Condemn (BUNKER 12 Book 2) Read Online Free

forced to live. Maybe it was. And maybe the baby
suffered from the same condition. But the wet, drowning sound and
the ugly green phlegm evoked memories of the terrible flu pandemic
which had stricken the world two years before the
Flense.
    Danny slowed to a stop at the edge of
the town and let the bus idle in the middle of the road. "What do
you think?" he asked the others.
    It was the first real evidence of
civilization they'd encountered since leaving Finn and Bix behind
at that paltry highway pullout. But if the buildings raised their
chances of finding other survivors like themselves, it also raised
the threat level. Where there were houses, there had once been
people. And where there were once people, there might still be
Wraiths.
    The closest building was a small
single-story home. Its yard had overgrown with weeds that had since
choked themselves into a thick brown scab. The white paneled sides
were rendered gray with dust and turned brittle from the heat and
sunlight. Several of the boards had slipped, exposing the rotting
wood underneath. During the rainy season, mold grew on the roof,
but it had long since dried, staining the shingles a dark
greenish-brown. Fingers of thistle and sage curled over the sides
of the rain gutters. Cataracts of dust and cobwebs filmed the
windows nearly opaque.
    To Danny's alarm, he realized the
curtains were all drawn behind them. Recalling Susan's words, he
pictured the houses filled with dusty corpses.
    Or worse.
    They'd have died by now.
They're not immortal. They live and breathe and need to eat just
like us.
    But hadn't that been the very same
reasoning Jonah used to convince them they were all gone? He
shuddered, as if trying to dispel from his mind the image of those
terrible things crawling about inside those decrepit homes,
patiently waiting week after week and month after month for someone
new to come along to infect or eat.
    He turned in his seat and asked again
what to do.
    Jonah rose. He carried an empty
backpack and a heavy metal rod for self-defense, should it be
necessary. "We need food, shelter, water," he said. "And motor oil.
And gasoline."
    "What do I do with the
bus?"
    "Just pull up next to the intersection
and park it there. Don't turn it off. We'll sit a bit and see if
anything comes out to welcome us."
    "You know, there'll probably be cars
here," Kari Mueller said. "We could swap this monstrosity for
smaller vehicles, maybe a couple pickup trucks. Or a van or
two."
    "Bus would still be better," Jonah
replied. "It's big enough to hold all of us. And it's higher up off
the ground. Easier to defend."
    "But the windows are broken," Kari
countered. "And if it fails again like it did back there, we'll be
completely stranded."
    "She's got a point," Harry Rollins
said.
    Jonah made a face.
    "We know you fixed the bus and all,
and we're grateful, but—"
    "Fine. Kari, you and Harry see what
you can find. Cover the right side of the street; we'll cover the
left. Gather all the food and water you can. Also look for guns and
ammo, weapons. Danny, you'll be with me. We're looking for motor
oil. If we're lucky, we'll also find gasoline in sealed
tanks."
    "What about us?" Nami Thuylan asked,
gesturing at the other two ex-guards, Jonathan Nash and Allison
Markle. He looked worried, like if they didn't participate, they'd
get tossed to the curb. "We said we'd pull our weight."
    "Jonathan's in no condition to be out
there," Harry said.
    They all turned and looked toward the
back of the bus where the man lay shivering on the last seat.
Another series of muffled coughs rose up from beneath the pile of
old coats.
    "Medicine, too," Jonah quietly added
to their list. "Antibiotics, if possible."
    "We'll use them," Nami said, "but I
don't know about Jon. Before the Flense he was one of those
homeopathic types, never believed in modern medicines. Was always
into herbs and natural healing. He told me he lied on his job
application, otherwise they never would have let him
work."
    Jonah