The Loss (Zombie Ocean Book 4) Read Online Free PDF Page B

my hand on his shoulder, and guide him to look into my eyes. He's bigger than me but he never killed another human, that much is obvious. He's a gentle giant, father of three daughters who all turned when the infection struck, and that loss has left its mark on him like a hole through the middle. He didn't fight Don or shoot himself in the head, because he never had to.
    "Look at me, Dr. You see me? Focus on the now. We're almost done with the emergency; fixing shoulders will be another day. Today you've done excellent work, and New LA is indebted to you. Don't think about anything else, OK? Think about the work and get it done."
    A tear leaks from his eye, but he rubs it away and nods. It doesn't take long for any of us.
    "What next?" I ask him, putting the ball back in his court. He looks around.
    "Stitching," he says, pointing at a woman on the outer edge of the oblong of beds we've assembled. He points again. "Burns treatment there. Deep tissue massage here. We're waiting on blood test results for some, they may have gone septic. But this level of malnourishment? They should all be dead, Amo. If it weren't for the T4 virus in their cells, doing whatever the hell it does, I think they would be."
    I grin. "It's nice to have some allies, right?"
    He snorts. Some of the fog in his eyes begins to clear. "Cynthia and Adonis have been amazing. They've kept me on point throughout."
    I nod. I'm not surprised. Cynthia is a rock, and well-loved in New LA now she's stopped making racist cracks, while Adonis is exactly the handsome, charming rascal you might expect from his name. None of them shirk from what needs to be done. "Tell them that," I say, "and finish up. We'll have a meeting at noon. Pass that along too."
    He nods. He's got direction again now. He moves off to work on the burns victim.
    I look across the room and pick out Lara, kneeling next to a fevered-looking man with his arms frozen up around his ears, dabbing at his brow and speaking softly to him while he struggles for breath. I find Anna next, by the boilers, preparing a chicken broth with a few others. We have plenty of chickens. She looks up at me and nods.
    I get on the walkie and check in with half-Irish Feargal and his team on the roof, followed by mid-west Chantelle on patrol with her squad in their military Jeeps around the campus outskirts, but they have nothing to report. The streets are silent, nothing's moving, nothing's chasing these people at all.
    That's a relief.
    I gesture Lara and Anna over, then lead them away from the field hospital in the lobby, down toward the screen 4 storeroom.
    "It's Julio," Anna says, her first words after we stop to face each other, spoken with utter conviction. "He's behind this, no doubt." I don't bother to argue.
    "Or someone very like him," I say. "It's torture, and prolonged. Anna, have you spoken with any of them?"
    She shakes her head. "Most of them can't even speak. I think some of them are missing tongues altogether, or they've shriveled up. Others just don't have the energy, and most of them have been unconscious since I came in."
    I turn. "Lara?"
    "Nothing more than earlier. Mumblings, whispers but nothing solid."
    Anna looks between us, sensing something unsaid. Again I am glad that she is back. At this point it would usually be Lara, Cerulean and me in consultation about the future of our little community. Now Anna takes his place.
    "The one woman, Abigail, she mentioned Cerulean," I tell her, "before she died."
    Anna's eyes widen, and abruptly she looks ready to rip off heads. Some time in the night her knotted braids came loose, so they're swinging like black ropes on a pirate ship around her shoulders.
    "What did she say? Where is he?"
    "Let's find out," I say, and lead them back to the man who recognized me at the start.
    He's sleeping, tended over by Macy. There's a drip in his wrist, and Macy checks a clipboard hanging from the bottom rail of the bed as we arrive. God, how quickly we civilized the wreckage