Trepidation Read Online Free Page B

“You are only alive because I need a messenger who can safely get to Max. You will tell them to leave. Do you understand?”
    “Where’s Claire?” I asked.
    “The redhead?”
    “You know exactly who I mean.”
    “You can see her in a minute, but first let’s go get your friends.”
    “My friends?” I asked, shocked that they hadn’t killed them already. “Where are they?” I asked.
    “They’re in one of my special holding cells outside,” he said. He gripped me by the shoulder and dragged me through the dimly lit room, then out a door and into the freezing cold. He and a group of his brutish cohorts walked me down the street, turned left, and then led me to the back of one of the other warehouses.
    When I glanced ahead, I gasped. The whole back parking lot was empty and fenced in with towering barbed wire. Z’s minions stood guard around each side, armed with shotguns to take care of any prisoners who tried to escape. Like victims forced into the Coliseum in ancient times for the entertainment of the sick masses, my friends were battling zombies; without weapons, they were fighting with every bit of strength they had to stay alive. Jimmy didn’t make it, and my heart sank as I watched him kick and thrash, screaming bloody murder as zombies pulled out his intestines, causing rivers of crimson blood to gush and pour onto the white snow.
    “Oops. Look like that one’s a goner,” Z said in a mocking tone, touching my shoulder.
    I ran to the fence and shook it. “No!” I shouted. I shut my eyes, unable to watch any the carnage any longer. I knew his screams would be etched into my mind forever. How could Z’s men stand there and do nothing? They’re all as sick as their psychotic leader! I spun around and stared hard at him. “Let them go!” I shouted. “How can anyone be this...sadistic?”
    He peered at me with wild eyes. “As I said, this is only the beginning.”

Chapter 4
    I couldn’t believe Z would make our men fight against zombies in some kind of sick game. “If you let them go, I’ll personally deliver your message to Max,” I said. “You’ve made it quite clear.”
    “Oh, you’ll talk to Max anyway,” he said. “I only need one messenger to survive.”
    “Everyone has a price,” I said. “What’s yours?”
    “Charlie’s head on a platter,” he said, “for killing my brother.”
    “Hmm. Well, it seems we have a common enemy. He killed my girlfriend too,” I said. “Let me help you take him down.”
    “Who says I need your help?”
    “I know a lot of the scientists, and I have pretty much have free reign in the city,” I wagered. “I can get information you can’t.”
    Z pointed to the left corner. “See the injured over there?”
    “Were they bitten?”
    “No. My men roughed them up. I wanted to see if the others would protect them or if it’d be every man for himself.”
    “These men have character,” I said.
    “It seems they do. They’re selflessly protecting each other, all except for that one. His legs were broken when we threw him in, so I guess he didn’t stand much of a chance,” he said, pointing to Jimmy, who was being devoured by zombies.
    “This is sick!” I said. “I thought the zombies were monsters, but you? You’re just—”
    “Calm down, Dean. I gave them a few weapons,” Z said.
    “And that makes everything all right?”
    “Let’s see if you have character,” he said. “Half of them are injured and won’t last too much longer. I’ll let those out if you’ll go in their place.”
    “And you promise not to hurt them worse or kill them?” I asked.
    “I might be sadistic, as you put it, but I’m not a liar. I always keep my word. If you survive, I’ll let you all go.”
    I held out my hand. “Deal. Now get them outta there.”
    He shook my hand firmly.
    “And I want a weapon,” I demanded.
    “That wasn’t part of the deal,” he said with a sinister laugh. 
    Z gave the order to release the injured men, and they