The Coalition: Part II The Lord Of The Living (COALITON OF THE LIVING Book 2) Read Online Free Page A

certified surgical techs and nurses’ aides. A fair number, but not enough. We never have enough of anything, really.”
    And then they were at a door that Colonel Dale opened. He held it wide and once again motioned, this time for Ron to precede him. It was an office, furnished with a large oak desk, swivel chair, a couple of leather easy chairs in front of the desk. “Not really my own office, ” the Colonel told him. “But I share it with a couple of the doctors. I try to stay out of their way, but they’re all on duty just now, so it’s mine.” He closed the door behind Cutter.
    Going to the desk, he produced a key from his pocket and used it to open one of the drawers in the big desk. “The office and desk might not be all mine, but this drawer by Jove surely is,” he told his guest. With a flourish , he produced a bottle of whiskey, the bottle mostly full, light shining through the vital liquid as if through gold. “Have a drink with me,” he told Ron.
    “Not a problem,” Ron said.
    From somewhere, suddenly they heard gunshots. Ron stiffened, but Dale continued as if nothing was wrong, pulling a couple of shot glasses from the same drawer and filling them. He handed one to Cutter. “Don’t worry,” he said. “Guards and snipers taking care of the curious deaders who were stupid enough to follow us here.”
    “The shots will draw them here, you know,” Ron said. “It always does.”
    Without immediately replying, Dale tipped the glass up and downed the contents. “Ah,” he said, smacking his lips. “Good stuff. Pretty soon we’re going to have to learn to make it ourselves. We have a few people around who say they’re good at it.”
    “Moonshiners?” he asked.
    “If you want to call them that. They think they’re craftsman. I prefer to think of them that way, too.” He turned and drew the blinds aside just a bit to take a look. There were more shots. “You know, the shambling monsters out there won’t stay around very long. They’ll all turn tail soon enough.”
    “Turn tail?” Ron was still standing there, holding his full shot glass. “What are you talking about? They’ll fill the street out there. Then they’ll start pounding on all of the doors and trying to climb up here to these windows. You’d better have a shitload of bullets handy.” Finally, he seemed to realize the whiskey was in his hand and he put it to his lips and drank it, savoring the flavor. God, he loved a good whiskey, and this was about as good as it got. It had been weeks since he’d chanced across a sealed bottle of anything decent.
    “They do learn, you know.”
    “What? What the Hell are you saying?”
    “They learn. Certainly you’ve noticed…well, perhaps you haven’t. Living almost alone as you have been. Until recently, though, right?”
    Ron squinted suspiciously at the Colonel and wondered if he should be worried. Something told him that he was safe, though, and so his hand did not creep toward any of the host of weapons he carried. “Have you been spying on me?”
    “I like to think I keep up with everyone here in our fair city.” He stopped to fill their glasses once again. “You have Oliver with you, now. I have to admit that I don’t know the young lady who’s with you these days, but I have seen her. She’s very attractive.” The Colonel downed his whiskey again with an efficient tilt of his wrist.
    A clumsy moment of silence followed before Ron began to sip at his whiskey, savoring it and hoping that Dale would offer him at least one more sample. “Her name is Jean,” he told, without giving up her last name. “She was outside Charlotte and came in just a few days ago. Crack shot, that woman. Made it all the way here from Matthews with a bag full of .22 shells and a single-shot pop gun her dad hand-made for her.”
    “A woman of some talent, then,” the Colonel replied.
    “You’ve got that right,” Ron told him, and finished off his drink. He held out the shot glass again,