Date: 2017-05-23 04:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Romance; Young Adult; Horror; Paranormal
Description: Alex has overcome many obstacles since the apocalypse began. She lost her home. She lost her mother. And now she's lost the man she loves. Imprisoned by Chloe and the Hybrid Army she's put to the test mentally and physically. Alex must rely on an unlikely ally to survive and endure immense pain to protect those she cares about. Determined to fight back she must make decisions that will alter the world she's come to know-even if it results in an unpredictable future. Will Alexandra make the right decision? Will the results be worth the risk? The thrilling adventure continues in Book 5 of the De

The Girl Who Broke Free

By

Angel Lawson

Covers by AngstyG

There are no weapons in the room. No zippers or loose strings attached to my clothing. Nothing that I can fashion into something lethal. It’s strictly hand to hand combat, and by the end of the hour I’ll be sore enough that I’m happy to have nothing to do but crawl into bed.

“Good afternoon, Alexandra,” Cole says. The disturbed glint in his eyes hasn’t left since I was tossed in the van with him months ago. I don’t know if it’s the Hybrid juice running through his veins or the fact his sister’s desperate attempts to break him have succeeded.

“Let’s get this over with,” I reply. I learned when we started this ridiculous game that engaging him in conversation was useless.

I step to the line in the middle of the room, and although he hesitates for a brief second, he does the same. He prefers to start with a little chit-chat, baiting me into a rage so I’ll lose focus. Not today. I ignore his dark eyes and the way they drift toward the rib injury I’m nursing from our last session. I remember when they were blue, and a familiar wave of loneliness washes over me. I shake it off because that kind of thinking will only give him the upper hand.

We’re toe to toe and my eyes linger on his massive biceps. Did they get bigger overnight?  His muscles aren’t the only advantage he has over me. He’s stronger and faster, everything enhanced by the Hybrid vaccine.

Me?

I’m not that big but I’m not a weakling. My brain isn’t filled with   adrenaline-induced hate, and due to my training last winter with Jackson I’m a smart fighter with quick reflexes. It isn’t a fair fight by any means, but day after day I enter the ring with the idea I can win. I just have to figure out his weakness.

Does it hurt to have to fight the man I once cared for every day?

Yes.

Am I letting it break me down like my enemies want?

Hell no.

We stare at one another, waiting for the first move. He’s impatient, shifting on his feet. I move my elbow an inch, getting him to swing and take the first punch, but I duck and he gets nothing but air.

“Nice,” he grunts, veins showing in his neck. He’s pissed and I use the anger as a distraction, kicking him once in the knee and again in the stomach. He catches my foot in his hands and twists, spinning me through the air. I flail for a second, my side aching from the move, but quickly adjust, landing on my knees. I look up at Cole.

He breathes heavily but has a small smirk on his face. We’re synched, primed to fight, and on the same beat we rush forward and collide.

Part One
Alexandra
(Present Day)

Chapter One

As far as jails go, this one is pretty nice. Not that I’m super familiar with jail cells but I did spend time in a cage, so I do have a little reference.

The cells are more like small, unfurnished dorm rooms and there’s a nice selection of books to read. The door is locked between me and the scary things outside, which is a nice perk, although it makes me nervous to not have more appropriate shoes. I know it’s the paranoia from living in the new world for the last year and a half, but a good pair of boots can save your life. I look down at my feet, toes pointed at the ceiling, and frown at the flimsy slip-ons supplied to me by the guards. These shoes will get me killed.

The patch of hazy sunlight on the wall signals the approaching start of my day. I think it means it’s about 7 a.m.. Clocks have lost meaning. A few people cling to the past and wear battery-powered digital, but they’re still just guessing. Most use other measures to track time. Right now, I’m waiting for the sound of the guard outside my cell.  That’s when my day starts, but the few minutes before they arrive, that’s the worst part of the day. The few moments I’m left alone with my thoughts and memories.

I roll to my side and close my eyes, making one last attempt at going to sleep. All that I get is a sharp pain from the bruise forming on my ribs, which inevitably leads to the memory of the gash Wyatt got on his abdomen during the first days we met. How his eyes are hazel with flecks of green. How cocky he looked long ago at Fort PharmaCorp with his mohawk and defined jaw.  How months later, what his lips and hands felt like when we finally acted on our feelings with one another.

I blink and stare at a spot of sunlight on the wall, trying so hard not to think about him bleeding and crumbled on the ground outside the farmhouse in Kentucky. His strong, able body taken from him by an army of genetically altered soldiers.

I try but fail every time to forget the way the gunshot sounded as they dragged me away from him and extinguished Wyatt Faraday’s life and soul from this world for good.

That night, Chloe and her Hybrids also left my friend Jude with him, beaten and possibly dead on the porch floor. I was captured with my sister Jane. In the house, they found Jane’s fellow scientist and more-than-friend Avi Yeun, and the two Mennonites we’d rescued from an Eater attack, Finn and Mary. They brought us to the new Hybrid headquarters, a small college outside of Lexington, and separated us. I’d had zero contact with them since.

This tiny former office in the security building is my cell. Besides being isolated from the other captives, I’ve heard nothing about the other group consisting of Walker, Davis, Jackson, and Parker that left the farmhouse a day before. I know nothing about General Erwin’s army or my friend Paul who stayed to fight for the southern Death Fields, other than that the Hybrids planned to come here after they demolished and dismantled the group. I have to assume Chloe’s army was successful and they, too, are dead.

The spring of the door lock frees me from my painful memories. I sit up, cradling my weak side, and wait for the tray of food to slide across the floor in my direction. Like clockwork, it appears, and I eat quickly because he’ll be back to take me to the bathroom. Then it’s time to start my day.

*

The bucket and rags wait for me in the closet, beneath the note with my chores. I glance at the list, wondering whose clunky script is behind the instructions. I doubt it belongs to Chloe. It seems too trivial. The commander of a massive army shouldn’t be hand-writing chores for her prisoner, even though she clearly has taken a special interest in me.

I pick up the heavy bucket filled with semi-clean water from an outside source and grimace. The bruise on my ribs hurts and I shift hands, hoping the weight of the bucket won’t bother as much on the other side. It works. Sort of.

The murky water sloshes against my pants, soaking my knee. I pass the main office and two Hybrids in quiet discussion and stop at the front door. It’s window day and unfortunately, I’m awful at it.

My job consists primarily of cleaning, scrubbing the security office top to bottom. I wipe baseboards and cobwebs in the corners. I’m given a toothbrush to clean the grout between the tiles in the no-longer-fully functional bathroom.

Occasionally there will be some outside work. Washing window sills or plucking weeds from the grassy areas between the parking lot and the office. Every bit trivial and completely tedious. Nothing something I would consider a priority during the fall of society. But I’m being punished. She wants me to know I’m good for one thing: whatever the hell she wants me to do.

I’m at her mercy.

I dip the rag in the water and wring it out and start the process of cleaning the small square panes by the front door. I catch a hint of my reflection and stare for a moment, trying to identify the woman. Yes, I’m a woman now—nineteen. Long gone is the tidy hair I used to wear in perky pigtails. My hair is long and thick. I mostly wrangle it into a ponytail at the back of my neck to keep it out of the way. My eyes are gray, but look more blueish due to the ever-present dark purple circles, if not actual bruises from taking a punch to the face. I’m pale from not enough sunlight. When I pass by a mirror sometimes I think I’ve just seen a ghost.

In many ways, it’s probably true.

I wipe the rag across the window pane, pretending to wipe away the woman I’ve become.

Chloe decided on making Asbury College her new base of operations. It’s beautiful here. Rolling green hills. Lots of trees and plenty of room for the Hybrids to live and sleep. Out the window I see the green leaves shifting color. I missed the warm days of summer while being locked up in here and now fall has arrived and I’ve little doubt I’ll miss it too. I’ve been here for months, toiling away under the close eye of Hybrids who plot and plan world domination as though I’m nothing but a gnat.

I move to the other side, wringing out my rag again. Wash, rise, repeat. Although I can’t tell from my view out the window, I know the world is falling apart out there as well as it is in here. There’s nothing I can do but wait and watch.

*

Afternoons are the real challenge. The tedious chores end and then my real punishment begins. I change out of my janitor uniform of soft, scrub-like pants and a shirt, and put on the workout clothes I’m allowed to wear during this specific portion of the day. Heavy duty sneakers, spandex pants, and a tank wait for me on my bed when I arrive back in my room. After a quick lunch I’m escorted down the hall to what used to be a conference room.

The walls and floors are padded and a massive bolt locks the door behind me when I enter the room where my sparring partner waits for me, day in and day out.

You’d think Chloe was crazy (well, she is crazy but even this is a stretch) giving me time to flex and work my muscles. But I’m not here to gain speed and skill. No, I’m here as a mental and physical punching bag for her biggest disappointment and failure.

Her brother, Cole.

The first time I walked in the training room and found Cole waiting for me, I actually did have a breakdown. I’d been in isolation for days. Ignored and starved. I cried for my sister. I bawled over Wyatt. Hybrids showed no interest in quelling my emotional pain. They showed no interest in me at all for those first days and when the door finally opened, the guard didn’t show up with food. No, he brusquely told me to follow him. I did so with hopes that Chloe may be ready to negotiate.

It was a cruel joke when they brought me to the padded room and left me with him.

He looked worse than I did, with deep circles under his eyes. His lips were chapped and raw and I wasn’t entirely sure he recognized me. I felt my hair and cheeks. Maybe I was unrecognizable.

“No! Guard!” I screamed to him the minute the door shut with a resolved click at my back. I banged against the surface, beating with my fists. “Get me out of here!”

“They’re not coming back,” he said quietly.

I spun, kicking the door with the heel of my foot.  He just stared at me with hollow, vacant eyes.

“Don’t you dare touch or speak to me.”

“Both of those are going to be a challenge. My sister obviously wants us in here together.”

“To what? Kiss and make up?”

His eye twitched when I said it and I forgot how sensitive he was now. The genetic alteration made him edgy and irrational. He thinks I betrayed him with Wyatt, forgetting that he set us up in the first place. He was consumed with misplaced but very real paranoia.

His attention snapped to me and a chill ran down my spine. “There’s no getting out, Alex. Not out of this room or away from Chloe. Don’t you think I’ve tried?”

“You’re as strong as they are.”

He held up his hands. Red, inflamed welts circled his wrists. He showed me matching wounds on his ankles. My empty stomach turned. “This is the first time I’ve been unchained in weeks.”

“Why now? What do they want us to do together?” It was then that I noticed the crumpled paper in his hands. “What is that?”

“Our instructions.”

It was handwritten and bizarre. My fuzzy, stressed, and malnourished brain may not have even processed it correctly. At least that was what I hoped, but Cole read the instructions aloud and the ball of fear twisting in my stomach since we were captured grew.

“You’ll have one hour of mandatory time in the training room each day. Use it as an opportunity to exert any energy you need to expend.”

“Is that all?”

“Our food, necessities, and treatment of fellow prisoners will be based on our cooperation,” he added.

“No. I’m not playing your sister’s sick games.”

“Then I guess you don’t care if they torture your sister.” Cole gestures to the mirrored stretch of glass against the back wall.

“They’re observing us?” I asked.

“You think they’re not?”

That only made me angrier, and I walked over to the window and tried not to gasp at the sight of my skinny face and wild hair.

“Go ahead and sit back there and watch, psycho. You’ve spent the last year trying to bring me down and I want you to know I’m not going to make it easy. Starve me. Beat me. Do whatever you want. You’ve already taken everything from me. My sister. My father. My family and friends.” I glance at Cole’s reflection in the window. “You destroy everything you touch and I’m not going to play your deranged games! Do you hear that?”

There was no reply. Just me ranting and raving. God knew if she was back there or not. Or if she was already winning the game by making me act like a neurotic fool.

I turned my back on the woman in the mirror and crossed the room to the door, banging on it with my fist until the Hybrid returned to let me out.

“You won’t win,” Cole called as I started down the hallway. Three other guards waited as I passed, one carrying heavy chains. They hadn’t even cleaned the dried blood off the inside of the cuffs.

I blinked back the tears of defeat and squared my shoulders in defiance. Chloe wouldn’t win.

*

They took me back the next day. I’d had nothing but water and a slice of hard bread. The scent of better-tasting food wafted past my door three times a day. My stomach rumbled in protest.

Cole waited for me the same as the day before. Wrists red from the shackles. Face sallow and thin. He stared at me accusingly.

“What do you want me to do?” I finally asked.

“Right now, it’s food,” he said in a flat, emotionless voice. “Next, they’ll come after your sister and those other people they brought in with you. Do you think Chloe will be gentle?”

“How do you know?”

“Where do you think I’ve been this whole time?” His skin was sallow enough and the scabs around his wrists cover scars.

“I know you warned Wyatt.”

“Why?” A crease appeared on his forehead and he looked away. It was clear I wouldn’t get an answer. I rested my hands on my hips. “I’ve fought too hard to just roll over now.”

“For once in your life Alexandra, it’s okay to cave.”

“No, I’m not stooping to her level. I don’t have that crap running through my system. My cerebral cortex is fully functional.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “My humanity is the only thing I have left.”

He glared at me with red, tired eyes, and in a move faster than I knew he could manage at the moment, he stepped forward and punched me in the jaw. My head snapped back and I screamed in pain.

I rushed at him and landed both hands as hard as I could against his chest. He caught my wrists and said, “I’m not you. I’ve got adrenaline and rage and all kinds of twisted thoughts running through my head.”

“Fight them,” I said. “There’s empathy in there. You’re not a Hybrid. That’s why you warned Wyatt.”

It hurt to utter his name.

“No, but even a Mutt can only take so much, Alex.”

I turned and beat on the door, demanding to be let out—taken away from the barbarian. The door opened but instead of releasing me, the guards walked in dragging a skinny person behind them. They throw him on the floor and I realized it was Finn.

“Finn!” I rushed to him but I was dragged off by the two Hybrids. “Are you okay?”

The guard nodded at Cole and I watched with terror as he approached Finn and yanked him from the ground. The kid barely had time to comprehend what was happening before Cole went on a full attack. He punches, kicks, and basically decimates the kid in a matter of seconds.  Finn didn’t have the skills to deflect them or protect himself.

“Cole! Stop!” I shouted but I was shocked still by the sound of electricity buzzing through the room. I heard a throat cleared over speakers I could not see.

“Cole.” Chloe’s familiar voice rang out. “Collect yourself.”

Cole stopped the instant she spoke and dropped Finn’s battered body in a heap on the floor. I struggled away from the guards and to my surprise they let me go to him. I grabbed his wrists, looking for a pulse and found one, but it was faint and he was certainly not conscious. I looked up at Cole and saw nothing but a blank expression and his chest heaving from exertion and rage.

“Good afternoon, Alexandra,” Chloe said from her hiding spot. “It’s my understanding you’re unwilling to cooperate with the physical activities I have set up for you and my brother.”

“I’m not fighting him.”

“Let me make something clear. Cole needs an outlet for his pent-up energy. It will not be with members of my army. It can be you or one of the other traitors.”

She knew she had me. Neither of the Mennonites could survive repetitive altercations with Cole, and I doubt either Avi or Jane would last long. I stared at the two-way mirror and said, “I hate you.”

The speaker clicked off and the guards wrenched Finn from my arms and Cole and I were left in the room alone. He stared down at me and I shot him a glare.

“I told you,” he said. “We’re not going to win.”

That was when I broke, when he used the word ’we’.  My resolve snapped. I had little doubt that I needed Cole to get out of here, and Cole needed to be smarter for that to happen. Playing Chloe’s games might be the only way to make that happen.

He spotted the shift in my demeanor as I stood and said, in a surprisingly low and lucid voice, “Play her game with me and help me get strong again. Help yourself.”

It was twisted, but the rumbling in my stomach betrayed the bigger picture. I wouldn’t survive if I starved. I wouldn’t escape without his help. He dropped my hands and stood in front of me, beckoning me to take a swing. For a brief second it was like we were captured and held in Erwin’s lab all those months ago. That was when he first told me who he was and how he fit into my life. That day, we became a team who didn’t fully trust one another but needed the other to survive.

We were still that team.

“Sorry-not-sorry about this,” I said, faking to my left before spinning and kicking him as hard as I could in the balls.

That night, food waited for me back in my room.

Game on.

Chapter Two

The training went on like that for months. Daily beatings. Small victories—like keeping my friends and family away from the violence. But the morning after my most recent training session with Cole, I’m stiff and sore. The pain in my side aches. Cole got more than one jab near my already-tender ribs, and it would suck if I’m bleeding internally. Of course, I don’t think I’m getting out of this life that easily.

I’m still lying on the bed when my door unlocks and the tray of food comes sliding in.  I glance down at the mash of oats, a single fried egg, and several strips of jerky.   My mouth waters but the pain is worse. When the guard returns, he finds the food uneaten and me holding my side on the bed.

“Get up,” the Hybrid says. “Use the bathroom now, or not at all.”

The Hybrids have no room for human error, simply because they’re not human. Their empathy is overridden by a short fuse and damaged cerebral cortex. So even though it hurts like hell, I haul myself off the bed.

“I’m up,” I announce through gritted teeth.

The trip to the bathroom is excruciating and I hear the impatience of my guard in the hall. I finally emerge and head to get my job for the day.  I yank the slip of paper off the wall. Perfect, cell cleaning. My favorite job.

Yes, there are other prisoners here. My sister being one, as well as Avi and the Mennonite kids. I know little of what they do and never see them. We’re kept on different schedules. Sometimes I hear their voices in the hall and the longing for family and friends grows unbearable. Most of the time, though, it’s like we’re ghosts haunting the same building.

The one peek I have into their lives is when I’m assigned to clean their rooms. The space is as impersonal as my own, but I get a glimpse into the books they’re reading or the clothes provided by the guards.  Jane has a lab coat that hangs on the back of her door. It doesn’t surprise me Chloe has her working on a project. No, I’m not surprised, but I am a little scared.

Avi, my sister’s scientific partner, occupies the third room.  He tended to read up to three books at once, spanning cheesy-looking science-fiction novels to medical books. But there’s always the same dog-eared survival guide tucked under his pillow.

I’m well aware that the task of cleaning my friends’ cells is another attempt to crack me. It’s a simple reminder that I’m not in here alone. That my actions can and will have an effect on others.

The job today nearly breaks me. The pain in my ribs burns until I think I may pass out. I struggle through, but it takes me twice as long to complete the simplest task. I’m coated in sweat by the time the guard tells me I’m done—that my lunch is back in the room. Food is the last thing I want.

My afternoon uniform waits on the bed.

