Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse (Book 2): Conflict by Joshua Jared Scott Page B

still there,” corrected Briana, “and still the biggest, unless
you’ve heard something more recent than five months ago. You better not have
because I’ll be mad that you haven’t shared.”
    He
shrugged. “I got nothing.”
    “We know
there are people in Wyoming too,” added Steph.
    “Those
are small,” said Lizzy, dismissively, “and all spread out. I don’t want to move
there. I say we either join someone strong or make ourselves strong by getting
them to come here. It really should be one or the other.”
    “I am
rather partial to this place,” said Briana, before any debates as to the merits
of Lizzy’s opinion could begin. “I vote stay here and let others join us,
provided they meet our exacting standards.”
    “Me
too!” shouted Mary. “We have a good thing, and there’s a big screen TV in my bedroom
that I don’t want to give up.”
    “It is
pretty nice in the forest,” admitted Marcus. He looked over at the twins, but
they didn’t comment.
    “If we
were to head to Salt Lake City,” I added, “that would mean traveling through
the mountains. I don’t want to try that without scouting it out in advance, and
that would take weeks at best. What we should do is find some of those ranches
in Wyoming, but not joining them. Lizzy’s right about that, at least until we
know more. Still, Kenneth said they had a network going. Becoming part of that
might be worthwhile.”
    The
usually quiet man nodded. “They talk a lot on radio, big ones that broadcast
really far, and the police stations that coordinate it all are in contact with
other groups even further away. But, I don’t know where they are, not exactly.
I just did manual labor. I never looked at a map, or if I had been shown I
don’t remember.”
    “Bummer,”
muttered Sofie.
    For
those who might be wondering – if not, I’m going to tell you anyway – the
desire to have a real community with lots of human beings around was a
secondary factor only slightly less important than security. Much of what we
did was out of the need to speak and be with others. It was what made me put up
with so much nonsense the year before. I didn’t want to be alone. People are
social animals, always have been and likely will remain so.
    “So
where you want to be looking then?” asked Marcus. “There’s nothing around
Martin. We searched that region already.”
    “We can
check Wyoming easy enough,” I replied. “It’s close by and wide open.”
    “Edwin,”
said Briana.
    “Who’s
Edwin?”
    That
came from Harvey. By the way, the other three who accompanied Marcus, Sofie,
and the twins were Harvey, Bruce, and Renee.
    “We met
him and some others down in Anadarko, Oklahoma on our way up here last summer,”
I explained.
    “Nice
people,” continued Briana. “They invited us to stay, but they were too close to
Oklahoma City for us to risk it.”
    “Think
they’re still there?” asked Marcus.
    She
hesitated long enough for him and the newcomers to properly gauge her doubts.
    “I don’t
know if they survived. They were determined to not leave, so they probably made
a serious go at it. Still, even during the early days zombies were drifting in
regularly. It had to get way worse after we left.”
    “Having
driven through there that long ago, could you find it again?”
    “Please
Marcus.” Briana was rolling her eyes, quite blatantly. “It’s not like I can’t
read a map.”
    “You’re
not going pregnant girl,” declared Lizzy. “You’re grounded till the baby pops
out, and I have some serious doubts about your ability to read a map. I’ve been
on plenty of looting runs when you were supposedly doing the navigating.”
    “That is
so not true,” protested Briana. “And it was you who drove us into a creek bed,
saying it was a dirt road. Remember that one?”
    “We can
get there easy enough,” I interjected. “We took back roads most of the way, so
it was kinda roundabout. There were a few tight spots by the interstates, but
we