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

right. Mike went through it, so did I. And so can you.”
    “ I’m going to fucking kill you, all of you,” Jack growled. “Carla, I trusted you. And you’re going to let them kill me? You fucking bitch! ” he spat the words at her.
    Carla let out a sob. “Shut up, Jack.” She reached behind her and pulled out another pair of handcuffs. Handed them to Mike. “Just do it.”
    “No!” Jack pleaded. “Think of what you’re doing. Joe, think. This is crazy! Where’s Anna? You can’t do this to her!”
    He watched as Joe and Mike checked out the other beam. Joe pulled a piece of heavy chain from somewhere and tethered it to the beam. Now Jack backed the other way, coming dangerously close to Carla.
    “I’m not going down without a fight. You don’t know how strong I am!”
    Jack curled his hands tight.
     
     
    Chapter Nineteen
     
     
    But they did know.
    Both men fully understood what they were dealing with.
    Who, Joe corrected himself. He’s still my brother.
    “ Take off your shoes.” Mike was the least emotionally involved, so he was calling the shots.
    “ No,” said Jack.
    The three formed a triangle around him now. “Do it,” Mike commanded. “Don’t make this any harder than you have to.”
    Somewhere in Jack’s mind, a little sanity remained, but that part was now in fight-or-flight mode. What was left of his humanity panicked. He pulled mightily on his one cuffed hand. “You can’t do this. Please,” he begged them.
    “ Jack.” Joe held back tears. “You’ve got to know that I love you. I know you’re scared. And angry. But try to think.”
    “ Stop it,” Carla ordered. “We agreed. No unnecessary talking. Jack, take off your fucking shoes.” Her hands were still shaking, but she pointed her gun at his shoulder.
    “ Fuck it,” Mike said. “Plan B then.”
    They had planned as much as they could. Plan A was created in the hopes that Jack would cooperate, although they didn’t have much hope that he would. No sane person would, and Jack was far from sane. Plan B had been worked out beforehand as well, to keep Jack in the dark for as long as they could. Less emotion, less violence, if they could help it.
    Joe and Mike donned the heavy gloves. The three moved in on him, Carla being the most careful. She couldn’t use her gun with the heavier gloves on, she later realized. She had only her leather gloves for protection.
    Joe and Mike acted at once. Joe moved behind Jack, locked his heavy arms around his neck and held on. God, Jack was strong. He growled and lifted Joe off the ground. He started to try to grab his brother from behind but Mike got a hold of Jack’s free arm.
    Jack was now pulling Mike toward him, even with all of Joe’s efforts to restrain his brother. Jack yanked Mike toward him and then he whipped his hand up, flipped the nail outward. He aimed for the eye and shoved with every ounce of his strength.
    Fortunately, Joe saw it at the last second and heaved Jack over. The nail drove into Mike’s cheek—and stayed in.
    Mike fell back, surprised as hell, howling.
    Joe jumped on Jack, but he was no match for his brother. He was holding on, now with his legs wrapped around his brother’s waist, but he was losing control.
    With a howl of pain and surprise, Mike yanked the nail out of his cheek. He was angry now. It hurt, but Mike was trained military and knew his mission. His anger made him stronger and he used that to get a good grip on Jack’s free hand, slap the cuff on it and yank it to the chain tied to the other beam. They had him.
    Jack was still standing, now with his arms stretched wide, as if he were being crucified. But he thrashed and snarled as Joe moved around to face his brother.
    To Mike, he said, “Are you all right?”
    Mike’s gash was narrow but it had gone straight through. Blood ran down his cheek and he spat more out.
    “Can’t think about it,” he panted. “Move in, move out. Right?”
    “ Right,” Joe answered. They knew the sooner