Only Love Survives (Love and Zombies) Read Online Free PDF

leader’s face. “I’m thinking you for a start. How committed to this path are you?”
    Sam held perfectly still, barely breathed and waited for an answer. God bless her, Megan followed his lead and stood still as a statue behind him.
    Ten seconds passed. Sam didn’t blink.
    Thirty seconds passed and he felt her start to tremble against his back.
    Sam would bet a good minute went by before the man in his sights finally spoke up.
    “I just need gas. We saw the sign and pulled off the highway for gas.” The man’s voice was nearly a plea.
    “What? No! You said—” The troublemaker started to throw a fit, and the leader in all his wisdom lifted a gun to the man himself, who stopped mid sentence and took a step back.
    “No electricity, no gas,” Sam interjected. The leader turned and looked at Sam for a second, then pointed his gun at the Suburban.
    “But you have gas.” It was a statement, not a question. Sam recognized this man wasn’t stupid. Pointing at Sam’s rig with the gun was not an accident, but a calculated threat. “Seems we have a stalemate. You have all the goodies, and we have the majority of the guns.”
    “Again, I ask how committed are you?” Sam stood his ground unflinching.
    “That depends on what exactly you are willing to share.” The man leaned his head to leer behind Sam at Megan.
    “Not that,” Sam ground out.
    “What then?”
    Sam leaned into the car and pulled out another gun.
    “Take this.” He flipped the safety off and handed a Browning, 9MM semi-automatic handgun to Megan. Then loud enough so everyone could hear he added, “Don’t squeeze the trigger unless you mean to kill someone, darlin’.” She nodded and lifted it with both shaking hands. He leaned in and whispered in her ear. “That’s a girl.”
    Sam opened the second door and leaned his rifle up against the side of the Suburban, then reached in over the middle seat. He could part with two of his three gas cans and survive. Without the third, he’d be dead in the water. No storage meant no reserve. Sam set the two cans down at the end of the Suburban then reached back and picked up his gun.
    “Now go.” Sam backed up until his body made contact with hers.
    “What about the girl?” the troublemaker whined.
    “That’s all you get,” Sam reiterated.
    “George, grab those cans.” The leader made his decision, and Sam felt some of the starch leave her body.
    Hold on just a little longer , he silently urged. He pressed against her to lend her some of his strength. Megan must have gotten the message because she stiffened up a bit while they loaded the cans into their truck. Any signs of weakness, chances were they’d turn and circle like vultures.
    The deviants drove away in a cloud of dust and mayhem. Sam kept the gun trailed on them, and Megan behind him, until they were out of sight.
    Huge sobs escaped her like a pressure valve, and when he turned Megan buried her face in his chest. He reached down and slid the gun out of her hand setting both weapons in the driver’s seat on top of the forgotten apples. Sam wrapped his arms around her and let her have her cry. After all, she’d earned it.
    “They were gonna…” She sobbed into his shirt.
    “Don’t finish that thought.” He held her and let her regain her composure in his arms.
    “Thank you.”
    She looked up at him with huge watery eyes. The raw mixture of fear and relief on her face transfixed him. He couldn’t answer her.
    “Thank you,” she whispered once more before burying her face in his shirt again. She wasn’t crying anymore. She just clung to him and he rubbed the small of her back until she stopped shaking. When she pulled away, he felt the loss so deep that his bones ached for her.
    Over a woman…really? What the hell was wrong with him? He decided it best not to explore that particular question right now.
    She busied herself with wrapping two apples in paper and placing them in her pack.
    “You okay?” It was dumb question,