Isolation , Jones, Nathan [top 20 books to read TXT] 📗

you want to just run away with your tail between your legs and let them win?”

After a second or two of thoughtful silence, Mitch shrugged. “You know what? Sure. I'm sick of this. I just want to stop. And from what we've heard from Stanberry, they'll be happy to drop this fight if we just walk away.”

Larry was further surprised to hear almost everyone in camp raise their voices in agreement, even the fighters who'd just come with Jay. Including some of those who just yesterday had been gleefully smashing up an innocent family's house.

It looked as if spreading Zolos to the camp really seemed to have shaken everyone.

Jay looked around, eyes almost wild with disbelief and outrage. “Seriously? You all want to turn tail? What about the people we recruited, you just want to abandon them?”

“Bring them home with us,” Larry said, starting back to the fire. He couldn't quite believe he'd finally gotten through to his friends, but that didn't mean he wasn't relieved. He raised his voice. “Because we have homes. Homes that are mostly untouched, waiting for us to go back and start to rebuild our lives. So what are we doing wasting our time out here, over a half hour away from them? What are we even accomplishing?”

“What are-” Jay started to shout, but he was drowned out by a roar of approval from the crowd around them. He looked around in helpless fury; his face darkened, and even his bald head visibly reddened at the strength of his emotion.

Larry hated to undermine his friend and bring him to this point, but it had to be done. So he raised his hands as well as his voice and kept going. “Come on, guys. Let's pack up and go home.”

There were more cheers, and to his relief Jay's shoulders finally slumped in defeat and he raised his own hands for quiet. “I only agreed to take charge because you all asked me to,” he said sullenly. “So if this is what you want, this is what we'll do. But you're fools if you think this will be over if we just leave. So if you don't mind I'm going to keep planning and preparing, just in case.”

Larry would've preferred that his friend drop this obsession with Stanberry, for his own sake. But he supposed it was probably a good idea to not let down their guard until they were sure the trouble was over.

“Fair enough,” he said, motioning towards the camp. “Come on, let's get out of here.”

Chapter Three

Return Fire

By full dark there were a dozen new Zolos cases in camp, and close to a hundred frightened people huddling in isolation, waiting to see if they'd join that number.

Chet had joined Aimee, Ben, and Val in helping Betty Griegs to care for the newly infected, as well as preparing the survivors' camp for an influx of new patients. The poor nurse-turned-camp medical administrator was running herself ragged doing what she could, even though plenty of people had offered a helping hand.

There were just some things that only trained medical professionals could do, and they didn't have enough of those. Not to mention a severe lack of medical supplies, even though Chet and the other scavengers had done their best to find what they could for her.

Back when they'd been able to scavenge.

Also, with the possibility of Jay counterattacking after the ambush, most of the Zolos survivors who weren't helping with the outbreak were on patrol or sentry duty. Chet would've preferred to be out there with them, but when Aimee had asked him for help he couldn't refuse her.

Particularly since most of those currently providing care to the sick were people still recovering from the virus themselves, and a lot of tasks required helpers strong enough to lift and carry people. They needed Chet, Ben, and Val as much here in camp as out there patrolling.

Also, some guilty part of him felt like he needed to be with the woman he loved, considering he was about to completely ignore her advice.

Aimee had wanted him to focus on what was important, on their loved ones and rebuilding their lives. But he had to think that considering everything that had happened today, she'd understand that he had good reasons for what he was planning tonight.

She hadn't specifically said so, sure. But when they'd discussed the failed ambush and the Zolos outbreak while helping the sick, she'd certainly seemed to agree that they needed to do something about Jay.

Something besides just sitting around waiting for the bald maniac's next attack, hoping they were ready to stop him from killing innocent people. Like he'd outright said he planned to. Like he had done, exposing innocents in the main camp who weren't even from Stanberry to Zolos!

After everything everyone had suffered during this pandemic, that Jay would deliberately-

Chet saw red for a moment, blurring his view of the road ahead. What little he could see of it with his headlights off, of course. He took a ragged breath and forced himself to calm down, before he crashed his truck trying to sneak away from Stanberry in the dark.

“You good, big bro?” Ben asked.

“Fine,” he said as coolly as he could. “Just keep doing your thing.”

His brother nodded and rolled down his window, squinting into the darkness ahead. Not just to spot obstacles in the road that Chet might miss, but for signs of enemy patrols or ambushes.

It wasn't just a guess that Jay and his goons were lurking around Stanberry ready to ambush anyone trying to get out. Chet and Ben and the others might have taken out six of their vehicles, but no doubt they already had new ones.

To say nothing of all the silhouettes he'd seen on distant hilltops that quickly ducked out of view, flashes of sunlight in the distance off binocular lenses or metal gear, things like that. Jay's people weren't just patrolling but also setting out scouts and sentries.

With all that in mind, in