Plague of the Dead | Book 3 | Plague of the Island

fully up and shining now. I had a sinking feeling as we headed back to the camp.
There seemed to be a few more zombies roaming around as we drove by. I wasn’t sure why there were more. It’s not as if zombies slept and the sun being out meant they were awake. They were always awake. Always lurking. Always feeding.
As we pulled into the space the Jeep had previously been occupying. I saw Gerald, the head of security run up to us.
“Where did you guys go?” He asked more concerned than anything else.
I pulled out the family photo in my bag to show him. It was our cover if anyone asked because I wanted to do that for a while as it was. Though it was always considered too frivolous to be approved.
“I told Luther I was going. He insisted on coming with me. Sorry Gerry,” I said.
“That was reckless Shelly. Daniel wants to talk to you both. He said to send you to the food storage area as soon as you got back,” he said, the look in his eyes sympathetic.
I should’ve seen that coming honestly. Gerald was the head of security, but Daniel had become the leader of our little camp. As he was for our group when I ran into them, his take charge personality had caused everyone to decide he was best to be the leader. He was of course willing to seek help and advice from those around him which everyone liked. He was fair and considerate of everyone.
At least with everyone but me. We mainly didn’t communicate. I got my assignments brought to me by Phoebe, which she hated being our go between. The camp meetings we had, he avoided looking in my direction at all.
He wasn’t rude, he just avoided me. Which I would’ve preferred rudeness. The avoidance made it feel like he didn’t care. Although I didn’t have a right to be mad about it. I screwed up pushing him away, but I did it to myself. I just didn’t see how I could fix it at this point. Even if I was expecting a healthy baby.
I walked with Luther to the rec building.
“I’ll handle this,” he told me.
“No, I’ll go with you,” I said. “It’s my fault.”
“Yeah, but you may make it worse for me,” he said, his tone clearly showing he was making a joke.
I laughed.
“Is there something funny?” I heard a familiar voice say behind me.

Chapter 3
I turned to see Daniel standing in the doorway. He was wearing a muscle shirt and shorts. His skin dark from working in the sun.
Seeing him, I wanted to tell him everything. Everything that I had kept from him. Instead I said nothing. I just let Luther do the talking.
“I made a joke,” Luther said, “trying to ease some tension.”
“Come in,” Daniel said moving for us to go into the storage area where he worked.
He shut the door.
“You guys can’t just leave like that,” he said more concerned than angry. Also, more to Luther than me. “It’s dangerous,” he added.
“It’s my fault,” I said. “Luther just volunteered to go with me. To keep me safe.”
Daniel’s eyes met mine finally. His gaze felt like a dagger piercing through my soul.
“I know. I know what you went for.”
For a second, I thought he meant the test, but I realized it was about the picture.
“I’ve told you,” he continued, “That’s not priority right now.”
“It is to her,” I said truthfully.
“Well, did you get it at least?” he asked.
I nodded suddenly feeling out of breath under his intensity. I pulled it out of my bag and placed it on his desk, as if he wouldn’t believe me by just confirming it.
“Good. At least I won’t have to hear about it anymore,” he said. “But both of you understand that this is not something that can happen again. We need you here.”
He looked between us rather than at either one of us.
“Understood,” Luther said. “Assignments?”
Before Daniel could reply, the door flew open and Holland stormed in.
“Gerald told me everything. So, what are their punishments?” He asked with a weird smile on his face.
“Holland, you could knock,” Daniel said looking annoyed.
“I could but I just couldn’t wait to see how you handled this one,” he said and landed his gaze on me. He still had an evil smirk on his face.
“I’m not discussing that right now,” Daniel said.
Holland looked at him, “I mean I could help you come up with ideas if you need. This is something I’ve been thinking about. We could use the room in the back of the rec area as a jail cell and…”
Daniel cut him off by raising his hand, “I’m not locking people up.”
“Daniel, I know you had a thing with her but face it. They wasted gas and supplies. For what?” He looked at the desk where the picture of the Brown’s was. “For a damn photograph?”
I opened my mouth to speak but Luther placed his hand on my arm stopping me.
“We got other supplies Holland. We did not waste the run.”
“I can’t believe she talked you into going with her,” Holland barked. “You’re a doctor!”
“Which is exactly why I volunteered to go with her.”
Holland ignored Luther’s comment and put his hand on the desk, leaning on it, “You have to act on this one Daniel. You can’t let this go unpunished or the rest of camp will think exactly what I think.”
“You mean what you’ve been telling them?” Daniel said, unphased by Holland. “You think I don’t know? I’m aware you tell people I’m unfit to lead because I had a brief relationship with Shelly. Your relationship with Laura seems to be warping your mind more than what I had