Life After The Undead (Book 1) (19 page)

CHAPTER
5

I
woke
up
every
morning
for the
next
two
years
and
went
to
classes.
After
that,
I
went
to
my
job.
I
didn’t
have
any
other
choice.
What
was
I
going
to
do?
This
was
my new
life.
The
new
normal.
On
the
day
of
my
seventeenth
birthday,
I
couldn
’t
do
it
anymore.
I
woke
up
and
felt a
pressure
on
my
chest,
and
every
time I
thought
about
going
to
class,
I
broke
out
into
a
sweat.
The
thought
of
scrubbing
another
toilet
made
me
nauseous.
I
was
tired
of
pretending everything was
fine.
I
wanted
out.
I
made
it
a
point
to
leave
my
room
before
Pearl
arrived
and
went
to
sit
by
the
lake.

The
sun
peeked
over
the
horizon,
and
I
inhaled
a
humid
breath.
By
that
point,
the
zombies
had
all
migrated west,
and
there
was
an
invisible
line,
starting
at
the
panhandle
of
Nebraska,
extending
north
to
Canada
and
south
to
the
Gulf
of
Mexico,
that
the
zombies
refused
to
cross.
There
had
been
plans
in the
works
for
several
months to
build
a
wall
to
keep
the
zombies
on
one
side while
the
humans
repopulated
the
nation
on
the
other.
It
was
assumed
that
if
given
enough
time,
the
zombies
would
decay
away
to nothing.

I put
in
my
earbuds
and
turned
up
the
volume.
White
Zomb
ie’s
More
Human
than
Human
thumped
in my
ears.
I sat
on
the
beach
and
threw
some
sand
into
the
water.
I
watched
the
ripples
for
a
second,
then
leaned
back
on
my
elbows.
What
was
I
going
to do?
I
may
have
been
tired
of
my
“life”
and
ready
to
escape,
but
it
wasn
’t
as if
there
were
that
many
options
available
to
me.
I
leaned
my
head
back
and
sighed.
A
shadow
crossed
my
face,
and
I
turned
to see an entourage of soldiers heading into the hotel.

The man at the front was bald with a pock-marked
face
and
tattoos
of
pin-up
girls
on
his
forearms. His
sleeves
were
rolled up
to
his
elbows,
making
them
prominent.
He
glanced
down
at
me, smiling.
I stared
at
him
and
the
group
until
they
disappeared
inside,
then
I
jumped
up
and
followed
them.
The
hotel
buzzed
with
rumors
for
days
that
an
elite
group
of
soldiers
was
going
to be
visiting.
They
had
supposedly
been
hand
picked
by
Mrs.
Johnson
to
oversee
the
construction
of
the
wall.
I
didn
’t
believe
it,
of
course,
because
rumors
like
that
floated
around
for
weeks
and
nothing
ever
happened, but
my
interest
was
piqued
with
the
new group.
I
could
only
hope
the
rumors
were
true.

I
lagged
behind
and
stayed
out
of
sight
until
the
elevator
doors
closed.
I
watched
the
lights
to
see
what
floor
they
were
heading
to.
They
stopped
in
the
penthouse.
I
was
curious
but
not
stupid. If
I
went
upstairs,
I
’d
have
to
wait
on
them. If
they
turned
out
to
be
plain
soldiers
who
weren
’t
tasked
with
building
the
wall,
I
’d
be
pissed.
I
decided
to
play
it
safe.
My
plan
was
to
head
back
outside
when
someone
grabbed
my
arm.

“There
you
are.”
Pearl
pulled
out
my
earbud
and
hissed
in
my
ear.
“They
have
been
looking
for
you
all
morning.”

“No.”
I
groaned.
“I
don
’t
want
to
go
up
there.”

Pearl
directed
me
toward
the
elevators.
“They
said
they
have
something
important
to
tell you.”

Another
new
development.
My
curiosity
went
up
another
level.
“What?”

“I
don’t
know.”

The
elevator
doors
closed,
and
I
turned
off
my
iPod.
“Who
are
those
people
who
just
came
up
here?”

“They
’r
e
the
soldiers
in
charge
of
the
wall.”

I raised
my
eyebrows.
I
was
right
to
hope.
“So
they
are
going
to
build
one.
Who’s
the
guy
with the
tattoos?”

Pearl
stared
at
me
for
a
moment.
“Tha
t’s
Liet.
He’s
been
promoted
to
general.
You
don
’t
want
anything
to
do
with
him.”

I
shrugged
and
turned
my
music
back
on.

Normally,
Pearl
would
have
been
right. Most
of
the
soldiers
in
Florida
weren
’t
very
nice
to
be
around. They
had
attitudes
, thinking
they
were
untouchable
and
could
do
anything
they
wanted.
Some
even
stole
things
from
the
local
markets
because
they
knew
no
one
would
do
anything.
Not
all
of
them
were
bad,
but
the
vast
majority
of
them
were.
I
had
a
different
feeling
about
Liet
and
his soldiers,
though.
I
mean,
they
were
going
to build
the
wall.
They
were
going
to
make
it
possible
for
life
to
go
on.
They
thought
of
the
greater
good.
That
meant
they
were
the
good
guys.