DEAD: Confrontation Read Online Free Page A

reached her de stination. But if that made Gemma feel better, then that was fine with her.
    “We still have a long way to go,” Vix said as they climbed over the fence that ran alongside the A40. The road had switched over a ways back and they were coming to a big, circular interchange.
    They passed a statue, but Vix had seen something that piqued her interest. She made her way to an archway and risked a look inside. Nothing was moving. That was a big plus.
    “What’s this?” Gemma whispered, being careful to make sure that she did not startle her friend. They’d had enough talks about that over the past several days to last her a lifetime. Sometimes she thought that Vix was worse than her own mum.
    “I don’t want to get your hopes up.” Vix moved through the arch and looked around. She sighed and headed in despite the obvious sacking that this place had been subjected to by frantic individuals hoping to survive.
    “Why would anybody want to shoot pigeons?” Gemma whispered as she observed one of the signs posted just inside the arch. “Seems a bit cruel.”
    “Clay pigeons,” Vix replied, doing her best to stifle a laugh. “They are discs that get launched into the sky for people to shoot.”
    “Okay…” Gemma let that word hang in the air for a bit. “I still don’t get it.”
    “Bird hunters use this as practice so that when the birds come out of the bushes and try to fly away, a hunter can hit them on the move.”
    “Sounds cruel,” Gemma shrugged as they approached the open entry way to the West London Shooting School.
    “Yes, well I was hoping that we might get lucky, but I should have known that places like this would be hit early.”
    “You seem to know a lot about all of this sort of thing.” Gemma climbed over the broken door behind Vix and froze.
    Against the far wall was an arc of dried blood and bits. A handful of bodies lay sprawled on the floor. Red and green casings for a variety of shotgun shells littered the floor. None of the bodies had much of their heads remaining.
    Vix moved in for a closer look. Gemma wrinkled her nose and decided that she could see well enough from the doorway thank you very much.
    “This is why I am not interested in trying to make contact with any of the groups of living people that we have passed,” Vix whispered. She used a stick to roll the nearest body over. Her suspicions were confirmed.
    “I don’t understand.” Gemma took a tentative step closer.
    “None of these people were bitten. They weren’t infected. Somebody had them line up against this wall and then they shot them.”
    “How can you know that?”
    “Because, for one thing, zombies don’t line up for folks to shoot them for one. For another, not one person has a scratch on their body. And from what is left of their heads, I don’t see anything other than the damage caused by the guns used to kill them.”
    Vix took a cursory look around, but she already knew that she would find nothing of use here. It was no surprise. Still, she would have felt silly if she hadn’t at least checked.
    They exited the building and continued on their way. As had been the case for the last few days, they only encountered an occasional zombie. When they did come across them in greater numbers, they were usually surrounding one building or another. More than likely, whoever had been inside either managed to sneak away, died of starvation, or threw themselves into the horde. Those large groups were so focused on the last thing that had drawn them that, as long as she and Gemma remained quiet, they could easily slip past.
    That night they made camp atop the center of three conical mounds in a place called the “ Northolt & Greenford Country Park” overlooking the roads and the surrounding area. From their vantage point, they watched as several small dots of light flickered into existence when the night fell.
     
    ***
     
    Danny sat by himself away from the trio huddled around the small fire. Jody was