THE SAGA OF THE DEAD SILENCER Book 1: Bleeding Kansas: A Novel Of The Zombie Apocalypse Read Online Free

aren’t any trucks on the road to keep him provisioned, but I see no point in arguing. He’s obviously working to keep his mind off something.
    I tuck into my breakfast. I catch myself eating too fast. I’m hungry, I want to savor this, yet I can’t help feeling I’m wasting time. I need to finish this and get on to—what?
    The man takes my plate after I’m finished. “Don’t think much in the way of business is getting done today,” he says, watching me try my cell.
    The man’s comment strikes me as strange until I remember I’m wearing a suit. “We’ll find a way to make it happen,” I say, thumbing off the phone.
    “Too late for my daughter,” he says.
    “What?”
    “This morning. She…she couldn’t breathe.”
    “How long was she sick?”
    “She went to bed right as rain Saturday night! Woke up with sniffles and a cough on Sunday, went to church, no big deal. Yesterday she got really bad, but that’s the way it is sometimes, right? You get a little sick, then you get real sick…and she….” He squeezes his eyes shut. He shakes a little, opens his eyes. Looking at nothing and no one in particular he says, “She couldn’t breathe.”
    I get up from my seat. “My wife went to bed feeling just fine Saturday night,” I tell him. “She woke up a little sick Sunday. She was too sick to drive me to the airport yesterday. It’s her I can’t get on the phone because everyone else is dying, too, and everything’s falling apart.”
    “I’m sorry ,” the man says. “I just needed to tell somebody. Must be hard being so far away and nothing you can do.”
    “Ask yourself this,” I say. “Would your daughter want you to give up?”
    “No. No, of course not. “
    “Good. So where’s your wife? Shouldn’t you be making funeral arrangements?”
    “Look around you! You think even the funeral homes are open?”
    Damn . Hadn’t thought of that. “So what are we supposed to do with our…deceased?”
    “They said…the man said we should clean her up as best we can. Then wait for the announcement.”
    “Announcement?”
    “They’re picking up the bodies. They’ll be doing…mass burials. In the city parks. They’ll have a service.”
    “Huh. I thought procedure was to burn the bodies in situations like this.”
    “No! No! We’ll bury them in the temporary place until we can put them in individual plots with their families. When things get back to normal!”
    Normal. Right. I sign the voucher and slide it across the counter. He begins choking up with grief as he puts it under the tray in his register. I thank him and leave quickly.
     
    The manager has already left for home when I return the hotel. Angie’s family is out of state; she has nothing better to do than mind the fort. Still, she’s irritated with the manager for leaving her alone so Angie lets me use the office land line to call my house. Dial tone. Ring. Click. Dial tone. That’s all. I do this three more times, then once more “just to be sure” before giving up.
    “That’s funny,” says Angie. “I haven’t had any problems calling locally.”
    The only person I could think to call locally would be Giselle. If she’s there. Anyway, I need to talk to someone face-to-face, see what I can salvage from this. I thank Angie and walk away towards rear doors of the lobby leading to the garage.
    “Where are you going?” she calls out after me.
    “Gotta check one more thing,” I say.
    “You’re coming back, right?”
    “Of course!”
    “D on’t leave without saying—without checking out, okay?”
    “Wouldn’t dream of it, Angie.”
    “Seriously. You need to come back.”
    “This won’t take long.”
    The look on her face makes me feel even worse for lying to her. But if whoever’s left at the office can check me out of the hotel from her desk while clearing me to leave with the rental, then I’m going straight out on the road. I’m sorry you’re afraid, Angie. But I’ve got two people 600 miles away I