“There’s no way I can put that on,” I declare to the guard in the hall. He looks surprised to hear me speak. Normally I just do what I’m told, trying to keep a low profile. But today I know the energy alone to put on the stretchy, tight pants is more than I have.

“Then you’ll go to training in the clothes you’re wearing.” I hear the skepticism in the guard’s voice. He doesn’t believe I’m truly injured. Either that or he doesn’t care.

“Fine,” I say, gripping my side. Heat rolls off the bruise.

Cole waits in the room. Same position as usual, but today there’s agitation in his face. Clock or no clock, he knows I’m late. He enjoys our training sessions, or whatever the hell they really are.

I don’t know where he sleeps or eats. I do know he wears chains to and from this building. He’s not a free man or an active member of Chloe’s army. Our interactions may be the only ones he has all day.

The door slams behind me and the bolt slides shut. I reach for the wall to steady my feet. He assesses me from across the room, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing.”

“You’re not dressed.”

“No.”

“And you’re favoring your left side.”

“No shit, Sherlock.” He waits a beat and then walks over. I’ve nowhere to run, other than pressing my back against the wall. “Just take it easy on me today, okay? I’ll be ready to play Chloe’s games tomorrow.”

He says nothing in return but invades my space, reaching for the hand holding my side. Clammy sweat drips down my back and I grit my teeth when he lifts the hem of my shirt.  His dark eyes widen when he sees the bruise. I glance down and see the purple, mottled skin.

“It’s fine,” I lie.

His jaw tightens and I really have no idea what he’ll do. Take advantage? Give me a pass? Cole’s behaviors are erratic and disturbing. I never know who will wait for me when I enter this room. Sometimes I spot traces of the sweet boy I unknowingly crushed at my father’s lab in North Carolina. Other times there’s nothing but a cold-blooded psychopath. The man in front of me at the moment is quiet, but something brews underneath. He drops the shirt and I flinch, afraid of any sudden movement.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he says in a low voice.

“You beat the crap out of me every day. I’ve adjusted to the pain.” I avoid his stare. “I’m not a whiner.”

“This isn’t whining. You’re injured. I should have known.”

I look up at him and try to figure out what this means. Is it possible that he holds back during our matches? I know he has empathy. It’s the curse of mixing the EVI-1 vaccine with EVI-2, the chemical soup in their bodies that make them a hybrid of a Hybrid. Or a Mutt, as we call them. The Mutt can feel the human connection, but Cole? His sister has systematically tortured that out of him. His feelings for me are scrambled. A poisonous mixture of blame and betrayal fed to him on a steady diet.

“No one in here cares if I’m injured, Cole. You know that better than anyone else.”

I wobble on my feet and his hands move to my elbows. He helps me slide to the ground where I land uncomfortably and wince. To my surprise, he squats in front of me.

“Why do you think she makes us do this?” he says.

“What? Fight one another?”

He nods.

“I think,” I say, trying to judge his temperament while also glancing quickly at the two-way mirror. Usually if he has a line between his eyes it means he’s thinking and not just running on adrenaline and action. The line is there but another, vague emotion lurks in his eyes. “I think your sister knows we are dangerous together. That our bond goes beyond genetic modification and war zones. Keeping us apart isn’t enough for her. She wants to break us both.”

His hands push into his hair, forcing it up in a curly mess. “She told me you’d try to blame her for your deceit.”

“There’s enough blame in this world to go around, Cole. None of us are innocent.” I take a deep breath, sure that I’m close to passing out. “We used to care for one another. We made promises to each other—to keep each other safe.”

He looks at me accusingly, lips curled. “That was before you left me for him.”

Him.

“No,” I whisper, know this is more of Chloe’s lies. “You sent Wyatt to me. To warn me. You knew Chloe needed to be stopped.”

He blinks. “Because I loved you.”

I don’t know if he understands what that word means. “You wanted to do the right thing. It doesn’t matter. Wyatt’s dead. We’re prisoners. The world is still occupied by rabid monsters and your sister is a sociopath.”

We stare at one another. His mind fluctuates between lucid and unstable. What Chloe does to him when he’s away from me is a mystery but it can’t be good. I reach my hand out to him and he looks at it, like he’s determining if it’s real. Slowly he wraps his hand around mine and when he looks back up his eyes are cold and calculating. He stands, jerking me with him, and I rise to my feet with a pain-filled cry.

“No!” I grip my side but it feels like my ribs have broken in two and pain sears through my body. My cries don’t stop when Cole slams me hard against the padded wall. My head cracks and my teeth rattle together and I fall to my knees. The last thing I see is his foot aiming at my injured side and the feeling of the impact—like a grenade exploded against my ribs. I blink, trying to see his face, trying to understand, but my vision blurs and the world goes black.

Chapter Three

I wake, for the first time in months, in a different bed. Daylight glares into the room and when I try to shade my eyes, my hands don’t move. I squirm but regret that immediately, feeling the sharp, familiar pain in my side. I hear a scratching sound and twist my head toward the direction of the noise, blinking several times, wondering if I’m in a dream.

Jane sits at a desk nearby, pencil working out some problem on a notepad. She’s thin and pale but her dark hair looks tidy, tied back in a modest ponytail. I’d guess she looks like she’s aged three years in the few months we’ve been separated.

“Jane?” I ask when I realize she may actually be here. My voice comes out dry and raw. She looks up from the notepad on her lap and jumps out of her seat. I explode in a series of dry coughs, fighting to stop before I pass out from the pain.

“Alexandra!” She rushes toward me with a small cup of water. I strain to lift my head with my wrists bound, but she presses a gentle hand behind my neck. “Here, drink this.”

“Thank you,” I gasp, feeling half the water dribble down my chin. It’s not the only water on my face. Tears stream uncontrollably down my cheeks. “It’s so good to see you.”

She leans over and gives me the first hug we’ve shared in years. Her elbow digs into my sore ribs but I don’t care. It just feels good to have someone to cling to, even if it’s awkward and uncomfortable. I take a sharp breath and she pulls away quickly, wiping the tears off her own face.

We smile at one another, a little embarrassed at the overt display of emotion.  It took the end of civilization to make us appreciate one another.

“I’d release your arms but I’m under instruction to keep you bound at all times,” she says. She does fold up a small blanket and position it under my head so I can see better. “I don’t want to give them any excuse to take you out of here.”

“I figured, although I’m shocked they even brought me to get help. Where are we anyway?” I ask.

“In my lab.”

“You have a lab?”

“Well, I call it that. It’s the college infirmary with an adequate microscope collection I swiped from the biology department and everything I could use from the chemistry labs.”

“So you’ve made yourself at home.” I laugh, then grimace, immediately regretting it. “So what’s the status on my ribs?”

“Healing. It will take a while for them to feel better. I don’t think there was any major internal bleeding.” She scrunches her nose and presses against the bandaged area. “Obviously it’s still tender. You’ll need to be cautious for a while.”

“I don’t have a lot of control over my life lately. Like I said, I’m surprised the guards brought me here.”

“He didn’t give them much choice,” she says, offering me another sip of water. This time I manage to keep most of it in my mouth.

“He?”

“Cole,” she says. “To be honest, I was a little alarmed when I first saw him running down the sidewalk. A chill ran down my spine. I thought we were under attack but then I saw you in his arms.” She brushes a stray hair off my forehead. “It’s the first time I’d seen him since we got here. Or you, for that matter. They do a thorough job of keeping us all separated.”

“Cole brought me here?” I ask, not understanding. He’d been the one to do this to me. To knock me unconscious.

“He was frantic—well, I assume that was the emotion. With the Mutts it can be hard to tell, you know. The adrenaline mixed with the impulse control makes reading their emotions a challenge. But he brought you straight to me, like he knew I was up here.”

Jane rambles on about cerebral cortexes and frontal lobes, she mentions my concussion, but I can’t figure out how and why Cole got me out of the security office. The whole thing makes my head hurt worse than it already does and Jane finally stops. “I’m sorry. I work all by myself now. I never see anyone. It’s weird having someone to talk to.”

I flex my fingers as she links hers with them. “I understand. I’ve been lonely too.”

She looks to the side, toward the door and whispers, “What are we going to do?”

“We’ll figure it out,” I say, feeling stronger than I have in months.

“Rest.” She pops a pill in my mouth and gives me another sip of water. The medicine goes down quickly and I relax into the pillow.  She’s right. I need to rest. I need to preserve my energy, because now that I’m out of that room there’s no way in hell I’m going back.

Chapter Four

I’m given four days to recover. Jane says that Hybrid officials have come by while I’m asleep to check my wounds and get a status update. The good news is that my injury is bad enough to warrant recuperation. The bad news is that on the final day, I’m a slobbering mess. I don’t want to go back to being alone again.

I sleep through most of our time together but on the last day I wake up early to the smell of pork and eggs. I shift up as much as possible, my hands are still bound. “Is that bacon and eggs?”

“Yes.” She smiles and holds up a piece of greasy, reddish meat.

“How did you manage that?” My stomach rumbles in delight.

“I helped the kitchen deal with some vermin issues. My chemistry degree is coming more in handy than I ever would have suspected. They repaid me with bacon.”

That’s the thing about my sister. She didn’t become the ‘The Director’ of PharmaCorp by chance. She’s good at her job. Not just a brilliant scientist, but she has a touch of the right kind of leadership that inspires people, even while those of us close to her are aware of her flaws.

She places a piece of bacon in my mouth and I savor the salty taste. I’m fed like an invalid, which I’m not, I’m just a prisoner. Tiny things like keeping me bound or forcing me to rely on others is just another trick Chloe uses to keep me off balance. I know it’s an attempt to break my spirit, but despite the pain and injury, I’m rejuvenated just by being with my sister.

“It’s Monday,” she says. “The day they have their weekly briefings. The entire army goes to the gymnasium to listen to Chloe speak.”

“How do you know this?”

“I was invited once to explain the project I’m working on. It’s a two-fold process. Chloe likes to show the soldiers what happens to traitors as well as keep them confident that I’m still around working for the army.”

“What are you working on?” That’s the loaded question I’ve been too afraid or too tired to ask over the last few days. Not because I don’t trust my sister. I think she learned her lesson creating the world-altering E-TR virus in the first place. In her own twisted way, she meant to take down the bad guys and better society. I’m afraid because Jane’s science is too good. She’s shown what can happen when it’s in the wrong hands.

“As you know, with Dad’s help, I created the original vaccine to the E-TR virus after society fell. The original, which worked well in its limited role as a military bio-weapon, resulted in creating an uncontrollable epidemic infecting an enormous number of the population. The infected, or ‘Eaters’ as the media dubbed them, succumbed to a parasite that entered the brain and triggered high levels of aggression, adrenaline, and rage. Empathy and impulse control were completely erased. The parasite also ignited a ravenous urge to spread the virus, and the quickest, easiest way was and is through oral transmission—or simply biting.”

I nod, not sure why we need to go over every step, but it’s nice to hear her voice so I don’t argue.

“I developed the working vaccine, EVI-1, which allowed uninfected persons to survive infection from a bite. But I saw something in the original virus that piqued my interest. I was sure I was on the right path—I just needed to refine my technique and the science behind it. The virus worked at removing much of the dangerous population from society but it went too far. I needed a combat unit to clear the Eaters so we could live peacefully. That’s when I created the EVI-2 injections.”

“Which are less vaccine but more biological manipulation that turned out badly,” I say, barely able to restrain myself.

“Yes, you’re right. I was prideful and believed I had the solution to global terrorism. I thought I had the answer to fixing what I messed up.” She looks at me with more shame than I thought she could muster. “I was wrong on both counts. The first EVI-2 injection was given to Chloe. It was a slight variation on the original virus, eliminating the need for cannibalism. It allowed for intelligent thought, enhanced abilities, and most importantly a controllable psyche. I thought she would be the first lieutenant in my growing army. Instead, due to my lack of understanding of the cravings, Chloe didn’t have the need to spread the virus. She had the need to spread her control and vision via an army with or without me.”

I’d come to reason with Jane and get her to stop the development of her Hybrid army when Chloe initiated a coup. Jane and I escaped, along with three other soldiers, but that didn’t stop Chloe from pushing forward. First she traveled south, building up her Hybrid army all the way to the sea. There she encountered General Erwin and his army of survivors, many members of the rebellion I started before I headed north. I have no idea what happened to Erwin or my friend Paul, but with Chloe here I’m not hopeful.

Paul was our first signal that something good could come from my sister’s bio manipulations. He was kept as a guinea pig for Jane’s early vaccine trials, half dead when we found him. Ultimately, though, he survived and not only regained his health, but the cocktail he’d been fed gave him enhanced strength and skills without the crazy that went along with it. Paul falls into a third category, a Mutt. He’s immune to Eater bites, is crazy fast and strong, but also maintained his empathy and humanity.  Only one other person that we know of is a Mutt.

Cole.

Cole took the second vaccine on purpose. He knew and understood the outcome but felt it was the only way to fight Chloe. Unfortunately, his twin sister’s torture and abuse has pushed his humanity to the brink.

“I know how all this started, Jane. I was there for every hellish step. What does Chloe want you to do now?”

“Right,” Jane says, pushing her brown hair over her ear. She’s slight—smaller than I am, with blunt bangs that cover her eyebrows. Her hair used to be short but it’s grown out now and our eyes are a similar shade of gray. “She didn’t give me a lot of details but specifically asked me to repair the Hybrid vaccine so that it didn’t conflict with EVI-1.”

“She wants to make sure people with the EVI-1 vaccine can get the EVI-2 injection and have the desired transition?” I ask, mulling over the idea.

“Yes, she wants the enhancements as well as absolute mind control over everyone.”

“Unlike the Mutts, who were given the Hybrid injection after being given EVI-1 and maintained their independent thought.”

“Yep,” she says.

I think on this for a moment. “The EVI-1 was given to very few people. The Fighters, like myself, who went to the first distribution center, and later Erwin’s soldiers and the recruits we picked up along the way.”

“Yes.”  She doesn’t meet my eyes when she adds, “The remaining civilians at The Fort were given the Hybrid injection shortly after you left. I’d already transitioned into using them as my main force.”

I recall them storming the vaccine center, looking for me and my friends. We’d narrowly escaped until we were cornered soon after by Chloe.

“With the millions of survivors out there that never had any inoculations, why is she worried about a clean Hybrid vaccine?” I ask, wondering if Chloe is just making Jane run in circles the way she has me cleaning baseboards and windows.

Jane sits in the chair next to my makeshift hospital bed. She doesn’t answer my question but I know she, at the very least, has some ideas.

“Other than Cole, when would Chloe have realized that Mutts are useless to her?”

I think back to what Wyatt told me when we found one another last year. That he’d escaped the south looking for me just before the Hybrid army found him and Erwin down in Savannah. I look up at my sister. “She captured Erwin’s army and injected them with the EVI-2.” Jane holds my gaze, giving me no signal that I’m right, but the goose bumps on my flesh tell me that I am. “She accidentally created an entire army of super-soldiers that she can’t control.”

Jane simply says, “I don’t have any confirmation on this theory, Alex. Nothing at all. She may have figured it out long ago and slaughtered Erwin’s entire base.”

“But if it’s true,” I whisper, suddenly worried I’ll be overheard. “It means Erwin may still be out there with his men and he could be stronger than ever.”

*

They come for me as expected, two Hybrids dressed in full black.  They cut the ties that bind me to the table and I sit up, stretching my stiff back.

“Help her dress,” one of the soldiers says to Jane. The woman stands at the door while Jane helps me back into my prison wear. I inhale sharply when she accidentally grazes the bruise.

“Sorry,” she says.

“It’s fine.”

The elastic waistband is loose enough that it doesn’t hurt too badly and I’m able to move around a little better than I had the day before.  I’ve just slipped my feet into my pathetic shoes when the guard at the door jumps to attention and Chloe breezes into the room with two additional Hybrids following her. It’s the first time I’ve seen her face-to-face in months—since the night she killed Wyatt.

“Alex,” she greets me with a wide, weird smile. “You look like hell.”

“Yeah, I feel like it too, but thanks for noticing.”

“Give her a hairbrush or something,” she snaps at my sister. “It’s like a beast was unleashed on top of her head.”

Jane opens a desk drawer and pulls out a small, travel-sized hair brush and hands it over. I begin the tedious process of working the bristles through my thick hair.

Chloe moves behind Jane’s desk, picking up various reports and papers she’s accumulated. It probably reads like nonsense. I certainly can never understand what she’s scribbling on the paper. I think it’s some sort of shorthand only Jane understands. Although it’s possible my father and Avi are privy to her language.

Chloe once was the flip-side to Cole’s coin. Twins that favored one another with matching ice-blue eyes and blonde curly hair. The medics shaved her hair after she’d been shot in the head when we first got to PharmaCorp, but it’s regrown now, wilder, but a shade darker than before. Her eyes are the hard black that signals the Hybrid transformation, similar to an Eater but without the sickly spider-webbed veins that criss-cross the whites of their eyes.

It makes me physically sick to look at her, to know what she’s done to so many people and to think I once considered her a friend.

“Sit down while you tame that mess,” she points to the chair across from Jane’s desk. She looks up at two of the guards. “Please take the former Director on a walk. We need a little privacy.”

The room has a small flurry of activity as everyone follows directions. The remaining guard lingers at the door until Chloe gives her the signal to leave too. My stomach twists nervously as the guard leaves the room. I know the Hybrids will not help me, but honestly? I’d like a witness to whatever she plans on doing to me next.

“It’s been a while since we spoke,” she says once the room is clear. “I know you’re angry about being kept here but it was a necessity. For such a small, inconsequential girl you’ve been a thorn in the side of the new world order from the beginning. First with your sister and later with me.”

“What’s this about Chloe? Just another opportunity to let me know how worthless I am while being absolutely terrified of me at the same time? We’ve been doing this for a year.” I hold up my rebound hands. “You won. I’m at your mercy. Is your self-esteem so bad that you have to denigrate me to make yourself feel better?”

Chloe leans back in the chair, kicking her boot-covered feet up on the desk, attempting to show how unconcerned she is with me. I wiggle my toes in my flimsy shoes.  I don’t feel very powerful at the moment but it’s hard for me to admit that.

“Do you know why I’ve had you training with Cole all these months?”

I have some theories but I shake my head. “Not really, other than, you know, you’re insane.”

She smiles at my quip. She loves it when I play. “There are a couple of reasons. First, I wanted to punish you both for your betrayal. You thought you could flee my army and the eventual control that I will have over all of the survivors in this country. Cole thought he could double cross me by transitioning into a Mutt. He thought he could fool me.” Her eyes narrow. “You were both wrong.”

I hold her gaze. “What’s another reason?”

