The Life Beyond Read Online Free

stirred in me as I reminded myself of Geoffrey’s words. The cure on the other side: what if we got hold of it? Could Dad survive then? Would the cure work after he’d turned?
    I looked at Bobby. “Karen said that it would take between six and eight days for Dad to turn into a Weeper. That’s enough time to cross the fence and look for the cure.”
    Bobby’s eyes widened but he didn’t say anything.
    Wordlessly, I reversed the car and began the drive back to Safe-haven.
    When we arrived home, Karen and Larry were waiting for us, scowls on their faces. They surrounded the car as we parked.
    “Where did you go?” Karen’s arms were propped up on her hips as she glared at me.
    “We went to get Dad,” said Bobby.
    “You don’t have to worry,” I finished. “We get it now. Without a cure, there’s nothing we can do for him.”
    “It’s for the best, Sherry. Trust me,” she said. Bobby let out a choked sound and she wrapped her arm around his shoulders and led him away.
    Larry shook his head, more disappointed than angry. “This group is built on trust, Sherry. You can’t just run off without telling anyone. Can you imagine how worried Joshua was when he found out you were gone?”
    Hearing his name, realizing what I’d put him through, made my chest sting.
    “He was out of his mind. He would’ve searched all L.A. for you, if …” Larry stopped suddenly. He looked past me, and I turned.
    Joshua was running toward me. I’d never seen that look on his face. His body collided with mine, crushing me against him. He kissed me forcefully. “Why did you do that? Why did you just leave without telling me?” Hurt blazed in his eyes.
    “I knew you wouldn’t agree. But I had to look for him. I just had to do something.” I knew how ridiculous that sounded. I’d achieved nothing.
    “I would’ve helped you. I’d do anything for you.” His fingers ran over my arms and shoulders, searching for injuries. He said that
now.
But he didn’t know what I was going to ask of him yet.
    “I guess you were safer on the roads than you would’ve been here,” Larry said before he walked into the house.
    I searched Joshua’s face. “What does he mean?”
    “There was another Weeper attack.”

Bobby and I sat in the meadow beside Safe-haven’s graveyard, watching the cows as the sun beat down on us. The two animals grazed between the wooden crosses – some with the names of the deceased, some without a reference to the person who was buried beneath.
    Forever nameless, forever gone.
    “I wish I was like them,” Bobby said quietly, nodding toward the cows.
    “Why?”
    “Because they’re stupid. They worry about nothing but grass. They don’t know what’s going on. They live for the moment.”
    I plugged a few blades and ran them through my fingers.
    Without worries, without sorrows. How would that be?
    One cow waggled its ears to get rid of a bothersome fly before it bent down again to keep eating.
    “They don’t know how lucky they are,” I whispered.
    Bobby glanced at me. “Yeah.”

Chapter 3
    Two Weepers were sprawled out in the garden, their milky eyes open and empty. Blood covered their chests.
    Geoffrey crouched beside them, fumbling with something at their neck while Tyler stood a few feet away, clenching and unclenching his hands.
    “Tyler saw them in the vineyard. We shot them before they got near the house,” Joshua said. “Everyone’s safe.”
    Geoffrey shook his head. “We’re far from safe.” With a screwdriver he was working on what looked like a collar around the Weeper’s throat, latex gloves shielding his hands.
    “What’s that?” I asked.
    “I’m not sure,” said Geoffrey.
    I got down beside him to take a better look. A black box with a little bulb was attached to the collar. It looked like the things scientists used to track geese or other animals.
    “It looks like it’s connected to their nervous system,” Geoffrey said. He sat back on his haunches, puzzlement on his