Plague Town: An Ashley Parker Novel by Dana Fredsti

Author:Dana Fredsti
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Fantasy, Horror, Fiction, General
ISBN: 9780857686350
Publisher: Titan Books Limited
Published: 2012-11-14T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

* * *

Lil managed to hold it together for another hour of cinematic games, but the minute we got back to our room she lost it.

Tears came out with loud, gut-wrenching sobs. She cried for so long and so hard, I thought she was going to make herself sick. I sat with her—handing her tissues as needed and pressing a cold washcloth to the back of her neck—until she had cried herself out.

This wasn’t the first time, but it was the worst I had seen her.

“I can’t do this, Ashley.” Lil looked at me, eyes puffy, reddened wells of pain. “All I can think about is my babies. They’re probably out of food and think I’ve abandoned them and—”

Tears started welling up again. I took the washcloth and gently blotted her face.

“Look,” I said, trying to sound matter-of-fact. “You told me before that you’d just bought a bag of food, right? Well, it would take them a while to go through that. And if your roommate left the toilet seat up, they’ve got water.”

“But what if some of those things got into the apartment?”

I thought about that.

“They’re cats. Cats are better than any other animal at running and hiding. Zombies are only so smart, right? So even if they did get in, the odds are your boys are fine.”

She wasn’t buying it.

“But sooner or later, they’re gonna run out of food.” She blew her nose again. I handed her a glass of water; she had to be dehydrated about now. “Ashley, all I can think about is them all alone and wondering where I went. I just can’t stand it.”

That’s it, I thought. And it all came together. What the hell.

“So let’s go get ’em.” I said. The words were out of my mouth before I knew it.

“But you heard Gabriel.” Lil said miserably. “If you want to live, don’t go back for the cat.”

Yeah, like that bastard’s gonna tell me what I should do. Not fucking likely. I hunkered down in front of her chair and took her hands in mine.

“You know what?” I said. “Fuck him. People risk their lives all the time to go after animals in burning houses, floods—all kinds of disasters. Because if they didn’t try, they’d never forgive themselves.

“If they don’t try, then it’s the kind of thing that’ll eat a person alive from the inside out.” I’m not sure who I was convincing—her or me. Not that it mattered.

Lil bit her lip.

“Do you really believe that?”

“I do.” And I really did, too. “I’m not gonna let that happen to you. So if you want to go after... Binkey and Noodle?”

“Doodle.”

God help me.

“If you want to go after Binkey and Doodle, I’m with you,” I said.

More than once now I’d seen her take glee in killing ghouls, reveling in the blood and gore. But for only the second time since I met her, Lil’s face brightened with something like genuine hope.

“Really?” she said.

I nodded.

“Yup. The rule should be, if you want to live with yourself, go back for the cat.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.