This Would Be Paradise (Book 3)

Chapter 20

Rose and Leo had agreed to keep an eye on Lucas while everyone else prepared to evacuate Hargrove. The remaining two trucks were loaded with whatever supplies we could scrounge up. It was decided that kids and the injured would ride inside the cabs while the rest would get to ride in the beds. It was going to be majorly squished.

Colin made a fuss when I told him he would be riding inside the cab as well. I grabbed his arm and steered him off to the side out of earshot.

"Before Oscar turned me over, he told me you were sick," I said quietly.

Colin's nostrils flared as he crossed his arms. "I don't know what you're talking about."

I sighed. I had a feeling it would go this way. Colin was too stubborn. "Look, I haven't told anyone else-that's up to you to do. All I'm saying is that it's not good for you to ride in the back of a truck all night. Your immune system already has enough to deal with," Colin opened his mouth but I held up a finger, "plus you're fifteen and technically still count as a kid and therefore, you ride in the cab. Suck it up."

I walked away from him before he could argue further. I would bind his arms and legs and toss him inside the truck if I had to.

The uninjured adults were armed and shooting at the infected still sneaking in while they loaded up the kids and wounded. The fire had crossed the street to the other condos, ensuring that we all had no choice but to leave. Crystal had to be practically torn from the medic center. She grabbed everything that hadn't been bolted down just before the fire took it over. My own condo had been long since burnt, taking everything of mine with it. All I had were the clothes on my back and my Beretta. Even my trusty axe was lost to the flames. I shouldn't complain, I was still alive after all. That was more than most people had. Most of Hargrove's population had been decimated. Even kids hadn't been spared. The mercenaries were a plague and whoever they didn't get, the infected tried to.

I triple-checked to make sure Chloe and Amanda-and Colin-were inside one of the truck cabs with Ethan. I had once told Roy that my babysitting days were over. Looks like he proved me wrong-I now had Amanda to look after. I rubbed at my eyes. We were all exhausted from the hellish night and it still wasn't over. We had no idea where we were going. Obviously we couldn't all just head to the mercenary compound right now.

We would need to find some place we could temporarily secure and unload everyone. Once we re-grouped, then the able and willing would come with us to the compound to find Zoe and as I suspected, exact revenge. Lucas wasn't the only one with a grudge.

John was currently talking with Henry over a spread out map on the hood of our escape vehicle. They were trying to find a muster point within driving distance that we could fortify for the night. We had extra canisters of gas, but if we had to keep driving around to find a place, they would soon be gone.

As I approached them, I aimed and shot my Beretta, taking out an infected that had made it through the others protecting the trucks. John turned to see the thing drop and turned back to give me a curt nod.

"We need to get out of here before we're overrun. Or use up all our ammo. Or we're burned alive. Take your pick," I said grumpily. This evacuation process was nowhere near as fast as it should have been.

As if to emphasize my words, one of the condos down the street exploded. We ducked as pieces of flaming boards and glass flew into the street. There were screams from the people around us even though it was a relatively small explosion and we were out of range.

"Must've hit the fertilizer and feed shed," Henry said.

John stabbed a finger at a spot on the map. "We're thinkin' we need to move away from the middle of the city for tonight. This is an industrial area so there should be less infected to worry about. The further we head east, the less city we'll touch."