Read The Hunger (Book 3): Ravaged for Free Online Page B

woodpile.
    “Yo... bro!” Greg shouted from the end of the line. Lance had positioned him there to be as far away from the irritating moron as possible. “What if someone in this line is the person who killed her? What if they kill one of us?”
    “You have one of these, don’t you?” Lance pulled the pistol free from its spot on his hip and held it up, twisting it back and forth.
    “Oh yeah. Sure, OK.”
    “Jackass,” Lance mumbled.
    “Of all the people to survive the apocalypse, how did that guy make it?” Cass asked. “How does he even remember to feed himself?”
    “No idea.” Lance followed Brown into the trees. The entire line moved forward. “I hear he’s been shacking up with several women lately. With our luck, there will be ten little Gregs running around next year.”
    Cass shuddered beside him. “What’s going on here, dumbass? All of this stuff with the Vladdies is happening all at once.”
    “I don’t know. It has me sick to my stomach, to be honest.”
    Their eyes roamed over the forest floor, searching for blood or any other sign of where the severed head had come from. The search party continued to whisper amongst themselves, throwing around scandalous rumors about rifts in the camp or heated arguments that had recently taken place.
    Lance thought about the dire warnings Cass had given whenever they were in the safe zone in Pittsburgh. She thought that big groups of people would be unsustainable in the new world. That someone would eventually screw up and get everyone else killed.
    Were they seeing the first threads of the inevitable unwinding of the compound?
    He brushed the thoughts away. There were too many pregnant women living with them to entertain the idea of their little pocket of the world collapsing. They had to persevere.
    They searched the area for over an hour before Brown called a halt to it. They hadn’t found so much as a drop of blood. The head hadn’t originated from that part of the woods.
    It had been carried there. Left as a horrid warning for those who would find it.
    Cass led Lance further into the woods as the rest retreated.
    “Where are we going?” Lance asked.
    “For a walk. We haven’t had much alone time lately.”
    They didn’t speak for a while, walking hand in hand, trying to enjoy the moment of peace and quiet. Lance struggled to keep his mind from straying to the barrage of ill tidings hitting them from all directions. When they came upon a shallow, clear stream, they sat on a rock at the shoreline, watching the water go by.
    Lance related what Adam had told him about his position as the unelected sheriff. Cass only nodded her head when it was over.
    “What? You think what he was saying is right? People are looking to me for answers?”
    “Yes.” Cass shrugged. “You killed the boogeyman. That anointed you as a king in their eyes.”
    “But I’m a fuck up. No one should take advice from me. To be honest, I shouldn’t even listen to myself. I’ve rarely made the right decisions in my entire life.”
    “I think you’ve done better than you give yourself credit for. We’re alive. We’re together. There isn’t much more I could ask for, all things considered.”
    Lance held her gaze for several seconds. He was shocked by the moment of unadulterated softness coming from her. “I think the pregnancy has affected your brain.”
    She elbowed him in the ribs. “Ass.”
    “I do what I can.”
    They watched the water some more, tossing pebbles into its flowing surface.
    “I don’t like where things are heading,” Cass said a few minutes later. “We should come up with some kind of backup plan.”
    “Like what?”
    “Maybe we should consider going further east and finding a boat. We could float off the coast and go on shore for supplies during the day.”
    “What about everyone else here? You were the one who said you didn’t want to abandon the pregnant women.”
    “I’m not saying we leave now, but we need to be prepared for the