Free Zombie Attack! Army of the Dead (Book 3) by Devan Sagliani

the chance of him using my girlfriend or my family against me, so I contacted Sonya by radio again.”
    “I was terrified,” Sonya admitted. “I hadn't heard from him in days.”
    “That's when I asked her to track you down, and keep an eye on you,” Moto explained.  
    “I got there a little later than I'd planned,” Sonya expounded. “Not only did I have the military on the watch for me, but Franco increased the bounty on my head. He said he'd pay ransom in food rations, water, and gasoline to anyone who took me alive so he could question me. I'm sure you've seen for yourselves by now that people will do a whole lotta crazy things to get any of those articles nowadays. Avoiding the main roads meant always watching my six for Alphas and bounty hunters.”
    “Your six?” Sam naively asked.
    “My backside, little man,” Sonya said with a smile. “Like on a clock. Twelve is forward, straight ahead.”
    “Got it,” he said, looking embarrassed. I smiled at him and patted his head. I was so happy to have him back; I didn't care how many times he interrupted.  
    “Matter of fact, I arrived just in time to see a pack of Alphas hauling you off to Hellfire,” Sonya said. “I followed and sprung you. The rest you already know.”
    “Why didn't you just tell us that Moto sent you?” I asked.
    “Actually that was my fault,” Moto offered, casting an apologetic glance toward Sonya. “I didn't want you to know more than you had to know, just in case you were captured again.”
    “I wanted to tell you so much,” Sonya said, looking to Felicity for some kind of forgiveness.  
    “So why did you abandon us to John and his men?” Felicity asked, crossing her arms. “If you were supposed to be taking care of us, why would you lead us right to the enemy – and then vanish without a warning? We could have died! We nearly did! Tank was going to kill us despite John ordering him not to harm us. How do you explain that?”
    The look of guilt and hurt on Sonya's face made me feel sorry for her. Clearly, it wasn't her intention to see harm come to us. She was part of the family now by virtue of her importance to Moto, but Felicity was right. She needed to explain why she'd abandoned us when we needed her most, or we'd never be able to trust her again.
    “I meant to take you here, back to Xanadu,” Sonya said in a small voice, “but I got turned around by the zombies tied to the trees. They were blocking the path over the hill. I guided Nelly along the main road into Ojai, not realizing what had happened. Haki found me first. He warned me that the others were just behind him, and not to waste a second. I slipped off into the trees and Nelly kept walking along until you were surrounded. By the time I reached the ridge I could hear the Jeep headed your way.”
    “Why didn't you warn us?” Felicity demanded.
    “There wasn't any time,” Sonya pleaded. “Don't you see? If I tried to warn either of you it would have made things worse. I knew the best thing I could do for both of you was to get back to Xanadu and raise a rescue party. I didn't stop, not even for water, until I was here and able to get help.”
    “She was so out of breath it took us nearly five minutes to understand what she was saying,” Apache said sympathetically. “I contacted Moto after that and got him out here. He was able to get word from Haki that you were still in one piece, and being held for ransom by John on Franco's orders.”
    “How were you able to get off base without raising suspicion from Franco?” I asked, feeling a lump in my throat as I anticipated his answer.
    “I wasn't,” he replied, confirming my fears. “I didn't have time to play games with him and his squad of Blackshirts. I took a Humvee and drove it off base, ordering the guard at the gate to open the gate and not log me down. I didn't look back, either. I drove to the rendezvous point and covered up the Humvee, then met up with Apache and we rode straight to