Age of Z: A Tale of Survival Read Online Free PDF Page B

scent or something while she was down here–so leaving would be risky and tricky. But she also wanted out . Now that she had LS in tow it was imperative she get him to safety as fast as she could, and beyond that , she wouldn't be finding her family at all if she spent all her time messing around down here.
     
    So she led LS up the stairs to sub-level one, giving her new companion a few quick warnings as she did so.
     
    “Okay. So. The surface is probably not going to be what you're expecting, there's a few things you need to know before we even get up there. For starters, we need to be as quiet as possible. Far as anybody can tell zombies hunt primarily through sound–if they start moaning it'll just attract more. Nobody wants more zombies. So we stay quiet and move fast. If we do see any, run in the other direction, and keep your distance from them. They're pretty slow, but the moaning will attract the ones in front of you, too.”
     
    LS frowned. “I don't like the thought of running away from a fight.”
     
    “It's not a fight,” Alexa told him, with one part practicality and one part exasperation. “It's a massacre. If it makes you feel better, don't think of it as running away–think of it as attacking in the opposite direction.”
     
    It didn't look like the thought made LS feel any better.
     
    Alexa grit her teeth and resolved to keep an eye on her new traveling companion. A very careful eye.
     
    He'd clearly been designed as a weapon and his heritage was obviously buried deeply in the age of warfare, but this wasn't the time for that anymore. Heroics were suicide, end of story. Alexa wasn't going to let LS get killed only a day after he'd effectively been born.
     
    They reached sub-level one, and Alexa approached the hole she'd expanded on yesterday with crowbar raised, wary. LS watched her curiously, but said nothing. The hole looked untouched, there were no moving bodies, and Alexa didn't hear any shuffling from above, so she figured it'd be fine.
     
    She grabbed the rope still hanging down through the hole, started to haul herself up and was mildly surprised when LS hesitated before reaching up to give her a boost and ease her climb. The clone tossed the backpacks and crowbar up after her, and then eyed the hole critically. “I don't think I'm going to fit through that.”
     
    “Uh... yeah, I guess I'm a lot skinnier than you are,” Alexa called down to him softly. Because not all of us can come out of pods absolutely ripped. Some of us have to work for our muscles. “I can try to widen the hole with my crowbar like I did yesterday–”
     
    “Don't bother.” LS eyed the hole and crouched. Alexa realized what he was about to do just in time, and backpedaled away from the hole as the clone smashed through the weakened floor with a resounding crunch , scattering dust and stone shards everywhere. He landed on his feet next to one of the giant pillars in the first level's interior, and smirked, brushing dust off his shoulders. “Knew I could do it.”
     
    “Did you not hear what I said about being quiet?” Alexa hissed at him. “Okay, we're moving, now. If there are any zoms in the area they will be zeroing in on that racket you just made, and we don't want to be here when they find it.”
     
    She threw her pack on, clenched her crowbar tightly in both hands, and gestured for LS to follow. The clone retrieved his own pack easily and did so, not looking particularly concerned, and moved Alexa's door-blocks aside with the ease of a kid playing with legos.
     
    His expression changed remarkably, though, once Alexa levered the door open again and tentatively stepped outside. It only took a few seconds for Alexa to scan the area and reassure herself that her bike was still intact, but in that short span of time LS's face had shifted from bland indifference to the same shell-shocked look he'd had when he first came out of his pod last night.
     
    The clone took in the sights–the dirty, broken