Read After The Virus for Free Online Page B

the horse photos off her walls. Around the time her childhood had been forcefully, or perhaps sneakily, stolen from her. Around the time she’d learned that no one, no matter their title or blood tie, would step up to protect her; even when she asked for help. She guessed she’d been just a little older than Snickers currently was —  
    She heard the chains dragging on the concrete sidewalks before she saw them. Asked earlier, she would have thought she’d freeze in fear, but she didn’t.
    It was him: Shotgun-Fucking-Asshole, though he was missing an ear now. She was going to fucking blow his head off, right through the store window.
    Then, like a cold shower, she thought of Snickers. Had she and Will moved from the drug store? Still hidden, Rhiannon spied through the window.
    The Ford was still parked by the gun shop. She couldn’t see anything through the Drug Mart windows. Fuck .
    And where the fuck was B.B.?  
    She left the clothing box by the front door, because she’d fucking be back for it, and then slipped into the back alley.

CHAPTER TWELVE
    WILL

    He didn’t have a leash, so he tied a tensor bandage around B.B.’s collar. Together, they silently shifted until they had eyes on Snickers.
    She seemed to be scrutinizing a Vanity Fair cover. Then, coming to some sort of decision, she turned as if to bring him the magazine. She’d only taken a step when she spotted him and B.B. partway down the aisle. Chocolate was smeared across one of her cheeks.
    Then the army-jacketed guy grabbed her, twisting her into a football tuck as he ripped the magazine from her little hands.
    B.B. didn’t even twitch when Will changed his mind about the tensor leash: all her muscle was honed on her prey.
    “Who’s this, kid? Who’s the pretty on the cover?” Army cajoled. Then he slammed Snickers on his shoulder to knock the breath and fight out of her.
    B.B. took him out at the knees before Army saw what hit him.
    Will caught Snickers before she hit the linoleum face first, then still managed to stop Army from bludgeoning B.B. with his gun.
    Snickers wasn’t happy to be placed to the side, and Will heard her pump the shotgun a split second before she got it in Army’s snarling face. He yanked the barrel up and to the side as Snickers pulled the trigger, and the redirected shot took out an entire window with spray.
    Army’s body slammed into Will’s chest and knocked him back. He wrenched the shotgun from Snickers’ hands as he fell, and then lost it underneath the shelves.
    They wrestled, their footing insecure in the fallen magazines. If not for B.B. clamped to Army‘s leg, he’d be seriously outmatched. At the edge of his vision, he could see Snickers burrowing under the shelving to retrieve her gun.
    Rhiannon burst through the back door like some avenging angel. Her entrance seriously distracted Army. ‘Course, Will felt that way every time her saw her, so it didn’t come as a surprise to him.
    He grabbed Snickers and rolled as Rhiannon spun to crack the side of Army’s skull with the butt of her gun.
    Snickers scrambled from his arms to stare down at Army, who was out cold but breathing. B.B.’s lingering snarls summed up Will’s own feelings nicely.
    “Move, Will,” Rhiannon urged as she wrapped her hand around B.B.’s collar and pulled the dog away. ”There’s no way they’d miss shotgun fire.”
    “They?” he groaned as he got up and followed Rhiannon out the alley door.
    “Two more, and one of — them — the Infected,” she warned as she soothingly smoothed Snickers' hair, then gave the child her secondary gun.
    “We get to the truck and go,” he firmly stated, but Rhiannon just smiled, almost sweetly. “No, Rhiannon. Not with Snickers here.”
    That momentarily stalled Rhiannon, but they didn’t have time for another plan before they heard footsteps, crunching glass, and loud cursing coming from inside the drugstore.
    “Rhiannon,” he ordered, “you take Snickers and hide, somewhere