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"Yeah"

"And you said nothing?" Her voice rises "You let the a word?"

"I’ you now"

"You bitch!" she shrieks "That’s the first thing you should have - "

"I’onna tell hireed to do whatever they ask Then we’re gonna go tear some zombies to shreds and you’ll hack them up, burn them, slice them into little pieces, and that will be that"

"No," I whisper "They’re people I won’t do it"

"You bloody ill," Rage snarls, stoe, hands by my sides I don’t flinch when he ly in front of e hts, taken s I took them at home too - my dad was handy with his fists, knocked me and Mum around all the tiers, rip ive in"

"I’ll kill you," Rage croaks

"Maybe," I concede "I’ll fight back, and I think Josh will stop you before it gets that far, but if you’re tough enough and fast enough, maybe you can finish me off before they intervene"

"Do it," Danny says flatly, stepping up beside Rage "I’ll help"

"Me too," Gokhan growls

"What about the rest of you?" Rage barks

"I dunno," Peder says, looking worried "She’s not like the other zombies that we kill She’s one of us"

"But she won’t be if they don’t feed her," Cathy says, then frowns "How long before we change?" she asks me

"No one can lastfed, so a few days at most"

Cathy’s face hardens "Kill her If she’s going to revert anye should off her while we can Othere’ll all turn into reviveds"

"No," Mark ht It’s e says heavily

Tiberius pushes past Rage and glares at me I wait for him to conde bizarre "I was named after Captain Kirk in Star Trek"

Everyone stares

"I tell people I was named after the river in Rome, but really it was after Kirk His full name was James Tiberius Kirk My mum and dad loved Star Trek Theyup Except they didn’t have to make me - I loved it as oing somewhere, or have you lost your marbles?" Danny huffs

"Kirk always stood up for the underdog," Tiberius says "Every week, him and his crew risked their lives to save others They killed the bad guys when they had to, but they never killed innocents, not even to save themselves"

"That was just a TV show," Cathy jeers

Tiberius nods "I know But it was right I watched Kirk, Bones and the rest of the I was sure I’d do the sa in their position I used to hope that one day soerous would happen to me, so that I could prove how brave and loyal and human I was

"Reviveds are different," Tiberius says, facing Rage "I don’t think Kirk would have fought for a load of ht - B’s one of us If we kill her, we really will be monsters And I’ht with her if I have to, die with her if it coaze, deliberating The others await his verdict Finally he grunts and looks aside

"We’ll think it through some more," he mutters "I’ll have a chat with Reilly, see if there’s another way to sort this out But if there isn’t well, we’ll discuss that toe returns to his couch and the others disperse, shootingTiberius is stiff as athe word isn’t enough

"Screw you," Tiberius says "You’re crazy,a stand like this Go away and have a rethink, then start cutting up zombies like you’re told Because if you don’t, I doubt I can save you next tilances at me and I’ve never seen such an expression before, torn between pride and self-loathing "I don’t even know if I’ll try"

Then he stor ainst all the odds, they didn’t kill me I’