Trepidation Read Online Free Page A

nice and seemed to like me a lot. Maybe she could talk Z down.
    “Z, he did save many,” she said softly. “This isn’t right. We oughtta hold a banquet in his honor, serve him another ham—not hang him like a piece of meat in a butcher shop!”
    He slapped her hard across the face. She looked shocked as she wiped blood off her lip and I wondered if she realized she had joined forces with the wrong side.
    “He didn’t save my brother, though, did he?” Z shouted at her as she cowered in fear. “No, he left him to die in that underground house of horrors. He probably did that on purpose!”
    In that moment, I realized that what I’d done, the risk I’d taken to eliminate that lab didn’t mean anything to Z and like-minded thugs. I’d solved the mystery of the disappearing members of his group, and I’d blown up the lab and saved lives, but I hadn’t saved the one life that mattered most to him, his brother’s, and now he was going to make me pay for it. I hadn’t done it on purpose though. The hybrids, zombies, and infected animals had been killing people left and right. Havoc, panic, and confusion had been running rampant. In all that chaos, all that horror, I had no idea who his brother was. I could only guess it was the man who’d taken my weapons and left me with nothing more than a pipe to fight the mindless killing machines. “I didn’t let anyone die on purpose, Z,” I said very honestly. “Please just untie me, and let’s talk face to face,” I said.
    “Or maybe I’ll kill you.”
    “I don’t think so,” I said. “If you wanted me dead, I’d be dead already,” I said in a tone that was much braver than I actually felt.
    He smirked. “Smart boy.”
    “So what’s this all about then?” I asked. “Why am I hanging upside down, being beaten, yet still alive? What’s the bottom line? Is this some kind of weird hazing ritual for you people, a rite of passage?”
    He sneered. “Hardly. I’d never let you join us.” He motioned around at the zombie heads. “I’m going to send you back to Max, your leader. I want you to tell him everything. Let him know I’m insane—a crazed, dangerous madman. See, this is just the beginning of what I’m gonna do to every person who lives in that city. If you don’t heed my warning and get the heck out, know that the next wave is coming soon. We want that city, and if you won’t give it to us, we’ll take it.”
    “They’re innocent,” I said. “They’re just ordinary people like you and me, just trying to survive.”
    “Pssh. Those idots, those helpless, mindless sheep are nothing like me. It’s survival of the fittest, and I will do whatever is in my power to prove to everyone that Max is not at the top of the food chain like he thinks he is. I will ruin the man, destroy him for sending spies here!” he roared. “This city is now at war, and I will destroy anyone who sides with him.”
    “Can’t we come to a compromise?” I asked. “Is there no way to stop this war?”
    “Sure. Just convince everyone in Fairport to leave town and never come back. That city is mine, and I want every single one of you out.”
    “But the town is the only safe place to live. If they cross those borders, most of them will die. You know what it’s like out there, because you were out there yourselves. There are kids in the city, some of them very small, as well as elderly people who can hardly get around. If you make them leave, you’re sentencing them to death.”
    “Dean, I am not out to save the world like you are. It is not my problem if the weak cannot fend for themselves.” With that, he motioned to his guards to release me.
    The men began shoveling the chomping heads to the side, then released me, dropping me harshly onto the cold concrete in a stiff, sore heap. A man with brown, greasy hair cut my bindings, and I quickly stood. I felt pins and needles as the circulation slowly returned to my feet.
    Z’s gaze narrowed into snake-light slits.