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

something.
    “I need four semi-automatics and about twenty clips,” I said simply.
    “ I can’t sell you that much.” He folded his arms, frowning, daring me to argue.
    I flipped out my ranger badge. “It’s an emergency, man,” I told him. “I’m not a fucking gangbanger or drug dealer.” I slipped him a hundred, careful to avoid the multiple cameras monitoring the shop.
    He glanced down, then up at me. Sizing me up. I stood my ground. “Shit’s going down. You gotta know that, right? I need a little protection.”
    He considered a moment, his hand covering the bill. Then he nodded and went to the back, out of sight. When he returned with the weapons, I asked, “Do you have any handcuffs?”
    He blinked, then nodded.
    No questions asked.
     
     
    Chapter Twenty-seven
     
     
    My detour to the gun store made me late in arriving at the observatory.
    By now, the fog was pea-soup thick. I could barely see ten feet in front of me as I made my way up the hill, my anxiety increasing with each step. I saw signs of violence and death. The first was a man who’d had his head blown to bits just a few blocks before the Greek. It was right where Carla had promised to pick up Anna and Jared. I wondered if she had done it or if Jared had.
    Mostly, I wondered where the hell my kid was.
    Oh, sweet Jesus.
    The theater was closed, but I slowed long enough to see several more bodies, scattered. Tire skid marks pointed both ways. Carla had been here. I didn’t know if my daughter and Jared were with her or which way they’d gone.
    The street was empty of any vehicles so I threw the truck into park and got out to see what I could see, automatically drawing my own gun. So still, no sound, not a mockingbird, not a coyote, no sounds of any animal whatsoever. That chilled me to the bone.
    All of the zombies had been either shot in the skull or killed with blunt force to the head. I took in the obliterated remains of each one and wondered if Anna or Jared had anything to do with this. My Anna. My sweet Anna. I had been worried about her sexual innocence, but a far worse knowledge had been thrust upon her. One of violence.
    Thud.
    The sound came from behind me. I whirled around to see a man and a woman drudging into view, materializing from the thick fog.
    They were not sane. I didn’t think they were even human anymore. They came slowly, methodically, with measured, lurching steps. Hair disheveled, clothes torn. Blood-red eyes, snarling. I knew they wanted one thing. Me.
    Specifically, my brain.
    I didn’t even think as I fired twice. Once into each head. They fell, but now I could hear the others coming.
    I jumped into the truck and sped up the road, hoping I was heading toward Carla, Jared and most importantly, my Anna. And I couldn’t help but wonder how this thing had spread so quickly and so pervasively.
     
     
    Chapter Twenty-eight
     
     
    At about the same time on the same evening, former Lieutenant Commanders Joe Carter and Mike Mendoza found themselves locked in a medical facility room at the Seal Beach Navy base, wondering how they’d managed to be tricked by the Agent in Black.
    They had indeed cured Cole, the Agent in Black. He had thanked them. After the fright of being drowned, that is. He said he felt more like himself. The two Navy buddies assessed that the red was completely gone from Cole’s eyes, and he seemed coherent.
    What they didn’t know was that Cole had almost drowned as a child. He’d gone too far into the deep end of a pool and no one had been paying attention. The event had scarred him for life. The result was that this new experience of drowning was just more than he could take. What he’d gone through for a “cure” had driven him close to the edge of insanity. No, he wasn’t insane, not yet, but he was far from stable.
    Carter and Mendoza didn’t need to know that, no. Cole would put on a brave face for them. He’d promised to take them back to the base, to let them help him “sort