The Orphans (Book 5): Civil War Read Online Free

Joey. I don’t need them. Besides, maybe the next time we go out and get supplies you can make sure to pick some up for me.”
    Joey said, “Oh, I'm not going out this time. I wanted to walk patrol with Patrick and the new girl. They get bored if I'm not with them, so I like to go with.”
    “New girl?”
    Greg cut in and said, “Yeah, her name is Bella and she was in one of the last groups to come, I think, in March. There was a pretty decent sized group hanging at the mall. They were so sick of greasy food that I think they were the first ones to be excited about having some of Aslin’s gruel. She seemed like she knew what she was doing and caught right on during class. After a few weeks Patrick vouched for her and has been showing her the ropes. We need all the fit people we can get to be able to walk the perimeter. Between the dead and those guys out in Johnston, we need to keep our guard up.”
    Ellie smiled thinking of Patrick having to deal with a new girl and with Kya. “Well, I’ll bet Kya couldn’t be happier about that. Is Bella cute?”
    Shaun said, “I don’t know anybody who is as cute as you.”
    She smiled, brushing her hair that wasn’t covered with a bandage. “You know flattery will get you everywhere, Mr. Fox.” She blew a kiss to him as he walked out the door.
    Greg ran to catch up to Shaun. “You know damn well she’s hot, Shaun. You aren’t blind.”
    “Yeah,” Shaun said, “but I'm not going out of my way to tell Ellie that. It isn’t like she has anything to worry about anyways.”
    Greg put his arm around Shaun and said, “So we both know that I could stop giving you a hard time but-“
    “But you are single and annoyed about it. I take it Lou still won’t let you take out either of his daughters?”
    “Well, he did say that over his dead body I could. Wait, actually no, no he didn’t say that. I was waiting for the offer, figuring fifty-fifty chance worse-case scenario, you know with a bunch of zombies always running around. Not once did he say that though.”
    “Keep out of trouble for more than a few months and maybe you’ll get a chance at it. There’s bound to be more girls that we run into right? I mean if this is what is left then there’s not going to be too many offspring running around, at least for a long time.”
    Greg said, “You aren’t ready to be a dad just yet there, Shaun?”
    “Hell no! I’d like to get to the point first where that is a problem to worry about, and then still not have babies for a long, long time to come. I can’t imagine trying to keep an eye on a kid in all of this. You can’t imagine the Turned would be at all sympathetic towards a child, right?”
    “No way, those things are effing evil… they’d take it out.” Shaun said.
    Joey said, “You guys got anything better we can talk about? Shaun having kids, and then his kids getting eaten by the dead doesn’t seem like a great talk.”
    “Yeah, sure, Joey,” Greg said. “I got something, how about lover boy here can’t make it to his training assignments when he is supposed to.”
    “What did I miss, Greg?”
    “You missed range duty. There are enough people now that it takes the entire time just running up and down the range making sure that everyone is being safe. Some of those kids still make me nervous; they still think that it's a game, I think.”
    Shaun said, “Well, the first time that those things make their way here and take out that joke of a fence they will-”
    Joey cut in quickly, “Uh, guys, you really think those things are coming here? You don’t think this place is safe anymore?”
    Shaun instantly felt like an ass. “Yeah, Joey, this place is still safe. Honestly, there are probably few places safer in the state. I doubt we ever would have lasted a year at Andy’s place. Not that I wouldn’t mind having my own room and the feel of a real house to sleep in.”
    Greg said, “What, you don’t like sharing your personal space with however many kids