Page 11 (1/2)

In zo me the cold shoulder because of what I did to Cathy I’ve tried apologizing but the snooty cow just ignores me Sod her, the rest of them too I don’t care Real loneliness is when your dad beats up yourto her weep in the rooainst you A bunch of petty zo me the evils? Doesn’t bother me in the least

The door opens and Reilly enters, Josh Massoglia just behind hiae bellows, rallying the others and shooing them towards the door I haven’t seen them this excited before

"What about me?" Mark cries "Can I coave you the once-over a few days ago e had you in for a checkup The burns are still really bad It’s best you sit out this one"

"Don’t worry, Wore chuckles "We’ll tell you all about it e come home"

Mark looks crestfallen If he could cry, he’d be blinking back tears

As the others gather by the door, Josh looks over at onna sit there or do you want in on this too?"

"I’ht be a trap

"Of course," Josh says "Why wouldn’t you be?" He raises an eyebrow at Rage "That’s not a problee smiles quickly "Not at all The more the merrier Come on, B, hurry up, you don’t want toluet stuffed, but I don’t want to , only line up with the rest of them and follow Josh and Reilly out of zom HQ and into the heart of the complex

Cathy cuddles up close to Josh as we’re walking - well, as close as he’ll let her, worried as he ht accidentally scratch hi death She makes cow eyes at hi out Give hs it off and pretends he doesn’t know that she’s got a crush on him

We come to a door that requires a security code as well as the usual finger and retinal scans Reilly opens it and we step into a room packed eapons of all description They’re locked away in padlocked, thick steel cages, and I don’t see any keys on either of the soldiers Doesn’t look like they want to take the chance of us going wild and getting our hands on a full arsenal

Some of the weapons have been laid on a table in the randly "Girls first"

I approach with Cathy and cast an eye over the loot Flae knives, axes and small chainsao of each

"Wow!" Cathy exclairab a chainsaw "These are new They’re awesome"

"Have you used a chainsaw before?" Josh asks

"No"

"You’d better be careful They’re nasty if you swing the way Maybe you should leave that to the boys"

"I’ll be fine," Cathy sh the air with the buzzing saw a couple of tis it by her side I hate to admit it, but she looks cool as hell

"Becky?" Josh asks

"I don’t know" I study the weapons glu like this before I’ I can’t use and end up looking like aMaybe I should have stayed in zom HQ with Mark

"We normally insist on pairs," Reilly explains "Now that Cathy’s chosen a chainsaw, somebody else has to choose one too Usually, if you picked a flae stepped up next and chose a knife, the final three would have to make their choice from those weapons, one each"

"But now there’s seven of you," Josh says "So there will have to be an odd one out Tell you what, since this is your first time, you can have dibs on the exclusive weapon So unless you fancy a chainsaw, pick from any of the others and we’ll remove that choice for the rest"

I walk around the table, studying the weapons I run a hand over a flamethrower and remember e’s eyes narrow - he wants a flamethrower - and I nearly pick it just to spite him But I don’t like fire

"I’ll take a spear," I decide, keeping it simple The others make their choices When we’re ready, we carry our weapons through to another roo up for us

The trousers feel strange as I tug them on I was never much into leather I owned a couple of jackets in ht on me, uncomfortable even with my less sensitive skin

"Are these really necessary?" I grumble