“Because one day your sister is going to develop the perfect genetic alteration and you’ll be the first to receive it. I want you strong and ready, mentally and physically so that when the time comes, you’ll be the next leader of my army.”

I fight back a hysterical laugh because she’s so freaking deranged. “And what about Cole? Will he lead it with me?”

She brushes aside the lone hair that has slipped from her braid.  An excited, evil glint reflects in her eyes. “Oh, no. Cole lost his opportunity to be a leader in this army. I have little use for him other than as a training tool for you. I actually have a very different plan for him and it does require your involvement.”

“What sort of involvement.”

“I need someone to kill my brother. I’ve decided that person is going to be you.”

Chapter Five

“You’re crazy.” My instinct is to reach out and slap her but it’s impossible since my hands are tied together. “I’m not doing it.”

“No?”

“No.”

“So even after all we’ve been through these last couple of months you think you have free will? That your actions and decisions don’t have an effect on others? What do you think happens to Cole if he isn’t put out of his misery?”

She stands and says, “Bring her.” to the nearest guard, a stocky Hispanic man in his mid-forties. His eyes are Hybrid black and he reacts instantly to her command by yanking me out of my seat and pushing me toward the door.

In the hallway we pass the two other guards and Jane kneeling, eyes cast on the ground. I desperately try to make eye contact with her but she never looks up.

“Jane,” I say her name knowing this may be the last time we see one another.

Chloe abruptly stops and turns. I realize too late to do anything but watch the swinging slap she lashes against my sister’s cheek. Jane grunts and tips to the side from the force of the hit but manages to stay upright. Rage burns in my limbs.

She steps forward until our faces are mere inches apart. “You don’t get it do you? You step out of line and someone gets hurt. You fail your duties, someone gets hurt. You even whisper the wrong way and…” She lets the last part linger.

“Someone gets hurt,” I say quietly.

She turns without another word and we continue to follow her out the front door of the infirmary. We exit the building and despite the circumstances the warm fall air feels amazing on my face. I tilt my neck up and try to soak in every ray.  We reach the security office and one guard sprints ahead to unlock the door with a thick ring of keys attached to his belt.

I feel more sadness than dread as we approach the building. My reprieve is over and I realize now, more than ever, how trapped I am. I fight back tears when we enter the building and I’m assaulted by the familiar stale scent of my prison. I expect Chloe to leave me with one of the guards at the desk, but she pushes past them and I am given a shove from behind to keep going. The surprise comes when we don’t turn down the hallway toward my cell. We head toward the training room and my stomach tightens. I’m not ready to fight. Not yet, and I’m certainly not prepared to kill Cole today. But again, Chloe does the unexpected and passes the room and enters a door I’ve never used at the end of the hall.

The hallway is dark but she has no problem, her eyesight enhanced. We reach another door and step inside to a flight of stairs going down. The steps are metal, echoing from the soles of her boots. I wobble, unable to use my hands or see until she finally clicks on a flashlight. At the bottom of the steps, faint lights tracked on the ceiling reveal a small room.  A long window stretches across the wall. Whatever lies beyond it is masked in darkness.

Before I can ask one of my million questions Chloe says, “When Cole brought you to the infirmary that day he violated every protocol we have in place. He overpowered my Hybrids and took their weapons. He demanded you be seen by a physician. He exerted strength and compassion we long thought had been eliminated from his system.”

She grabs my arm and drags me toward the window. I hear the click of a lever and dim, yellow lights reveal the room beyond the wall. Cole huddles in the corner, bloody-faced and shirtless. The genetic alteration makes his muscles taught and firm despite his thinness. Red gashes stripe his skin—whip marks? His face exposes his fragility. His eyes are glassy and distant as he stares into space, lips moving as he mutters to himself.

“As a Hybrid he is a complete and utter failure. As a Mutt he’s a dangerous enemy, even though I have done my best to rid him of the toxic nature of compassion.”

I press my bound hands to the window and thank him silently for saving my life. He looks up, directly at the window and stares. His altered, freaky senses alert him to my presence.  His eyes are sunken, his cheeks thin and gaunt. His hair is a matted, greasy mess.

She turns and eyes me, head to toe. “You lit a spark in him, Alexandra. And that means only one of two things can happen. We have to kill one of you, but like I said, I have a plan for you. You’re still useful to me. Cole? He’s a liability. I can’t get a return on that investment.”

I stare at him, looking lost and battered, and try to conjure to mind the young, vibrant man that my father tasked with making sure I survived the journey south to find my sister. Along the way we became partners and then friends. Eventually we evolved into something more than that. Sadly, he and I have never been more than pawns in a bigger battle.

Finally I gather the courage to say, “I won’t kill him.”

“You will, or things will get drastically worse for him and you.”

I turn to face the woman that was once my friend. “How does it get worse than this Chloe? I’m a prisoner. You’re planning on injecting me with Jane’s next crazy potion to turn me into one of those zombie soldiers. I’d rather be an Eater. At least they aren’t a hostage to anything but their minds before they decay and die. I agree and disagree about Cole. Yes, he’s a lost cause—as a human. He didn’t save me because he wanted to help me. He saved me to help himself, like all Hybrids and Mutts he’s about self-preservation above all else. He’s fully aware of your plot to drive him mad. I’m the only thing keeping him alive right now. If I was dead he knows you’d have little to no use for him at all.” It’s a lie. The fact he saved me, no matter how painful and violent, means he may actually have his soul is in there somewhere. I’m not willing to give up on him just yet.

Chloe studies me closely, like she’s trying to suss out the lie. I keep my face blank but her reply knocks me back a couple feet, at least emotionally. “You want to know what else I can do to you if you don’t follow orders, Alexandra?” I want to reply, give her back some snark and sass but for once don’t. The bloody welts on Cole’s body are enough proof to keep me quiet. She glances at the guard behind her. “Take her to her room and await my orders.”

I’m yanked from behind, hard enough to make my ribs feel like they’re being stretched and torn. The guards drag me up the stairs and back down the hall until I see the plain white door of my cell. It’s unchanged from when I left it days before. Chloe doesn’t come with us. I don’t know where she’s gone, and even though I put on a brave face I’m terrified of the results I will cause. The binds are cut from my wrists and door slams and locks. I sink to the bed, biting my lip to keep from crying.

Someone has to stand up to her and right now that someone seems to be me.

*

If I think I’m going to get a break, I’m a fool. A familiar guard appears soon after I returned to the cell with my workout clothes.

“Put those on. I’ll be back in ten minutes.”

I stare at the workout shirt and pants for at least half of that time before coming to my senses and just get dressed. The elastic on my ribs is painfully tight and pulling the stretchy top over my head nearly wipes out my energy. The guard returns as I’m tying the lace on my left sneaker.

We travel back down the hall and I brace myself. I’m not going to fight him. Chloe already tipped her hand that she doesn’t want me dead. And I’ve already told her I’m not killing him. We’re at a standoff until something gives. I just hope she leaves Jane and the others alone until I figure out some way out of here. That, or until Erwin and his double-juiced army finds us. Ever since Jane revealed that information to me I’ve had a renewed spark of hope.

The guard unlocks the door and I step inside, recoiling at the stench. Cole has been brought from his cell in the basement and left in the corner, chains attached to his wrists and the floor. He’s covered in his own filth. He barely looks up to acknowledge me in the room.

“So I’m supposed to fight him today?” I jerk my thumb toward Cole.

“Actually, no,” The Hybrid says and looks across the room at the opposite door Cole usually comes through. One that I know leads to his underground cell. I notice the guard’s knuckles are scraped and raw. He’s been beating on someone recently. I assume it’s Cole. “You’ve got a new partner.”

Fear rolls down my spine. It could be Jane or Avi. God, it could be one of the Mennonite kids. A deeper fear washes over me when I realize Jane could send an Eater in here and leave me weaponless and Cole defenseless. Two birds—one cannibalistic, bloodthirsty stone. I told her I would rather go that way. Maybe she was bluffing about not wanting me dead. Maybe this is all just more mind games.

Shit, I realize a second too late. It is all just more mind games and I’ve probably just walked into her biggest one yet.

The door opens and a figure is shoved into the room back first. My first instinct is relief. He’s too tall and broad to be Jane or the Mennonites. Confusion takes over quickly as I notice the green and gray camouflaged pants and muddy boots. A sick feeling rolls in my stomach. He bangs on the door, swearing and kicking with the toe of his boot. Familiar inflamed red marks circle his wrists. The sound of his voice resonates deep in my soul and my heart drops to the pit of my belly. He runs both hands through his shaggy hair and spins, taking in the room and then me. We face one another, mirrored images of confusion and shock. I’m not the only ghost walking the halls of this building. This one actually came back from the dead.

“Wyatt?”

Part Two

Wyatt

(6 Months Ago)

Chapter Six

I wake face down with the smell of dirt in my nose. Birds chirp, along with the low familiar moan I’ve come to loathe, making a disjointed ringing in my ears. The sound doesn’t scare me—not anymore—not like those early days where I felt like I was about to jump out of my skin at the slightest sound or movement.  No, now it’s more of a nuisance than anything else. The problem at the moment is I can’t get my eyes to open or my arms and legs to cooperate. I’m not dead but nothing is working.

A howl rips through my thoughts and a glob of something sticky and wet lands on my cheek. I bat it away and my hand hits against something hard and sharp.

I force my eyes open, blink away the images in my face. The teeth and the retched stench.

“Shit, shit, shit,” I mumble, kicking the dirt with my heels, trying to get the hell away from the Eater standing over me.

His black, spider-veined eyes widen when I speak, like he wasn’t sure if I was dead or alive either. If it weren’t for the all-consuming pain racking through my body I wouldn’t be sure myself. He shrieks, the painful sound turning wrathful. I barely breathe before his jaw opens wide and he lunges at me.

I roll to my left, across the wet grass and over my bruised arm. The clotting wound on the back of my head reopens and blood gushes down my neck. Using every ounce of strength I can muster, I push myself up on two hands and glance back the farmhouse we’d been holed up in for the last couple of days. The Eater rushes at me, filthy hands grabbing at my shirt. Panic jolts through my system and I get to my knees with a groan and then to my feet. My calf seizes in pain and I recall taking a kick to the back of my leg. My injuries don’t matter to the infected, who takes my hesitation as an opening, and he’s back on me in a flash. I kick him in the side of the knee, throwing him off balance, and run toward the house, searching the area for a weapon.

I don’t find one as much as it finds me. I trip over something hard on the ground and look down. Alexandra’s hatchet.

Intense rage fills every inch of my body and instead of running away from the monster, I charge at him. Screaming at the top of my lungs, I push through the throbbing pain in my head and the aching muscles. I’m sick and tired of my life being controlled by monsters and men. I swing the hatchet across the Eater’s throat, slashing the dirty, decaying flesh. Thick blood sprays across my face. I kick the maimed monster to the ground and smash his head with my boot.

“God damn you stupid mother-trucking infected monsters,” I shout at the body, long after he’s dead. “You can’t have it all! You can’t! You can’t take everything I’ve fought for, you nasty, slime-faced bastard!”

I beat the Eater until he’s nothing but a bloody, mangled pulp and then, finally exhausted, I rest my hands on my knees and look around. The yard is empty, quiet other than the sounds of nature—no other Eaters lurking about. The house is still. Chloe’s vehicles that were parked along the road are long gone. There are no bodies from either side. No signs of violence or even a real struggle. A sense of dread builds in my chest.

I’ve barely steadied myself when another long moan fills the morning air and I clutch the hatchet in my hand.  The birds grow still in the aftermath of my breakdown but there are no signs another Eater is coming. I shade my eyes from the glaring sunrise and spot something on the porch. Boots and a body.

I recall stepping over his body during the ambush the night before and run to the porch. Kneeling next to Jude, I see that he’s alive, although not completely conscious. He’s injured—severely—taking an even more intense beating than I had.

“Hey buddy,” I say to the younger man who has become my mentee and friend. “I really need you to not die, okay?”

I roll his deadweight body on his back and lay his arms above his head. I open the door and drag him in backwards, entering the kitchen. I keep my eyes on Jude and away from the counter top. It was the last place Alex and I had been together before shit hit the fan.  We found a minute of privacy and she’d been sweet and sexy and if I closed my eyes I could remember what she tasted and felt like.

If. That sort of luxury is gone. I knew it then and I know it now.

A rollercoaster of emotions passes over me. Fear, anger, sadness. Chloe spent the better part of a year looking for Alexandra. Her death wouldn’t be kind or slow. Which meant I had time to get to her, but due to the ache in my arms and back along with the throbbing pain in my head, I know I am going to need a couple days to recover.  Same for Jude, if he makes it through the next twenty-four hours.

I get him all the way in the kitchen, his form taking up most of the floor. I step over him and close the door, securing the lock, but then I hear the second spring trigger. The door and a gun.

Dammit. Not again.

“Turn around.”

I turn slowly, kicking Jude’s foot in the process, trying to formulate a plan. I breathe in relief when I see the person holding the gun. Green is barely in the kitchen—mostly still in the hall—leaning his sick and injured body against the wall.

“Green? It’s me, Wyatt. For the love of God, don’t shoot.”

He steps closer to the door and lowers the gun. Disbelief and trauma is written all over his face. “Wyatt? You’re alive?” He looks on the floor. “And Jude?”

“Also alive, for now.”

We stare at one another, two soldiers assessing the situation, but I’m not sure how much longer I can keep standing. A fine sweat has broken out on his face. We’re both in piss-poor shape.

“Come on,” I tell him. “Help me get this bastard to the bed. If we’re going to help Alex and the others, we all need to heal up.”

He nods and bends down to take Jude’s hands while I move to his feet. As we slowly half carry/half drag his body down the hallway one thing becomes clear. If Alex is expecting the cavalry, she’s going to be waiting for a while.

Chapter Seven

When Chloe’s Hybrids left the farmhouse, they didn’t take the backpacks and supplies, including the cache of weapons gathered in the living room. Clearly they were here for one thing only, people, and once they got what they came for, they left quickly.

Too quickly to check to see if I was still alive. Too fast to realize the wound on Green’s neck was healing.

“I played dead—which wasn’t far from the truth,” he says once we get Jude in the bed. There’s nothing much we can do but check on him and hope he heals. We’re lounging in the living room dealing with our own pain and injuries. “I was weak and there was no way I would be able to take on one of those things—much less twenty. They stormed the front door and gathered everyone up. Jane was actually the one that told them I was dead or dying from a bite wound. They all seemed satisfied enough and left the room, although that’s when something odd happened.”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“I thought they all left and cracked my eyelids just enough to get a peek of the room. There was one Hybrid that stuck around, watching me. I thought for sure I was dead, like he was waiting to catch me playing opossum and then he’d go for the kill. But he just stood there silent for a moment until he caught my eye. We shared a look—“

“What kind of look?”

“Hell if I know.” I frown, skeptical, wondering if he hallucinated the whole thing. “But it happened and I thought he was going to blow my brains out with the rifle he held in his hands. Instead, he turned and left the room, slamming the door behind him.”

We sit in silence for a moment because his story is certainly strange and I’m unsure if I should call bullshit or mental illness. I keep quiet instead.

Alex’s hatchet rests by my leg, as well as the black backpack she’s managed to carry with her since we first met.  Two small black guns lay on the coffee table. I can’t shake the paranoia from the ambush or that only one random stray Eater found its way here and that there isn’t a horde following behind him, but it’s quiet outside. The doors are locked and windows boarded up.  I’m also so exhausted I can barely see straight, and any battle I fight right now will have to take place from the couch.

“They left me for dead in the yard.” I hold up the red stained cloth I have against the back of my head. “Not sure what they took me down with but it hurts like a mother. I woke up with an Eater sniffing around my face.”

“It’s been hours since they left. Where do you think Chloe took them?” he asks.

“She mentioned a new headquarters or something, but nothing specific. Going after them right now seems like suicide. We’d be better off with a different plan.”

“What are you thinking?” His color looks a little better now that he’s off his feet.

“Ideally we should try to catch up with Davis and Walker, but they’re a moving target. I hate to jinx them but it’s likely they could get captured at any time by Chloe’s Hybrids.”

“It may be a risk but I think we should try to get to Catlettsburg,” he says.

“You don’t think it’s compromised?”

“It’s possible but if Chloe followed you up here maybe she got to Alexandra before finding the settlement? It’s worth a shot. The town is fortified and well stocked. They aren’t prepared for combat but that’s another reason we should check in on them.” He looks thoughtful. “They’re good people. It would be devastating to lose them to the Hybrids.”

“How far is it again?” I ask, and Green describes the distance and route we would need to take. I look him over. “When will you be ready to travel?”

“With you as my companion? I may need at least a few days’ rest.” He jerks his head toward the bedroom. “I’m not sure when he’ll be ready.”

I rub the increasingly long beard on my chin and nod. My stomach rumbles and I unzip Alex’s backpack.

“You looking for food?” Green asks.

“Yeah, she’s good at cramming stuff in tight.”

He laughs. “On the way up from Augusta we got cornered by a pack of dogs. Like, skinny, snarling, hungry-as-hell dogs that were looking for their next meal. We were up on this embankment and it was pretty obvious they were going to take us in the next few minutes. Walker wouldn’t let us use our ammo but no one wanted to kill a dog with their knives or whatever. I mean, a couple still had collars on their necks. Everyone was freaking out—no one wanted to get mauled by a dog after everything we’d gone through, you know? But Alex just unzips her pack and starts pulling out shit. She’s got can of food and packages of tuna and jerky. It’s like a whole pantry in there.”

I smile at the image. “She feed it all to the dogs?”

“Yep. Just tossed it at them like they were her pets. One followed us for three miles. I think he thought he found a new owner.” He leans back into the cushion. “What’s she got in there?”

I unzip the bag, feeling a little guilty about invading her privacy, but moral issues like that disappeared when people started eating other people. I pull out her hoodie and the three extra pairs of socks she insists on having at all times, the small bag where she keeps toiletries zippered away. I find four sticks of greasy store brand jerky she’s probably had hidden for months and three cans of soup in the bottom of the pack. My fingers dip into a small pocket and brush against a small circular piece of metal. I hold it between two fingers but keep it in the pack. I know exactly what it is. I’ve seen Alexandra look at this ring dozens of times over the last year. It’s her mother’s wedding ring, taken from her finger the very night we met.

“I’ll go heat some water,” I tell him, shoving the ring back in the pocket and swallowing past the lump in my throat.

*

Jude wakes long enough to get some water and salt into his system. He’s not fully coherent so I don’t tell him anything that’s happened. He calls me a bastard when I check the wound on his head, so at least he recognizes me.

At nightfall, I tell Green to take a nap and I’ll take a modified first shift. I’m too injured to do much but sit at the kitchen table in a straight-backed chair. It’s just uncomfortable enough to keep me awake.

