A World Alone (Dead World Series Book 1) Read Online Free

chest.
    I stop mid-step, my hands slowly rising above my head.
    "Hey there, big-boy," I smile, the words coming out in croaks. I
can't even remember the last time I spoke, even uttered a curse. Noise is
deadly.
    He doesn't lower the gun, instead he takes a step forward as the woman
inside screeches again.
    "Grace you can quit yellin' now, we got another one!" he calls out
with a voice as gruff as mine.
    Slowly, my smile fades as he begins walking towards me, his gun now raised
towards my head. As he steps around me, telling me not to move, a skinny woman
steps out from the gas station, looking me up and down as if evaluating her
prize. When he takes the switchblade from my back-pocket and throws it into the
night, the situation dawns on me.
    I've been played.
    The man grabs one of my arms and roughly twists it behind my back, pulling
my bag off as he does so. I let out a small whimper and allow my arms to shake
a little. He shoves me forward towards the woman and the gas station.
    I begin to cry, the fresh tears brimming in my eyes before they spill. They
roll down my cheeks in long streaks and hang at the bottom of my chin.
    "P-please just l-let me go!" I whimper, twisting my body around to
face the man so that he can see my tears. He pushes me ahead with the barrel of
his pistol.
    "Quit the dramatics, princess, we all know you're fakin’ it," he
grunts, unzipping my bag and rustling through its contents. I frown, not
expecting a meat-head like him to see through my act. I suppose it was too much
to hope that he would be sympathetic to a crying girl anyway.
    Scowling at him, I turn back around and stand up a little straighter.
    It’s clear that I need a new plan.

CHAPTER
FIVE
    Logan
     
    The bitch is still screaming.
    I squirm uncomfortably, my knees throbbing from the hard linoleum floors as
I sit back on my heels. The thin wire coiled around my wrists, binding them
together, slices into my skin with every small movement. I can feel the blood
wetting my palms and trickling down my fingers.
    She screams again. An ugly noise. One that forces me to wince every time. It
won't be long before every infected in town is swarming us. No doubt by then
I'll be left behind as bait. If I wasn't so pissed off I might actually be willing
to admit that their con is a pretty smart one.
    The one time I decide to ignore the voice in my head and try to help, this
happens.
    I would slap myself if my hands weren't restrained.
    The woman watching me is thin and fragile. She paces the floor in front of
me, a feeble knife in one hand and the keys to my jeep in the other. She's not
even watching me. Her attention is focused solely on her boyfriend standing
outside, waiting to catch any more poor suckers looking to help. She throws her
head back and wails again.
    I grit my teeth.
    "Can you please shut your goddamn mouth?" I ask.
    She finishes her wail before looking down at me and taking a step closer.
Transferring my car keys to her other hand, she raises it in the air, ready to
slap me.
    "Grace you can quit yellin' now, we got another one!" her
boyfriend calls from outside.
    Hand falling to her side, she gives me a dirty smile before turning to the
door of the gas station and walking out to evaluate their new prize. I would
have preferred it if she hit me.
    This is my chance.
    They haven’t bound my legs and I can run out the back door while they're all
out front. But that would mean losing my car and everything in it. Before I
have time to contemplate further, the door of the service station clicks open.
    A girl, no older than nineteen is pushed forward into the store. She
stumbles and falls to the ground while the boyfriend rummages through her
belongings, the girlfriend clinging to his back, desperate like a child trying
to catch a glimpse of their Christmas presents.
    "Well, did we get anything good hon’?" she asks, standing on her
toes to peer over his shoulder.
    "Bottle of water, a pot and some matches, nothin’ good," the
boyfriend