Read Loose Ends: A Zombie Novel for Free Online Page A

there like I don’t know. I know how bad the dead are and God knows I know how much worse the people can be. I want to see if there are other good people I can finish out my days with instead of huddling inside a corner of this slaughterhouse.”
    No one said anything for a while. Short Order walked up and stood in our group near the stairs leading down into the empty building. We hoped it was empty.
    Chef said, “We’d be giving up a lot to strike out on the road.”
    “I don’t want to raise chickens,” Doc said.
    I felt a wash of fear in that moment. I realized they were actually talking about walking out into the open land again. They were considering leaving the Complex. I think I actually started to shake a little.
    “We can always come back,” Short Order repeated.
    “This place is here because the people here built it,” Chef said. “The thing to do would be to rebuild it and take folks in like they did before.”
    Short Order said, “When was the last time anyone besides a raider came in?”
    There was a long silence. I couldn’t remember the last person that had joined the Complex or when it was. The quarantine rooms had been out of service for a long while. I was definitely shaking now.
    Doc said, “That doesn’t bode well for what’s left out there to find. We know what’s around us for miles in every direction.”
    “Doc,” Short Order held up his clinched fist, “I know what surrounds us, but it’s right outside the damn doors too and what do you think is going to happen when we go a mile up the road to check on the animals? Those things are everywhere, but they are here too and they are still getting inside the-”
    “Stop. Stop,” Doc waved his open hands. “That’s not what I’m saying, Short. I’m saying we have mapped out, searched, scavenged, and patrolled the land for several miles in every direction. If we’re really talking about doing this, we have to plan for a substantial journey in a particular direction. We are going to have to go way out before we really have a chance of finding something that we wouldn’t have already found if it was there. This is a marathon journey we’re talking about. ‘Just coming back’ is not going to be an easy thing no matter what we do or don’t find. This is a serious thing we’re considering here.”
    “Are you saying no?” Short Order asked.
    “No … I mean, no, I’m not saying no,” Doc stammered. “I just don’t want to walk out there and have the people I’m with fold up when we get too far out to just change our minds and run back.”
    I leaned back against the wall of the roof’s door hood to keep from slumping with dizziness. I wasn’t sure I could bring myself to walk out there. I hadn’t been on foot or in a truck outside the Complex since they took me on as an apprentice in the kitchen.
    “We wouldn’t walk,” Chef said. “We’d take one of the vehicles.”
    “And fuel up where?” Doc asked.
    Chef paused.
    He answered Doc, “They’re all multi-converted, John. They can tank regular gas, ethanol, alcohol, or raw greases.”
    Doc shook his head. “It’s been too long. Once we leave the Complex, we’re not finding any of that. Gas sitting in tanks will have separated into water and sludge by now.  There are no cooking vats with usable oils left. There is no converted saw grass unless we find someone making it currently. We have one tank and however many cans we carry which limits how much food we carry and then we are walking unless you can refine crude oil in your stew pot.”
    “The raiders are running their vehicles on something,” Short Order said.
    “We missed our chance to join up,” Doc ran his hands through his hair again.
    Chef said, “We could go a certain distance and then come back.”
    “And lead the zombies back with us,” Doc said.
    “That sounds like a no, Doc. Are you saying no?” Short Order asked again.
    Doc looked down. “I’m not going to be any good at rebuilding. I’m