Alex’s backpack rests on the table in front of me. My purpose is to repack it like she’d had it before I rummaged through for food, but I find myself taking out each item, one by one, trying to get a glimpse of the woman I’ve lost.

I’ve only got the moon for light, but it’s bright enough for me to see how her belongings are an organized snapshot of her life. I stack socks and a tightly rolled pair of jeans. Zip lock bags filled with panties and bras that I’m man enough not to open. I find a baggie of squished gummy vitamins and another with carefully separated pieces of toilet paper.  A small tool kit and a handful of bullets, unmatched and not for any of the specific guns we carry.

One section reveals three books, including one she picked up at some point about edible plants in the wild. Another is a hardback about the Civil War, focusing on land battles in the North Georgia mountains. I feel a swell of pride as I realize she’s been studying up. She’s serious about kicking ass.

The final book is a paperback novel with cheery, quirky lettering on the front. Something with a happy ending, I guess.

A thick envelope sticks out of the inside pocket and I pull it out and peek inside. It’s a stack of photos. Random images she probably printed off her phone when she realized her sleek little smartphone and computer were about to become dinosaurs. I stare at the one of Alexandra hugging on a friend. She looks so young, literally bright-eyed and curious. Two pig-tails hang down her shoulders and she has on ridiculous striped knee-socks and a familiar kitty cat T-shirt. I flip it over and read a hand-scribbled date of two years ago with two names.

Alex and Liza

She looks so young, but she was already seventeen. Too young for this shitty life—too young for a guy like me, who’d already seen the world and fought in wars and helped tip society on the brink.

I set the photos on the table and reach back in, my fingers brushing against the cool metal ring I’d found earlier. I fish it out and hold it up, the moonlight glinting off the platinum.

Alex took the ring from her mother the night she killed her. The whole grisly event happened minutes before she stumbled into the old truck I’d hunkered down in for the night. She didn’t know then that I’d been assigned by her sister to ensure she arrived safely at PharmaCorp with the data and samples needed to create the first vaccine. She didn’t know my hands were dirty with the blood of others. Neither of us had any idea what the future held. At that very moment she was a grieving daughter and a terrified girl holding a gun in the face of a mercenary that could have ended her life in a heartbeat. She had guts then and she’s only matured into a strong, self-assured woman that can kick more rabid Eater ass than anyone I’ve ever met.

My heart twists like a screw twists through the flesh.

I hold up the picture of the girl with the pigtails and stare at her innocent face. I wonder what would have happened if I’d never entered her life. If I’d stayed up in those mountains? She would’ve had enough strength to survive the Crisis without my help. She could’ve met a man like Green who has the skills but not the baggage. He helped her escape Chloe. I did nothing but lead a monster and her army to Alex’s door.

It took Alexandra a long time to make a dent in the walls I’d built around myself, and with every passing moment I’m not sure I should have let down my defenses.

I repack the bag, item after item securely in place, except for two things. I tuck the ring and photo in my pocket—a reminder of the sacrifices we have to give.

Chapter Eight

The following two weeks starts a familiar pattern.  Sleep, eat, rest. When I wake on the couch the fourth morning after the ambush, my headache a little less than the day before, I hear voices in the kitchen.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in bed?” I ask from the doorway. I rub my face to wake up. Jude and Green sit at the kitchen table. A small ration of food is between them. We’re nearly out of everything.

“Hey man.” Jude’s smile turns concerned when he gets a good look at my bruised face. My skin has taken on a garish purple hue over the last two days. “What the hell happened to you?”

I eye his split lip and busted nose. “Same thing that happened to all of us. The apocalypse.”

“Green was just telling me the plan to head to Catlettsburg. You down with that?”

I nod. “Yeah, I’m worried about sticking around here too long. How much longer do you need?” He’s still pale and washed out. Probably dehydrated. I’ve got no interest in heading out into the Death Fields weak.

“Honestly,” Jude says, as though he’s ever anything but, “I’m gonna need a few more days.”

“You’ve got it.”

Jude holds up a can of cold soup, but I shake my head. I’ve got to take a piss. I head out the back door.

The morning air is brisk but it feels good against my foggy head and weary muscles. My leg is feeling better but I can’t fully shake the headaches. That butt to the head wasn’t my first concussion. I move around the side of the house, not looking for privacy—there’s plenty of that these days—but to get my back against the building while I take care of business. I’m halfway through relieving myself when I hear a rustle in the bushes near the barn.

“Shit,” I mutter, buttoning my pants with one hand and reaching for my knife with another. I press my back against the wall and wait. The bushes shift and branches bob up and down. The movements seem jerky and lumbering but not the frantic rush of a larger group. The last thing I want to do is deal with another stray Eater right now.

I wait patiently for the monster to come out, but it doesn’t seem in a rush. I’ve about given up when limbs snap and I hear a sudden burst of footsteps on the ground along with a strangled noise. I lean out to get a better look and come face to snout.

“Savannah?” I say, calling to my horse. She nickers in reply. I rub her neck and press my face against hers, feeling genuine relief for the first time in days. “I thought you were gone.”

I step further in the yard and see a second horse. It’s Jude’s horse, Murray. I walk over and grip his mane, pulling them toward the house.  I kick the back step, too excited to be quiet and shout, “Green! Jude! Come on out!”

The door swings open and I see gun barrels before faces, but Green slowly emerges. Jude follows, stepping over the bloody, stained imprint of his face on the porch floorboards.  His mouth lifts up in a wide grin. “Murray!” he shouts, holding his arms out at his horse.

“Our trip back to Catlettsburg just got a little easier, don’t you think?” I say, patting Savannah on the back.

*

At first sight, the walls aren’t that impressive. It’s just metal sheeting separating the Death Fields from Catlettsburg. But as we get closer I realize just behind it are camouflaged brick and stone blending in with the surroundings.

“Clever,” I say to Green who’s riding the horse next to me. The three of us take shifts on the two horses and move slow. None of our abused bodies can handle a lot of impact or jostling on the back of a horse.

We dismount and I hand Green the binoculars. We’re about six blocks from the center of town and haven’t run into anyone, human, Hybrid, or Eater in our day of travel. I’m eager to find out what’s on the other side of those walls.

Green frowns. “They’ve actually done some of this since we left. The exterior was one of my primary concerns, particularly after being at The Fort.” Avi apparently had created a fortress-like environment long before the Crisis was a reality. From what I’m told, Avi was the ultimate prepper—the brains behind the sustainability of PharmaCorp. He’d come up here with the same idea, although without Jane and her deadly bio-weapons. “It’s possible they were waiting for spring.”

It’s a solid theory but we also know it could be that Chloe beat us here and put her Hybrids to work fortifying the existing fence. Whatever happened, there’s an eerie quiet as we move closer to the town.

Green leads us to the entrance, down long-abandoned and cleared side roads. Small towns have always had a touch of emptiness as you leave the rural areas and approach their historic business centers, but after nearly a full year things have taken a drastic toll. As the rambling hills and farmland fades into pavement and cinderblock, things take on an eerie quiet. The winter weather sped things along, revealing the rusted cracks on deserted vehicles and storefront awnings. Weeds and vines spill over curbs and driveways. A fair-sized doe and her baby nibble on sprouting green leaves creeping into the drive-through window of a dry cleaner. They glance up and dart quickly down the road when they hear us coming.

Broken glass litters parking lots from looted shops and businesses and there’s no one around to clean up the litter that accumulates along the side of the roads and in fence corners. We’ve officially entered the gloomy stage of the apocalypse usually seen in movies or on sleek book covers.

“Damn this place is depressing,” Jude says, echoing my thoughts. We’ve tied the horses in the burned-out bay of a garage two blocks back and are trying to get a better idea of what’s waiting for us. “You promise the inside is better?”

“It was when I left,” Green says. He points up and I crane my neck until I see the two men with rifles keeping watch.

“I don’t think they’re wearing black,” Jude says, peering through the binoculars.

I shake my head. “No, me either.”

“I don’t recognize the guy up there but let me make first contact, “Green says. “Hopefully they’re expecting us. You guys back me up.”

We get into position, Jude and I taking opposite sides of the road. I press my back against the peeling paint on the side of a flower shop. Jude crouches behind a busted fast food sign. Green walks casually down the road toward the makeshift gates to the town.

I can’t hear when he finally speaks but I know that I need everything to be okay. I need a bed to sleep in and weapons at my disposal. I need warm food and a map of the area. I will find Chloe and if God’s willing, rescue Alexandra. Then I will end this fucking war

I hold back a sigh of relief when Green turns and waves us down. The gates open with a slow creak, wide enough for a person to get inside. I haven’t holstered my gun, I’m not that dumb, and when I get close enough to Green I see his eyes shift to the side.

“Something’s off,” I mutter, just loud enough for Jude to hear. He’s already spun so that his back is to mine and in a blink we’re surrounded by men and women carrying weapons. Their faces are covered with handkerchiefs and bandannas, heads with black or gray stocking caps. I observe their jeans and T-shirts and ragged hoodies, but each carries the demeanor and stance of a solider. They appear calm and controlled. I’m not getting a Hybrid vibe but something else entirely.

“Look,” I say, “We’re not here to hurt anyone. We were sent by Dr. Yeun. He needs your help.”

There’s silence in the group yet no one flinches or drops their weapon even an inch. It’s a familiar reaction. None of the people surrounding us are in charge. They’re waiting for their commander to give an order or make a decision. I wait another beat and try again. “We’ve got important information for your leaders. We’re happy to check our weapons. But really, it’s important that we talk to someone in charge.”

I do the unthinkable and place my gun on the ground. I nod at Jude and Green and they do the same, although Green is red–faced and reluctant. Obviously he doesn’t recognize these people either. Catlettsburg has been over taken and not by the Hybrids. Adding another player to the mix is nerve–wracking but we’ve expected it all along.

There’s another stretch of quiet but then it’s broken by movement deep in the group of people. Bodies shift until they part like the sea. I can’t see source of the movement and my aching, sore muscles tense. I count the seconds it will take to get my second gun out of my waistband.

Three

Two

One

My fingers twitch and a tall, broad figure emerges. He’s got a black bandanna over his mouth with the white painted outline of skeletal teeth spreads wide and menacing from ear to ear. Too dark eyes peer over the top and a chill runs down my spine.

“Holy shit,” the masked man says, just as my fingers graze my pistol. He jerks down the smiling mask and the fake grin is replaced by a genuine one as he looks between me and Jude. “I didn’t think we’d ever see you two bastards again.”

The adrenaline spikes and I feel my own grin. Jude is already in the Asian man’s arms, embracing him in a full bear hug. Paul stares at me like he’s seeing a ghost and I’m sure my expression mirrors his.

“Will you tell these people to lower their guns,” I say, walking over and giving him my own hug.

“Right,” he says, and tells his soldiers all is well. They move as a well-oiled unit and again, something seems amiss.

“Chloe is alive. Her army is nearby.” I glance over at the nearest soldiers, my radar still pinging. I notice the worry in Jude’s eyes as well. “How did you even survive her attack? I don’t get it.”

“We’ve got a lot to tell you, but first come in, get clean and eat. After that I’ll explain how we’re going to bring down the Hybrid army for good.

Chapter Nine

Paul brings leads us down the quaint streets of Catlettsburg toward the center of town. Historic houses line the road and Green points to one with wide green awnings and says, “That’s where the Ramsey sisters lived.”

I glance at the white clapboard house and think about Alex staying there for all those months. She was able to sleep peacefully in a bed. Eat meals at a table. She had part of her family back. I assume it was during this time Green developed a crush on her. That’s easier to do when things aren’t life and death. A person can think about the future when he’s not running from monsters.

Although the place feels plucked out of a TV movie, things aren’t exactly as Green described. Erwin’s soldiers are visible, many I knew and recruited myself. Many walk up and shake my hand. Some even stop to embrace Jude—his personality always kind and infectious. But I notice a change in them. Something slight but I keep my concerns to myself. This world changes people. Maybe they see something different about me, too.

The deeper we get into the town, it’s not just the soldiers that don’t match up, and Green looks wary and confused as well. He’d clearly said the community had few basic survival skills. That Avi didn’t believe in violence and wanted a peaceful existence. This, of course, was before he learned of the Hybrids and the convergence of opposing armies. We pass more than one group of civilians in the midst of training exercises.

“Did you force them to join,” Green asks Paul. It’s not accusatory, just curiosity.

“They were eager. We didn’t even have to fight for the town. We walked right in and they gave it over. They’ve been looking for a real leader.”

“I think we’re learning scientists may not be the most reliable leadership,” I agree. I grab Paul by the arm. “Dr. Ramsey? Did he make it?”

“He did and he’s here with us. Erwin made his safety a priority.” He gives me a questioning look. I know he wants to know about Alex but I told him to wait until I could tell them all at once. Just like I haven’t voiced my suspicions or asked him about the lack of uniform and the crazy face masks, yet. I will before the day is over.

I do relent and say, “She’s alive—or she was until three weeks ago.”

“Three weeks.” He curses under his breath. “Damn, it’s like we’re ships passing in the night.”

They were that close to getting to us before Chloe.

We reach the steps of the courthouse and enter the brick and marble building. The interior is bright due to the massive windows arched at the ceiling.  Our boots echo off the floors and we follow Paul up the stairs to a hallway with offices. Double doors stand at the end of the hall and the plaque by the door says “Mayor.”  Paul marches toward it and without a hint of hesitation swings them open.

General Erwin sits behind a massive desk centered in the room. A huge window fills the back wall, overlooking the town and the rolling river nearby. The General looks up as though he’s expecting us. A pair of soldiers flank him, their dark eyes unmoving.

“Boys,” he says, standing. “It’s good to have you back. Although all of you look a little worse for the wear.”

“Winter was brutal,” Jude replies and a quip about the General aging himself lingers on the tip of my tongue but that’s just it. He doesn’t look a day older or haggard in any way. If anything, his cheeks are flushed with health and his shoulders broad and fit. Only his balding dome remains the same.

I’ve already stepped into the office and the door shuts with a click behind me when I realize what’s been bothering me this whole time. The soldiers outside the fence, the ones on the streets of town, even Erwin standing before me.

The hair on my neck stands on end and I reach for the gun in the small of my back. I kick Paul behind the knee, managing to catch him by surprise and secure his neck in the crook of my arm—my gun held to his temple. The room explodes into action. Erwin’s men jump on Green and Jude, pinning my shocked and confused friends to the ground before they have a chance to react. Jude’s knife slides across the ground and under the desk. Paul doesn’t resist, but I sense communication passing between him and the General.

“Hold your fire!” Erwin shouts to the soldiers and the room grows still.

“What the hell?” Green asks, looking up at me from the floor.

I narrow my eyes at Erwin, who’s staring at me from behind his desk, amusement lifting one corner of his mouth. He knows that I know.

“Yeah, Erwin, what the hell?” I say, tightening my grip on Paul. “Since when did you become a filthy Hybrid?”

Chapter Ten

The tension in the room ratchets up. Jude and Green look at the soldiers in the room and realization dawns.

“Everyone stand down,” Erwin says, his voice everything a General’s should be. His men react immediately, giving the definite impression he’s their commander. I release Paul and shove him toward the desk. I don’t remove my finger from the trigger. He notices and nods to the extra soldiers in the room. “Clear out.”

“I need an explanation. Now,” I say, once they leave the room. My heart beats like a thousand drums.

“I’m happy to give you one, son. No one is going to hurt you.” He glances at Green and Jude. “Any of you. We’re still on the same side of this shitty battle. The good news for you is that my army has been given an upgrade.”

Suddenly, the trip, my recovery, and the lack of food and drink hits me like a ton of bricks. I grab the back of the closest chair and yank it closer to the door. I can’t help but grimace from the lingering pain as I sit. Green and Jude sit while Paul moves behind the desk to stand next to Erwin, who also has relaxed into the leather seat. He’s caught on to my injuries and probably those of the others. The smartest thing for me to do is listen.

“From the beginning,” I say.

Erwin rubs his shiny, bald head. When I first met him he was full of vitriol and panic. Looking for the cure and determined to get it anyway possible. He nearly had me killed in a one-on-one battle with an Eater. We’ve come a long way since then.

“The Hybrid army caught up to us soon after you left Savannah. We were ready for them and were able to get some early units out to slow them down. All in all we put up a pretty good fight, but we weren’t just fighting humans. She had us outmanned and out-powered with Hybrid strength. I thought for sure she was going to swarm us and take us down in a fiery blaze but it quickly became clear that Chloe wasn’t interested in killing our soldiers.”

“She captured them and sequestered them in an enormous warehouse,” Paul says looking directly at me. “She planned on injecting them with the EVI-2 inoculation with the idea of changing them to Hybrids.”

“They were dead one way or the other. Slaughtered by Hybrid or left defenseless for the Eaters. Yeun decided I should surrender,” Erwin says, with a twinkle in his eye that says the exact opposite.

“After you and I discussed Cole and his transition into a Mutt, I felt confident that Chloe hadn’t realized the consequences of mixing vaccines. If our people were injected with the Hybrid vaccine after getting the EVI-1…”

“Then you’d have an army of Mutts,” I say.

“Yep,” Paul says with a satisfied smile and glances at the General. “He put up a hell of a fight. Like down to the very end when Chloe herself cornered him in the armory. She looked like the cat that had caught the canary. Too bad she didn’t realize it was a set up.”

Jude, who has been silent this whole time, speaks up. “Wait…so you let her do this to you?”

“Well to him,” Paul says. “I didn’t let her get me. She couldn’t know about me and God knows what another dose of that crap would do to my system.”

I don’t blame him for that. Paul was barely alive when we found him in the testing center from all the chemicals they’d been pumping into him for months.

“How many were injected?” I ask.

“Five hundred and twenty three,” Erwin replies. “We took down half her army by the time they realized their mistake.”

“Boy, I wish I could have seen her face when she figured it out,” Jude says, breaking into a grin.

“Although we had the element of surprise, she had access to weapons and artillery. We fought for three bloody days. On the third a horde of Eaters found us, probably alerted by the continuous battle. One of the largest I’ve ever seen. Probably came up from Florida, which means all the cleared areas in Georgia and South Carolina are filled with the infected again.” Erwin sighs. “We both used the opportunity to gather our survivors and run. We moved northeast and she just went north. We knew from Cole she planned on going after Alexandra and the northern survivors next. She just didn’t have the massive army behind her like she thought she would.”

“So everyone is a Mutt?” I ask. “The whole army?”

“Everyone that survived. We’re down to about three hundred now.”

“What about the members of the town?” Green asks. “Did you give them the EVI-2 as well?”

“No,” Paul answers. “That’s up to them. Right now we’re training them in the basics. They’ll get the option soon.”

