Rotting to the Core (Keep Your Crowbar Handy Book 2) Read Online Free Page A

fear of trying to
survive in the apocalypse, though that would understandably make
anyone a bit unstable. It was the mantle of leadership she and the
others had, in all actuality, forced upon him. She could see how it
weighed on him, pushing down like a mountain's worth of
responsibility Jake hadn't asked for and didn't want. Hell, he'd
been a ghostwriter, editing cookbooks, science fiction, and novels
about sword-swinging time travelers, attempting to forget about all
the awful things he'd seen (and had to do) as a civilian combat
journalist during his time with Britain's Special Air Service. He'd
spent his spare time practicing martial arts, reading, hanging out
with his best friend Allen Ryker, and driving his army surplus Jeep
(affectionately named the Beast). Jake had been, if not happy, at
least content. He'd never wanted to be In Charge, but now was
responsible for whether over a dozen people lived or died on a
daily basis. Kat shuddered and thanked whatever gods were currently
running the planet that she'd never be in the same situation.
    “Trust the ninja, 'kay? I got this. We'll
leave tonight.” Kat stood and moved to put a light hand on his
arm.
    “Let me get this straight.” Jake pointed
towards the blinds and the rotten crowd beyond. “You have a way for
us to get past all those maggot-heads?”
    “Sure. What? Like it'll be hard or
something?”
    “Unseen?” he clarified.
    “Yeah.” Kat rolled her eyes. “Attracting
zombie attention would, you know, be a bad thing.”
    Jake squinted at her. “Does this plan involve
explosions? Lots of shooting? Large, conspicuous fires? Those
raider assholes are still out there somewhere, remember?”
    “Sarcasm is not attractive,” she told him,
peeking quickly through the blinds, “ especially when the
person you're being all snooty with is shortly going to save your
hunky butt.”
    Heroically not glancing down in the direction
of her posterior, Jake snorted, “You'll survive. Mind sharing this
grand idea?”
    Blue hair bobbed across her eyes as Kat shook
her head. “I want it to be a surprise.”
    That was worrying. “When did you come up with
this plan?”
    “Oh, the first night here. While you
snoozed,” Kat admitted. “You looked so wiped, I really didn't want to wake you. Besides, yesterday we hoped our stinky
friends outside would toddle off like they were supposed to, but
they didn't. So we wouldn't have needed the alternative exit
strategy until today, now would we?”
    “You had this plan yesterday?” Jake ground
his teeth.
    Kat nodded, still giving him an unconcerned
smile.
    “And didn't see fit to tell me about it until now ?”
    “We can't do anything with it till
nightfall.” Kat shrugged, turned, and flounced away to plunk down
again. She leaned back and swung her knees over the arm of the
couch, dangling her calves and absently swinging her booted feet.
“You look way more rested now, too. So you know, much better chance
of not stumbling over anything in the dark when we leave. Or being
fumble-fingered and jittery. That's never helpful when you're
trying to be all sneaky-sneaky.”
    He stared at her
    “What if they break in before dark?”
    Kat moved her arms over her head and
stretched herself along the couch like, well, a cat, arching her
spine and causing Jake to cough in an attempt to cover his bugging
eyes.
    “You mean since all the zombies outside
haven't so much as glanced at this place, let alone started
pounding on the walls? Nah. I figure there's no reason to stress
over it. Just so long as we don't do anything dumb. Or loud.” Kat
clasped her palms together and wiggled her shoulders, loosening the
muscles in her lower back. “Why freak about something you don't
have any control over? It's bad for you. Excessive worry will give
you ulcers and it's terrible for your digestion. And your
skin. Causes break outs. People don't take the time to think about
how stress can affect their health in negative ways.”
    While it was a