Free Escape from the Damned (APEX Predator Book 2) by Glyn Gardner Page A

flipped.  Anthony had accused Mark of losing one of his graded papers a few weeks before…”
    “I did not lose his paper.  That kid never turned it in…”
    “Anyway, Mark heard about the other kid’s accusation and jumped on it.  He demanded that Anthony get expelled, and go to jail.  He demanded that the kid’s mom pay for the damages to the vehicle.  Two weeks after being expelled, Anthony swallowed a bunch of his grandma’s pills.”
    Jen gasped.  As an ER nurse, she’d seen too many kids try to hurt themselves.  She didn’t always know the story.
    “The next week, the kid recanted his accusation.  Turns out the kid had offered Anthony money to do his homework about a month before all of this.  Anthony had turned him down and threatened to rat him out.  He had a grudge with Anthony, so he lied.”
    Jen and SSgt Brown gave Mr. LaBlanc a look of disbelief and disappointment
    “That is not true.  That kid lied!”
    “Bullshit Mark!  That kid tried to kill himself because you went off demanding blood!”
    Mr. LaBlanc was at a loss.  He couldn’t defend himself.  He could see the look on the faces of the others.  They were disgusted with him.  He felt his face flush and his stomach churn.  He mumbled something under his breath and walked off.
    “Ok,” SSgt Brown said.  “Mr. Love, make sure the kids are ok.  I’m sure they heard the shooting.  Tell them that we had some zombies close or something.  Don’t tell them we shot some poor girl, ok?”
    “I’ll take care of it.”
    “You two stay here,” he told the two soldiers.  “Jen, let’s talk in your office.”
    The two walked into Jen’s treatment room.  At the moment, the group was healthy.  The room was empty and pretty secluded.
    Jen and the dark haired girl were in the room.  SSgt Brown could see now that she was not Hispanic, but more likely Indian or Pakistani.  He knew that Louisiana State University had a campus in Shreveport and there was a large population of foreigners in the Medical School.
    “How is she,” he asked Jen.
    “None the worse for wear,” she answered.
    “Sergeant Brown, this is Indira.  Indira is an LSUS student.  Or, she was a student.”
    The young girl jumped up and hugged the big soldier.  Tears rolled down her face.  She held him tighter.  “Thank you,” she whispered over and over.  For the second time in two minutes, SSgt Brown was forced to reassess his impression of the girl.  Instead of a foreign accent, the girl had a deep southern drawl.  She was American.
    She let him go and began to recount the horrors of the last three weeks.  She had been stuck in her apartment in Shreveport for almost three days after the outbreak.  She finally became desperate and ran.  She was able to get a motorcycle and made it to this area before she found another survivor.
    He had appeared to be injured in a car wreck.  As she was going through medical training, she stopped to help.  The next thing she knew, she was jumped by several big men with guns.  They disarmed her of the softball bat she had used for her escape.  The next couple of weeks were a hell of rape, isolation, and starvation.  She told them of the young girl who helped her escape and the older lady, shot in the back by the kid with the cut throat.
    SSgt Brown called for Mike.  After introducing him to Indira, he asked Mike to show her to the citadel and to get her squared away with some kind of weapon, some breakfast, and somewhere to sleep tonight.
    He turned back to Jen.  “How is Mrs. Arrington?” he asked flatly.
    “She’s better.  She ate some dinner last night; not a lot, but she ate some.”  Since the incident at the hardware store, the teacher had totally shut down.  Jen had told SSgt Brown that she was suffering from severe PTSD.  SSgt Brown had seen GI’s with PTSD, but never this bad.
    “What is the prognosis?”
    “I have no idea.  I’m an ER nurse.  I get them like this and hand them off to the