“You’re aware Chloe is in the area? She has Alexandra and Jane. She left us for dead.”

Erwin laughs. “When will they learn it’s a mistake not to see the bullet in your head?”

That’s a question I’ve mulled over and over for days now. How did she let that happen?

I shrug. “Their stupidity is just another chance for me to end this.”

“When do we go after them?” Green asks, sounding eager to get back in the fight even though his body isn’t any readier than mine is.

“Patience is important right now. We’re strong but not big enough. We have scouts recruiting new members as we speak.” Erwin’s face turns serious. “The next battle will be the final one. We can’t go on like this—not if we want to survive as a species. The modifications and genetic alterations are damaging the thread of humankind.”

“How do you plan on doing that?” I ask.

“I don’t,” he replies. “But Dr. Ramsey has some ideas he’s working on in the lab right now.”

Chapter Eleven

“Sorry about that earlier,” I say to Paul. He’s taken me to an apartment over a row of shops stocked with food and necessities. My bag is already on the small couch, delivered by some unknown person, as well as dinner that hits my nostrils and stomach the second we arrive. I sit across from him at the kitchen table shoveling venison stew in my mouth with all the grace of a savage. “The attacking and stuff. I was out of line.”

“And a touch paranoid. It’s understandable under the circumstances.” He leans forward and rests his elbows on his knees. He studies the bruises on my face and he’s already commented that I’m walking with a limp. “You took quite the beating.”

“Yeah, the Hybrids weren’t gentle. I have no idea how I got out of there alive.”

Paul picks up the salt shaker and taps it on the table. “Tell me about Alex.”

“Chloe took her. I don’t think she killed her, not yet. She seems to have some ulterior motive with her. She certainly doesn’t want to give her the EVI-2.”

“No, not now that she knows the dual vaccinations result in a bad-ass super soldier like me.”

I roll my eyes. “Then what?”

“To torture her? To use as bait? Or even leverage?”

“Any idea what happened to Cole?” I ask. “Things must have gotten pretty bad when she realized he wasn’t a Hybrid under her control.”

Paul eyes shift to the side and he rolls the shaker across the table, spilling salt. He says, “We’ll figure out a way to get Alex out. Erwin has been plotting a course of action since we got here.”

“Where is her new headquarters?”

“Asbury College in Lexington. It’s a small campus. Lots of land. Easily defensible with the number of soldiers she has.”

“When do you think you’ll attack?”

“Soon,” he replies, but I hear the hesitation in his voice, fully, and I’m sure it’s not the first time since we’ve been talking. I catch his dark eyes and he attempts to move from the table. I grab his arm, sloshing the stew to the table and pin him to his spot. His bicep bulges, fighting against me.

“What aren’t you telling me?” I ask, ignoring the searing pain at the back of my head.

He pulls back but I hold tight, and we’re at a standoff even though I’m not sure how much longer I can do it. Paul flicks his eyes between my face and our hands and he says, “There are wheels in motion. We’re not going to let her get away this time, but that also means we aren’t rushing. We have Chloe exactly where we want her—she knows we’re here but she doesn’t know how big we are, and what our assets look like. That’s the real reason she took Alex. She’s desperate.”

I release my grip. “Then let’s go get her and the others.”

“I told you,” he says slowly. “The wheels are in motion. Everything is clicking into place and although it may not happen right away, it’s going to happen. Our way, risking as few of our men as possible. We’re going to end this once and for all.”

I lean back in my seat and run my hands through my hair. “What if she dies before we get there?”

“Tell me, Wyatt, do you think Alex would rather us save her before we’re ready or would she want us to destroy Chloe and the Hybrids? We’re only going to get one shot. Once we storm the gates, the final battle of the Hybrid-Human-Mutt war will begin.”

“How long?”

“It may be a few weeks. Or months.”

“Months?” I barely contain my rage. “Do you know what they could do to her? To all of them before then?”

“It’s a risk we’re willing to take.”

It’s a risk the Mutts are willing to take. But I’m still human and so are Jude and Green. But I’m aware that three recently injured men do not make an army, particularly up against genetically-modified super soldiers. “Tell me why? What does Erwin have that he’s so sure he can beat Chloe?”

He gives me a funny look, eyes narrowed in semi-amusement. “How do you think you survived that attack the other night?”

I thought it was a fluke or at best dumb luck. I suspected I had an angel or maybe even the devil sitting on my shoulder, unwilling to let me escape this hell in exchange for one last shot at taking the bitch down.

The look on Paul’s face tells me it wasn’t luck at all.

“How?” I ask, accepting the odds of me, Green, and Jude all surviving was impossible.

“We’ve infiltrated her army.”

Chapter Twelve

I sleep like the dead, literally crashing onto the twin bed, asleep before I can fully process the information Paul gave me. I wake with a knife still clutched I my hand—my brain may not be ready to accept that I’m safe behind walls, but my body had endured enough.

No one comes to get me and the silence of the apartment makes me nervous. Not the dreaded apocalypse quiet Alex refers to, but the calm of not having to be anywhere. No fights, no sharing beds, no emergency busting down the door. From my bed I see the food Paul or someone left in the small kitchen. A small loaf of bread and thick butter with a hint of honey. A small container holds boiled eggs and within minutes of getting up I eat everything, making my stomach ache. I haven’t had anything unprocessed in weeks.

On the counter I find small strips of paper that look like hand-printed tickets. I pick one up, it’s purple and in thick handwriting says “Voucher.” There’s one for food, another for clothing, and another for miscellaneous to be used at one of the shops we passed the night before on Main Street. I discover another sheet tacked to the back of the apartment door with a list of services and facilities in the town. Library, school information, church services. It all seems like a little much, but that’s probably just my skepticism. It’s nice here, and now that I’ve arrived, it’ll most likely be blown to hell.

Voices sound in the street and I grab my gun off the table and move quickly to the window. Down below, are people walking and laughing. Two more are across the street and one of the shop keepers sweeps the sidewalk. I spot one of Paul’s resistance Mutts patrolling near the theater. I press my forehead against the window and feel strangling anxiety tighten across my body and my palms sweat.

Behind these walls I’m safer than I’ve been in months, but for some reason I feel nothing but trapped.

*

“You’re most likely suffering from PTSD,” Dr. Ramsey says. We’re in his laboratory office in the bunker-like area under city hall. Avi apparently had the foresight to prepare such a facility despite his reservations about Jane’s work. Or possibly because of his reservations. In any case, Dr. Ramsey has made himself at home.

I’d come to tell him what I knew about Alex and Jane. He has a small report on his desk, apparently from one of the spies in Chloe’s army, but the details are vague other than, they’re alive. Paul had explained further, that like Cole, it’s possible to hide a Mutt inside the Hybrid army and Erwin had done just that. I don’t know how many or in what capacity but it seems to be working so far. Somehow I ended up telling Dr. Ramsey about the panic attacks I’d been experiencing since arriving in Catlettsburg.

I shake my head at his PTSD comment. Not because it isn’t possible but I say, “I don’t think I’m necessarily past the trauma stage of the apocalypse.”

He sighs and rubs his gray beard. “No, I’m not sure we ever will be but once we settle into a new environment, usually a safer one, that’s when the anxiety occurs. Your body and mind just don’t know how to rest.”

I consider that he may be right but I’m not sure how that’s going to work when we still have a major battle ahead.  I say as much.

“The General needs time to prepare his attack on the Hybrids. You should take the opportunity to rest and repair your body. You’re going to need to be at your best.”

I laugh. “Do you think they even need me? They’ve got an entire army of super soldiers and a bunch of civilians wanting to join in.”

“True,” he agrees. “You’re not a match to some of their more enhanced qualities but trust me, son, you’re going to play a role in this fight.”

“You think?”

“I know. Someone is going to have to go in there and get my daughters. You’re one of the few I trust can do it.” I nod, understanding more about my role in this situation. I’m not used to not being in charge. “They may not make it out, and if they do, they may not make it out in one piece—at least mentally. I’ve seen what Chloe can do. The reports we’re getting back, particularly on her treatment of her brother, are disturbing. Alexandra is going to need you strong and healthy.”

The idea of Alex being tortured by Chloe not only makes me rage with anger, it makes me physically ill.

“I don’t understand what’s happening to me. It’s not like I haven’t had friends in battle before. Friends captured and even killed. Some missing that never returned.” I look up him, guilty for expressing this aloud. “But it’s part of my job. It always has been. I’ve been desensitized to situations like this for a long time before the Crisis.”

Dr. Ramsey leans over his desk, notes pressed under his elbows. I can see that Alex has her father’s nose and the same worry lines by her eyes. “What’s happening to you is that back then you had nothing to lose. You had a mission and a fight and you did it, regardless of the casualties. That changed with Alexandra.”

My heart thrums and my palms sweat again and this is not a conversation I want to have with her father. Or with anyone else. I’m not one to discuss feelings.

“You care for my daughter,” Dr. Ramsey continues, “and it changes the game. It’s not just a mission—it’s personal.”

“How do you know this?” I ask.

“Because I’ve been in love before, Wyatt, and that’s what it feels like, although in your case, magnified by one million due to the circumstances.”

I stare at the man across from me. The father of the woman I love. Yeah, love. He said it and I can accept it, but that doesn’t mean I have any freaking clue how to proceed. I’m in uncharted territory here—the end of the world, in love with a woman who has been captured by the enemy. There’s only one thing I can do.

Suck it up and get ready.

Chapter Thirteen

Four Months Later

“Who taught you how to run? An Eater? Because that’s what you look like! A fumbling, brain-dead, skin falling off, piece of crap! Get those knees up! Straighten your back! Run! Run! Run!”

I glance at Jude, who seems to be having way too much fun training the recruits. He grins, knowing he’s being a dick, but I’m also the one that taught him how to do it so there’s nothing I can do but shrug. Boot camp sucks, but it will turn these men and women into soldiers and that’s what I’m here to do. That’s how we’ll get Alexandra back.

Days after arriving, Erwin asked me personally to lead the recruits and train the civilians for the upcoming battle. From my talk with Dr. Ramsey I knew I needed to keep busy and focused but also stay away from any actual fights outside the walls. It was a good fit and I brought Jude and Green in to assist since they both had training under Jane’s regime as Fighters.

We worked the recruits hard, pushing them through the humid summer days. At night as they slept, we met in the gym Jackson and Green used to train Alex and Walker in ju-jitsu and blew off our own steam, staying fit and fighting in the ring. Paul found out about our sessions and joined in, bringing some of the Mutts with him. Individually, the hybrid-Hybrids are okay to be around. They communicate and don’t have that blank-eyed stare the regular Hybrids do, but as a group they’re a little intimidating, and the gang-style attitude and clothing they’ve adopted is a little unnerving.

“You think they’re ready?” Green asks as we watch the recruits work their way through an elaborate obstacle course. We set it up in the old soccer field behind the church. We’re observing from a small balcony near the sanctuary.

“I think they look better than they did three weeks ago,” I reply.

“I wonder how many will take the EVI-2?”

I shake my head. “Most.”

“Yeah, I guess it makes sense to have some extra juice running through you.” Green gives me a look and runs his hands over his bright red hair, now cut close to his scalp. “Would you ever do it?”

“Take the EVI-2?” I don’t hesitate. “No.”

He fidgets with the button on his sleeve and he chews on something unspoken. Finally, I ask, “You want to take it?”

“I’m going to. I already talked to Erwin about it.”

“You’re serious.” I can’t deny I’m stunned. I didn’t see this coming.

Jude explodes into a string of curses across the field and one of the recruits falls to their hands and knees and begins a series of push-ups.

“Yeah, I’m serious,” Green says. “Once the Crisis spread and my family fell apart and my little town got overrun with the infected, I decided I would do whatever I had to in order to stop it. It’s how I ended up at the evacuation center and later with Jane. Despite Jane’s motives, my intention all along has been to eradicate the world from monsters. That includes Eaters and the Hybrids.”

“You can’t come back, you know. Paul and Cole aren’t the same as they were before the inoculation.”

“I know, and that’s okay. I’m probably going to die out there anyway, Wyatt. This just gives me a chance of fixing some shit before I do. I promised the Director—Jane—that I would keep her safe. I’m going to fulfill that promise.”

I lean over the railing and look out at the field. Jude helps the solider off the ground and the recruits all run toward the parking lot—training over for the day. “I won’t judge you for your decision. I can only wish you luck.” I offer him my hand and he shakes it. “Promises are hard to keep in this day and age, remember that.”

“They may be hard to keep,” he replies, “but they’re also pretty much all we have left.”

I can’t argue that. I’ve got my own to keep but I’m not going to turn into a filthy animal to make it happen. No, I got into this fight as a human and I’ll go out the same way.

The door behind us swings open and Paul emerges, eyes wide. “Erwin needs to see you—all of us.”

“What’s going on?” I ask, already walking away from the rail.

“It’s time,” he says. “We’re going to get Alex. Tomorrow.”

Part Three

Alexandra

Asbury College

(Present Day)

Chapter Fourteen

Wyatt stares at me from the doorway, his eyes hard and unyielding, although they do take in every inch of my body. I am seconds—heartbeats—from falling apart. My heart is in my throat and I blink back tears because I refuse to give Chloe a peek into my emotions. Not these. These feelings belong to me—and him.

“You’re alive.”

We both shift our gaze to the corner of the room. Cole assesses my new sparring partner. Well, new is relative. Wyatt trained me from the start.

Wyatt gives Cole a slight, weird nod. He doesn’t react to Cole’s terrible condition. “We all are, it seems.”

“Although I’m aware reunions of this sort are a bit of a novelty during times like this, you haven’t been brought together to socialize,” Chloe’s voice comes over the intercom, hollow and loud. “We caught this little solider lurking around the perimeter the other day. Saved him for just the right moment.”

“Get to the point!” Wyatt roars. I get the feeling he’s had to listen to her yammering on for days. That alone is enough to put a person on edge.

“The point is, I gave Alex an order. Kill my traitor brother and I spare her life. So far, she’s refused to cooperate.”

“So what?” I ask, voice shaking with rage. “You want me to kill Wyatt instead? You know I won’t do it. I’m not your puppet.”

“I don’t care who dies today—take care of it yourself or my Hybrids will do it for me.”

The intercom snaps off and I look at the two men. “I’ve just come out of the infirmary. Even if I wanted to kill you both, I don’t have the strength or energy.”

“What happened?” Wyatt asks. He’s acting aloof and quiet—a show for whoever is behind that window.  All I want is to wrap my arms around him but weakness isn’t allowed in this room.

“Cole beat the crap out of me.” I hold up my hands. “It’s no big. It’s just sort of what we’ve been doing for the last six months. Beating the snot out of each other is sort of our thing.”

Cole looks up at me and smiles and I can’t help but grin back. God, things are twisted between us. Add in a dash of back-from-the-dead Wyatt and everything just got crazier.

Cole’s chains slide and clink against the floor as he struggles to his feet. He looks rough, but that’s nothing new. Wyatt’s arrival has put a new glint in his dark eyes. Something I can’t quite place. The three of us stand in a triangle in the middle of the room.

“Add a campfire and it’s like the day we met,” Wyatt says.

I snort. “We’d need a few Eaters on our tail.”

“I’m sure my sister can arrange that.”

There’s a brief lull, a hesitation where we look one another in the eye. Three old friends who’ve loved, lost, and fought our way to this very day—this very moment. I feel an anticipation, something charged flowing between us, but when I hear the chains slither to the ground, coiling like a metal snake, and see Cole lunging at Wyatt, who is already crouched defensively, I’m stunned.

“How?” I ask, looking at the chains. How long had he been unbound? Who released him? Cole’s head snaps back from a hard punch to the jaw from Wyatt. And I recoil involuntarily.

I don’t know where Wyatt has been all these months but he’s strong and agile. I recognize some moves, quick legwork and solid punches that remind me of Jackson’s handiwork, creating an even more lethal fighter. A piece of the puzzle clicks together.

Cole picks up the chains and swings them menacingly.

The problem becomes clear as I watch the steel chains flash between them. I don’t want either to lose—or either to win. I need them both alive to get out of here. It’s the only way we can get away from Chloe.

“Stop!” I scream, rushing between them. Wyatt’s fist comes inches from my face as he course corrects, making him vulnerable to a kick in the thigh from Cole.  I spin and shove Cole backwards but his eyes light up with glee and he wraps the chain around my waist. There’s a fight around me, punches are thrown, and I try to release myself from the twisted metal.

“Duck!” Wyatt shouts and I drop, feeling the air move above my head as he kicks Cole in the gut. The Mutt flies backwards and I’m dragged toward Wyatt, who pulls me and the chain to his chest.

Cole staggers to his feet, eyes narrowing as Wyatt whispers in my ear.

“Grab the gun from my left boot. Shoot Cole. That’s the signal they’re waiting for.”

“Who’s waiting for?”

“Three,” he starts. Cole doesn’t wait for the countdown to end, his spidey-senses clicking in that something is afoot. He swipes my legs, sending me tumbling to the floor. Wyatt punches Cole and I scramble to reach his boot and shoving my hand inside. Dammit! Wrong boot!

I push back, tangled in the chains, while the men pound the crap out of one another over my head. I push my fingers down the correct boot and touch the hard metal weapon. It’s wedged tight and I feel myself and the chains being dragged away. I wrap my hand around Wyatt’s ankle with one hand and grab the gun with the other. Spinning on my back I look up at the men. A drop of Wyatt’s blood drips off his chin and lands warm on my forehead. I hold the gun up.

“I’ll shoot you both,” I tell them, cocking the trigger. The sound echoes through the room. I can nearly feel Chloe’s face pressing to the window.

“Alex,” Wyatt says. “Just do it.”

I point the gun at Cole, whose eyes seem to dare me to do it. He wants out of this hell hole just like I do. Dead is definitely one way to go.

The men are quiet above me, nothing but the sound of their breath. I aim the gun at Cole’s face and glance at both men before saying, “I’m sorry,” and pulling the trigger.

Chapter Fifteen

The gun blast ricochets through the small room, splitting our ears like a busted drum. Cole’s eyes are wide the whole time—he only blinks when the two doors into the room fling open. Wyatt’s eyes lift to the ceiling, following the bullet I placed there.

I’m not killing either of these men today. Not until we’re out of this god-forsaken place. I’m not sure what Wyatt’s plan is, but the room is filled with guards dressed in Hybrid uniforms. I shift the gun to the closest one. The dark eyes peering out from under the helmet look familiar but it’s not until he removes it that I recognize him and lower the gun.

“Benjamin?” Pure relief floods my body.

Wyatt gives me a nod. “You ready to get out of here?”

The first smile in forever graces my mouth. “Months ago.”

