100 Days in Deadland (Deadland Saga, #1)(94)

As we passed Doyle’s abandoned camp, I was surprised to find relatively few zeds in the area. I was even more surprised to find the gate closed. “I thought Lendt’s guys had blown open the gate,” I said.

Jase shrugged, not taking his gaze off Eddy sitting across from him. “Guess not.”

The thought nagged at me until we reached Camp Fox. The gate stood wide open from when the base was evacuated, and several zeds wandered around near the guard box. Griz ran over three on his way through.

The HEMTT drove slowly down the road, swerving around bodies, and came to a stop a couple hundred meters inside. We couldn’t risk going too deep into the Camp where the risk of being overtaken by zeds was too high. Even here, I could make out over twenty stragglers wandering around the open grass area.

I stood. “This is it.”

Both Eddy and Smitty looked scared shitless, though Smitty also looked pissed off as though he thought he should be exempt from punishment.

Jase grabbed Eddy’s arm and forced him to stand while Tack and I dragged Smitty to his feet.

Eddy looked across our faces with wide eyes as though one of us could pardon him. He watched me and paled. Then I realized he was looking past me. “Mom?”

Eddy tried to lunge forward, but Jase held him back. “Mom!”

About thirty meters away, a female zed with the same hair color as Eddy cocked its head and sniffed the air. Then it started to shuffle toward the truck.

“Mom.” His lips trembled and tears fell down his face. “I’m so sorry.”

The breath hardened in my lungs. Of all the shitty, rotten luck.

Tyler climbed up. “It’s time. Eddy, you’re up.”

Eddy bit back a sob. “But my mom’s out there.”

Compassion flashed in Tyler’s eyes. He opened his mouth to speak but clamped it shut. After a moment he nodded to Jase.

With a clenched jaw, Jase nudged Eddy to the edge and cut his wrist restraints. I half expected Jase to shove his friend off the truck as payback for Mutt’s death, but instead he lowered Eddy gently to the ground.

Eddy stood there for a moment before looking up. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”

“I know,” Tyler said quietly.

Eddy’s feet looked like they’d been tied to sandbags with the way he trudged away from the truck and straight toward his mother. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

The zed held its arms out and pulled Eddy into an embrace that almost seemed motherly. Until it lowered its mouth, jaws wide open, and clamped onto his throat. Eddy screamed and fell back, taking the zed with him.

Smitty jerked, and I tightened my grip. “You did this. Watch,” I ordered, though it was taking all my strength to watch the execution play out. If I was here alone, I would’ve put a bullet through Eddy’s skull to end his pain, but Tyler had been adamant about setting an example of what happened to traitors. There simply weren’t enough of us left. We had to be able to depend on each other with our lives, or else we were all doomed.

Tyler had declared that Eddy’s death would be first so that Smitty would have to watch what was about to happen to him. Everyone knew that Smitty had coerced the weaker boy to help. Eddy had simply been an unfortunate lackey, and I even found myself feeling sorry for the kid.

Smitty was the real traitor.

Eddy’s screams turned into a gurgle before quieting. He spasmed as a nearby zed joined in on his shoulder.

On the HEMTT, Jase reached under the seat and pulled out one of the long wooden spears the survivors had been making from the park’s trees. Camp Fox hadn’t had much ammunition before the outbreak. Now, their ammo supply was dangerously low and would likely run out by fall. We were forced to find new weapons. Jase walked to the side and skewered a zed that had been trying to climb onto the truck.

Eddy had quit moving, and I let out a breath. His suffering was thankfully over.

The zeds stepped back. They didn’t like the taste of their own.

It wouldn’t take long now.

The smell of urine snagged me, and I looked down to find that Smitty had pissed himself. Not that I could blame him. Death by zeds wasn’t an easy way to go, but it was easier than he deserved.

The two zeds drenched in Eddy’s blood sniffed at the air and turned toward the HEMTT. At least a dozen zeds were already on the way from every direction. Jase killed another that had reached the truck.

Eddy’s foot jerked.

Smitty tensed. “Don’t do this. Please.”

The two zeds reached the truck. Jase impaled the first, a male. He paused before killing what had been Eddy’s mother. He inhaled. Then thrust.

What had been Eddy climbed to its feet. Blood was already congealing and browning around its throat and shoulder. It turned to the HEMTT and started jogging toward us.

Tyler turned. “Now.”

We shoved Smitty off, and he collapsed, with his wrists still restrained, onto the ground ten feet below. He hopped up and started to run.

Tyler raised his pistol and shot the man in the leg.

Smitty grunted and fell onto his knee.

I reached down for a spear and killed an older zed bumping up against the back of the HEMTT.

Smitty tried to get back to his feet, but Eddy came up from behind and clamped onto his head. Smitty cried out and tried to shake Eddy off, but the zed held on, biting his scalp over and over. Smitty fell forward, screaming, twisting back and forth, but fresh zeds were strong, and Eddy hadn’t been badly injured before he turned. The zed pinned the man and tore at his face. Smitty’s high-pitched screams drew the attention of zeds that had been heading toward the truck.