Read The Beginning of the End (Book 2): Toward the Brink II for Free Online Page B

about a motor home, Mr. Mulhaven?” Roger joined in.
    “Call me Riley. We don’t have time for the ‘mister’ bullshit,” Mulhaven said then thought about Roger’s idea.
    “We’d still need another vehicle, preferably with a bit of grunt under the hood, like a Hummer perhaps. With a motor home, we’ll have to stop more often to get gas, and if we run out of gas where there are no vehicles …”
    “This could work.” The Tall Man stepped in. “We keep walkie-talkies in each vehicle and remain in sight of each other. Two hours before dark, we look for a place—a secure place—to hole up. No traveling at night, period. It’s too dangerous.”
    The Tall Man was the tactician, all right. He knew his shit.
    “Okay then. Who wants to come, and who stays behind?” Elliot asked.
    “I’ll take Elliot and Roger and … Allan,” the Tall Man said.
    “Allan?” Mulhaven asked. “Are you sure, Chuck?”
    “Yep,” was all the Tall Man said. He didn’t waste his words, which everyone had come to know already.
    “Roger, grab your shotgun. Elliot, get your Redhawk and one of the Colt Deltas for Allan. You drive the pickup, Roger, and I hope you’re not attached to it.” The Tall Man issued the orders before he called out to Allan, who was still inside the house. “Allan, come along, son!”
    While Elliot went to the van to get the hardware, Roger went into the house to get the keys for the Ford F-250.
    “Get a motor home with a good sized fridge, Chuck. We’ll be able to keep frozen foods, and that means no more noodles in a cup or jerky,” Mulhaven said.
    “Speaking of food,” Elliot said, “those fresh vegetables and eggs Margaret made for us were fantastic, weren’t they? I didn’t think I’d taste anything like that again. Well, who can say, maybe we will in Canada.”
    “Yeah, who can say?” Mulhaven said. “And Chuck, let’s be careful out there, okay?”
    * * *
    “Do we know what happened to cause this?” Roger asked as they drove into Shoshone.
    “Like I told you just before graduation, it was the fries, man! The fuckin’ fries.”
    Elliot recounted the developments in the center of Twin Falls on break-out day, after he met Cindy, then met Mulhaven.
    “And how did you get into this group, Mr. Black?”
    “Chuck. Just call him Chuck,” Allan informed Roger then winked at the Tall Man.
    “I was just lucky to have stumbled onto them,” was all the explanation the Tall Man gave. “Now, tell me how it unfolded around here.”
    People were sick from a long time back, Roger began, his aunt had told him this when he first arrived. He went on to explain how a week ago, hundreds had arrived in town looking for medical assistance but were sent home.
    “The doctors sent them home?”
    “Yeah, told them it was just a stomach flu, but there were specialists from a government disease center …”
    “Centers for Disease Control?” the Tall Man proffered.
    “Yeah, that’s the place. Well, the next thing we knew, people were dying then got back up, spewing green everywhere and attacking others,” Roger paused to take a tight turn on the road. “These foamers, as you call ’em, are they really the walking dead?”
    * * *
    Two hours later, the Tall Man and his friends returned, incident-free. Elliot drove a 2013 Fleetwood RV Bounder gas motor home while the Tall Man drove a black 2007 Hummer H3. Mulhaven heard the vehicles and came to greet them.
    “Well, well, well, look what the cat dragged in!” he said, smiling.
    “Yeah, Riley, wait till you see it, you’ll love it.” Elliot stepped down from the driver’s seat.
    “Look at this, Riley!” The Tall Man beamed as he got out of the civilian version of the famed military vehicle. “Look!”
    The Tall Man wore a grin almost as wide as the the rear door of the Hummer. Mulhaven looked in and almost fainted.
    “If this is your idea of a joke … “Mulhaven said as he stared, nonplussed, at the dozen or more boxes of jerky, “I’m not