Read Thirteen Roses Book Five: Home: A Paranormal Zombie Saga for Free Online Page B

window and spotted Krystal coming back towards her. She was moving slow and weaving carefully. The zombies she could see through the rain seemed unphased by the downpour, trudging unhurriedly along. A few had spotted the spinning van and watched it as they might a game of football.  
    The truck stopped, lurching as the tires gripped the road. She clung to the wheel, waiting for it to roll over. Then the wheels slammed back to the wet tarmac.  
    She was safe. She wasn’t safe, but she was alive. And the engine was still running. She lifted her hands from the wheel and stared at them while they shook.  
    She would wait a minute. Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she screamed and jumped. The seat belt kept her firmly in her seat and she groaned as she dug for her phone.  
    ‘Yes?’
    ‘Where are you?’ It was Alex.
    ‘Coming. Just having a bit of trouble. Everything alright?’
    ‘Do you have a bus?’
    ‘Something better.’
    ‘Okay, get here right now.’
    ‘What’s wrong, what’s happened?’
    ‘The devices have run out. We have to leave now.’  

Alex

    He hit the end button and slid the phone back into his pocket. Luke was still on his knees beside Sophie. He wasn’t crying, just staring at the body. The zombie, minus its head, lay beside her. Either he hadn’t heard Alex make the call, or he didn’t care, because he was making no effort to get up.  
    Alex didn’t want to be the one to tell him to get up. He didn’t want to go anywhere near the body. And he definitely didn’t want to check whether she was dead and have to do what was necessary if she wasn’t.  
    So instead he went the other way into the main room. There were five entrances to the sodding place and he went to each, locking them where possible and ordering the ladies to block them where it wasn’t.  
    He received questions at every door and each time shook his head and snapped at them to get on with it. There were only a handful of ladies in here. The rest were sleeping, unguarded and vulnerable. He shivered and ignored the sweat that sprung up beneath his arms.  
    He raced out of the room and started banging on doors, shouting at them to wake. At any other time he’d have loved what happened next. One by one the doors opened to reveal attractive young women in next to nothing staring at him with sleep-lazy eyes. This time, though, all he could see was Sophie as her throat got torn out.  
    ‘Get up, get into the main room. Do it now, stay together.’
    He didn’t add for them to pack. There was no packing, not now. Now it was run as fast as you can, and we’ll find clothes later. The entire circuit took all of three minutes before he was back at their private room. Ed stood at the door, eyes fixed on Luke. When Alex stopped beside him, the boy raised his eyebrows.  
    ‘Were they together?’ Ed asked.  
    ‘I don’t know. I need to talk to him.’
    Ed said nothing and Alex sighed. If Bayleigh was here, she’d do it, but she’d sounded like she had other things to think about. He didn’t know, in truth, whether the devices had run out, but couldn’t think of a more likely reason for a zombie to be inside the field.  
    That gave him an excuse to avoid the talk with Luke for another minute or two. He wound his way through as the ladies wandered to the main room. Some still wore their night dresses and he sent them back to get dressed.  
    He found the first device. It was silent, the lights dead. The second was the same. Out of juice. They’d talked yesterday about heading down the tunnel and filling them, but somehow it got lost between the searches for Dave and the bus. And the truth was, none of them wanted to go back to St Paul’s. The chance of being captured and not returning was far too great.
    He shoved the devices deep in his pocket and headed back. Luke hadn’t moved. Alex let out a long breath. He knelt beside Luke and lifted her wrist. She was cold.  
    ‘Is she?’
    Luke turned his head like it was