Read Jake's Law: A Zombie Novel for Free Online

here?” he asked, as he lifted a spoonful of stew to his mouth.
    “Not much. If it’s just one or two, I kill them with a Kaiser blade to be quiet.” Reed grimaced. “I used to live in a comfortable house in Oracle, but it got too crowded with rowdy undead neighbors. I found this RV, and now I simply pick up and move if things get too dangerous.”
    Curious, he asked, “Why do you remain here?”
    Reed wrinkled his brow and frowned. “It’s my home. I grew up in Oracle. I left once, but I came back. I’ve got no place else to go.” He shoveled a spoonful of stew into his mouth and took a sip of beer. “I’ve seen your jeep around a few times but stayed hidden. I didn’t know if you were friend or foe. There are a lot of bad characters running around. I’ve seen some dead bodies with bullet holes in them. They weren’t zombies.”
    Jake nodded. He had encountered murder victims as well. Not everyone believed in the sanctity of life. “Bad times,” he said.
    “ Bad times indeed,” Reed agreed. He stopped eating, folded his arms on the table, spoon in hand, and stared at Jake. “Why did you help me?”
    Jake shrugged his shoulders. He had been asking himself the same question. It was a first for him. “I don’t know.”
    Reed leveled his spoon and pointed at Jake, as if he were calling upon a student to answer a question. “I think it’s because you craved a human voice. I know I do. I’m used to thirty kids screaming and yelling all day. The silence is killing me.”
    “ Not as fast as the zombies will.”
    Reed nodded his head. “True. True. I knew shooting zombies would bring more, but I was angry. I took a chance.” He stared at Jake. “Will we be two ships that pass in the night?”
    Jake took a sip of his beer, a Dos Equis, and then returned Reed’s steady gaze. “You looking for a play date?”
    Reed laughed, slapped the table with the palm of his hand, and laughed again. “Good one. No, I just thought we might cooperate a little. You know, scavenging. Two sets of eyes, two guns… You know I can shoot.”
    “Maybe, but I’m not ready to adopt you yet.”
    “Good enough. We’ll feel each other out a bit first. There’s a CVS pharmacy in Oro Valley that I don’t think has been completely stripped. Oh, the real drugs, the Oxycontin, Vicodin, etcetera are probably gone, and the Valium. Hell, I take a Valium every now and then. Who wouldn’t in this mess, but I’ve got asthma. I need Millipred and more inhalers. The pollen count is rising, and I don’t need another asthma attack. The last one almost did me in.”
    Jake didn’t know if he trusted a man who took narcotics, even something as common as Valium, but he understood Reed’s medical problems. He needed more Actos and supplies for his first aid kit. “Okay, but we take two vehicles.”
    Reed smiled. “Let’s eat first.”
    The stew hit the spot. It had been cooked and canned by Armour and Company, but Reed’s addition of dried herbs enhanced the flavor. The beer hit the spot as well. The irony of the two of them together didn’t amuse him. Reed, a high school science teacher and a decent shot seemed capable of surviving the zombie apocalypse, yet required modern medicines to function, while he, a survivalist and an avid hunter, also needed medication to survive. That two people blessed with immunity to the Staggers might die as their drug supply dwindled had to be a cosmic joke.
    After the meal, Reed tidied up quickly, as he seemed in a hurry to leave. Jake visually inspected Reed’s trailer while Reed washed the dishes. Boxes of ammunition and a pair of binoculars lay beside the two guns on the sofa. A trashcan overflowing with empty cans, water bottles, and short pieces of metal pipe was pushed up against the sink. Together with the pieces of pipe on the floor, it looked as if Reed was doing a little plumbing. The cases of food and water were neatly stacked, but the bed down the short hallway was unmade. Clothes were