Read Jenny Undead (The Thirteen: Book One) for Free Online

government fell, no one had
figured it out. No one connected Jenny with her family. That was
the way she liked it, and the way it had to be for her to survive.
She shook off the paranoia. There was no way these Righteous could
know who she was. For all they knew, she was just some Thumper who had stumbled into
their camp.
    The real problem here was that she had killed
the rotter on the pole. Someone was bound to notice that. No one
would suspect her of doing it; Joshua would never suspect a woman
could kill a rotter. Jenny nodded to herself. She was safe. She
only needed until nightfall. If she still couldn't find Casey, then
she was giving up. This was getting too dangerous.
    “Why do you come in here?” said a
voice behind her. She turned and put on her docile face. Joshua
wrinkled his nose at the dead bodies. “No one ever comes in
here unless they have to. And yet you've only been here a few days
and I've seen you come here at least twice.” He took a step
toward her.
    Jenny put on a hopefully sheepish smile.
“Curiosity, I guess,” she said.
    He peered out of the crack. “I see the
undead man finally lost his fight.”
    “His fight?” Jenny said.
    “Even the soulless hang onto their
humanity. Even when it's nothing like humanity.”
    “Are the living really much
different?” she said.
    “Such a sweet child,” he said,
taking another step. He didn't smile, nor did his face change. He
was a small man, but carried himself like someone much bigger and
stronger. It took all Jenny's will not to rip off her ridiculous
skirt and pull out her knife. She could still feel the effects of
the adrenaline after what she'd done to her grandfather.
    “Did you do that?” She tried to look
as innocent as possible. “Did you put him on that pole like
that?”
    He frowned, surprised. She'd caught him off
guard.
    “Did I what?”
    “The rot-- Er, the undead man. I'm just
curious. Did you do that?”
    “Curiosity killed the cat,” he said,
his voice low.
    “I'm not a cat,” said Jenny, smiling
innocently.
    “Are you asking if I mocked the Lord by
putting an obscenity like the undead in the position the Savior
took when he died for my sins?”
    “I'm sorry,” said Jenny, smiling.
“It was a stupid question.” She relaxed a little.
    “Although I understand the
inclination,” he said.
    “The inclination?”
    Joshua had nearly closed the gap. She could take
him easily. At least she thought she could.
    “Yes,” he said. He stopped walking.
“It's a message.”
    “Message?” Jenny said. She was sure
she was pushing her boundaries, but this was the most Joshua had
said to her since she came. The most anyone had said to her; except
for Lily. And if anyone knew anything about what Jenny wanted to
know, it was Joshua. They listened to him. All of them. It was a
damn cult down here. But then, all the Righteous were like that
now. The ones who stuck together stayed alive. The ones who didn't
died.
    And here she was: a Heathen among the Righteous.
It was against their laws. They could kill her if they found out,
or they could damn well try. But Heathens didn't have laws. They
had agreements with other gangs, and they had peace treaties of
sorts to make sure Expo was safe, but no real laws to speak of. It
was a different world out there. But down here was another
story.
    Joshua looked at her, narrowing his eyes. If he
didn't know already, any minute now he was going to figure out who
she was and then it would all be over. But then his face relaxed
and he smiled at her. “Nothing important,” he said.
“The undead man keeps people away is all. Keeps the Heathens
out. Keeps us safe from the Godless ones.” He took the last
few steps and we were standing inches from each other. “It's
Jenny, isn't it?” he said.
    “Yes,” she said. She cringed
inwardly at the name. She hadn't meant to give him her real name,
but it had just popped out when he asked.
    “That's a nice name,” he said. He
was still smiling, but his