“Then let’s go. We don’t have much time.”

I start to the door but glance back. Cole is surrounded by four Fighters. He looks unsteady on his feet. “What are you doing with him?”

Wyatt’s eyes and the set of his jaw betrays him. “You can’t kill him.”

“Alex…”

“No.” I grab his hand. It’s the first real touch we’ve shared since he walked in that door. “It’s what she wants. We’re not leaving people behind.”

He blinks. “Rule number one.”

I nod and repeat. “Rule number one.”

Chapter Sixteen

The escape from Chloe’s headquarters is quick. She didn’t see the Rebellion coming. The instant we emerge from the building Cole and I have spent the last six months, we’re ushered off the grounds with the sounds of battle at our back.

I struggle against Wyatt and the other Fighters surrounding us, but he quickly shuts me down. “Today is about getting out of here. We’ll return to fight soon.”

I want to argue—of course I do—but I spot Jane near the transport vehicle and the terrified faces of Mary Ellen and Finn and I accept it. We need to get away from here.

“Where’s Avi?” I ask, my sister. Her eyes are wet and I notice blood splatters on her white coat.

“They came in, the Fighters, and then there was gunfire and I saw a knife...”

Green catches my eye and shakes his head. Oh God. I pull her into a hug before the Fighters drag us into the back of the truck. Once settled, I hold my sister’s hand while Wyatt is on the other side, leg pressed close to mine. Two Fighters sit close to Cole, but he looks as tired as I feel. I doubt he’ll be much trouble.

“So this was a rescue mission?” I speak right in Wyatt’s ear, unsure of how much he wants to share with the others right now.

“Erwin’s been planning it for months. You were a priority. I’m sorry it took so long.”

“Erwin?” I rest a hand on Jane’s leg. “What about—”

“Your father is fine. Alive and working as we speak.”

Jane releases a loud sob and links her fingers with mine.

“Okay then,” I ask. “What’s next?”

His eyes flick over to Benjamin, who is watching Cole carefully. He seems harder since I saw him last, but don’t we all? “We’re ending Chloe and the Hybrids. But a lot has changed—you’ll need rest and a debriefing.”

I nod, feeling content to be away from Chloe and sitting next to the man I thought was dead and knowing my father is still alive. The ride back to Catlettsburg is bumpy and all the exhaustion from months and months of captivity crashes down like a tsunami. I close my eyes and listen to my sister crying while feeling the heat from the man I love. In the end, I let sleep take me away.

*

I wake up in an unfamiliar room, on an unfamiliar bed, panicked and coated in sweat. The room is dark, other than the moonlight coming through the window. This isn’t my cell. I’m not a prisoner. I lift my head, still aware of the pain in my side, and spot Wyatt asleep on the couch. I think to go wake him—have him tell me everything—but I’m scared to make a sound. Scared to wake up—fearful this is nothing but a dream.

I calm my breathing and clench the sides of the bed, willing myself to stay asleep. It’s futile, though, in minutes my eyelids are too heavy and I quickly fall back under.

The next time I open my eyes the room is lighter—a patch of sunlight glares in my eyes. It’s in the wrong place. I blink and stare at the foot of the bed. There’s no sunlight. The room is different. I feel a heavy weight on my thigh and peek over my shoulder, coming face-to-face with Wyatt.

He’s on the bed, eyes open watching me, and I feel my heart kick start with a mixed adrenaline of hope and fear. He’s not wearing a shirt and I see the battle scars on his shoulders and chest. I touch his face; there’s a new one on above his eye.

My voice comes out low and scratchy. “Since when do we share a bed?”

“Since we both just went through hell and back.”

I nod, feeling the pressure of tears behind my eyes. I don’t want to cry. I never do, but sometimes it’s all just too much. Fighting to survive is one thing. Fighting for love? I’m in uncharted territory and I have a feeling the man lying inches away is in the same situation.

I look away, blinking away the tears, and further my resolve.

“You okay?” he asks, despite my efforts.

“I’m tired.” The words don’t convey my feelings.

“No one expects you to do anything. Erwin—everyone—wants you to rest and heal. It’s what they wanted me to do too when I first got here.”

“Why? So you can be a better cog in their wheel? A sharper blade? A more accurate bullet?”

He wraps his arm around me and as much as I want to pull away—keep up some sort of barrier to protect my heart and soul, I relent, desperate for some kind of affection after those months of isolation.

“Do you want out? Away from the fighting?”

“No.” I shake my head. “That’s just it. I don’t know what I want. I’m angry. I’m sad. I’m stressed and anxious.”

“You’ve been back for twelve hours, Alex. Give yourself a break.”

A wave of anxiety takes over and I hop from the bed. My skin itches and the air feels tight in my throat. My eyes connect with the door and I race toward it.

“Where are you going?” Wyatt asks, the bed springs creaking as he stands.

“I’ve got to—” I choke up, the words lodged in my throat. I don’t know what I need what I have to do. But I need air. So much air, and I dart down the hallway barefoot and dressed in nothing but a tank top and shorts.

I stumble—nearly fall—down the stairway to the door that exits onto the corner of Main Street and Maple. The concrete is hard under my feet but the air out here is fresh; I can’t seem to take it in and I spin around and around until a pair of strong hands jerks me to a stop.

“Hey,” he says quietly. “Hey, look at me.”

I take in his face and his eyes and I blink, trying to make it real. “You were dead, Wyatt. Dead. I heard her shoot you. I mourned you.”

“I know.” He pulls me close to his chest. His skin is warm and the fast-paced rhythm of his heart matches in tune with my breathing. “I’m here. I’m alive and babe, so are you.”

We stand in the street, exposed. Wyatt’s physical scars are on display along with my emotional ones. I’m aware people can see us. I know a pair of soldiers on shift are watching us carefully and two shopkeepers peer from their windows.

“I’m going to kill her.” I say this with unparalleled resolve. “She’s taken too much.”

He says nothing to my threat but takes my hand, leading me back inside. The door shuts and we’re in the hallway. I stop on the second step so we’re eye to eye. “I’m serious.”

“I know.”

“Will you help me?” I ask.

“It won’t be easy.”

“I’m willing to make the sacrifices it will take to bring her down. Aren’t you?”

He nods, his jaw tight. There’s no other way and we’ve tried every alternative to stop Chloe before. I’m tired of running—tired of fighting. I don’t say it out loud, but I know from the burning hatred in the center of my chest that killing Chloe may be the only thing that keeps me going.

*

With a firm plan taking root, I hole up in Wyatt’s tiny apartment. I do as he suggests, sleeping and eating. I make every attempt to heal myself, with the specific goal of preparing for the battle ahead.

He doesn’t seem to notice the motivation behind my cooperation, instead giving me relieved looks as though he’s thankful I’ve come to my senses. To be fair, I’m being intentional. I want him to think I’m fine. That everything is okay and that my breakdown over Chloe that first day back was just that, a breakdown. So I keep my expression and tone light as I’m snuggled up in bed, wrapped in blankets and propped against soft pillows. It’s a luxurious feeling and after all the months of hard cots and prison life I have to pinch myself to make sure it’s not just a hallucination.

A week passes and I allow no visitors but my father and sister. Our visits are quick and Wyatt leaves us alone. Jane looks hollow. A shell of even the person that healed me back at Chloe’s headquarters. She refuses to talk about Avi and I allow her that space. My father just looks tired. They don’t discuss projects but I know neither are idle. It’s not in their nature. Just like me sitting back and letting a psycho bitch dominate the remains of society.

When they leave, Wyatt returns to the apartment. He’s dressed in his specific style of work clothes: Camouflaged pants, tight white shirt, canvas jacket. His boots are clean. I note two weapons strapped to his leg and the handle of a knife poking out of his boot. He can tell me he feels safe behind these walls, but all that armor and the tense set of his jaw suggests otherwise.

“Any update?” I ask once he’s past the door. Trying to keep off his super radar, I haven’t asked many questions at all since I’ve been here, but seeing my family ignites my curiosity.

“Erwin’s going to be ready to move on the headquarters soon.”

I haven’t met with Erwin since we got back. I haven’t decided if I’m going to. My plans don’t involve the rest of the army.

“How do you feel about that?” I ask.

“Erwin has a plan, a good one. I don’t think Chloe will be a problem much longer.”

“And the Hybrids?”

“Full elimination.”

He looks dead serious when he says it, but I’ve heard this proclamation before and I’ve lost faith in the rebellion.

“What’s the timeline? I should probably actually get out of bed before we go on a kamikaze mission.” To prove my point, I walk across the room to the small kitchen and grab a jar of preserves. It, along with some other food, came in a basket from Erwin the day after my meltdown. I dip my finger in the jar of sticky peaches. I lick the syrup with my tongue. Wyatt watches every move.

“We still have men inside her headquarters. They’ll give us the signal but I don’t expect it to be long. I think our attack last week took them by surprise and we’ll have to move before she can recover.”

Wyatt told me Erwin’s entire army transformed into Mutts and a handful integrated into Chloe’s army. It was a risky move and I try to figure out if any of Erwin’s men were my guards. None showed me an ounce of compassion.

“And Cole?” I look at the counter top when I ask. “Where is he?”

“Paul is taking care of Cole.”

I meet his eyes. “That’s a good idea?”

He shrugs. “It’s the only idea.”

I start to argue but he cuts me off. “Paul’s not the same kid we found in that school, Alex. He’s different. A lot of things are different around here. If anyone can figure out what to do with Cole, it’s Paul. He’s good with the Mutts.”

His casual talk of Hybrids and Mutts and the complete decline of society bothers me. It more than bothers me. I feel lost, like that time in Chloe’s cell not only disconnected me from my family and friends but from the current state of the rebellion. This sets me on edge and I slam the jar in the sink. It cracks, shattering in pieces, one slicing my finger.

“Shit.” I grab a cloth. Wyatt rushes over.

“Let me see?”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re bleeding.” He looks at the mess in the sink and back at my face, searching my eyes.

“You know, I’ve been cooped up too long. I think I need some air.”

“Now? Bleeding? Let me get the first aid kit.”

“No.” I spin, holding my finger with my other hand applying pressure. “I just…I need a minute, okay?”

Wyatt grabs my arm as I head to the closet and in a low voice says. “What are you doing?”

“I can’t just sit here, Wyatt, you know that.”

“There’s nothing to do.”

“There’s always something to do.” I find a pair of pants close to my size in the closet and a couple of T-shirts. I pull on a gray one and slip the pants over my legs, rolling them over at the waist. I shove my feet into the shoes Chloe gave me for training, without untying the laces. Wyatt grabs for me but I yank away, my well-placed façade slipping. “I have been through a lot. More than you’ll understand and I’m sure you can say the same to me. But sitting back isn’t how I deal with life. It hasn’t been since this shit-show apocalypse started.”

He groans, rubbing his hands through his hair. I know he feels the same. We’re do-ers. Survivors. Fighters. The end.

He levels a hard look at me. “And what exactly do you plan to do?”

I toss him the jacket he left hanging off the back of a chair. “I’m going to find my father and my sister. There’s no way in hell they haven’t already come up with a backup plan.”

*

Catlettsburg changed while I was gone. Erwin’s fingerprints are all over the town. The helpless people I left the prior spring are now lean and fit. They move like soldiers. The result is both encouraging and sad at the same time.

“I thought maybe this place could stay the same, you know? A little piece of heaven,” I tell Wyatt as we walk down Main Street. I see all the little shops are still open but now they have armed guards out front.

“It sounds like they were sitting ducks. They’re lucky Erwin got here first.”

“Did you train them?” I ask Wyatt, spotting some tell-tale signs as we pass a group sparring in the schoolyard.

“Erwin just wanted to keep me busy. My mind was a little messed up when we got here.” When I look at him in question he shrugs and admits, “Losing you took a toll.”

My heart clenches and even though I’m determined to stay hard—and not let emotions take me over—talk like that isn’t helping my resolve. I switch the subject and ask about the training.

“Erwin gave me a team and I had Paul, Jude, and Green’s help.” We’re walking toward city hall. My father is apparently holed up there in an underground laboratory. “Jude and I are in charge of the human recruits. Paul takes the Mutts.”

I’ve noticed the Mutts around town. They’re not hard to miss. They wear casual clothing—not Erwin’s Army-issued uniforms—and have an interesting edge. I don’t admit out loud that although Paul has proven himself loyal, I’m worried they may turn at any time, like Cole.

“How has it been, working with Benjamin?” Things were strained between the three of us before Chloe’s attack at the farmhouse. This seemed due to a crush on Benjamin’s part but things change. The cause is bigger than relationships.

“Green, is, well…I think this is what you’re going to talk to your dad about.” We pass two guards, both Mutts from what I can tell, and enter Town Hall. Wyatt leads me downstairs, confirming how Chloe inoculated Erwin’s men down south with the EVI-1, creating a super army she couldn’t fight. Since then, Erwin has given everyone in town the opportunity to take the EVI-2. Many, but not all, have accepted.

I stop mid-step. “Green took the EVI-2. He’s a Mutt.”

Wyatt nods. “Yes.”

“Anyone else?” I feel sick in my stomach. Months of being tortured by Cole has this effect on me. “Jude?”

“No.” He rests his hand on my shoulder. “Listen, I’ve been hesitant to tell you and you didn’t ask right off so I let it wait, but you should also know that we haven’t heard anything from Walker and her team either.”

I’d been afraid to ask. When none of them appeared at our door I knew it couldn’t be good. “Dammit. It’s been six months!”

“I know.”

That information churns the anger again. I hate this. I hate this life. Do I mourn these friends or do I spool out a fantasy that they’re alive and happy somewhere? Again, the disconnect from the real world sucks, and I feel like I’m on a roller coaster of emotions. Thinking about Walker sends me crashing, but one moment later I’m standing in my father’s doorway and my emotions flip again.

The simple sight of him sitting at his desk, sharing with my sister whatever project he’s working on, brings a flood of pain I can barely withstand. Jane looks like hell, the loss of Avi’s life showing in her red eyes and exhausted face. I reach for Wyatt’s hand for support. His fingers wrap tight with mine.

My father and Jane break from their intense conversation, spotting us in the hall. Jane smiles before looking back at the paper on the desk.

“Alexandra,” he says, nodding at Wyatt.

The Ramsey’s aren’t known for their emotional breakdowns, so I’m not hurt by not receiving a more touchy-feely welcome. I’ve come too far to fall down that rabbit hole. I need science. I need facts. I need a plan.

“What are you working on?” I ask.

Jane’s eyes, although hardened by loss, light up at my question. “It’s interesting. Could be a total disaster. We won’t know until we try it.”

I leave Wyatt in the doorway and sit across from my family.

I’ve come to the right place. No emotion. No distress. It’s all science, all the time.

My dad holds up some papers filled with data and formulas. I have no idea what it means and press him to explain. “As you know, the EVI-1 is a success in stopping the Eater virus, but when merged with the EVI-2 the result is a mutated version of a Hybrid—the Mutt.”

I nod. “Right.”

“The Mutt has proved useful as a soldier against Chloe’s Hybrid army. They’re capable in a fight yet still independent thinkers. But it’s still the wrong direction. We need humans to survive. Not an aberration.”

I sigh. “I know all of this, Dad.”

Jane interjects. “We can’t stop the Hybrids without the Mutts—but we also can’t afford to sacrifice the humanity in that many survivors.”

“So what’s the solution?” Wyatt asks from his spot in the doorway.

Jane holds up a specific formula. “It’s an injection that provides the temporary benefits of a Mutt.”

“What do you mean temporary?” I ask.

“Short term strength, abilities and skills. Fighting capabilities will be equal to the Hybrids, but after a period they’ll wear off.”

Wyatt moves behind me, hands on my shoulders. I hear the intrigue in his voice when he says, “That’s insane.”

“Is it ready?” I ask. His fingers clamp down on my shoulders. I ignore them.

“A beta test is ready. It could be weeks or months before we could use it safely.”

I look between my sister and father. “I’ll be your test. Now. No waiting.”

“Like hell you will,” Wyatt blurts out. I glare at him for a quick second and he holds my eye. I turn to face my father when he says my name.

“It’s incredibly high-risk. I can’t let you do that.” His tone is harder than I’ve heard it in years.

“So I can’t test it but someone else can? Where’s the logic in that? At least I know what I’m getting into. I just spent the last six months in a mental and physical boot camp with a Mutt. I know better than anyone what the risks could be.”

Dad and Jane share a quiet exchange. Wyatt moves to where I can’t turn away.

“Don’t do this,” he says. “It’s not the way to fight her.”

“You don’t know what it takes to fight Chloe, Wyatt. You have no freaking idea. You haven’t even seen her in a year. I have. I know what she’s capable of and I’m done with her special brand of narcissism.”

Jane clears her throat. “Avi set up this lab despite his reservations about biological and genetic warfare because he knew we would need it one day. Today is that day. Chloe’s Hybrids slaughtered him.” Her voice wobbles but she holds it together. “He was our chance at making things better the right way. He’s gone and that means we’ll do it my way. The Ramsey way.”

I nod. “Good. I’m all in.”

Wyatt stands next to me and stares. I feel his gaze burning through the side of my head. I don’t look at him, but I hear the curse under his breath and the door as it slams behind him.

My father sighs but it’s in resignation. He’s in as well.

“How long?” I ask them.

“Tomorrow? I’ll make sure you have it before Erwin heads out.”

“Thank you.” I stand and walk around the desk, giving my sister a hug.

“I want you to kill her,” she whispers.

I squeeze her tight and feel my father’s hand on my shoulder. There’s no question who her is and there’s no doubting my word when I agree.

“Done.”

Chapter Seventeen

I enter the apartment alone. I expect it to be empty since Wyatt was gone when I left the lab. I figured he’d go off and blow some steam—hit or blow up something.

No, the apartment isn’t empty. Wyatt waits for me sitting in the plaid chair, quiet and brooding. He’s pissed, but so am I. Just not at him.

I decide to cut off the conversation before it starts. “I don’t want to discuss this.”

“Why? Because you planned this all along?”

“All along? I’ve just been back a week. Before that I was slaving away for Chloe and participating in her deranged Fight Club. I haven’t had time for plans, I was trying to survive.”

I expect anger. Instead I get hurt. “Don’t lie to me. Not about this.”

“About what, Wyatt? We’ve both put ourselves on the line before. How is this any different?”

“You’re talking about becoming the very thing you’re fighting against!” he shouts, jumping from the chair. I watch as he paces the room trying to formulate his thoughts. “You’re talking fucking with your mind and your body. Your entire personality is at risk. Your soul.”

“Bullshit. I’m talking about fighting fire against fire. If you haven’t noticed, it’s the only thing that works.”

“Not this way.”

