Transformation: Zombie Crusade VI Read Online Free Page A

moonshine. He also likes teenaged girls, young ones.” Terry’s voice cracked. “I never should have left Courtney.”
    “Why hasn’t anyone stopped him?” Luke asked quietly.
    Terry released a long sigh before he began to explain. “When we first got there, everybody had guns and plenty of ammo. But the more fightin’ we did against the eaters, the more they came on. We finally figured out that the noise of all that shootin’ was bringin’ ‘em in, but people kept usin’ their guns anyway. Pretty soon, nobody had any ammo but Jesse. He started collecting everybody’s guns, and he’d loan out loaded weapons to folks who wanted to go out huntin’ sayin’ he was doin’ us a favor, makin’ sure we didn’t waste our resources. I think he still has crates full of all sorts of guns and ammo. That’s the main reason he’s in charge now. That, and the helicopters.”
    Gracie’s stomach did a flip-flop. “Did you say helicopters?”
    “Yup, a bunch of ‘em were flyin’ around a while back, and Jesse said they were his buddies, lookin’ for the eaters. Said they had some spray to kill ‘em. We didn’t believe him at first, but nobody’s seen an eater since the choppers left.” He shivered. “Well, not until today.”
    Luke thought that Jesse was just making up stories to lead people to believe he had powerful friends, but he needed to be certain. “Did a helicopter ever land nearby?”
    Terry blinked. “Not that I ever saw.”
    “Did any strangers in uniforms visit your settlement?”
    “No, you guys are the first strangers to come around.”
    “Are you absolutely sure that Jesse hasn’t had contact with any sort of military group?”
    Terry laughed out loud. “You need to see Jesse; he’s not the kind of guy who’d trust a man in uniform. And he never leaves the settlement; he’s too busy drinkin’ and screwin’ girls—” he turned to Gracie and lowered his eyes, “pardon me, Miss.”
    It was Gracie’s turn to laugh. “Don’t worry about it. So Jesse never leaves, what about the guys who work for him? Could they be in contact with outsiders, maybe the guys who were flying the helicopters?”
    “I don’t know, why?” Terry started to sound worried again. “Who flies those choppers? Do you guys know ‘em?”
    “Not personally,” Luke explained, “but we know what they do and what they don’t do. I doubt Jesse has any idea what their real purpose is, but I’m still going to ask him about it.”
    “Wait—you’re going to talk to Jesse? I thought we were just going to go in and get my sister.”
    “It’s all right,” Luke assured him. “We’ll make sure that both you and your sister are safe. But let me ask you something—now that you‘ve seen what bad people can do when they think they can get away with it, don’t you want to stop Jesse?”
    “I’ve thought about tryin’ to take him out with my bow,” Terry said dejectedly, “but it was just me daydreamin’ I had courage.”
    “But you attacked the man who shot your dog,” Gracie reminded him.
    “Somethin’ in me just snapped. I released that arrow and ran; I’m still surprised I didn’t get shot in the back.”
     
     
    Over in the other canoe, Zach and Maddy were having their own uncomfortable conversation.
    “You saw the same thing I did, Zach. It was like Luke and that hunter were communicating. And the others didn’t even try to attack him during the fight.”
    “Hey, he was obviously as surprised as the rest of us.” Zach understood why Maddy was agitated, but her talking about it still annoyed him.
    “I’m not saying he was expecting to be invisible to them,” she continued, “but it’s really weird, that’s all. They all saw him, but not like they saw us.”
    “And you also must have noticed that Luke was able to use that to his advantage.”
    “But—” Maddy began.
    “Shh, please—can’t you be quiet for a minute?” An idea was forming in Zach’s mind, but he wanted to think it