Ridgetown: A zombie apocalypse novel Read Online Free PDF Page B

message him."
    Mark looked suspiciously at Helen, "Is this
the psycho bitch
that tried to kill you?"
    Helen's eyes widened and Luke instantly looked embarrassed. "Yeah but we're cool now. They felt bad and came to help me."
    Dennis introduced himself to Mark, the other scavengers maintained their neutral posture, as did Scott, whilst Helen tensed herself ready for the situation to change.
    Dennis repeated what he had said to Luke, explaining that setting off the alarm was a bad decision and Luke had been gracious to accept their apology. Mark listened carefully, occasionally glancing at Helen and Scott. Dennis relayed their plan to meet up again tomorrow when things had calmed down. Mark seemed reluctant.
    "Luke, have you managed to get us Internet access for Ridgetown?"
    Luke shook his head. "I managed to get my phone connected and might be able to do similar for the tech back at Ridgetown but I'm essentially grabbing access from this location. If Helen booted me out, there's not much I could do."
    Everyone looked towards Helen for a response.
    "I'm not just handing over control of this place. We've worked hard to set it up and maintain it."
    Mark addressed her directly. "Look, we're not asking you to give up everything you've done. We're just asking that you share what you've got, we'll do the same, we're not asking for anything for free. We're working on a pretty good set-up, we'll help you any way we can. But part of our plan is to get our community online and keep it stable so we can stay connected to each other and keep up to date about where's safe."
    Helen took a moment to think, unsure whether Mark was asking purely out of politeness. She had the distinct impression that if she didn't agree to sharing the network, they could quite easily take it from her. Not that she would just let them, she could make it nearly impossible if she really wanted to be awkward.
    "I could open up access to the network. Anyone could connect to it but I would maintain overall control."
    "No deal." Mark was quick to respond. "We want to share control. I don't want you kicking our access if we have a disagreement about something. It's vital that we're able to keep the connection up all the time, not just when you feel like it."
    "Helen. We need to show that we're willing to cooperate." Dennis appealed to her.
    "Why should we? We've kept that place running recently. Without us, it would have stopped running a long time ago."
    "We could really use that Internet access." Said Luke.
    "Helen, we don't need to be the only ones using an entire provider." Dennis was practically pleading with her.
    "Okay." Reluctantly, she agreed. She wasn't comfortable with the idea but felt she didn't really have a choice. "I'll show you how to set up your systems to have the same level of control I do, then you can do the same with any extra terminals you set up."
    "Great. We'll take you to Ridgetown now and drop you off when you're done." He turned to Dennis to continue speaking but was interrupted by Helen.
    "Whoa! I'm not going anywhere!"
    Mark looked at her with a confused expression. "But we need it up and running now, we can't hang around twiddling our thumbs while you pick a day you're free."
    "Well, you're not kidnapping me and I don't want to go with you."
    "Who said anything about kidnapping you?" He turned to Dennis and Scott. "You guys are more than welcome to come as well. We have safe structures and food."
    Dennis was the first to respond, "Can we have a minute?"
    Mark nodded and the three of them huddled together.
    Luke slapped his hand down on Mark's armoured shoulder and grinned. "I'm definitely glad you guys showed up but you didn't have to throw me under the bus like that."
    Mark looked confused, "Like what?"
    "The way I described Helen was a bit of a in-the-heat-of-the-moment thing. She seems cool though."
    Mark laughed. "That's a pretty quick turn around for someone who tried to kill you. Sounds like you've got a bit of a crush? Is that even