Surviving The Zombie Apocalypse (Book 3): Salvation by Joshua Jared Scott Page B

was
examining a map of the park. I think Lizzy was trying to identify the best
route to visit all the geysers and boiling pools in the shortest amount of time,
or something like that. Such meaningless busy work was becoming the norm.
    “South
side, all the way down near the park entrance. None of the baddies went through
there – they have watches in place – so no one knows what to think.”
    “They
don’t know what to think?” began Lizzy. “They don’t know! Of course they know!
That fucking piece of shit prophet did it! You know what a miserable sack he
is.” She stiffened and took a deep breath. “They got people looking, right?”
    Mary
nodded. “Mostly those who live around there. The lieutenant wanted to know if
we could send Xavier and a squad or two to help out, in case they come across
anyone with guns. Captain Briggs doesn’t want to pull people off the line.”
    “I’ll go
search,” said Lizzy. “You’re in charge, so you can’t. I have to get out of here
anyway. I’ve been sitting on my ass too long.”
    In truth,
it hadn’t been that long, but she dealt with boredom even more poorly than me.
    “I’m
taking Harvey’s group and squad four. Both are here and not doing anything
important.”
    “Make
sure you have an uplink with you,” I cautioned. “Keep me informed on what’s
going on, and be ready to get recalled if I need you.”
    “Sure
thing,” muttered Lizzy.
    “I want
to come,” said Mary.
    “Not a
chance, pipsqueak.” Lizzy poked her in the chest with one stubby finger. “You
keep an eye on Jacob. Get the twins to help.”
    “They
already are,” I pointed out.
    Tara and
Dale were standing just outside the large tarp we’d raised to keep the sun and
rain off our heads.
    “Then
make them do it even more.” She glared at me. “It’ll keep that pair out of
trouble.”
    “They
never get into trouble,” stated Mary. “Tara, do you ever get in trouble?”
    The
woman regarded my daughter briefly before turning away.
    “See,”
concluded the teenager, “they agree.”
    “Right.
You’re loonier than Jacob.”
    “Am
not!”
    “Ladies,”
I interrupted, “please cut it out, both of you.” I ignored the pair of dirty
looks sent my way. “Lizzy, go get the squads organized. After Xavier is back
from his current flight, get him refueled. Then you can head out. Mary, pull up
the patrol schedule. We need to switch to only one squad going out at a time.
That leaves us three for carting supplies or whatever else might come up.”
    “I’m on
it.” She stepped on Lizzy’s foot as she walked by, agilely avoiding the slap
sent her way.
    “Let her
go.”
    My
friend hesitated.
    “I mean
it. No following Mary so you can get back at her. Look, everyone is getting restless,
even her. At least you get to go out and do something productive.”
    “Well,
yeah.”
    “Don’t
tell Briana I said this, but I can hardly wait for the killing to start. I want
this done with, and I’m not sure how much more sitting about I can handle.”
    It was
Lizzy’s turn to fidget. “You’re the one in charge. You gotta set an example,
and if you start acting up it’s going to cause real trouble.”
    I looked
out at the bustling camp. We had trenches and ditches, barriers and obstacles,
what could very well be the most elaborate latrines ever seen in the field, and
a giant checkerboard in one corner. Someone had cut old sheets of plywood into
circles two feet across and painted them red and black. The lines were done in
yellow. So far, just about everyone had played a game.
    “I’m
good. At any rate, this is either a nasty, unfortunate accident or something
worse. You be careful out there.”
    “It’s
something worse. A couple of people might have an accident, but not that many,
not all at once.”
    “Probably.
I would think someone would have called in or that one would have come back for
help if so. You can bet Briggs thinks the worst. He wouldn’t have requested two
of our squads