The Undead World (Book 5): The Apocalypse Renegades by Peter Meredith

you’re…and you’re, well I don’t know what, but it isn’t good, especially when I count on you to help me. Isn’t that why Daddy gave you to me? To help me in sticky situations like this?”
    Ipes shook his head. No! Daddy would never want me to help you do something so dangerous. He’d want me to stop you if I could .
    The little girl’s eyes narrowed as a cold silence enveloped the two. “But you can’t stop me,” she said in a hissing whisper. “You can’t take me over no more cuz I’m the boss of you, not the other way around. So you better not even try.”
    Ipes held up his stubby hooves. I’m not trying to be the boss. All I’m trying to do is keep you from making a terrible mistake. I’m trying to keep you from getting killed .
    “Then help me rescue my family! Because without them I’ll really get killed.”
    I won’t , Ipes said, defiantly.
    A black feeling erupted out from Jillybean’s chest and bloomed around inside her, turning her mind to dark thoughts. “You must be jealous! Is it the baby? Or is it the fact that everyone loves me the most and not you?”
    It’s none of that , Ipes insisted. It’s just you can’t do this, Jilly. Not without a grownup’s help. You’re not smart enough. You didn’t even finish the first grade for goodness sakes. Smart people finish the first grade and besides you’re not magic. You can die, too .
    “What do you know about nothing? You’re just a stupid zebra. I’m a girl, a real girl and I don’t need no stupid zebra telling me stuff anyways, so….so you know what? You’re going in time out! No, worse than timeout, you’re going in the backpack.” She hauled off the Ladybug backpack, unzipped the main cargo pocket, and stuffed Ipes inside. Making a little noise: humph , she zipped it up tight.
    “Stupid zebra,” she whispered.
    She went up to the roof of the barracks and looked out to the west hoping to see Neil and Deanna coming back. They were pretty much the only grownups that she felt she could trust. The others were too scared, except for maybe Michael Gates. Unfortunately, when he had been in charge, he had barely been able to keep his own family safe; his greatest inspiration has been the Floating Island, which had not been more than a few boats strung together and camouflaged by a slew of fake shrubbery. He was good at what he could do—organizing and following orders—however, when it came to innovating and commanding others in dangerous situations, he wasn’t all that good for much.
    “You know what we need,” she said to herself. “Guns and an army. With an army we could do a rescue. Right Ipes?” she asked, forgetting that he was stuffed into her pack. She turned a little circle before remembering. “Oh, right. But he wasn’t going to be any help anyways. He would think an army was too dangerous…or impossible.”
    Jillybean scratched her backside, thinking Ipes might be right about the impossibility of it. In her mind, the grode-ups weren’t impressive. The day before, Jillybean had trained the entire group of renegades on how to act like the monsters. It had been a taxing experience. There had been an amazing amount of whining on their part, especially when she had insisted that everyone had to demonstrate what they had learned among real live monsters. Some had to be begged into making the attempt. It was embarrassing.
    That morning they were going to put what they learned to a real test. As per Neil’s direction, Michael had organized three squads of ten people each; their job was to scrounge around the army base for food, fuel, and weapons.
    Jillybean asked to join one of the groups and was readily accepted; most looked on her as either a good luck charm or a genius who would do all their thinking for them. The group she had chosen to go with was led by William Gates, Michael’s brother. He was exceptionally quiet, to the point that he always appeared to be sulking, but he was a good zombie fighter and, better