This Would Be Paradise (Book 2)-A Zombie Novel

Chapter 11

Roy continued to pace as the time ticked by. It had been an hour and Tim still hadn't shown his face. As far as he knew, we were all oblivious to his involvement. We hadn't let Karla leave; she would more than likely warn him. I used this time to eat some of the food the girls had rounded up. I was able to eat the crackers and drink another juice box, but my nerves were preventing me from eating anymore.

We barely talked other than explaining what had happened to Karla. She vehemently denied that Tim could have done anything like that until she was red in the face. Mac had said that she was too close to Tim to see clearly and I swear Karla considered punching Mac in the face.

Mac came over to me, taking a cracker from the box.

"What should we do?" Mac almost whispered.

I set down the piece I was nibbling on. Why did he ask me?

"I don't know," I said back just as quietly. "Short of locking up Roy, there's nothing we can do until Tim shows up."

Elaine joined our little think-tank, "This will go really bad once Tim shows up. Roy is just getting angrier."

We all looked over at Roy. I could almost feel his waves of anger.

"We need to intercept Tim before Roy does something," I suggested. "Maybe handcuff Tim as soon as we see him. The element of surprise is all we have."

"There are some zip-ties in the storage room, I'll go grab some," Mac took off in search of our secret weapon.

Karla glared suspiciously at us, but remained sitting and chewing her nails. Mac came back and showed only us the black zip-ties in his coat pocket.

"How do we do this?"

"Unless there's a secret entrance you guys didn't tell me about, there's only one way in," I strategized. "Maybe have someone strong open the door when Tim comes in so that they are behind him. We will talk to him and distract his attention, while the person behind him tackles him to the ground and we tie up his hands behind his back."

"Why not just grab him?" Elaine asked.

"He's military. I'd say he's trained in combat. Our best bet is to knock him down and use weight against him to pin him there while we tie his hands up." This was all a guess on my part.

"I take it I'm to be the doorman?" Mac raised an eyebrow.

I bit my lip, "Sorry, it's nothing personal. But the more weight to hold him down the better."

Mac grinned, "That's the nicest way to call someone fat I've ever heard."

I shrugged. I had nothing to say that would make it any less rude.

"You should probably get up there then," Elaine said. "Who knows when he might return."

Mac grumbled, but went to go play doorman and give José a break. Karla watched him disappear with narrowed eyes. She got up, but the glare Roy sent her had her returning to her seat. I didn't see Bernice down here with her sniper rifle; she must have gone back to the roof. There were only seven of us in the common room in total. Hardly a worthy defense.

Elaine grilled me again on how I was feeling. My head was starting to throb where the wound was, so she went to get me some painkillers. She still had not returned when I heard a loud cough from the front. Mac must have been signaling that Tim was here. I got up.

"I'm just going to bring him a water bottle. I'll be right back. Tell Elaine if she comes back before me," I announced, trying to sound aloof.

Roy looked suspicious, but returned to his fidgeting. I slowly walked to the entrance. Please let this work. I was in no shape to fight and this would be messy if we had to resort to that. Mac jerked his head to the doors as I approached.