Fear the Dead (Book 4) Read Online Free Page B

last possible second to pounce. My heart began to thud.
     
    “It’s just a crow,” said Lou, and sat
back down.
     
    A crow flapped its wings and drifted
across the sky, its black feathers blending into the darkness above it. I put
my head back against the tree. How was it that even after so long, I could
never get used to the stalkers? It was the same with the infected, too. Even
though I knew how to deal with them, I could never quite get rid of the primal
fear that the undead provoked in me. When I saw their hungry mouths, my hairs
stood on end, and when I heard them groan and walk toward me, my pulse quickened.
     
    “I don’t mind doing the watch,” said
Lou. “I’m not exactly getting my beauty sleep these days. There’s hardly anyone
I trust. When all’s said and done, I think there’s too many of us. Maybe we
should split into two or three different camps.”
     
    “You’re sounding like Darla,” I said.
     
    “I just think it’s mad for you to try
and be responsible for fifty people. It’s too much for one person. The way I
see the future isn’t us staying in one place. There’s no Eden, Kyle. We’d be
much safer just travelling from place to place in roving bands. Never settle
anywhere, never go soft. Never let our guards down.”
     
    “We need to put down roots.”
     
    “When you put down roots, you get
stuck.”
     
    Lou turned her whole body and looked
at me.
     
    “I’m going to ask one more time,” she
said. “Give up power. Let Darla take over. Then you, me, Mel and whoever else
wants to come can just leave and look after ourselves.”
     
    Hearing her mention Darla again put a
lump in my throat. It was one thing that Darla wanted to take power from me,
but it was another that one of my closest friends was encouraging me to let
her. Whose side was she on, anyway?
     
    “Good to know who your rooting for,”
I said.
     
    “Oh for God’s sake, Kyle. Don’t be a
bitch about it.”
     
    “You don’t know the first thing about
support, do you?” I said.
     
    My voice was getting loud. The anger
was starting to flow through me, and I didn’t care enough to hide it.
     
    Lou got to her feet.
     
    “I don’t know about support? Really?
Do I have to remind you that I saved your life when we first met?”
     
    “And I’ve repaid that.”
     
    “I don’t see anyone else around who’s
been beside you for so long.”
     
    I got to my feet this time. At six
foot two I towered over her, yet somehow I felt the smaller person.
     
    “I don’t see people queuing up to be
your friend either,” I said.
     
    As soon as I said the words, I wished
I hadn’t. Lou put out an I-don’t-give-a-shit exterior, but deep down I knew
that she wanted to be liked. Not by everyone, maybe, but by some people. Like
every other human being, she still needed some degree of support and
companionship.
     
    “Get some sleep Kyle. You’re getting
crabby. And you’re being an arsehole.”
     
    I knew I should apologise, but the
words wouldn’t form. Instead I folded my arms and tried to let the anger fade
away. It worked, to a degree, and I felt my chest start to loosen. Lou was the
first to speak again.
     
    “I’ve been thinking on this for a
while,” she said. “And the fact is that I’ve decided that I’m leaving. I don’t
know when, but soon. And you’ve got an open invite if you want to leave with
me.”
     
    “But in the meeting with Darla, you
defended this place. You said it covered some of our basic needs.”
     
    “I was defending you, Kyle. Not the
place. Now are you going to come with me, or not?”
     
    Across from us, the crow flapped its
way back across the field. It drifted to the side and flew up into a tree,
where it settled on a branch and then disappeared from view. A cloud drifted
over the quarter moon and blocked out the sliver of pale light.
     
    I thought about Lou’s offer, but I
knew I couldn’t take it. As much as being responsible for all these people was
a