Read Deadlocked 8 for Free Online Page B

trying to protect her.”
    “She’s one of the toughest people I’ve ever
met.”
    “Yeah, but I’ve seen a lot of tough people
get chewed up and spit out by this world.”
    “I’ll do everything I can to keep her
safe.”
    “You’d better, or you’ll have me to deal
with, and I’m a hell of a lot worse to have after you than Jerald
or any zombie you’ve ever gone up against. I can promise you that.”
She knelt and scooped up a handful of snow that she packed into a
snowball. She gently tossed it at me and I scrambled to catch it as
it smashed on my chest. The wet fragments fell between my fingers
and she laughed at me. For just a brief moment I glimpsed a softer
side of her that I hadn’t seen before. I could easily imagine her
as the carefree mother of two girls in another life; one that
hadn’t fallen apart.
    She swiped her hands dry and then her smile
faded. “You’ll head out after the next time we have a few warm days
in a row. After the snow melts. You’ll have a week to get out
there, see what you can find, and get back here.” She stepped
closer to me and started to clean the snow off my jacket. Then she
put her hand on my shoulder and looked sternly into my eyes. “I’m
trusting you, Ben, and I don’t make a habit of putting this much
trust in anyone. Don’t let me down.”
     
    * * *
     
    Harrison had been uncharacteristically quiet
since I told him about my plan to go scouting with Annie. It was
late that night, after the majority of the others that shared our
room had fallen asleep, when he nudged me awake to discuss what was
weighing on his mind.
    “You up?” he asked in a hoarse whisper.
    I grunted something amounting to
confirmation, although I think I’d been dozing. I could hear Stubs
at my feet, snoring louder than anyone else in the room. I pushed
my toes into the pup’s side in an attempt to quiet him down, but he
just rolled to his other side, growled a bit, licked his lips, and
then started snoring just as loud as before.
    “Can I ask you a favor?”
    “Sure,” I said as I wiped drool from the
corner of my lips. “What’s up?”
    “I want to go with you on this scouting
trip.”
    I shook my head and said, “Sorry, buddy, but
that’s not…”
    He interrupted me, “Not on the scouting part.
I won’t go with you to the airport. I just need to go check in on
some old friends.”
    It was too dark to see more than just a vague
outline of his shape beside me. “Who?”
    “There was a family that I used to help out,
and I want to make sure they’re okay.”
    “Where?” I asked.
    “Out near where Hanger used to be. They set
themselves up in a water tower by one of the trade routes. I told
you about them before.”
    I shook my head and said, “No you
didn’t.”
    “Yes I did, but you probably thought I was
full of shit.”
    “You usually are.”
    “Whatever,” he said as he adjusted his
position, rustling the sheet that we shared. “I just need to see
the kids. They depended on me, and I need to check in on them. I
figured that since you’re headed out that way, I could tag
along.”
    “Wait,” I said as I recalled something the
old man had said to me when we first met. “Were these the disabled
kids you said you used to take care of? I do sort of remember you
talking about that, and you’re right, I did think you were full of
shit.”
    “It’s the truth,” he said, sounding slightly
wounded by my disbelief. “They’re the reason I got banned from
Hanger.”
    I hadn’t heard this story, and urged him to
continue, “What happened?”
    “They got kicked out of the town, and I got
kicked out with them.” He seemed content leaving it there.
    “Why?”
    “They made mistakes.” He corrected himself,
“So did I. Same sort of mistakes I’ve been making my whole
life.”
    “Drugs?”
    “It’s not crazy to think some folks need an
escape from a world like the one we got stuck with. I got caught
stealing poppy, but it wasn’t for me, swear to God. I