by Snell, D. L.
“Todo esta tranquilo,” he said to her. Then to Ken, “We’ve been taking turns looking for you. We got a couple of people here; they haven’t been bitten or anything. Just one of the covered walkways collapsed and knocked them out.”
Ken nodded. “All right. Let’s get to the pier. Mac told me how to operate the boat. Let’s get the hell out of here.”
Jorge shrugged. “You sure about that? Seems to me an island is a nice enough place to call home. You know, as long as we get rid of the zombies and clean up the place. They got power here. Facilities. Hell, they even got a radio. Maybe we could figure out what things are like down in Mexico.”
“Yeah, okay, but either way, we should try to gather whoever we can and...”
“And what?”
Ken smiled, a lopsided affair. “You know what? I think I’m done calling the shots for now.” He tilted his head at Jorge. “What do you want to do?”
Jorge put his hand out, clasping Ken’s shoulder. He looked his friend in the eyes and all the levity went out of his face. His breathing came slower, and his jaw set with determination.
“I want, with all my heart, to drink a beer.”
Ken burst out laughing, leaning over and falling against the wall.
Jorge said, “What?” Then he was laughing, too.
“All right,” Ken said, wiping the tears from his eyes. He put his hand out. “All right, muchacho. Let’s go find ourselves some brew. But then we’re going to talk about finding your kids.”
“Okay,” Jorge said, grabbing the offered handshake. “Just one condition.”
“What’s that?” Ken asked.
“I’m driving.”
AUTHORS
THOM BRANNAN (est. 1976) has been a submariner, a nuclear operator, an electrician and now works on an offshore drilling platform. He lives in or around Austin, Texas, with his lovely wife, Kitty, a boy, a girl, a cat and a dog.
D.L. SNELL is an acclaimed novelist from the Pacific Northwest. Anthologies include Pocket Books’ Blood Lite series, edited by best-selling author Kevin J. Anderson. Snell’s first novel, Roses of Blood on Barbwire Vines, also attained critical acclaim from popular novelists such as New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Maberry. Visit his website at dlsnell.com.