Fight (NOLA Zombie Book 2) by Gillian Zane Page B

kind of hated him, but Blake meant something to me and I did care if he lived or died. I just might have to spend a few more hours on the punching bag tonight to work through a few issues.
    “He picked up ten people on his trek back, including three children. Our little compound just got a lot bigger.”
    “He fucked up our supply run though.”
    “I managed to get a pregnancy test. Grace is gonna be pleased.”
    “There’s that.” I said through gritted teeth.
    “Shut up and look on the positive side of things, Lex. This will make things a bit more interesting,” Cole laughed.
    I just rolled my eyes and sulked for the entire ride home, only perking up when we encountered a few zombies in the middle of the road and I got to hang out of the window and shank them with my new and improved knife-stick doohickey that I invented. It didn’t work that well. It made it through three zombie heads, but by the third the knife came off and clattered to the pavement. I guess I would have to come up with something a little sturdier than duct tape.
    Blake was back. Fuck me.

SEVENTEEN
    Blake the Conquering Hero

    Everyone gathered in the barracks to welcome the returning hero. All hail asshole Blake. I noticed a little blonde sticking to his side the entire time. She was diminutive and she twittered when she laughed. I hated her immediately.  
    Zach stood by my side and took my hand. He leaned down and whispered, “How are you holding up?” He was so thoughtful, a guy I might still love came back, a guy I could have decided to get back with–and he was concerned about my feelings. I squeezed his hand and shrugged noncommittally and looked up in time to see Blake’s eyes on us, a dark look crossing his face. The evil jealous bitch in me wanted to fondle Zach in front of him, but I held back. I didn’t want to ruin Blake and Zach’s friendship, I wasn’t that depraved, yet .  
    It was great that he was back. It was great that zombies hadn’t chowed down on his face. It was great that he rescued his ex-wife and brought her back to our compound. It was right of him to go and save her.  
    Fuck, who was I kidding? I hated the bitch. He was an idiot to leave.  
    I tuned into what he was saying, obviously sharing the story of their death-defying adventure.
    “Clara was stuck in a hotel in downtown Houston with her sister, Madison. They had found Patricia.” He pointed to two other girls that were standing off to the side. “and were surviving on snacks from the vending machines and water from mini-fridges. They had blocked off the stairwells because the dead security guard was in the bottom of the stairwell, and they didn’t know who else was in the hotel with them, living or dead.”
    I heard a snicker from next to me and looked over to see Hannah sidle up to me. The snicker was loud enough that Clara looked over at the two of us and frowned. She dismissed us quickly and moved closer to Blake.  
    “What a bunch of idiots. Let’s just stay in the hotel and wait for a man to rescue us. I didn’t have any respect for the girl before Z. I don’t know why I’m surprised.”   She shook her head as if amazed. I tried not to laugh at her comment, but she had hit the nail on the head. What was the thought process there? Let’s wait for a man to travel almost 400 miles to save us instead of helping ourselves? Did they just sit there and wait? How they wrestled up a radio to get in touch in the first place was beyond me - if they could do that, why couldn’t they have gotten out of the hotel, or at least reinforce their location and get supplies? It didn’t make sense to me. And why couldn’t Blake have radioed when he got there and let us know he was alive, the little voice in my head added? He probably didn’t plan on coming back. Wonder what changed his mind?  
    “I don’t get it either,” I whispered back.
    “He was always doing that, running to go get her out of some mess that she created since the moment I