Read DEAD (Book 12): End for Free Online Page A

member of George’s crew looked over at Jody, but his lips remained pressed tight. Without another word, Jody fired his crossbow. The bolt struck the man in the upper thigh and caused him to howl with pain.
    Jody closed the rest of the distance, his eyes no longer scanning for additional threats. Something in the back of his mind told him that Gable was likely more than capable. When he reached the man, he grabbed the end of the bolt and gave it a little wiggle. This caused the wounded individual to renew his screams.
    “I will only ask you one more time,” Jody hissed. “How many?”
    “N-nine!” the man wailed as Jody twisted violently on the shaft to emphasize his point.
    Doing the math, Jody realized that left four people unaccounted for…provided this person was telling the truth. The one thing that was really bothering him was that he had not recognized a single one of these people up to this point. That had to mean something. Most likely, there must be some sort of settlement nearby. That was the most obvious source of these individuals.
    “If you move so much as an inch from this spot, I will cripple you and leave you for zombie bait,” Jody said as he let go of the bolt and turned to Gable. “Did you see Jan?”
    “Nope, and I went all the way around the—” he was saying when there was a yelp and a sudden crash from the second floor. Just as suddenly, a body came smashing through the window above where Jody and Gable were standing.
    The two men dove out of the way, but unfortunately for the injured man on the ground, he was unable to react and ended up on the receiving end of most of the broken glass. He was fortunate in the fact that the falling body landed barely a foot away.
    “Who’s the new guy?” Jan called down.
    “Name’s Gable Matczak,” the man called back up before Jody could answer. “And we still have three unaccounted for, so maybe we could do this later.”
    “Umm…correct that number. We got one left,” Jan hollered back.
    “Okay!” Jody shouted. “We know you’re out there. If we have to look for you, there won’t be any mercy. We will see it as kill or be killed. If you surrender now, you have my word that you will be unharmed.”
    “Is that right?” a voice shouted back.
    Jody spun towards where the RVs were set up. Coming out from behind one was a woman and she had one of the girls that he recognized as having been tied up inside the RV he had entered in front of her as a shield. A large knife was to the young girl’s throat.
    “We heard all about you, Jody Rafe,” the woman called over the girl’s shoulder. “Military dictator who kicks people out if they don’t do things the way he likes. George told us all about y—” the woman’s voice ended with a sharp cry and a figure appeared where she had once stood.
    “She said dick tater,” Danny chuckled as he wiped off his blade and put it in the sheath at his side.
    “What the hell, Danny!” Jody barked once he was able to recover. “We might have been able to make a deal with her.”
    “Screw that bitch!” the young girl who had been the hostage a moment ago cried and then kicked the corpse for good measure.
    “She killed the other kids,” Danny said, allowing the distraught girl to fall into his chest and cry. “All of them.”
    “Jesus,” Jan sighed from above. “Hey, Jody, your daughter is here along with three other women. I’ll bring her down in a minute. Maybe you might want to clean things up a bit first.”
    Jody looked around at the carnage and the protest he was about to make against any delay in being reunited with his daughter faded. There were bodies everywhere, including Margarita’s headless corpse on the porch. His daughter had already seen enough gore and violence to last a lifetime; he gave Jan a nod.
    “I see you won them over with your usual diplomatic charm,” Danny said as he hobbled up looking less mobile than any zombie.
    “Where is Sasser?” Jody ignored the barb and