Murphy's Law (Roads Less Traveled Book 2) by C. Dulaney Page A

basically another. I didn’t dare think, w hat else can possibly go wrong? Lots of things could still go wrong.
    That’s how we were all feeling at that moment: Like regular deadheads weren’t bad enough!
    The Z-Plan had contingencies for fast zombies, I would have been an idiot not planning for those. The one detail that was shared between those few contingencies was settling down in a good, defendable location. We’d have to rethink our plan for rescuing Shannon and Kyra.
    “It’s thirty-three miles to Blueville,” Nancy said after we hit the main road and started west. This seemed to open the situation up for debate, because everyone began offering their opinions, talking over one another, and generally annoying the hell out of me.
    “Guys!”
    Daisy jumped underneath me, which I found odd. She wasn’t a bit skittish around deadheads, but me talking loud scared her. Everyone quieted down for the moment and waited for me to continue.
    “We’ll ride straight through ‘til Blueville, even if we have to ride the horses hard to get there before dark. That doesn’t happen ‘til around seven, and it’s noon now. We should make it by then. Once we find a place to spend the night, we’ll figure this out.”
    This seemed to satisfy them, and we rode in silence for several miles before falling into friendly banter. The only thing that gave it away as not being a normal ride on a sunny afternoon was the way everyone kept darting their eyes around while they talked, constantly keeping watch on the surrounding area, guns drawn and ready to fire.
     
    * * *
     
    “You really need to let me take a look at your nose,” Nancy complained.
    We’d passed a few farmhouses along the way, none of them seeming like a good place to settle down for the night. If we didn’t find something soon, we’d just have to deal with a less than favorable position and hole up. I didn’t know what we would find in Blueville, so I was hesitant to spend the night there.
    “It’s fine, Nancy. Just hurts is all.”
    I’d managed to clean most of the blood off my face with Zack’s help. He’d said it wasn’t very crooked and looked fine as far as he was concerned. But it was swelling and still throbbed like a mother. Nancy sighed and turned her attention back to the road. Jake and Zack were riding scout about fifty yards ahead of us. They’d wanted to go farther, I didn’t feel comfortable splitting up like that again, so a compromise was reached. Gus had apparently gotten over his fear of the horses and was trotting alongside me. I didn’t take that as a very good sign.
    “About three miles to go,” Nancy said.
    She stuffed the map back into her saddlebag and double-checked her rifle. I heard Mia doing the same next to me. I was about to grab the walkie and instruct the guys to head over to a house I’d just spotted off to our right when the air filled with shouting. I jerked my head around and saw several men jumping out of the brush and trees along the road and pointing weapons at Jake and Zack. The three of us automatically raised our rifles at the men, but the guys were already surrendering and holding their hands and weapons up. Made sense, we were outnumbered. I still kept my sights on the head loudmouth, the one who had approached my people and was shouting orders.
    It wasn’t long before the men started pointing and gesturing to us. Nancy and Mia looked at me, Gus growled, and I cussed under my breath. The head loudmouth began striding towards us, his weapon aimed at me, mine still aimed at him. His men had lowered theirs and were standing close to Jake and Zack. Not so close they could be downed with a swift kick to the face, close enough they could put a bullet between the newcomers’ eyes if they had to.
    “Kasey…” Mia began.
    “Gus, stay,” I told him.
    The approaching man came to a stop a few feet in front of me. He was clean, looked well fed, and was dressed in camouflage and boots. He didn’t really look like