Mad Swine (Book 2): Dead Winter Read Online Free Page B

ask Sanchez from grounds to have some of his guys keep a watch on the walls and clear away any drifts that get over a foot.”
    “They won’t be happy about that,” Lara said, looking away from the snow for just a moment. “They don’t want to go out there any more than the rest of us.”
    “You’ll be there to cover them, right?”
    “Yes,” she said, but her face still told me she was worried.
    “Then they’ll have nothing to worry about.”
    The frown that creased her forehead told me my words were no comfort to her. Like any good leader, she was afraid she’d do something that would jeopardize those under her command. She was afraid at some point her good judgment and sound tactical mind would fail her at the penultimate moment.
    Knowing I could say nothing further to assuage her fears, I said, “I have to get over to the CP for debrief. If anything comes up, you come find me, okay?”
    She turned to me now and smiled, her face immediately shining brightly. Unconsciously, she cocked a hip to the side, making me take notice of her figure. “Sure, boss. No worries. And maybe one day you’ll have me over so I can show you how to make real coffee that doesn’t taste like yak bile.”
    I laughed. “I might take you up on that,” I said, taking note of her reaction. That little spark in her eyes confirmed what I already knew; there could be something between us if I allowed it happen. She was pretty, no doubt, and I was attracted to her, but the fact was that I just wasn’t ready for a relationship. It had been only three months since my wife passed. It just seemed too soon, like I was betraying my wife, like our ten years of marriage meant nothing.
    Swinging the axe up onto my shoulder, I turned away from Lara and made my way toward the CP.
    “Be safe,” Lara called out.
    I stopped and gave her a wave, then took a direct route through Harper’s Knoll, where our fallen residents were laid to rest. With snow crunching beneath the heels of my boots, I passed the section of the knoll where Charlie Pruett was buried. Charlie had been the first buried at Harper’s Knoll—our first casualty after the world started to change. His once lonely grave no longer stood solitary. All of the men who’d accompanied me and Charlie on our supply run now rested beside their brother-in-arms.
    Shortly after Iggy attacked Darla at Charlie’s funeral and was gunned down by Brian, the rest of the men started to show signs of infection. I had been weak then, and Brian personally put down each man, doing what I could not. I was quarantined for seventy-two hours, until they were sure I wouldn’t turn like the rest of them. Eventually, Ravi concluded that I must be immune to Mad Swine, although that was just speculation on her part.
    We were lucky, though. Somehow the disease was contained before it could spread further. Sixteen were dead and from that point forward we were careful about our contact with the infected. These were lessons learned too late for the sixteen, though.
    When this apocalypse began, there were one hundred and eight souls in Randall Oaks. We returned from Kappy’s with three refugees, bringing our number to one-hundred-eleven. Only three months later, thirty-one of us remained. Our war with Providence lasted three weeks. We lost thirteen men and women to sniper fire, five men died during the mission to burn down the sniper’s nest and another twenty-two men and women were killed in action during Providence’s final attack. In the two months following the war another eighteen died at the hands of the infected during duties outside the walls.
    The number of our dead was staggering. Each time I thought about the number of brave men and women who died I felt numb, dumbfounded. In Afghanistan, during two tours of duty I’d only lost six men under my command. No matter how much I tried I could not wrap my mind around how many were lost in so little time.
    Stopping at one of the graves, I bent low and brushed