He looks lost. Desperate. There’s a shade of anger and fear I’ve never seen on his face before. Panic deep in his eyes. It’s a physical reaction and it’s enough to make my resolve waver. A little.

I step forward. “I have to do something.”

He jerks his head to the side when I reach for him, so I grab him at the hip. It’s an intimate touch, one I’ve resisted for days. I’ve been too scared to let down the wall because what happens if we lose each other again?

I say what I feel. “We’ll get through this, too. Like we always do. Soul, mind, and body intact.”

His shoulders tense and he swallows, Adam’s apple bobbing. “I don’t want to lose you again and I’m terrified that could happen in a whole other way with this injection.” Those tears I’ve held back for days threaten to spill as he continues. “We’ve fought through hell over the last year and you are the only light left in my world. You’re what keeps me going. Keeps me fighting. Your heart and spirit—I can’t lose that, Alex.”

“We’re going to lose either way, don’t you see that?”

I’m braced for another argument, but he moves quickly, wrapping his hands around the back of my head and pulling me into a hard kiss.

My heart kicks into gear and I clutch at the fabric of his shirt. We part, breathing heavy, and all I can think of is how thoughts of this moment haunted me late at night in my cell.

I thought I’d never get to see him, feel him or kiss him again. But now he’s here and he’s so very warm.  He moves his hands to my face, skimming his fingers down my cheek before kissing me again. I feel a jolt and the real latent fear I’ve stuffed away for all these months erupts like a volcano.

Love.

My reservations slip away and I don’t just fall into his kiss, I demand it and more. If he’s startled by my aggression, he doesn’t show it. No, he reacts in kind, whatever emotion he’s been holding back showing in his mouth, hands, and body.

We make it to the bed and straddling his hips, I push his shirt off over his head. I touch the scars on his chest, the jagged one I stitched myself days after we met. I had no idea then we’d be like this more than a year later. My best friend, my confidant and protector.  He tugs at the hem of my shirt and I’m fully aware that things continue progressing, Wyatt is a heartbeat from becoming my lover.

I push his hands away and lift the shirt over my head.

He looks up at me, hazel eyes glassy in the morning light. A thin crease appears on his forehead and he exhales in a hard heave. “You sure about this?”

“More than sure.”

He stares at me, making sure I’m not an emotional mess. I can’t promise that but my feelings are real and he’s proven himself to me, over and over again. In a blink he’s back to kissing me and flips our positions. His hands take away the pain of isolation. His words heal the wounds in my heart. His mouth lifts the fear I’ve carried since we last touched and together our bodies mend the divide others have created between us. We pause, breaking for him to dig through the side drawer next to the bed for a square package and my mind loves this man even more. So smart. Fearless.

He presses his damp forehead against mine and holds my gaze. In heavy breath and combined movement we sink fully into each other, pushing away our enemies and banish the soul-crushing monsters that wait outside the gates. We break free from the chains that bind us to our fears and simply dedicate our love and trust to one another.

Chapter Eighteen

In the morning light I feel less bold, awkwardly searching for my discarded clothing in the small apartment. Wyatt, ever aware, remedies the moment with a kiss and a gruff explanation that he’s off to kick some recruit ass before the pending battle.

Ah, post-apocalyptic life continues.

Down on the street there’s a noticeable vibe change. The soldiers look tense. Half of the shops are closed. I don’t see a single child as I walk toward Town Hall. There’s a palpable feel to the day. Everyone is in motion. This includes me as well.

“Ms. Ramsey?” A guard asks as I cross the threshold of the building. I note the dark Hybrid eyes.

“Yes.”

“General Erwin has requested your presence.”

“Requested?” I laugh. “That makes it sound like I have a choice.”

The solider doesn’t blink. “His office is upstairs. Follow me.”

“Okay then.”

Erwin occupies the former Mayor’s office and I sense the change in him before he speaks. He looks younger and in better shape. Erwin isn’t young by any means, closer to fifty than anything else I suppose. But now he looks a decade younger and his dark, shadowed eyes give me a chill.

“Alexandra.” He stands to greet me. There’s no affection. There never has been between us. We walk the fine line between ally and enemy, fueled by the desire to rid society of monsters—human and otherwise. Now the Mutt mutation under his skin makes that line obsolete.

“Erwin,” I reply. “Looks like we’re still here.”

“Indeed.” He gestures to the chair across the desk. I notice he’s dressed less formally—less General-like, but more like a regular Fighter, in basic fatigues. Wyatt is right, things aren’t the same around here. “I wanted to debrief you after your time with Chloe.”

“Sure, okay. But don’t you have intelligence at her Headquarters?”

“Yes. And they’re the ones that found the opportunity to break you out.”

I laugh. “It took them six months to find an opportunity? Two weeks ago Cole nearly killed me.” His expression doesn’t change. “You knew that. You left me there for dead.”

“No. We left you there waiting for the right time to get in and out. My soldiers were there to stop Cole’s attack and get you to the infirmary.” He’s unaffected by my angry glare. “I’m sorry Alexandra but you know better than anyone this war is about more than one person. The instant we made an attempt to rescue you and the others, we made this place a target.”

In a blink I understand. “And the town wasn’t ready.”

“Not by a long shot. They needed intensive training before I could send them outside the gates. They’re lucky as hell we got here first.”

“Lucky?” I ask, daring to challenge his moral superiority. “Seems you turned most into Mutts anyway.”

“I gave them a choice. She wouldn’t have. I was not awarded that luxury.”

I tap my nails on the arm of the chair and glance around the former Mayor’s office. The books in the bookshelf are about ground warfare. A large topographical map of the area hangs on the wall and an organized table of weapons sits against the far wall.  Interestingly, Erwin looks a little more settled in than at past locations. This makes me curious enough to ask, “You plan to stay here when this is over, don’t you?”

“Catlettsburg is the end of the road for me. We take Chloe out now or we don’t at all. We’re at the tipping point.”

“Where do you need me?” I ask. I’m not ready to share my plan about taking the new shot, but I’d like to know what he has in mind.

He hesitates and holds my gaze with his dark, disturbing eyes. “I think you would be best served away from the battle and away from Catlettsburg.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“You’re a distraction in this war, Alex. This feud between you, Cole, and Chloe has created an impossible scenario of torture and retribution. She doesn’t care about killing either of you. Her twisted Hybrid brain wants to punish you.” He leans over his desk. “I want you off the grid because you’re nothing but a liability at this point. You’re sitting this one out.”

I want to argue back. Tell him this is my battle to fight as much as his, but I bite my tongue. I understand the ranking here. Not only is he the General, with an entire army of soldiers at his command, but he’s a Mutt. And that’s how life goes now. Eaters, Hybrids, and Mutts. At the very bottom, under their murderous feet—humans.

“Where will I go?”

“You’ll be escorted out of the town before we leave for battle. That’s where you’ll remain until further notice.”

The door opens behind me and he gives a slight nod, making it clear our meeting is over. I keep my rage in check and stand. I do ask one final question on my way out. “Does Wyatt know about this?”

“Wyatt has been given orders to get ahead of the teams and scout.”

“When did this happen?”

“This morning.” He watches me closely. “He won’t be returning before the troops depart.”

I swallow back the emotions surging through my chest but Erwin and I share one last look and even his dark mutated eyes can’t hide the truth. He’s isolating me from the rest of the soldiers. From my friends, family, and Wyatt, my partner.

I brush past the Mutt standing guard. Erwin wants me out of this game. But I’m not ready to fold yet.

Chapter Nineteen

The first thing I notice back at the apartment is that Wyatt’s backpack is gone. I thought maybe Erwin was just trying to manipulate me. Or that maybe Wyatt would stick around but no, if the bag is gone, he’s gone too.

I look around the tiny apartment—lost and uneasy. The bed we shared the night before has been made. He must have done that before he left and it surprises me. Did he do it to cover our tracks? Or is it a holdover from his military days? Maybe his mother instilled the value of a tidy bed in him as a child. It’s possible I’ll never know.

I stand in the middle of the room and my eyes land on the couch. My pack is propped against a pillow, hatchet sticking out of the compartment for water bottles on the side.

“Oh Wyatt,” I say to myself.  A smile breaks across my face and I feel silly at the level of happiness seeing it brings back to me. I rush over and sit on the couch and start to dig through it. Immediately, I can tell it’s been sorted and repacked. It’s been so long since I was separated from it back at the farm that I can’t remember what food I had packed, but I do feel a swell of emotion seeing my photos and useless cell phone and the books I’d been reading when I was captured.

I find the sewing kit I used to stitch Wyatt up on the boat. I touch an arrowhead Cole discovered in a creek when we stopped to clean up just outside the Tennessee state line. A package of candy is stuffed in the outside pocket and it reminds me of Devin, Kori, and Garrett. I hope they’re alive. Wyatt never told me if he asked Jude or Paul about the family. Just in case.

I push my fingers deep in the pockets, looking for something specific, but come up empty. When I can’t find my mother’s ring I dump the whole bag, scattering my neatly organized plastic bags of underwear and socks on the floor. I pick through the smaller pockets, look between the pages of my book and bite back despair.

I’m about to tear the whole thing apart when a knock at the door interrupts my obsessive breakdown.

“Yeah?” I call, getting my voice under control. “Come in.”

To my surprise, Jude stands behind the open door. He smiles wide at the sight of me and I break down into ugly tears.

“Holy shit, you that sad to see me?” he says, approaching me on the floor.

I wipe my cheeks and nose with the hem of my shirt. “Just a little breakdown.”

“Yeah, I get it.” He picks up the arrowhead, surely remembering where and when Cole fished it out of the water, happily passing it around. It wasn’t until later, when we had a moment alone, that he pressed it into my hand.

“I’ll be okay.”

He laughs. “No doubt about that.”

“What are you doing here?”

His eyes light up. “I just wanted to check on you. I know Wyatt was sent ahead.”

I lift my chin, unwilling to concede I’m hurt that he knew that possibly before I did. “He’s the best.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty good too and Erwin didn’t pick me.”

“You think there’s a reason he sent him early?”

Jude sighs. “I think Erwin is aware of how close you are and doesn’t want distractions.”

“Yeah, he mentioned the fact that I’m a distraction to everyone in this battle. Chloe, Cole…I guess Wyatt counts too.”

He looks at my pile of belongings on the floor and says, “You want to take a walk? Get some fresh air?”

I scrunch my nose. “I’m not sure I’m good company right now.”

“Alex, we’re probably all going to die tomorrow. At least all of us non-mutated, still-human types. We shouldn’t spend it alone.” He nudges my foot. “Let’s get some air.”

I can’t help but laugh because he’s right. So very, very right.

“Too bad you don’t have any muscadine wine?” That’s what we drank the last night we were together.

“We’re in Kentucky. I think we’re stuck with bourbon.” He offers me a hand. I stare at it for a minute. “Come on, sitting in here, alone, isn’t going to help.”

I roll my eyes but take his hand. In an instant I’m standing toe-to-toe. “Just a walk. Don’t drag me into something crazy.”

“When have I ever led you down the wrong path?”

Over the last year there have been so many paths and so many mistakes and so many decisions I’ve come to regret. My biggest may come tomorrow and Jude’s right. I should spend my last night as a human with another human.

*

Jude and I circle around the familiar blocks of Main Street and I remember how much I love this kid. From the second we found him in that house outside Augusta, the oldest man in a house of children and women, he’d been a presence in my life. I didn’t know then we’d go through so much together or that he’d end up a leader in the rebellion, learning from the best.

His face no longer carries the soft flesh of that kid. He’s not that much older than I am but he’s aged—just like everyone else. His jaw is wide. His cheekbones high. I notice his beard grows thicker than before. There are also thin lines that tug at his mouth and others near his eyes. He used to want to be a minister. I’m too afraid to ask if he still does.

Once we leave the main drag it only takes a moment to realize we’re following the familiar path to the gym where Jackson taught Walker, Jane, and I how to really fight. I shouldn’t be surprised they found out about this place. It’s off the main grid of Catlettsburg and the perfect place to blow off steam.

“How are you doing?” he asks me once we step off the sidewalk and cross over a wide, abandoned parking lot. “Like, really doing?”

“It’s been an adjustment,” I admit. “Those six months with Chloe were…” I search for a word and finally come up with, “long.”

“We were worried about you guys. Paul had to talk Wyatt and me out of going for you more than once.” His face reveals the guilt he feels over that.

“I understand why you couldn’t. It was just too risky. So many other variables at play.” I feel like a stooge, repeating Erwin’s words from before.

Jude nods but I can tell from the haunted look he didn’t agree. They were men following orders. Not just the orders of a superior, but of a Mutt holding all the cards.

I reach for his arm before we start down the street toward the gym. “Did Green really volunteer to turn into a Mutt.”

He glances at his feet. “Yeah. Wyatt tried to talk him out of it, but he was determined. Something about honor and duty—seeing this whole thing through.”

“Sounds like he’s not planning on coming back.”

Jude shrugs. “Are any of us? He just wants to take out as many of those bastards as he can.”

“Did Green tell you about this place?” I gesture to the warehouse.

“He did. We spent the last couple months working off our frustration in there. You up for a round?”

Maybe this is what he wanted to drag me out for. To get me fighting—or at the very least moving. It’s been weeks since I threw or took a punch. Not since Cole nearly split my ribs in two.

“It’s been a while.” I don’t even want to explain the last six months of Fight Club.

“Good. Maybe I can finally kick your ass.”

I laugh and he moves past me to open the door. Poor Jude, I think, passing him and getting a look at the musty, dirty ring. He has no idea what he’s in for.

Chapter Twenty

I try to sleep that night, alone in the apartment, but fail miserably. I’m dressed, awake, and ready when the knock comes on the door. Jude has been sent by Erwin as my escort. I now question our evening together. Was it just to keep an eye on me? Is Erwin that desperate to keep me away from the fight?

We step out of my building and onto the street. A chill rolls down my spine. It’s a ghost town. “Are we the only ones left?”

“We’re not the only ones going into hiding. The children have been taken somewhere secure. Erwin wanted to make Catlettsburg as unappealing as possible. You know if Chloe can’t further her mission she’s not interested.”

“My dad? Jane?”

“They’re safe.”

“So where are we going?” We’re approaching the looming, fortified gate. Part of me doesn’t want to leave. It’s been a long time since I was in a fight with someone other than Cole.

“Erwin gave me the coordinates for a bunker off the highway.”

“And he’s sure it’s not compromised? Chloe knows about those bunkers too.”

He nods and I spot two horses tied to the post near the gate. It never stops surprising me that we’ve shifted so easily back in time, using the same transportation as our ancestors. Jude helps me mount the horse and quickly hops on his own after offering a treat from his hand. I clutch the reigns, nervous, but I’d rather take the horse than a vehicle. Too noisy for a day like today.

We wait as two guards roll the gates backwards. They’re the first guard I’ve seen all morning. The only people we’ve seen at all. The entire place is functioning as a skeleton crew, everyone already on assignment. I don’t deny it feels weird to be left back.

We pass through the gate and I flinch as it rumbles shut, the metal clanging against the hard pavement. Everything seems even louder than normal, including the birds chirping in the trees. I’m struck with an eerie feeling I haven’t had in months.

“Does this feel weird to you?” I ask once we’re out of the shadow of the fence. We’ve got to get through the outskirts of the town—the barren commercial district that is a harsh reminder of where society has fallen.

“Does what feel weird to you?” He points to an abandoned yogurt shop. The windows are smashed and someone, at some point, tagged all the dancing yogurt cones and spoons with paint. I spot a bird’s nest in the O of the sign. “That all I can think about is ice cream right now? Even after all this time? Because if that’s weird then yeah, I’m feeling it.”

I roll my eyes but decide to push back my uneasiness. “I guess it’s just been a long time since I’ve been out on the road, you know?”

Jude nods and we trot through the outskirts of town toward the main road that will take us to the highway. From there it’s about ten miles to the bunker. The horses settle into an easy pace and the early morning sunrise over the farmland and fields helps brighten my mood.

“What do you think the end game will be for all of this?” Jude asks.

“For what? Today? This battle?”

He shakes his head. “No. Like in the future. Will we be able to rebuild? Will we have cities and schools and a government?”

“I don’t know,” I answer truthfully. “It feels impossible to think that far ahead.”

“Yeah. I guess I just wish maybe we could get a do-over. Build small towns, create the type of place we want to live. Too bad people are so…”

“So what?”

“So terrible, I guess.”

I laugh because it’s true, but then the idea makes me want to cry because the humans are few and far between now. The Hybrids and Mutts can take us over easily and we’ll end up living how they want to live.

“We have to fight, you know.”

“Fight who? Chloe?” he asks.

“Chloe. The Hybrids.” I wrap the reins around my hand and give him a glace. “Erwin and the Mutts.”

He grunts in reluctant agreement, eyes narrowed and his jaw tense. “So what, we start another war? One we definitely can’t win?”

“No. I don’t want a war but I’m hoping maybe Jane can fix this.”

He raises and eyebrow. “Talk about risky.”

“What if there was another option? Like something else we could do. A way to get stronger but not go all the way down the rabbit hole.”

“I’d say you’ve been hanging out with your sister too much.” He jerks his chin down the road. We’re approaching a section of highway lined with cars. From our distance it looks like they were abandoned early on, probably an accident. Scenes like this no longer affect me emotionally. Not the children’s car seats in the back or the owners’ belongings strewn across the grass by scavengers. Not even the occasional sight of a dead body withering away. We are halfway down the alley of vehicles when my horse twitches and jumps to the side. Jude reaches his hand out to me, grabbing for my reins, and I struggle to calm the giant animal.

He frowns. “Do you see that?”

Up ahead in the middle of the road is a dark stain. No, not a stain but something wet. A spill. I reach for my hatchet with one hand and feel for my gun with the other.

“Let’s get out of here,” I say quietly.

He nods and spurs his horse to a gallop. Mine mimics his and we’re off to a run, weaving out of the cars and onto the grassy shoulder. Jude is moving quickly when he pulls back suddenly. His horse neighs in protest.

“Shit,” he says, looking around frantically.

I finally see what made him stop. Two dead Eaters, separated from their heads, lay on the ground. The cuts are clean. Three feet away is another body—this one human. A Fighter or Mutt from Erwin’s army. There’s a bullet wound in the center of his forehead.

“Who did this?” My heart pounds in my ears and I’m not sure I speak loud enough for him to hear me. “Do you see any others?”

“No, but we’ve got to get to the bunker.”

The horses are spooked and I try to get mine under control. Luckily Jude is more skilled and he gets the animal to push forward, charging down the side of the road. Mine follows.

