including Dave’s—though, of course, his was ignored.
    Shouts of “Sharyn!” and “Ooo! Ooo!” flooded the room. There were between ten and twelve Angels at any given time. While a lot of kids like Dave itched to join, others tended to transfer out after a particularly close call. Well, either that or—
    Enough said.
    Sharyn scanned the room, looking a lot like a teacher panning for student volunteers. “Chuck,” she said at last. “Burt. And Katie.”
    Groans of disappointment followed the announcement.
    The Boss grinned. “What? Y’all that eager to get yourselves killed? Chill. If this was a night job, I might take the whole crew. But because it’s daytime, I want to keep this small and quick. Next go ’round, dudes. I promise. For now, I need the team to meet me in Tom’s office. We got some stuff to look at ’fore we hit the streets.”
    The meeting broke up. Helene and I stood and looked at each other. She grinned. “‘Ritter,’ huh? Face it, Will—you’re famous! You just can’t get away from it!”
    I didn’t reply.
    Want to know why I was so uncomfortable at that birthday party earlier? It wasn’t the surprise party itself. It was the sad fact that in the four months I’d been living at Haven, that was the only such party I’d ever attended. And this despite the fact I knew a half-dozen kids who’d had birthdays come and go unnoticed during that time. Why me and nobody else?
    Because I was Karl Ritter’s only son.
    And that wasn’t the end of it. Now I had a weapon—a brand new Undertakers weapon—named after me! They could say it was because I’d killed Booth, and I felt sure that was part of it. But it wasn’t all of it.
    Again—Karl Ritter’s only son.
    A lot to live up to.
    And it was a rare day when I felt equal to the challenge.
    Helene read my face. “Jeez. Cheer up! At least we didn’t get into too much trouble over last night’s mess.”
    â€œWe can’t recon together anymore,” I complained.
    She shrugged. “I was half-expecting Tom to put me back into the Schoolers and you back into the Moms! He’s not big on kids ignoring the rules and regs.”
    The Schoolers was Helene’s old crew, the Undertakers who infiltrated area middle schools, looking for and rescuing new Seers. That was how Helene and I had met. She’d found me, alone and terrified and Seeing the walking dead everywhere I looked, and had gotten to me before the Corpses had. After that mission, she’d graduated from Schooler to Angel trainee.
    The Moms were Nick Rooney’s crew. Usually filled with the greenest recruits, the Moms did the cooking, cleaning, laundry, and basically every other duty that nobody wanted. I’d never spent a day on that crew, having moved right from First Stop, the