Page 43 of Bailey

"Be careful," I replied automatically. I walked toward the house as Gray came out. "Thanks for the assist, babe." I kissed his cheek and then surveyed the yard again. "Anyone notice anything different about these zombies?"

"Like what?" Ethan asked.

I started moving from corpse to corpse, checking my suspicions with growing panic. The guys followed me until Caleb finally stopped me. "Talk to us, Bailey."

I kicked the closest zombie onto its back. "Look at it. What do you see?"

"He's... fresh," Gray stated hesitantly.

"They all are. Every single zombie in this yard was a brand new baby z. Notice anything else?" I asked.

"Should we?" Ethan asked. I took out my knife and cut the clothes off the zombie. He grimaced and looked away. "I could have gone my entire life without seeing zombie dick."

I ignored him. "See it now?" I asked as I rolled the naked zombie over. They didn't answer me because they still didn't get it. "They don't have any fucking bite marks! They weren't infected, they were murdered."

"All of them?" Gray asked. The guys split up and began checking zombies, their growing worry evident in their body language.

"Fuck!" Caleb shouted. "Recognize this guy?" We rushed over to him and peered down at the man.

"No?" Gray said.

"You wouldn't. You were stuck in bed. This is our visitor with the broken gun," Caleb replied.

I stared at the man while my brain tried to make it make sense. I was missing something. I just couldn't for the life of me figure out what. And until I had that missing piece, none of this made sense. "He looks healthier. He put on weight. He must have found a place to take shelter for the winter." I looked around the yard again. "There's the woman," I said, pointing. We went to her and found she was in the same condition as the man. Healthier and has no bites.

"I don't see the child, and I don't remember coming across a child zombie," Ethan said.

Neither did I. Child zombies weren't something you missed and were usually the hardest to put down. At least they were for me. "Guys, something is going on here. I would bet the farm that all of these people were alive and, dare I say, thriving days ago at the most. So what the hell happened to change that?"

"I think the more important question is who changed that," Gray replied ominously.

I looked out at the forest beyond my fence. Was the person responsible for this watching us now? Boone's shrill whistle broke the unsettling silence that had fallen over us. He waved us over, and I knew what I would find before we reached him and Pike. "Let me guess, the fence has been cut," I said when we reached them.

"How did you know?" Boone asked.

"Because we have fresh zombies without bite marks strewn around the yard," I told them.

"Wait, what?" Pike asked, standing from where he was inspecting the freshly cut fence.

"It's true," Gray said.

I looked into the forest again as if I expected the culprit to jump out from behind a tree and announce that it was them. "This wasn't an accident, and it isn't a coincidence. Someone killed these people, led them to our house, and intentionally cut the fence to let them into the yard."

"Who would do that?" Boone asked.

I shrugged. I didn't have that answer yet. "I'm not sure, but I intend to find out. Maybe it’s just someone trying to take my farm. If it's a fight they want, they'll get one." A horrifying thought entered my mind. "Matty!" I turned and ran for the house as my panic grew. What if we weren't the only ones that were attacked? I could tell the guys were behind me as I ran into the house and got on the radio.

"Matty, do you copy?" I asked frantically. Silence. "Matty? Henry? Anyone, do you copy?!" I was shaking as I held my breath and waited for someone to respond.

Gray wrapped his arms around me in comfort. "Give them a minute, Little Dove. If they don't answer, we'll get a truck running and go check it out."

"Someone answer this fucking radio," I yelled into the radio. "I never should have let him move out," I said to the room.

"Jesus, Bails. What's wrong?" Matty asked. I sagged against Gray in relief.

"Are you ok?" I asked.

"Why wouldn't I be? What's going on?"

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