Season of Rot Read Online Free Page A

you trust him
so much from one conversation, I’ll buy into his desire to help us,
but how do we handle this?” She looked to Jack and Vince for their
input.
    “Have him fly over a run of supplies,” Vince
replied. “It couldn’t hurt if he’s truly alone. There are nearly
fifty of us. Numbers will be on our side even if he’s lying. Hell,
a transport full of soldiers is something we could handle as long
as we know when they’re coming. And if he’s telling the truth, we
get the stuff we need and we get to meet him face-to-face
and check him out for real. Then we can decide what to do from
there.”
    Jack nodded, agreeing with Vince. For once,
the hippy had a well thought-out and sane suggestion.
    “We’re agreed then,” Laura said. “ Daniel, go
invite our new friend over for a visit. Jack, I want you and
Mitchell to prepare for any of the darker things that could come
from this.”
    “We’ve got one surface-to-air missile left
from the armory raid before the hospital was completely
surrounded,” Jack informed her. “It’ll do just great if things go
south.”
    “What about me?” Vince asked. “Don’t I get a
part in this?”
    “Yes, Vince, you do. I want you to make a
list of the order we’ll leave in if this Martin is for real and we
opt to move to his base. Decide who’s best suited to make the trip
first, and who needs to stay here until everyone else is safely
there.”
    “That’s it?”
    “No. I want you to inform everybody as soon
as possible. Not everyone may want to leave the hospital, and
you’ll need to know who wants to stay. You can also prepare people
for what’s coming, good or bad.” Laura stood up. “Well people,
let’s get to it.”
    ***
    Chris sat rocking Natalie, an empty bottle of
formula below his chair. She cooed, gazing up at him with her
beautiful green eyes, so much like her mother’s. Chris wrapped her
blanket tighter around her tiny body as his mind raced with Vince’s
news. He couldn’t believe it. Salvation had come to them out of the
darkness. Hope was with them after all.
    The base had to be huge. Full of tunnels and
open spaces, protected by thick metal walls, concrete, and the
earth itself. No more fear that the dead would find a way in.
Natalie would be safe. She could grow up without living in fear.
She would have places to play, big spaces where he could let her
run alone. For years to come she would have a life more normal than
he could have dared to hope for. When Vince asked if he and Natalie
would be willing to go, Chris hadn’t hesitated in the
slightest.
    “Everything’s going to be okay,” he whispered
to Natalie as she fell asleep in his arms; for the first time in a
long while, he meant it. He only wished Rebecca had lived long
enough to see her daughter enjoy a better life.
    ***
    Night fell over the city, embracing the
hospital in its darkness. Thousands upon thousands of zombies
surrounded the building, wandering mindlessly and biding their
time, waiting for their prey to emerge.
    According to Vince’s poll, not a single
person—other than Alyson—refused to gamble on the new home that
fate had offered them. Jack couldn’t blame them for risking it all.
In the hospital you could see the dead if you bothered to look out,
and you could hear their hungry voices calling up to you. Sometimes
it seemed that the dead were using a form of psychological warfare
against them, though Jack knew it was impossible. The creatures
were just drawn to this place because they could sense the warm
blood and flesh entombed in its walls. Entombed , he thought.
It was such a perfect word to describe their situation. All of
them, including him, were dead in the long run. They just hadn’t
fallen down yet.
    After helping Jack prepare for the guest—or
guests?—who would arrive in the morning, Mitchell returned to
Alyson’s quarters. She lay naked and uncovered on the bed, so
drugged up she wasn’t even aware of his presence, her eyes distant,
her mind