Zombie Rage (Walking Plague Trilogy #2) by J. R. Rain, Elizabeth Basque

tried to hang on to sanity. You have to take care of your daughter, I told myself. That’s what you’re living for. And Carla’s nice...but she’s with them. My brother and that son-of-a-bitch traitor, Mike Mendoza.
    I searched the premises again. The light was off, but that didn’t matter. I had the eyes of a hawk now, an eagle. A cougar was more like it. I thought back to when Anna and I had saved that cougar. Was that about a week ago? Ten days? I didn’t remember. Part of me longed for that special father-daughter connection again. She loved wildlife as much as I did. As much as I had , before. Before what?
    Get a hold, I told myself. You’re not going over fond memories; you’re finding a way out. There’s got to be something to help me get the fuck out of here...I don’t want to drown...and I don’t want to give up who I am now.
    So powerful...so very powerful.
    I moved around with my hand chained to the beam, feeling with my feet along the cold cement for anything. A coin. A screwdriver would have been nice, but no luck. Not even piece of broken glass.
    I searched slowly, thoroughly. Finishing the 360-degree circle, I finally pulled myself up and leaned against the house’s main beam to which I was chained. For what I’d just done, stretching and moving around on the ground as far as I could reach, carefully, over the last fifteen minutes, I should have been sweating profusely. But I wasn’t. I just drew my one free hand through my hair. Something caught one of my fingers, and I moved this hand past it...then back to it. Something metal.
    I carefully maneuvered myself around to see the object.
    Bingo! I smiled. I risked a laugh. Well, what do you know, I thought to myself.
    An old, rusty nail protruded slightly from the beam. Not so much that you could really see it from a distance. And who had come close enough to that beam? It was the surrounding area they were concerned with.
    The nail looked long; it had a large head. Such a small thing, I realized, such a sharp nail could make all the difference in the world. I could easily conceal it when they came. And come for me they would, I knew it in my core. But now, I had a weapon.
    I wrapped my teeth around the nail in the beam, and pulled. Hard.
    And soon I held my freedom in the palm of my hand.
     
     
    Chapter Eighteen
     
     
    “ Promise me again,” Joe Carter said to his niece.
    “ I promise, okay? I won’t leave my room until you come get me.” Anna blew her nose again. She was horrified, frightened, out of her mind with fear.
    Joe hugged her. “It’s going to be okay, honey. That’s my promise to you.” He held her a moment. Then he crossed to the door. There was nothing else to say.
    Downstairs, the three of them were ready. As ready as they could be. None of them spoke. Again, there was nothing left to say. The feeling was unanimous: just do it, get it done.
    Carla went first. It was the hardest thing she’d ever done in her life. This was insane. Was she crazy? She didn’t know for sure, but she made herself do it anyway. Tried not to think in human terms as she descended the old staircase.
    “Back away, Jack,” her hands were shaky. She couldn’t help the tears. “Back up.”
    “ What’s going on?” Jack asked innocently enough.
    Mike and Joe carried the first large bucket of water down and set it out of Jack’s reach.
    “What the hell’s happening?” Just for a moment, Jack feigned ignorance. But the two men wouldn’t meet his gaze. His own damn brother. A murderous asshole.
    As they hurried up the stairs again, Jack tried to work on Carla. “Carla, no. Please. You can’t be serious.”
    Carla didn’t speak either. Fuck. This was going to be harder than he thought. Joe and Mike confirmed this by bringing down the second container of water. That’s when Jack lost it.
    “ I won’t let you,” he said, backing as far away as he could, his hands curled into fists.
    “ Yes, you will,” Joe said. “And it will be all