Zom-B Angels Read Online Free PDF Page B

head.
    ‘Don’t do it, B. It’s horrible out there. Cian and I were lucky — we had each other. But we were lonely until we came here. And scared.’
    ‘We saw terrible things,’ Cian murmurs. ‘We
did
terrible things.’ He pulls his jumper aside to reveal a deep, moss-encrusted bite mark on his shoulder. ‘We
became monsters when we turned. Dr Oystein doesn’t care. He gave us a home, and he’ll give you one too if you let him.’
    ‘But thish guy ish a bruhte!’ I yell. ‘He’sh not like ush. He killed when he didn’t need to and kept the brain for himshelf.’
    ‘Are you pissed because he didn’t share Dr Cerveris’s brain with you?’ Reilly chuckles.
    ‘No,’ I sneer. ‘I’m pisshed becaush Mark was killed. Ihf Rhage had let the resht of ush eat, the othersh wouldn’t have needed to kill Mark. Maybe Josh would have
shpared them too.’
    ‘I doubt it,’ Reilly says. ‘I wasn’t privy to the decisions that were made that day, but I think all of the zom heads were scheduled for execution once it became clear
that we had to evacuate. They didn’t dare let you guys run wild. I don’t know why Josh let you go, but the others would have been eliminated no matter what.’
    ‘Maybe,’ I concede. ‘That doeshn’t change the fact that Rhage did whrong.’
    ‘No,’ Reilly agrees. ‘It doesn’t. But it’s part of my job now to look after those who need help, regardless of anything they did or didn’t do in the past. I
might not like it – in fact forget about
might
, I
don’t
– but we’re playing by Dr Oystein’s rules here. Maybe he sees potential for good in Rage that
you or I missed. Or maybe he’s taking a gamble and will come to view him as the sly, turncoat killer that we both know and loathe. If he does, and he asks me to handle the situation,
I’ll be only too delighted to pay back Rage for what he did to Cerveris and the others, but –’
    ‘Othersh?’ I interrupt.
    ‘Cerveris wasn’t the only one he killed while he was breaking out,’ Reilly says. ‘I didn’t have many friends in that place, but he murdered a couple of guys I knew
who were good men, just trying to do their job. I’ve no sympathy for him.’
    ‘Then why don’t you help me shettle the shcore?’ I whine.
    ‘Because I trust Dr Oystein,’ Reilly says simply. ‘I trust his judgement even more than my own. I’ve only known him for a month and a bit, so maybe that’s a crazy
claim, but it’s how I feel. I went along with orders underground because that was what I’d always done. Everything had gone to hell and I thought the only way to deal with the madness
was to carry on as if it was business as usual.
    ‘But I’m cooperating with Dr Oystein because I truly believe that he can lead the living out of this mess, that he can help those of us who survived to find a better way forward. If
he says that Rage has the same rights as the rest of the revitaliseds, who am I to question him?’
    I swear bitterly, knowing I can’t win this argument. My choice is clear — walk away and return to the chaos and loneliness of the undead city beyond these walls, or play along and
see what Dr Oystein has to say for himself when he returns.
    ‘Thish ishn’t ohver,’ I tell Reilly. ‘Rhage and I have unfhinished bishness.’
    ‘Sure you do,’ Reilly laughs. ‘Just don’t try to sort it out while I’m guarding him — if we got into a fight and you scratched me, you’d turn me into a
revived, and I don’t think either of us wants that, do we?’
    ‘Don’t be sho shure about that,’ I jeer, showing him my fangs, but it’s an idle threat. I’d hate to have his blood on my hands.
    I give Reilly a long, slow stare. Then Cian and Awnya drag me out of the lab. I leave reluctantly, finding it hard to tear my gaze away from Reilly and the devious, deceitful creep bobbing up
and down inside the grey, clammy solution of the Groove Tube.

NINE
    I scowl and mutter to myself as I stomp through the