Read Republic of the Living (Novella): Vengeance for Free Online Page A

me.”
    He crawled back to the opening and a small child
with short, black hair was thrust up at him.  He grabbed the kid under his
arms and swung him onto the floor next to the hole.  Another child
appeared - - an older girl with lemon skin and curly hair.  By the time
they were done, almost a dozen children cowered together on the far side of the
dark opening.  Mai pushed herself up and onto the floor and Chewy settled
back on his haunches.
    She spoke in rapid Chinese to one of the kids who
alternately nodded and shook his head.  There was a pause and she uttered
something more soothing.  The boy shifted his gaze to the children around
him.  He stood and nodded at Mai.
    “ What’s this?” Chewy asked as
the boy spoke to the others and they began rising to their feet.
    Mai turned to him.  “Spider hole,” she said.
 “It’s where they’re supposed to go if anything happens.”
    She turned back to the children and continued
talking to them in Chinese.  They grasped each others’ hands and the boy
led them past Chewy and down the center of the church to the front doors.
    Chewy stood.  “What did he tell you?”
    Mai squinted at him even as she aimed a string of
sharp sounds at the boy.
    “ We get them settled,” she
said, striding past him.  “Then, we need to get to Fruitvale.”
    Mai led the group out of the church and Chewy
followed.  The children were quiet, their big eyes roving up and down the
empty streets.  She shepherded them to the front of a store with a
security gate rolled down over its display window and door.
    “ Wait here,” she told Chewy
before she sprinted down the block and disappeared into a doorway.
    He shifted his gaze from the storefront to the
kids.  They looked back at him as if expecting him to say something.
 He opened his mouth to speak when the boy with the short hair whipped his
eyes onto the storefront behind Chewy.  He wrapped both hands around the
staff as he spun around.  The door opened and Mai appeared behind the bars
of the gate.  She tinkered with something and pushed her palms against the
metal barrier.
    “ Come on,” she rasped.
“Push.”
    Chewy dropped the staff and dug his fingers
between the metal links.  There was a click and the gate began rattling
up.  The kids rushed past him and scuttled into the store.  As soon
as they were inside, Mai left the doorway to follow them and Chewy ducked
beneath the gate.  He pushed it back down and closed the shop door.
    He found them in the back of the store, in a room
where a tall set of shelves ran from one wall to the next and low cots lined
the other walls.  The kids hopped onto the beds and Mai spoke to them.
 They all nodded.  She pushed Chewy out of the doorway and the little
boy trailed along behind them into the bare shop.
    “ This is one of our safe
houses,” she said.  “Food.  Water.”  
    She spat a burst of words at the little boy.
 He disappeared and reappeared seconds later clutching a plastic bottle of
water.  He held it up to Chewy.
    “ Thanks,” Chewy said, taking the
bottle and raising it to his lips.
    “ They’ll be fine here,” Mai
said suddenly, watching the boy return down the hall to the back room.
 “Benjy knows what to do.”  She paused as Chewy lowered the bottle.
 “We need to get to Fruitvale.  We need to leave now.”
    Chewy nodded.  “Sure,” he said.  “Do we
know how many there are?”
    Mai took a step toward him and motioned for the
bottle.  He passed it to her.
    “ Six or seven men.”  She
raised the bottle and gulped.  “Big guys.  On horses.”
    “ Yeah,” Chewy answered.
 “Slavers.  Probably working for somebody on commission.”
    Mai’s eyes widened.
    “ Look, sister.”  He slid
the pack off his shoulders onto the floor.  “We’re only two.  You
give me a couple of days.  We could be twenty or thirty.”
    Mai shook her head.  
    “ Twenty or thirty against six
or seven.  I like those odds better.”
    Instead of