Slow Burn: Dead Fire, Book 4 Read Online Free

the first gate, we’ll reconsider. Besides coffee and the other goodies, how did your trip upriver turn out?”
    I briefly gave her and Dalhover the important points.
    “Any trouble with infected at the house?”
    I hesitated , then shrugged.
    Steph knit her brows and asked, “They were in the house?”
    “Some,” I answered.
    “How many?”
    “Some.”
    “Were you in any danger ?”
    My hesitation gave me away.
    “Zed,” Steph was a little more angry than the conversation warranted. “You can’t keep taking unnecessary risks. You’re going to get killed.”
    “I’m fine ,” I added a lie. “I know what I can get away with.”
    Steph huffed and turned her attention back to the monitors.
    I asked, “Do we know anything for sure about Murphy yet? Is he going to be all right?”
    Steph shrugged . “The bullet didn’t penetrate the skull, but it did hit bone when it grazed his head.”
    “And?”
    “And we’ll see.”
    “We’ll see?” I shot back at her. “What does that mean? He’s unconscious, right? He hasn’t been awake since it happened. Is he in a coma?”
    “Zed, don’t be melodramatic,” Steph kindly scolded. “I cleaned the wound and put an antibiotic on before I bandaged it. It stopped bleeding. He’s probably got a concussion. Whether there’s more damage, swelling of the brain or something else, I won’t know until he wakes up.”
    “Worst case?” I asked.
    “It doesn’t do any good to talk about the worst case, Zed.” Almost pleading, Steph continued, “Don’t we all have enough…sorrow already?”
    “Sorry . I’m just worried.”
    Steph reached over , put her hand on my arm, and said, “Let me do the worrying, okay? I’ll do everything I can for him, but it’s out of our hands for the moment. Either he’ll be okay or he won’t. Without hospital facilities and a neurosurgeon, there’s nothing more we can know, nothing more we can do.”
    I gave Steph a weak smile and a nod.
    Dalhover changed the subject and said, “About the gates.”
    “Yes, Sergeant?” Steph asked.
    “It’s a risk but we could drive one or both of those Humvees down there and park them up against the outside gate. They weigh three tons each. The infected won’t be able to move ‘em.”
    “You wanna bet?” I thought about my Humvee back at the hospital, caught in the tide of screaming Whites. “Enough of them can.”
    Dalhover continued, “Six tons of steel behind those gates might make the difference.”
    “And the risk?” Steph asked.
    “They’ll hear the diesel engines, even with all that banging they’re doing,” Dalhover answered.
    Steph said, “They already think something is behind that gate. I don’t think the sound of the engines will make them any more or less determined.”
    “It’ll make a difference with the Smart One on the rock,” Dalhover countered.
    Steph thought about that for a second. “What do you think, Zed?”
    “I could go over the wall and kill that infected girl on the rock,” I said with a callousness that surprised even me.
    “The Smart One?” Dalhover asked, not bothered one iota by the girl or my indifference about killing her.
    “With her gone,” I said, “I could hike down the hill a bit, create a distraction, and draw the mob away.”
    “What kind of distraction?” Dalhover asked.
    “I haven’t thought that far ahead,” I answered. “Let’s assume for the moment that I can.”
    “That mitigates the risk,” Dalhover agreed.
    “Not to Zed!” Steph’s voice jumped up an octave.
    Neither Dalhover nor I responded.
    Steph shook her head and pointed at the monitor. “I’m not sending Zed over the wall into that unless there’s no other choice.”
    Dalhover s moked the last of his cigarette, stubbed it out on the bottom of his boot, and threw the butt in a trashcan. “By the time there’s no other choice, it’ll be too late. By the time you know that you should’ve killed the Smart One on the rock, it’ll be because there are