Live Another Day by Baileigh Higgins (reading in the dark .txt) 📗

hesitated before replying. “I think it’s best if you three speak in private.” She nodded at Lisa and Michael. “I gather they’ve got important news for you.”

“What about Ruby?” Lisa asked with concern stamped on her face while she watched the crying girl.

“She’ll be fine with me, won’t you dear? I’ll take care of you.” Julianne wrapped Ruby into a warm embrace. “You three go ahead. We’ll wait here for news of her brother.”

“Her brother?” Max asked.

“He’s in there with Jonathan and Hannah. They’ll do everything they can for him.” Worry shone in her eyes, but her voice was confident as she continued. “Don’t fret. Everyone else is back at their posts.”

“Right. Thanks, Mom.” Max turned to Lisa and Michael. “Come with me?”

They followed him in grim silence to the common room where a curious Elise poured each of them a cup of coffee. She didn’t stick around, however, and left them in peace.

“Fill me in,” Max prompted.

Lisa picked at the table with broken fingernails while she relayed her share of the story, ending at the part where Michael and the two kids jumped onto the roof. “That’s how I found them.”

“Michael?” Max turned to the brooding ex-soldier.

In a monotone, Michael told Max of his time with Ke Tau right up to the moment Lisa found him. He finished off with the message from Rebecca and Mpho.

Max sat back in his chair. “On the full moon? They want us to attack then?”

Michael nodded.

“That’s three days from now, I think.”

“Four,” was the gruff reply.

“What about Kabelo?”

Lisa’s face darkened. “He got away. I’m sorry.”

“It can’t be helped. You tried your best, Lisa. I’m just glad you got back safely.”

“He’ll tell Ke Tau everything,” she protested.

“He might. If Ke Tau lives. He could have died in that house.”

“He lives,” Michael asserted with glittering eyes. “I know it.”

Max shrugged. “Even so, we’ll have the element of surprise on our side.”

“Where’s Breytenbach? And Dr. Lange?” Michael asked with a frown. Max filled him in, and the man pushed back his chair. “I'll help the Doctor and the others with the fence.”

“Okay.” Max watched him walk away before saying, “Michael.”

“Yes?”

“Thank you.”

Michael inclined his head before he disappeared, and Max turned back to Lisa. “What about this Ruby and her brother. Who are they? How badly is he hurt?”

Lisa shrugged in a nonchalant manner, but her voice was thick with emotion when she replied. “I don’t know who they are. They’re just kids, survivors. Ke Tau killed their father and tortured the boy. His name is Lonny.”

Max winced. “How bad is he?”

“He’ll live, though he might not want to,” she replied before looking away.

“Ruby?” Max’s voice was tentative.

Lisa sighed. “She’s fine. I got there before...before they could...you know.”

“I’m glad.” Max’s voice hardened. “Did you get any of the fuckers?”

Her eyes flew to his, and a faint smile formed on her lips. “Two, although the zombies got the one. I drove over the other.”

Max’s lips twitched. “I see.”

“Michael says the other three got away, and they were the worst ones. Ke Tau, Hiran, and Carlito.”

Max stared into the distance for a few seconds as he thought everything over. “We’ll get them. Right now, we’ve got an attack to plan, though.”

“I want in,” Lisa said.

Max studied her and noted the hardness in her features, the stark lines of suffering around her eyes and mouth. “All right. You’ll be there.”

“Good.”

Max stood up and placed his empty cup on the table. “We’ll talk again later. Right now, I’ve got to sort a few things out.”

“That’s okay. I’ll go check on Ruby and Lonny.”

“You do that. Tonight, over supper, we’ll hold a meeting. Breytenbach should be back by then.”

As he walked away, Max reflected on their chances of victory. With surprise on their side and rebels inside Ke Tau’s compound, they stood a good chance. An excellent one. Even so, grim foreboding gnawed at his gut. Four days. Only four days until our fates are decided. Win or lose, someone will die.

Chapter 12 - Breytenbach

When Breytenbach left camp, he headed straight for Hennenman. A small, sleepy town some distance away from Welkom and Ke Tau's grasping fingers. It was a town they'd left mostly untouched, almost as if they wanted it for backup, but hadn't planned it that way. In any event, it was a place he knew little about and had yet to explore.

Just outside of town, he pulled over and got out. Kirstin and Lenka followed, and they waited for Mike and Ronnie to join them. While he stretched his legs and checked his equipment, Kirstin spread out an old map on the bonnet.

“See anything on there?” he asked. “We need food and guns.”

“Let me see.” She perused the crumpled piece of paper before pointing at a small square. “Here is a nursing home. It should have food, should it not?”

“Yup, that could work,” he replied. “What about weapons.”

“There’s a police station,” Ronnie interjected. “The home's closer, though.”

“Let’s check that out first, then,” Breytenbach decided. “You and Mike hang back a bit in case we get into trouble on the streets. Who knows how many Ke Tau’s the world now holds.”

Ronnie grunted in agreement. “Sure thing, Captain.”

They drove off again in silence with Kirstin pointing the way. Contrary to his fears, the streets were quiet and derelict. Not much could be seen besides the usual straggling undead who groaned as they went by. Cracks filled the roadway, and empty windows gaped at them as they passed. A single plastic bag bobbed along on the sidewalk. The world’s turning into a desert. A desert populated by the dead.

“Over there,” Kirstin said, breaking into his somber thoughts.

Breytenbach slowed and looked for the entrance. The community was enclosed, and rust red-tiled roofs stuck out over the whitewashed walls that surrounded it. Ivy crept up the mortar, and a single sliding gate was the only way in.

Ronnie’s truck crept up behind them, and Breytenbach slid out of his seat. A decrepit one-armed zombie shuffled over and reached yellowed fingertips toward