Read Mad World (Book 3): Desperation for Free Online Page B

draw closer, too. “What’s the infection situation in Thunder Bay?” Dad asked.
    Most of the people turned away without a word and walked off. One fellow, who seemed less nervous than the others, whispered to us.
    “Stop talking so loud. You’ll draw their attention,” he whispered, before turning halfway around to leave.
    “Wait a minute,” Dad said, touching the man’s arm. He turned back to look into Dad’s eyes. Dad lowered his voice. Whispering, he said, “We just got into town. We are part of the Sanctuary rescue force. We want to know the infection situation in town. Can you fill us in?” He held the man’s gaze and waited.
    The man, who appeared to be an average working-class fellow in a fleece-lined corduroy jacket and jeans, appeared to think things over, then said, “I can’t get into things. They are watching. I have my family to think of …” he trailed off and then turned around and walked away quickly.
    Dad turned to us with a bewildered look on his face. DeAndre headed to the cashier to question him. This was too weird, I thought. I finished getting my coffee, then selected a banana nut muffin and made my way to the front counter. Zach was right behind me with his cocoa and a blueberry scone. In fact, he was following so closely he tripped on my heel.
    I turned to him, “You okay?”
    “Yeah, it’s just… this place gives me the heebie jeebies… I’ll be happy when we’re back in the SUV,” he said. Nodding, I agreed and we went to pay. I didn’t like it either. The people had acted so… scared, but mostly nervous. It was surreal.
    “That all you need?” the clerk asked in a low voice.
    “Yes, this will be it,” I said, paying for our snacks and drinks. I waited until he bagged everything, then Zach and I went to wait by the front door for the others. Soon, we were all headed out the doors and into the cool afternoon air of Thunder Bay.
    I felt a shiver crawl up my spine and turned to look. As my eyes rose to the roof of the convenience store, I caught sight of two zombies up there. They looked to be in the advanced stages of the infection, and they were actually on the roof peering down at us, observing us.
    “What the…?” I said softly. Dad, DeAndre and Risa turned to look. A second later, Jonathan and Zach looked up as well. We all stood there, on the front sidewalk next to our vehicle, looking up at these creatures as they watched us. Then the zombies slowly melted away from the edge of the roof and slipped out of sight.
    A shiver of fear made its way slowly down my spine, and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise with a cold, prickly sensation. Wordlessly, we all got into our SUV and locked the doors. Starting the vehicle, Dad put it in reverse and we made our way out of the parking lot. I was looking as we pulled out. I could see a little behind the store, as could the others. There was nothing there, and yet … there was the sensation of being watched.
    As we drove on slowly down the road, Dad finally spoke. “I have never seen anything like that. It’s like they were on a recon mission to observe and report.”
    “Report to who, I wonder?” asked Risa.
    “This is really strange,” said DeAndre.
    I turned to Zach. “When you were in your town in the thick of things, did you see this kind of behavior in the zombies there?”
    “No. I didn’t. But it all started at night, and then I was locked in the shed, so I didn’t get to see much,” he said.
    This was weird. Weirder than weird. Zombies doing recon?  But zombies didn’t do recon … did they? They weren’t that organized. At least, they never had been. I shivered. Over the years, we’d noticed that the zombies we’d encountered had been getting smarter and smarter. Learning and adapting. The Yersinia Pestis bacteria seemed to be evolving, and its victims were evolving right along with it. But to organize enough to do recon missions? That was taking things to a whole new level. If it were true,