Read The Dead Series (Book 4): Dead End for Free Online

protect her young took over , and Lena didn’t hesitate in the least as she twisted the shovel free from Shawna’s head and used it on her husband’s.
    Clearing her mind of the horror as she used the bloody bandana to wipe the sweat away again, Lena studied the two graves again before turning her attention to her children. Megan and Ethan stood a short distance away, unsure of what to do next.
    They might not know what to do, Lena thought to herself, but I do.
    She told them to go to their rooms and pack some clothes. Not in a suitcase, she warned them, but in one of the backpacks they used to go camping. Once they were gone, she went inside and called the only person that could help them.
    An hour later, Rick Styles pulled up in front of the house in his truck. Before his combat-booted feet could hit the dust of the driveway, he stopped. Taking in the two fresh graves, he knew it was worse than Lena had described on the phone. Seeing her and the two kids standing in front of the mounds of fresh earth with heads bowed in prayer made him choke up a little, but he pushed it down.
    Wanting to give them a few moments, and to distract his mind at the thought of having lost a good friend, he played with the radio, spinning the dial to see if he could pick up anything except the lame-ass reports from the EBS telling everyone that all was well, to boil any water before you drank it and to avoid large crowds.
    Yeah, he thought to himself, avoid large crowds of the dead, but that looked like it might be getting harder and harder to do these days.
    Movement caught his eye, and he looked up to find Lena and her kids walking toward him . Getting out of his truck, he forced a smile and said, “The cab only seats three, so one of you is going to have to ride in the back.”
    “I’m not going,” Lena said.
    “But I thought I was picking you all up?” Rick asked.
    Holding up her bloody wrist in explanation, Lena said, “I need to talk to you for a minute, Rick.” Turning to her oldest, she said, “Take Ethan and go over by the truck.”
    Megan hesitated, but a stern look from her mother got her moving. They had already gone over what needed to be done, but it didn’t make it any easier.
    When they were gone, Lena led Rick a short distance away before saying bluntly, “I got bit by Shawna after she died and came back. She killed…” Choking up at the very mention of her dead husband’s name, she shook it off and continued, “I didn’t tell you when I called because I didn’t think you’d come if you knew what really happened. I didn’t believe it before when Megan was going on and on about what she’d been seeing on the Web, but I believe it now. From what we’ve been able to gather from the reports, it means I’m infected.”
    “ It does,” Rick told her. “We’ve been finding out the same thing in town. If you get bit or get any fluids from one of them on you, you get the disease. You die, and then you come back. I heard from the sheriff that they’ve had quite a few cases today inside the city limits. Seems like people are dying and getting back up and then attacking and eating each other. It’s gotten so bad that the council got together and decided to isolate us as much as possible. They’re planning on blowing up the bridge later this afternoon. I don’t know what good it will do, though, seems like we’ve got quite a few infected people that already snuck in. They might have been away on vacation or whatever and got bit, then came home because that’s where you want to be when you’re hurt.”
    “I know Shawna was out of town visiting her family,” Lena said. “She must have caught it there.”
    Rick shrugged and said, “Nobody knows much about this thing, and the news media isn’t telling it straight. Who knows, some of the dead might have been here the whole time.” After thinking about it for a few seconds, he gave Lena a sideways glance before adding in a quiet voice, “I’ve had to kill