This is the fifteenth chapter of Wake of the Undead. It is the first chapter in Part Three: Secrets.
Within seconds, Theo's opinion about Victor, Stephen, and Puslinch itself, changed drastically. There, tied up in the back corner of a room, was one of his own, a kid, no less, zombified.
"What?" Theo could hardly wrap his mind around it all. He pulled out his gun, ran up the stairs, and pointed it at Victor's head. Reuben and Leroy immediately aimed their guns at him. "What is this!? What the hell is wrong with you? You are keeping one of ours, a zombie child, in your basement?"
"Look, I know it seems bad, but let me explain," Victor explained. "A few days ago, there was a small hoard that passed through during the night. Reuben and Leroy were out guarding the town, when they saw them. They silently took them all out, but they found the boy. He was bit, and nearly dead. They took him her, and Stephen informed us it was too late. He began running tests on him."
"He's a great test subject," Stephen told them.
"Why the hell wouldn't you tell us James died then, huh?" Theo asked.
"We had no idea he was yours," Leroy told Theo. "We have a quite few kids here, and it's hard to tell who's who when they're pale and dead."
"I'm putting him down." Theo barged back downstairs and aimed his gun at James. He was going to pull the trigger, when Stephen interrupted.
"No! Please, don't kill him. Look, I'm so sorry for your loss, but James here is a remarkable test subject. He is a great example of how the virus actually works. He might be able to help us stop this plague." Theo angrily looked around, put his gun away, and pushed past the others in a fit of rage.
A few hours later, Ron found him angrily packing his things up.
"What are you doing?" Ron asked him.
"I'm leaving," Theo responded.
"What? Why? Because Victor won't let you put James down? Yes, it's devastating, but this place is safe, we have food, shelter, and company. You're just going to leave all this?"
"Yes."
"Where are you going to go, huh? What's your plan?"
"I don't know. That Devon guy said his group was open for us."
"Fine. Do what you want, just don't expect anyone to follow you."
"You don't understand do you? This man is a psycho. He killed a little boy, he didn't even tell us. He has zombies in his basement for Christ's sake!"
"You're just overreacting."
"No, I'm not. I don't trust this man, Ron. I don't see why you do." Suddenly, they heard a noise in the distance. They went outside and saw everyone else was outside listening to it too. They looked over at the gate and saw a car pull up.