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.“Ain’t that a kicker.Looks they had themselves a few pets.This is a fucked up world, ain’t it?”Davidson and Sherman nodded.“Yes, sir.”“You,” Glenn said, pointing at Trish.“What’s your name?”“Trish.”“Those your kids?”“Yes.Where’s the guard?”Another drag on the cigarette.“They’re long gone, honey.But from your question I gather you’re from St.Louis?”“Maybe.”“Definitely.My youngest boy is there.He’s running things now.”“You set those bombs off.”“Not me personally.Call it a family effort.What’d you think of the show?”Trish didn’t reply.“Speechless.That good, eh? What about this cute couple over here? The ones who had you tied up.Are they from St.Louis too?”Trish shook her head.“Then how, pray tell, did you and those kids end up at the end of their leash.”“They tricked us.”Glenn shrugged.“That’ll happen, I guess.That party’s over now.What’d you do in St.Louis? You do any cooking?”“Sometimes.”“Well, hot damn.Sometimes good fortune just falls right into your lap.Smitty’s been bitching about being short-handed in the kitchen.Looks like we got ourselves a few cooks right here.” He pointed at Davidson.“Take these three to the kitchen.”“Yes, sir.”Davidson herded Trish, Zach and Jeremy out of the office.Glenn stood.He walked around and sat on the corner of the desk.Wisps of smoke drifted from the cigarette as he locked eyes on Beth.“I’ll bet you were the hottest little piece of ass in your trailer park.”“Fuck you,” Ryan snarled.“You watch your mouth, boy.Unless you want us to get back to work on rearranging that face of yours.”Ryan stared, eyes cold and hard.“She’s a little rough around the edges, sure.But she’s got a killer body and an ass that won’t quit.Pretty too, in a cornfed sort of way.How old were you when you started stripping, baby doll?”“Don’t answer him.”“I thought I told you to shut the fuck up!” Glenn launched forward, driving his fist into Ryan’s stomach.Ryan crumpled to the floor.“Leave him alone!” Beth screamed, lunging.Sherman yanked her back.Glenn sat again, reset his hair and smoothed his shirt.“Some people just don’t understand English.”“Motherfucker!” Beth growled.“I’ll fucking kill you!”Glenn delivered a backhanded slap to Beth’s face.She glared silently at him.A line of blood trickled from her lip.“You two don’t know when to shut up.” Glenn pointed at Ryan.“Lock his ass up until I figure out what to do with him.And get her cleaned up.When you bring her to me I want her in something nice.Maybe something red.”“Yes, sir,” Sherman replied, yanking Ryan to his feet.Beth launched into a string of obscenities as Sherman guided both prisoners out of the office.Returning to his chair, Glenn leaned back and placed his feet up on the desk.Smiling, he took a final drag from the cigarette before crushing it out.Chapter Forty-Seven“We’re digging what?” Gary asked, plunging his shovel into the dirt.“Graves,” Dave said.Johnny shot them a disapproving look.“Keep digging.And keep your voices down.”Gary resumed digging.“You’re sure what you saw in that shed was bodies?”“One hundred percent.”“They were guardsmen?”“They still had their uniforms on.”Gary sighed.“This is messed up.”Johnny dumped a shovelful of dirt into his pile.“The world has always been messed up.Even before the virus.You think we’re the first people to ever dig a mass grave?”“I get your point.”The men continued to dig.Two dozen yards away another of Glenn’s men stood guard over the digging.On this day, Whipple made no appearance.“That’s not the only thing I found,” Dave continued.“Don’t keep us in the dark,” Johnny said.“Guns.Ammunition.Explosives.”“How much?”“A lot.Crates of the stuff.”“Glenn is building an army,” Gary said.Dave frowned.“Is he? Because that’s not what I see here.Every day I see the same old faces out here.How many guys does Glenn have? Thirty? Forty?”Johnny grinned.“I said the same thing.But when I brought it up nobody seemed to be interested in it, right Gary?”“You can’t get out of this place.All you’ll do is get yourself killed.I told you that then.”“You call this being alive? Cooped up in here and forced to work like slaves? I’d rather be dead.” Johnny turned to Dave.“I suppose you brought this up for a reason.Would I be correct?”“You would be.”“So what are you thinking?”“I’m thinking that if we could get our hands on what’s in those crates then we could bring about some change in this dump.”“Us?” Johnny asked.“You mean just the three of us?”“No.I’m thinking a bigger ‘us’.How many people do you think Glenn’s got locked up here?”“Fifty to a hundred.”“How confident of that are you?”“Got a friend in here who’s friendly with one of the guards.So I’d say pretty confident.”“My guess is that those people would like to see things change around here too.So much so that they’d be willing to square off against Glenn and his cronies, provided we give them the firepower to do it.”“I’d be inclined to agree.Most people don’t like to be caged up.Except Gary here.”Gary gave Johnny an angry look [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]