ZOMB-POCALYPSE BOOK 2

Chapter Seventeen

"Hank?" Silas asks apprehensively, and the man on the floor nods his head weakly.

"Do you know where we can find some keys?" I ask. I see Silas shaking his head out of the corner of my eye, and I ignore him. Hank looks up and points towards the zombie cop we'd taken out earlier.

"Guard," he manages to get out around a throat that sounds like he's spent the last two weeks chewing up and swallowing gravel.

Silas mutters something illegible and stalks towards the downed zombie. I watch him as he starts rooting through the zombie's pockets with a disgusted sound, and thankfully he finds the keys pretty quickly. They are covered in some gelatinous zombie goop, and I have to suppress a shiver—poor Silas.

"Natalie sent us," I say, kneeling down so I can look the man in the eyes, and they immediately start to water with tears. "She's okay," I say awkwardly, having absolutely no experience in these type of situations to fall back on.

"I'm going to let you out, but if you try anything, I'll shoot you," Silas tells him, not messing around. "Do you understand?" he demands, not moving an inch towards the cell door until he gets an answer.

I see Hank's eyes widen in shock and am hit with the realization that he's been locked in this cell for the last two weeks. He might not have that much of an idea about what's going on. I glance at the snarling corpse in the cell beside him and wince, then again, maybe he has some idea.

Hank nods his head and pulls himself slowly to his feet as Silas quickly opens the door and steps back. He doesn't offer to help the man. I almost offer but then see the smear of blood mixed in with the wild tangle of his beard, and I step back behind Silas. I'm still not exactly sure what's going on with this guy, and the word of a pregnant chick we only met three hours ago is definitely not enough.

Silas looks at me, and I give him an exaggerated eye bulge and eyebrow wiggle, trying to point out the blood. Silas scrunches his nose up at me in confusion and looks back to Hank. Hank's got himself up and is clinging to the bars for support.

"Help," Hank rattles out between gasps.

Without thinking, I move forward, but Silas pushes me behind him and strides forward instead. I watch as he hesitates, trying to find a spot on his orange jumpsuit that isn't covered in blood and other equally distasteful things; he finally settles on gripping the other man's wrist.

Hank tries to lace his arm around Silas's shoulder, but Silas ducks away. "Sorry man, but you've got to take that suit off," Silas demands, and my mouth opens to gape at them both. "Blondie, don't look," Silas instructs me, and I immediately turn away without any argument. I might be a worldly zombie slayer now, but I've actually never seen a naked man before.

"I'm sure there is something around here to change into," Silas mutters. I hear the faint rustle of clothing and feel a blush creep up into my face. Okay, let's get out of this nasty cell block." Silas says, and I glance at the bodies of the other men curled up in their cells.

"Are you sure that they're...not alive?" I ask in trepidation. I'd hate to leave anyone trapped inside a metal cage to die slowly.

"All dead," Hank's gravelly voice answers me, instead of Silas, and I almost turn around until I remember that Hank is now naked.

"You take the lead, Jane," Silas commands.

I nod and start heading for the door.

"Be careful, you never know what might be on the other side of that door," Silas adds, his words making my blood run cold. I already knew to be careful, but Silas really has a way with words.