Hunger Chronicles (Book 1): Life Bites Read Online Free Page B

teammates even more reason to be wary of me and my freaky abilities.
    Arm’s length away. I reach out, grab it to me, and casually snap its neck, then, pinning it down with my boot, place a bullet in its brain. Clean and quick. And if my stomach rolls a bit as the light leaves the creature’s gaze, I don’t show it.
    “See? Same team.” My audience still looks dubious. Their guns are no longer wavering between targets but firmly planted on me. I sigh. “I don’t know about you boys, but I’m ready to go kick some more zombie butt. What do you say?”
    They say nothing. Um, yeah. Guess I need to work on my team rally, rah rah, skills. Problem is I don’t have much experience. Even before I was pretty much a loner.
    “Hey. Is there a party going on in here?” Juanita pops her head around the door, backing into the room. She takes in the dead zombie on the floor, me, covered in blood, and the three men holding me at gunpoint. “She get bit?”
    “She’s a friggin vampire!” Roy stutters, his trigger finger way too shaky on the sweaty metal.
    “Really?” Juanita looks at me. I flash her a fangy smile. Brown eyes narrow, but show no other surprise to what had to have been an earth shattering revelation. Then again, with a zombie on the floor, there isn’t much about this world that isn’t effed up to the H-E-double hockey sticks.
    “Does that mean you can’t be infected?” she asks.
    “That’s what it means.”
    She nods, a thoughtful twist to her lips. “Cool deal.”
    Three sets of eyes turn to her, every one incredulous, though it doesn’t offend me. Theirs is a sentiment I agree with. Being a vampire is definitely not cool. And if Juanita had any idea what the rest of my kind had in mind for her race? Yeah….
    “What?” She lifts her brow and shoulders simultaneously. “I’d love to have an advantage like that, wouldn’t you?”
    “Bu…but…” Roy stutters articulately. Guess I’m not the only one with people-skill problems. Roy was definitely a computer geek in his past life. Can’t communicate except through a keyboard.
    “I don’t feed off humans either, case you were wondering,” I say. I still think her seemingly willing acceptance is a bit blind on her part, but I’m not one to miss an opportunity when it knocks.
    A wrinkle forms in Juanita’s smooth brown brow. “So what do you feed on?”
    I jerk my head to the dead zombie at my feet.
    Her eyes light up, her lips curling back into a smile. “Mega cool.”
    “What’s going on?” Herb finally appears beside Juanita. His eyes land on the dead zombie, then on me. He takes a stumbling step back. “Whoa. What the hell happened to her?”
    “Vampire,” Juanita says casually.
    The blood drains from Herbie’s face, his gun swings up, and is caught by the downward swing of Juanita’s own.
    “She’s cool, Herbie.”
    “I’m not pairing up with her.” This from Roy.
    I sneer at him. He was such a great partner before. Not.
    John narrows his eyes on me, then he twists his head toward Convict. “I’ll finish up here and catch up with you guys.”
    I notice there is no mention of where I fit into that equation but decide to play devil’s advocate and pretend that the “finishing up” isn’t in reference to me.
    “Don’t bother. This zone is clear,” I tell them.
    “How do you know?” Juanita doesn’t sound disbelieving, just curious.
    “I can pick up heartbeats. According to the schematics there’s only a half dozen rooms in this section and other than us, there isn’t anything else here. There is, however, something coming up on the mess hall from the west.”
    Juanita smiles. “My she’s handy.”
    “The commander thinks so.” I stare at Convict as I say this, letting that sink in. Yes Marine knows and, like Juanita, is cool with it.
    Convict studies me before jerking his head back toward the mess hall area. “Let’s check it out.”
    Juanita takes off, all too eager to oblige. Convict follows and Herb