Forget The Zombies (Book 3): Forget America by R.J. Spears Page A

mattress?”
    “You’re talking about my cell phone,” Robbie said as if he were talking about his left arm.
    I felt a wave of wooziness roll over me and nearly fell back onto the bed, but caught myself. “Why does my head feel like it full of cotton candy?”
    “They dosed us,” Jay said.
    “Then why are you guys okay?” I asked.
    “Man, it’s going to take a whole lot more shit to mess me up,” Jay said. “I’ve worked up a tolerance.”
    Robbie said, “It must have been in the chicken. I didn’t eat any of that. Meat is murder.”
    “I’m a vegetarian, too,” Jay said.
    “Hey, I saw you eat bacon back at the school,” Robbie exclaimed
    “Yeah, I’m a vegetarian except for bacon,” Jay in defense.
    “You can’t be a vegetarian and eat bacon.”
    “Well, that depends,” Jay said crossing his arms across his chest.
    “And you ate chicken last night,” Robbie said accusingly.
    “I was taking a break,” Jay said.
    So, I had committed gluttony, one of the seven deadly sins, and I was paying for it, but I was now caught up in a pointless debate over meat eating when much bigger things needed our attention.
    “Fellas,” I said, “Can we table that debate for later?”
    They looked at each other for a long moment and then back at me.
    “So, what do we do now?” Robbie asked.
    “Well first, we need to find out what’s going on,” I said. “Are any of the others awake?”
    “Jane’s sort of awake back in the room,” Jay said. “She’s a lightweight.”
    “Any others?”
    “Not that I’ve seen,” Robbie said. “Grant, these people are bad news. I did some searching on my phone and found some info. I can…”
    I rose a hand in the air to tell him to stop for a moment as I tried to rise off the bed. My brain was having trouble keeping up with what he was saying.
    “The first order of business is to get a lay of the land,” I said, trying to push off the bed and failing as the room spun and my arms felt they were made out of pudding. They saw my predicament and both of them helped me off the bed. It took almost thirty seconds for my legs to find the strength to keep me standing. I walked shakily to my door and it was only three steps. How I’d make it down the hall was beyond me.
    I gripped the door knob and slowly pulled the door open only to find Clint, Jeb, the giant that had escorted Robbie from the dining hall along with two other guys standing in the hall. All of them had guns with the exception of Jeb who smiled, but there a sense of malice behind his eyes that didn’t speak well for us.
    “We didn’t expect you guys up so soon,” He said.
    “I bet you didn’t,” I replied and then added, “What’s the deal with drugging us?” A wave of dizziness came over me, but fortunately I was able to sway into the doorway for support. Hopefully, my motion looked relaxed and easy instead of the swoon it was.
    Jeb put his hands in the air in a gesture of surrender and said, “We have to take precautions. While we think you had good intentions, we had to make sure.”
    “By drugging us and taking our weapons?”
    “Would you have surrendered then voluntarily?”
    “Maybe in time,” I said.
    “So, you would have stayed with us?” He asked.
    “Probably not,” I replied. “We’re headed for the east coast. Maybe North Carolina.”
    “From what we’ve heard, it’s not safe to travel east,” Clint said.
    “Well, we plan on going that way at the first possible opportunity.”
    “Will you do this on foot?”
    “If we have to,” I said trying to put all resolve my addled mind could muster.
    “I do think you should plan on staying with us for awhile,” he said, still smiling. “At least until you’re people are all in good shape.”
    “So, you’re keeping us here against our will?” I asked.
    “Maybe a better way to put it would be for your own protection,” Jeb said. “Now, if you two gentlemen would return to your rooms, you could get some rest.” He pointed