Indestructible: V Plague Book 7 Read Online Free PDF Page A

was growing uncomfortable, but I wasn’t going to break it.  I’ve played
the game before and knew the rules.  The next one to speak would be
compromising some of his position.
    “The only group to come through in the past two days was a
bunch of infected women.”  He finally said.
    “When?  Going east or west?”  I asked.
    “West, around midnight yesterday, then back east an hour
after sunrise this morning.”  He answered after a very long pause.  “They were
carrying two on their way east.” 
    “Did you see a German Shepherd?”  I asked, feeling the
stirrings of hope.
    What I didn’t voice was a question of why he hadn’t tried to
stop them.  The Osage were fierce warriors, one of the most feared Indian
nations at one time, and he didn’t look that far removed from his heritage. 
Then the answer hit me.  He was alone out here and was either out of ammo or
was so low that he couldn’t engage the group.
    He looked at me, maybe finally believing my story.  “Yes, I
did.  But he wasn’t really with them.  More like he was trailing them, then
he’d race ahead for a bit before circling back to trail them again.  Kind of
strange.”
    “That’s them,” I said.  “The ones being carried and the dog
belong with me.  We got separated after the crash.”
    “You don’t want to be messing with them,” he said.
    “Yes, I do.  And I am.  They have my friends, and my wife.” 

6
     
    He stood looking at me, either trying to figure out if I was
seriously deranged or tilting at windmills.  The inscrutable act was wearing
thin and the longer I stood here wasting time with him, the farther away the
group moved.
    “Look,” I said in a calm voice.  “I’m not turning around. 
I’m going after them.  If that means crossing your land and we’ve got a problem
because of that, well… we’d better settle it now because you’re wasting my
time.”
    I moved my right hand and placed it on the butt of my
pistol.  Yes, I was still dizzy, but my vision was improving and instead of
seeing two of him I was only seeing one and a half.  Kind of like he had an
identical twin that was standing partially in front of him.  If I had to shoot,
I’d go for center mass, but I didn’t think I’d have to shoot.  Hoped I didn’t
have to shoot.
    “That way,” he finally said, carefully taking a hand off his
rifle and pointing in a direction slightly north of due east.
    I nodded, very gently, and began to move around him.  I
wasn’t thrilled with the thought of turning my back on his rifle and
sidestepped a few yards down the row I was standing in.  Still angled so I
could see him, I started striding across the rows, stopping after the third
one.  I turned back to see him watching me, rifle now hanging down his side on
a sling.
    “Here,” I said, pulling two loaded magazines out of my
vest.  “You’re probably going to need these.”
    I held the mags up and the surprise on his face was
evident.  I’d finally gotten something out of him other than a blank stare.
    “Take them,” I said, extending my arm and shaking them in
the air.  “I know you’re either out or very low on ammo.”
    He had recovered from his surprise and pasted the blank look
on his face again.  With a sigh of frustration I dropped them on the ground. 
    “Suit yourself.  I’m out of here.”  I said, turning my back
on him and resuming my direction of travel.
    I can say that for the first couple of hundred yards there
was a spot in the middle of my back that itched and twitched, waiting for a
bullet.  But the farther I walked, the more confident I was that I hadn’t
misread the man.  If he’d really wanted to kill me he could have done so when
he first walked up while I was standing there with my eyes closed.  He hadn’t
then, and other than a few insults I hadn’t given him a reason to do so now.
    Not bothering to look back and see if he picked up the
magazines, I pushed on.  Several hundred yards later I