The Zombie Chronicles - Book 2 (Apocalypse Infection Unleashed Series) by Chrissy Peebles

it.
    Sitting in the back of the pick-up truck, grief and anger ripped through every fiber of my being. I wrung my hands in my lap, unsure of what to do or what to believe anymore. I wasn’t staring at my sister, but at a monster. I could see every vein in her face, spreading out like a spider web through her translucent skin.
    Thrashing, she struggled in her bindings. Her beautiful blue eyes were now glazed over : white and glassy, sunken and hollow. But what freaked me out the most was the way she kept hissing through her yellow teeth, then savagely biting into her tattered skin, as though she might just gnaw her own arm off if she couldn’t devour one of ours.
    Nick pounded on the glass divider with his fists to get the girls’ and Lucas’s attention. I tuned out as he delivered the horrible news in a monosyllabic way, choked by the emotions he desperately tried to keep in check. From the corner of my eye, I caught Jackie’s horrified expression and then, just a few seconds later, the truck stopped abruptly, jolting us in our seats. Lucas and the girls hurried out to offer us their condolences, uttering the right words with the right amount of compassion, though I don’t think one word actually really reached me.
    Everything was a blur: the soft wind that had begun to blow at some point, the chirping birds in the nearby trees, and my heart drumming in my ears. At some point, it began to drizzle again, then stopped. The sun peeked through the dark clouds, bathing me in a warm sensation that felt strange and surreal. I cringed at the beauty in the aftermath of such horror.
    Nick shot Claire and Jackie a thankful look, but I could tell from his furrowed brows that the emotion was becoming too much for him to handle.
    “ We appreciate it,” I said to the girls, then grabbed my brother’s arm and guided him toward the truck. We had wasted a lot of time and needed to get back on the road. Sticking around wasn’t safe, not to mention that we still had to find Tahoe. As long as the vials were missing, Nick was a ticking bomb, ready to explode, and no amount of sweet words and compassionate looks was going to appease him. Suddenly, he broke away from me.
    “ I hope you know this is all your fault!” he said to Claire.
    She gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. “How can you blame me?”
    Even though his voice was calm, his face was a mask of anger, his eyes glowing with fury. I had never seen him so angry, yet composed in my life, and it scared the crap out of me.
    “ It’s not anyone’s fault,” I said sharply, in the hope my tone might calm him down. I was grieving too, but I didn’t take it out on the people around me.
    Nick took a hissing breath and let it out slowly. A few moments of silence passed, and I almost thought he’d regained his control, when he opened his mouth again. “If we’d left Tahoe on that deserted road, like I wanted to, we’d have the cure in our hands right now, and everything would’ve gone according to plan. My sister wouldn’t have to suffer.” He met my gaze, as though waiting for me to back him up.
    I pressed my mouth into a thin line and kept quiet. Even though he had a point, I wasn’t going to add fuel to the fire. What was done was done.
    “ We’d be giving it to her, Dean, right now—this very second! She could be already healed.” His voice rose an octave. When I didn’t answer, he continued, “But no! Instead, we had to tend to Tahoe’s wounds, to supposedly do the right thing and take care of a jerk who was friends with Earl…the dude that threw Val over the balcony into a crowd of hungry zombies!”
    “ I’m sorry,” I whispered, knowing my words wouldn’t do any good. I didn’t know how to comfort Nick. I didn’t even know how to comfort myself. I just stared in a daze. How could things go so wrong?
    Lucas pulled Claire and Jackie aside and started to whisper. I craned my neck to catch their dialogue: “It might be best if you get back in the truck and