Flip This Zombie - Jesse Petersen [46]
The Kid looked incredulous, but then shrugged like he didn’t care. “Whatever.”
I jumped as Dave suddenly appeared beside us. “Whatever what?”
“Nothing,” I said, a little sharper than I had intended to sound. Dave’s brow wrinkled at my tone and he tilted his head like he was going to press further. I grasped for any subject to put him off the one The Kid and I had been discussing. “So any news from the others in here?”
It worked. Dave’s concern and confusion fled, but his face grew long and worried over something else instead. “Not a lot, unfortunately. A few of them had more reports of… bionics or whatever you want to call them. No fights so far, at least none anyone has survived to report, but lots of distance sightings. It’s starting to freak people out.”
I flinched as I was forced to remember the zombie on the hill over the highway. I wanted to forget him, but he was on my mind constantly now.
Dave continued. “And that guy over there says no one has seen Jimmy No-Toes since the last time we got called out to see him.”
I stared, my thoughts of super monsters fading a fraction. “What? Really?”
Dave nodded, grim. “Yeah. Apparently he was supposed to do some trading at the barbershop with some people. They waited half a day for him, but he never showed.”
I shifted. “The guy is a flake, for sure, but that’s not like him to avoid a trade meeting. If there’s profit to be had, he wouldn’t miss a date.”
A sigh was Dave’s response. “Don’t get me wrong, the guy is a shit, but I don’t like the idea of him getting zombiefied or anything.”
The Kid shifted uncomfortably next to us and when I looked down I was surprised to see how miserable he looked. Shit. It was so hard to remember he was just a boy in all of this. And sometimes talking about scary things made a child into a child again.
I motioned my head toward him and Dave blanched as he saw the same thing I did.
“Oh, Christ, Kid, I’m sorry,” he said as he reached down to ruffle the boy’s hair. “I’m talking out my ass. Probably this guy we’re talking about just decided to take off for greener pastures.”
All of us knew he was lying, but The Kid forced a smile anyway. Dave returned it and continued, “So, did you find your net gun instructions?”
The Kid looked at me. “Yeah. Sarah stole the book.”
I shook my head. “Fucking tattletale.”
Dave stared at me. “You’re stealing the book?” he whispered after a brief glance around us.
I shrugged and decided not to mention my plans for favors from Kevin involving copy machines.
“I just thought it might help us not to have to copy everything by hand,” I explained without looking at him.
Dave looked at me weird.
“I’ll bring it back,” I promised.
The Kid snorted, but we were blissfully interrupted when we were approached by some newcomers. I smiled as Josh and Drea, our friends from the camp, came into the library. They saw us and made a beeline in our direction.
“Hey, you two!” I said, relieved for their interruption. “Fancy meeting you here.”
Drea hugged me briefly and waved at David, then she looked down at our companion.
“Who’s your little friend?” she asked, though I caught her sending a side glance at Josh. His normally friendly face was solemn and even sad as he stared at the little boy who stood with us.
The Kid glared at her. “I’m not little.”
She shrugged. “Whatever you say.”
“What’s your name?” Josh asked quietly as he continued to stare at The Kid.
“Robbie,” The Kid answered, but for once there wasn’t anything snotty to his tone. He actually smiled at our friend briefly.
“He was helping me find a book,” I offered as some kind of explanation as to why he was with us. I liked Josh and Drea a lot, but I wasn’t ready to start spreading the word about what we were doing here.
“Well, I was looking for a book, myself,” Josh said. “Want to help?”
The Kid shrugged one shoulder. “I guess.”
The two of them started off toward the catalog where Robbie and I had looked up the book tucked into my backpack. Drea watched them go with a sigh.
“You okay?” I asked.