Hero for Hire by Madigan Margaret

Author:Madigan, Margaret
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp.
Published: 2013-09-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 4

Twilight lengthened the shadows of trees, structures, and zombies, as I studied Building Twenty-One from the roof of Building Twenty-Three. Paragon Pharmaceuticals, the gargantuan drug company in Thousand Oaks, was a maze of over fifty concrete structures. Building Twenty-One seemed to be the center of activity for the entire complex. Unfortunately, it was also the place where Gwyn’s old lab was located. I’d spent the day studying all angles of Twenty-One from the rooftops of the surrounding structures.

I watched zombies shuffle around the courtyard in front of the building. Some climbed the steps, waiting patiently in line to be let inside. But in the three hours I’d been on the roof watching, no zombies ever came out. There was, however, a chimney through which issued a steady stream of brownish gray smoke. Maybe that was the only way zombies ever left the building.

“When are we going in?” Randy whispered.

Rufus and I both lowered our binoculars. We turned to Randy, who lay on his back using my backpack as a pillow.

“When I’m good and ready,” I answered.

Against my better judgment, I’d brought them both with me. I’d taken Rufus on plenty of other missions, so I knew despite being the youngest of the boys, he’d proven himself to be tough and resourceful. When Rufus had argued we should bring Randy along too, since Doc was on a mission to clear out Gwyn’s old place, I considered his request. Randy was the oldest of the boys, bigger than the rest and we might need the muscle. I wasn’t so sure Randy was ready for this kind of a mission, but I’d trained him the same as the rest, so we’d just have to see how he handled it.

“I think we should wait for full dark,” Rufus said. “Won’t make much difference to the zombies, but the humans inside might be asleep, at least.”

I patted his shoulder. “Good thinking, Rufus. We’ll go in a window in the west alley since the doors are too dangerous.”

* * * *

We ate granola bars and beef jerky for dinner, and rotated rounds of paper-scissor-rock to kill the time. At midnight, the majority of lights in Building Twenty-One finally went out, so we decided to make our move.

Hurrying down and out the back door of Building Twenty-Three, we took off jogging down the street. We ended up behind Building Twenty, which was next door to twenty-one.

“Why do they need so many fucking buildings just to make drugs?” Randy whispered. “My uncle used to do it in his garage.”

I grinned in the dark. I really liked Randy.

I gestured for the boys to follow as I hurried through the narrow alley. There were no zombies in the alleyway–they were all out front in the courtyard, or in the back, milling around the doors. I peered inside the first dark ground-level basement window letting my eyes adjust to the darkness of the room. It appeared to be empty, so I kicked at the glass, wincing at the noise it made when it shattered.

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