Read Trepidation for Free Online

me two blocks away.
    When we turned down another street, I could hear a woman screaming.
    Claire ! A wave of terror washed over me. I bolted through an unkempt yard, to the back. Taking the stairs two at a time, I raced to the top of the slippery deck.
    Zombies surrounded the frozen pool, but the ice had broken, and Claire had fallen in. She was pale, almost a shade of blue, flailing around in the ice-cold water as the undead walked precariously around her, reaching for her and snapping their jaws. Some had already fallen through and were floating beneath the thin layer of ice. Like some kind of grim scene from a nightmarish shark movie, one latched onto her leg and bit down, and Claire screamed in agony. She grabbed a long, thick piece of ice and impaled its rotting, decaying head.
    I glanced around for anything I could use as a suitable weapon, but all I found was a leaf skimmer. I grabbed the pole and rammed it through a stick-thin zombie who was dressed, quite fittingly, in a pink bathing suit. A few of the other zombies sensed fresh meat and began to head toward me. I took out a biter in a blue and white, dirty jogging outfit and thrust the pole through another that was missing its lower jaw, causing black-red blood to ooze out onto the snow-covered deck.
    Much to my surprise, Z and his men began firing at the zombies.
    Claire tried to climb out of the frozen pool, but slipped back down. Her lips were chapped and looked as if she’d been eating a bowl of blueberries. Clearly, she was very weak and probably in shock, and she needed to get out of that water and under some blankets before she suffered from hypothermia.
    I ran over and pulled her out. “C’mon, Claire!”
    “Dean...” she whispered, her lips trembling. “I-I...”
    I cupped her face. “It’s okay. Everything’s gonna be okay.”
    One of Z’s men laughed. “Liar. She’s far from okay. She’s been bitten. It’d be best for both of y’all if you’d just let me put a bullet in the pretty little popsicle’s head.”
    One of the other men held up a gun and pointed it at her. I recognized him as one of the men I’d laughed and joked with on the way to help Z get oil at the warehouse.
    “No!” I wailed. “Don’t!”
    “You know what will happen to her,” he said. “She’s zombie bait now!”

Chapter 6
    I jumped in front of Claire, trying to shield her from their impending gunshots, as if they’d have any problem shooting both of us. “Please don’t do this!”
    “Well, Z? You want me to shoot him or what?” the man asked.
    “Nah, let him take the girl home to die. Let her friends and loved ones watch her turn into one of the infected. I want them to know that if they cross paths with me, this is only the beginning of what I’ll do to them.”
    Claire’s eyes fluttered back, and I knew time was running out. “I need to go,” I said.
    “Pssh. There’s no point in rushing. She’ll never make it back alive,” one of the others said.
    “She will if you’ll drive me,” I said. “If you get us there, both of us alive, I’ll deliver your message.”
    Z shook his head, then pointed his gun at me. “Not gonna happen, Dean. But I’ll tell you what. I’ll give you ten seconds to get outta my sight before I shoot you. I suggest you go now. Ten...nine...eight...”
    I knew he meant every word, and his eyes were colder than I’d ever seen them before. I picked Claire up and climbed down the stairs while he continued to count. I raced through the brown vegetation and cut through another yard, then bolted left. Breathing hard, I kept going until I was sure I was far enough away. I zigzagged in several different directions, but I was worried about my footprints in the snow giving me away, so I created a false trail by circling back to my original path, then retraced my own steps.
    When I was sure they weren’t following me, I looked for a safe place where I could put Claire down while I hunted for a house with a fireplace. I knew if I