Read The Land of the Dead: Book Four of the Oz Chronicles for Free Online

all focused on getting home. We can’t do this without Tyrone… or you.”
    I looked down at her hand holding mine and collapsed to one knee. “I’m tired.”
    She squeezed my hand. “That’s allowed.” She smiled.
    I chuckled and looked up at her. “Wes is right. There’s a chance that we’ll never get home no matter how hard we fight.”
    She nodded. “Yeah, but there’s a chance we will, too.”
    I stood and stared at her eyes. If I could, I would have never stopped looking at them, but a crashing sound in the parking lot diverted our attention. My body went stiff. Lou reached out and grabbed my arm. Her breathing was heavy and fast.
    “What was that?” she asked.
    I swallowed. “Wind…”
    Another crash came, followed by the wap-wap-wap of feet on the ground. Wap-wap-wap. Wap-wap-wap. Lou and I backed toward the store entrance. Neither of us had any weapons. A conversation carried out in whispers drifted through the darkness.
    “Not the wind,” Lou said.
    A cry, “Whoop!” sounded out from the back of the parking lot.
    “Augh-wee-op!” was the reply. Whoever or whatever it was was just on the edge of the darkness.
    “Whoop-whoo!” Another call.
    I stepped forward.
    “Where are you going?” Lou asked.
    “Sounds like… a couple of kids,” I said.
    “Yeah, well the last bunch of kids we ran into tried to feed us to a bunch of locusts.”
    I turned to her and gave her point some thought. “Carl’s group?”
    She nodded.
    “I remember. That’s when you lost Tank.”
    “How did you know about Tank?”
    Before I could answer, another call came from the darkness.
    “What do you want?” I yelled.
    I could hear the faint sound of whispering. They were bickering.
    “Show yourself!” I yelled.
    Nothing.
    “You chicken?” I provoked.
    The whispering got louder. Finally a single voice emerged. “We are the Throwaways!”
    “Throwaways?” I mumbled. “You heard of ‘em?” I asked Lou.
    “No,” she said.
    “What do you Throwaways want?”
    There was a long pause. “We are the Throwaways!”
    I chuckled and Lou shrugged her shoulders.
    “You said that already,” I answered.
    There was another series of intense whispers and then the same single voice spoke. “We want… you to surrender.”

FIVE
     
    I saw the figure of a tall lanky boy hidden in the shadows. He held on to a staff. As he stepped closer, I could see that he was dressed too lightly for the chilly temperature. His face was thin and his skin was horrifically pale.
    “Why do you want us to surrender?” I asked. “I didn’t even know we were fighting.”
    “We are,” the boy shouted. “We are the Throwaways. We are at war with everyone and everything.”
    “That doesn’t sound fun,” I yelled.
    I heard the door to the store open and turned to see Ajax, Aribod, and Wes exit.
    “What in the world is going on out here?” Wes asked.
    “We’ve got visitors,” I said.
    “Who?”
    “The Throwaways.”
    “We are the Throwaways,” the boy said.
    I shook my head. “They say that a lot.”
    “What do they want?”
    “For us to surrender,” Lou said.
    Wes raised an eyebrow. “How many of them are there?”
    “Best as I can tell,” I said, “five, maybe a couple more.”
    Ajax hoot-growled and pounded his chest. Ariabod snorted like a bull.
    “Hold on,” I said. “I’m pretty sure they’re harmless.”
    “Pretty sure ain’t good enough,” Wes said. “Lou, get inside and have Gordy, April, Kimball, and Tyrone sneak out the back and circle around behind these jokers.”
    “Whoa,” I said. “I think we should just calm down. Let me talk to them.”
    “This world ain’t really built for talking your way out of trouble,” Wes said.
    “Give me five minutes,” I said. “Let me go out there and see if I can’t talk some sense into them.”
    Wes thought over my request and then nodded. “Fine, but you’re taking Ajax with you.”
    I winked at my old gorilla friend. “I wouldn’t have it any other