The Last Blade Of Grass Read Online Free Page B

observation skills. Olivia, you go the opposite way and when you two meet on the other side, continue around to check if the other group might have missed anything.
    “Hannah, you stay here with me. If there is any trouble from people on our property, I can hold off any advance. You will take Amelia and Benjamin east to our first fallback location, and everyone will meet there. And Hannah, if there are any problems with me, you protect your brother and sister and get them to the fallback location as well, does everyone understand?”
    “There won’t be any problems, Eddie!” Simone offers a bit too anxiously.
    “Simone, I am over four hours into a bite by an infected that had dexterity and could run. We don’t know if the six hour limit is certain or if there will definitely be a fever this time. I trust you to take care of the kids, and I trust Hannah to take care of me if she needs to, that's why she is staying here. Simone, I love you. I’m sure you are right, but we already don’t have much time. Let’s get moving.”
    I can see the hurt and sadness in her eyes, but she knows the truth as much as I do. Our home means survival for our family. Even after we lost so many people when we were overrun, it has continued to be the place of safety for us.
    We have little caches and fallback points around the extended property, but nothing beyond it. The odds of our family surviving intact were already slim and beyond the scope of odds in our favor. Without me in the picture, they won’t all survive without the house and its supplies, especially without the other families we have shared our survival experiences and supplies with. And to put it bluntly, I am already bitten and running on less than two hours’ time to get them in there before the fever hits. If a fever will still hit, that is.
    Simone and William move off to the right, and Olivia to the left, disappearing into the trees from our view, within twenty yards. While they move off, Hannah steps back from me about ten feet and puts Benjamin and Amelia into a smaller pull cart that we have attached to the bike trailers. She unhooks the cart and sits down next to it, with her Ruger 10/22.
    “Thank you, Hannah. Your mom is probably right as usual, but keep an eye on me anyway, okay? Even if we get into the fence line, you keep track of me while your mom and I deal with whoever is there, all right?”
    Her face tightens up into a stern expression and she nods.
    She was always a smart girl, all of our kids are smart for that matter, but I feel this huge regret that she can’t just keep being the girl that would get frustrated and cry because she couldn’t figure out how to read a new word, or how a game worked. Now she is playing an adult role in a world of everlasting horrors. She might have to shoot and kill me to protect herself and her brothers and sisters from this damn disease. And stoically, like a battle hardened veteran, instead of complaining or whining that she can’t and I mean too much to her, she simply accepts what is given to her, and recognizes her responsibility in this new life. I couldn’t be more proud of her. If she survives this mess, she and the other survivors will make much sturdier stock than the current devastated generation did.
    The man behind the fence is definitely acting strangely. I’m watching him while I wait for the others to finish circling the property, and this guy is pacing erratically. It seems like he is supposed to be keeping watch out here, but he keeps looking back to the house and acting like those expectant fathers’ on television, nervously walking around outside a hospital delivery room. Still, I don’t hear anything unusual, and don’t see any activity on the property other than him.
    At least when I approach the fence to speak with him, I know there won’t be any other roving patrols to contend with. If there were, I would have seen them by now. The area inside the fence just isn’t that large to hide