It’s not hard to see that someone has been here before us, but it’s hard to tell if they are human or Eaters. The unkempt grass is flattened in places, pressed down by the weight of a body. My heart rate doesn’t settle until we’re past the stretch of abandoned vehicles.

“That was weird,” I call to Jude. He slows enough so that we’re side by side.

“Definitely weird.”

“I mean, those were fresh kills, right?”

He nods, but there’s nothing but land in front of us to give us a clue. Just never-ending useless highways and overgrown forests, creeping slowly toward the pavement.

“How far are we?”

He scrunches his forehead. “Maybe a mile.”

“Let’s go—”

A scream—a very human scream—pierces my thought.

Our reaction shows how jaded we are. We look at one another for the excuse to stay on our path. I almost tell him to forget it, that we have orders, but another cry echoes through the trees followed by three close gunshots.

“Fuck.” Jude tightens the reins and I’ve already got my horse on the run.

We push through the tree line, which is my least favorite place to be when Eaters are around. Things get confusing and I never know if I’m going in the right direction. Fortunately, it’s not a real forest, just a copse of trees buffering the once-busy highway and a stretch of farmland.

Unfortunately, the instant we cross onto the land all hell breaks loose.

In the middle of the field, stacked end to end, are bales of hay. Three people stand on top. Dozens of Eaters spill from a large barn at the top of the hill, headed straight toward them.

I don’t even know where to begin but the decision is made for me when one fast moving Eater notices us on the side of the field. He’s going full speed, dressed in jeans and a surprisingly clean T-shirt. I clench my hatchet in my hand, landing a solid blow to his head, splattering blood across his chest.

“We need to charge them,” Jude shouts. “Get to the people and ride out of here.”

My horse is already panicking, jerking at each gunshot from across the field. My arms ache from trying to control him. “That’s not going to work.”

“Maybe they should run for it,” he suggests.

“Or maybe we should lead them away, then they can run for it.”

That idea seems to stick and I take a deep breath for courage.  I hold up my hatchet and tighten the reins, praying I don’t fall off the horse.

“Hey! Face munchers!” I shout to the Eaters. “Over here!”

I let the horse go wild and I just simply try to hold on as he runs like the wind around the field. Jude does the same but goes the other direction and I won’t lie—there’s no method to our madness other than distracting the Eaters. It works and at least half lumber in our direction, tripping over the too-tall grass and one another. I’m halfway around the field when I get a better look at the people on the hay.

“Alex!” Jane calls, waving her gun in the air.

“Jane?” I realize then that the others are Finn and Mary Alice. How they got to that hay bale alive is a mystery. Nearly as much of one is what the hell are they doing out here in the first place?

The whole field is in chaos and after a flurry of gunfire from the others my horse finally has had enough, bucking me off into the grass. I land at the feet of a group of Eaters. Their shoes are clean and scuff free. Their howls rattle my ears and I curse the fact I’m back out here again. That this fight will never end.

I reach for my gun in the back of my pants and cock the trigger, shooting three in close proximity. They fall forward and I roll out of the way, scrambling with the thick grass to get on my feet.

“Alex!” Jane yells again. I race toward the bales of hay, dodging the greedy hands of the infected. One chases me down and I take a dangerous second to stop, spin, and blindly swing the hatchet at her head. I miss the neck but connect at the ear and it’s enough to do the job. I fight to get the weapon out of her skull. I wrench it out, falling back two steps and landing into something—someone hard. Hands steady my elbows and I turn, knee raised. I stop short when I come nose to nose with Finn.

“That was close,” he says, dropping his hands to cover his crotch.

“We’ve got to run. But where?” The others are running toward us. Jude is across the field shouting. Jane fires her gun, taking down an Eater reaching for Mary Ellen, and we all duck and flinch. Chaos builds as we’re mostly all in one place.

“Back to the barn? They all came from there. Maybe it’s empty.” Finn suggests.

It’s not a great plan but we need shelter. The catch with the Eaters is they aren’t terribly fast, they can just overtake you if you’re in a tricky situation. This situation is beyond tricky. Too many on all sides. The barn up at the top of a hill. Too many inexperienced fighters.

“Meet you at the top,” I say, once I realize they’re waiting for me make the decision. I take off in a sprint, heading straight at Eaters, pushing weaker ones out of my way and pausing just to incapacitate others. It’s a slog and from the corner of my eye I watch Jude do the same thing on the other side of the field. I push and kill and run and slash and fight and climb. Halfway to the building, Finn and his long legs pass me and I’m relieved to have a break from taking the brunt.  I’m nearly at the top of the sloping hill when I hear Mary Ellen cry behind me.

Despite my resolve not to stop, I do it anyway, finding Mary Ellen on the ground and two Eaters bearing down. Jane cracks one in the skull but it does little to stop him. His growls are louder than the others and he pounces like a cat on the ill-equipped girl.

It’s at a time like this I really wish Walker and Davis were here.

“Shoot him,” I shout at Jane, but we’re now all targets of the latest wave of Eaters. They press down from all sides. I split the cheek of the one nearest me, and chop off the hand of another grabbing at my foot. I kick a woman in the face, her teeth still a brilliant, leering white.

Another sound rises above the cacophony, the rev of a motor—something so foreign to my ears that it takes a minute to place. The noise brings the Eaters to a surprising halt, their moans and growls cut off for a brief second—one we use to collect ourselves and massacre those closest to us.

The reprieve is short and they lose interest in the mechanical beast. My curiosity piques when I spot a small but fast-moving vehicle burst from the barn.

It’s a four-wheeler of some kind and there are two figures in the front. It zips in our direction, the wheels wide and fat, running easily over Eaters in their path.

“Hurry! Over here!” I shout as though they can’t see us. I jump over dead bodies and the now-muddy, clumped grass of the field. The small vehicle stops with a jerk and the three of us race over, Mary Ellen throwing herself in Finn’s arms. He lifts her off the ground and Jude gives me a hand. I return the gesture with my sister and we’re off the ground in the flat space behind the seats.

“Get the hell out of here,” Jane says as the remaining Eaters move in our direction.

“I don’t know where I’m going!” Finn cries, holding his hands up.

“Back to the road, back on track. We need to get to that bunker now.”

The boy slams his foot on the gas and we fly forward with a spastic lurch. I clutch the back of the seat with one hand and another is still wrapped tight in my sister’s. Finn careens down the field back to the tree line and I take a breath, feeling the familiar surge of adrenaline as it courses through my veins. As the Eaters’ howls are left behind, I stare at the blood and dirt stains on my hands and I know in this moment this is what I’m born to do.

I’m here to fight.

Chapter Twenty

The four wheeler hits every bump and divot in the road. Along the way, Jane recaps what happened before we found them. She, Finn, and Mary Ellen were under orders and protection of one of Erwin’s Mutts to go to the bunker. Seems she got the same story I did. We’re a distraction. He needs us out of the way. Chloe is too focused on our history.

“We were attacked by two Eaters near the road,” she says in my ear. I watch her finger rub over a bloody stain on her pants.

“Near the cars?” She nods and I say, “We saw them.”

“They came out of nowhere. The guard told us to run—so we did. He stayed back to fight.” She gives me a searching look. I shake my head and she sighs. “Yeah, I figured he was dead.”

I want to ask who shot him but the four-wheeler approaches a small overpass. Jude tucks the vehicle beneath the shady bridge.

The bunker is different from the others. Nothing more than a submerged space built under the bridge. There’s a thick, gray metal door that even Jane has to bend over to get through, but the road above and the concrete and earth surrounding us makes this a safe location.

It’s perfect, really. Too perfect.

I grab Jude by the arm. “Do you think this is a trap?”

He looks at the rusty door. “This? Maybe. That clusterbang back there? Probably.”

“Why do you say that?”

“We run into a barn full of fresh-made Eaters? Way out here?” He leans close. “Someone assassinated that Mutt. No way he went down without a fight. Finn said it wasn’t them.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” I argue, but nothing does. Including the fact the bunker door swings open and a man with a frightening bandana wrapped around his face holding a massive gun stands in the opening.

I feel my forehead furrow. “Paul?”

“What are you doing here?” he asks, tugging down the skeleton mask.

Jude steps forward. “Erwin sent us.”

My friend frowns and glances behind him. “I’m not sure that’s a great idea.”

“Why not?” I ask.

“If I let you in, will you promise not to freak out?”

“Dude we just survived a massive Eater attack. They’re probably following us and we’re here on orders. Let us in the bunker.”

He sighs and gestures for us to come inside. I lead the group and Paul grabs my arm before I slip inside. “Seriously. Don’t freak out.”

I brush him off, annoyed by the day, and step into the dark, cool, earthy smelling bunker. It’s nothing more than a room with a low ceiling. I jump when I realize someone is in the room already.

I bark out a laugh when I see his face but less out of humor and more out of sheer exhaustion. “Seriously?”

“For the record,” Cole says, “This wasn’t my idea.”

*

It takes an hour before I’m willing to speak. To anyone. Jude tries and he’s met with a string of curses that send him scurrying as far away as he can go, which isn’t far in the tiny bunker.

We’re squashed in the room. Finn and Mary Ellen are tucked in a chair together. Jude cleans his gun and Jane scans her notebook. Paul and Cole sit quietly in two chairs pressed against the wall. Cole isn’t bound but he’s made no move to do anything. His face looks less tense than I’ve seen it in months. Some of his visible wounds have healed. He does glance in my direction occasionally but I give him nothing in return. Instead I connect the dots around the room. How we know one another. What we have in common.

Why did Erwin send us here?

I sit up and look at Paul. He catches my eye and I wave him over to my little corner of the room. After a quick word with Cole he moves to sit next to me on the floor, near the door.

Before I can speak he says, “I’ve been out here with Cole since we rescued the two of you from Chloe’s headquarters. You asked us to save him too, but he was in bad shape and there was no way I was taking him back to the town. We couldn’t risk placing a bomb in there after all the hard work we’d done to get everyone ready.”

“So what’s his status? Because you know he’s a liar and a manipulator.”

“I’m aware of his flaws. I’m also aware that you two had a twisted game going on while you were held captive.”

“Apocalypse Fight Club.” I roll my eyes. “It was a blast.”

“It also sounds like, when it came down to it, you protected one another.”

My eyes sting at the comment. “I wasn’t going to let Chloe win.”

He smiles and beneath the hardened features and too dark, Mutt eyes, I see my friend. “Cole’s still in there. Sure he’s changed—haven’t we all? But that guy you knew, and I think loved? He’s still there, too.”

“I can’t trust him,” I admit.

“There are few people you can these days. That’s a personal decision we each have to make. If you want the truth and are willing to hear it, I’ve been working on deprogramming him. Chloe managed to get in his head, twisting his fears and paranoia on level ten. There’s no reason he can’t be like me or the other Mutts working with Erwin. You don’t think I’m a bad guy, do you?”

I sigh. “No.”

“Give him a chance. Just like anyone else in here. We’ve all been scarred one way or the other by Chloe’s regime.”

Again I glance around the room. That’s the connector. Everyone in this room, including Cole, is someone I trust, particularly if I’m going up against Chloe. They’re really the only people I trust. We’ve been through it together. Each of us have had direct interaction with Chloe.

I grip Paul’s arm and ask, “Do you know why we’re all here?”

“Erwin thought you were a liability.”

“Did he think you were a liability in the fight, too? Because you’re one of the strongest men he has. You trained those Mutts. What are you doing here?”

“Someone had to keep an eye on him.” He nods at Cole who is watching us intently, no doubt trying to use his super hearing to eavesdrop.

I shake my head. “That doesn’t make sense. There’s no way he’d leave a skilled leader out of the action. Not today. Look around the room. Tell me what you see.”

His eyes scan the room, stopping on each person. “Besides you—her original foe, there’s Jude, who abandoned his position as a Fighter in Jane’s army.” He moves on. “Jane, who she overthrew. Finn and Mary Ellen, who were captives at her headquarters, and Cole, who betrayed her.”

I look at Paul. “And then there’s you.”

“Me?”

“You never were supposed to live. If we hadn’t found you that day we never would have had the upper hand on the Hybrids. There would be no Mutts. I mean, even now Jane has the next injections ready for us to—”

“To what?” he asks, forehead creased.

“Listen, Erwin didn’t send us out here because we’re a liability. He sent us out here so we would be alone—isolated. Jude and I are pretty sure that Eater attack earlier was a set up. Maybe for her or maybe for us. I don’t know, but Chloe will find us easily now. Which is exactly what he wanted.” I take a deep breath and realize the whole room is watching us now, tuned into our conversation. “Jane has created a new injection. The EVI-3.”

Jude speaks first. Well, not so much speaking as a string of curses that ends with him declaring, “No way. No more monkeying with science.”

“This one is different,” I say but that argument sounds exceedingly lame even to me. “Jane, tell them.”

“It’s a temporary transition, giving the person Mutt-like qualities for a short period of time. Enhanced speed, strength, and thinking skills.”

“Enough to get through a battle and come out alive,” I point out. “Then everything should go back to normal.”

“Should,” Jude says. “So you don’t know for sure.”

Jane answers for me. “It’s experimental.”

He rubs his hands over his face and groans before asking me, “How does Wyatt feel about this?”

I hold his gaze. “Wyatt isn’t here.”

“I’ll take it,” Mary Ellen says suddenly. “I want to fight.”

“Mary,” Finn says, clutching at her arm. “That’s crazy.”

“No, what’s crazy is sitting here like ducks waiting to get taken out one at a time. I didn’t survive the last year and a half to go down in some kind of set-up.” She holds her shoulders back and Finn stares at her with a look of awe.

“So you’re doing this?” Paul asks me.

“Yes.”

“And then what?”

I glance around the room. “We leave this underground hole and kick Chloe’s ass.”

“The good news is that you won’t have to wait long,” Cole says. He’s been silent this whole time, watching our exchange with little interest.

I roll my eyes and ask, “Why do you say that?”

“Because they’re almost here.”

There’s no logical way for Cole to know this but Paul moves to the heavy metal door and presses his ear against it. Again, bizarre, but he makes a face and says, “If you’re taking that shot you better do it now.”

Jane and I make eye contact. I nod, I’m in—I have been since we came up with this plan. She reaches for her bag on the floor and extracts a small case.

“I have enough injections for everyone,” she says, holding up a vial of amber fluid. “But only if you want. There’s no pressure.”

I fight a laugh. No pressure. Sure. Two armies of super soldiers are coming our way and we’re the odd people out. Yeah, no pressure, at all.

I step forward and Jane tells me to sit in the chair Jude had occupied before he hopped up to freak out about the EVI-3. I roll up my sleeve and look away from the needle. I glance at Cole. He’s watching me closely and I realize something’s not right.

“Wait.” I pull my arm away and Jane frowns in confusion. I hold Cole’s eye. “You do it.”

His eyebrows lift in surprise but he’s not. No. This was our thing. This is how we fell into this crazy situation. Together. One shot at a time. He stands, stretching his legs in the cramped quarters. Jane looks at us both with confusion but hands the needle to Cole.

He sits across from me and I pull up my sleeve. I watch as he expertly adjusts the level of the fluid. He rests the needle on the table to tear open the sanitizer pack. He cleans the spot on my arm, eyes flicking up to mine. They’re no longer blue and I miss him more than ever in this moment. His friendship and his loyalty. I miss fighting with him instead of against him.

“I’m ready when you are, Lab Guy.”

The familiar curve of a smile tugs at his mouth and it’s the last thing I see before he plunges the injection in my arm. I wince, never getting used to that type of pain.

“How long does it take?” I rub my arm.

Jane has another vial ready and Mary Ellen is the first to step up. Jude still looks hesitant but less angry than before. Jane nods at Cole. “Ask him.”

“It’s hard to say, but it comes on pretty quick.” I move to stand but Cole grabs me by the arm. “Good luck, Alex. I hope this works for you.”

“Thank you—” I start to reply but I’m knocked off kilter by an enormous explosion outside the bunker. Strong and near enough to feel underground.

Chapter Twenty-One

Jane inoculates everyone in the room, including herself and Jude. It’s a no-brainer at this point, and as cement shakes loose from the ceiling I know we’ve got to get out of the bunker.

“How do we want to do this? Just go out the door?” I ask, strapping weapons to my legs, ankle, and waist. I tug on my jacket, pockets filled with ammo Paul had stashed onsite. Finn secures a knife to Mary Ellen’s leg. She rubs the spot where she got the shot.

“There’s another exit.” Paul tugs his bandana over his mouth, the eerie skull teeth stretch wide across his face. I search the room for another door. With a long knife he points up and we all look at the ceiling. A circular hole is cut above us, the disk made of metal.

Jude leans over. “Is that a manhole?”

“Nuclear grade, but yeah.” Paul moves the chair right underneath. He points to a heavy metal tool on the table. “Hand that to me, will you? It’s the key to unlock the grate. We’ll come up on the bridge and hopefully get a better vantage point.”

Cole assists Paul and even in the smallest movements I notice a difference. The anger and rage has melted—maybe not completely—but his shoulders aren’t tense and tugged up under his ears.

“Okay,” I look at the rest of the crew. It may be the faint light of the lantern but the eyes of my friends look a shade darker. “Let’s get out there and end this.”

Paul and Cole shift the grate aside and chunks of dirt and sand shower over their heads. The shift in sound is immediate. Voices, gunshots and explosions carry down into our hole. The sky above is a cloudy and Paul jumps up easily, lifting himself out into the late, gray afternoon. The last thing I see is his frightening skull face.

Jude follows, then Mary Ellen and Finn, both looking agile.

Jane stops and to my surprise gives me a hard, spontaneous hug. “Love you, sis,” she says, her arms like a vice.

“Love you too. See you later, okay?”

“Okay.”

A hand appears in the hole and she grasps it, vanishing into the air.

When it’s my turn Cole says, “Need a boost?”

I feel the adrenaline, spiky and strong, coursing through my veins. I flex my fingers and toes and although it seems crazy, my arms feel leaner, stronger. I shake my head. “I think I’ve got it.”

He grabs my arm. “I’m sorry for everything. I never should have left that day. I should have trusted you—trusted the team.”

Emotion flares in my body. A mixture of anger, love, and sadness. I have no doubt the injection is working because the feeling is so intense. I pick one to focus on and touch Cole’s cheek. “It’s not too late. We know better than anyone Chloe has to be stopped. I think we can do it together.”

Another shell drops and the rapid fire of an automatic weapon ruptures the sky above us. The battle is already in full swing and I don’t wait for Cole to respond. I bend my knees and leap for the lip of the hole. I have zero fear I’ll miss or stumble and I don’t, quickly climbing out and immediately tense for action.

I’m ready but not.

No. Not for this.

The landscape around us is on fire. Two approaching armies from each side. The bridge, right in the middle. Hybrids, Mutts and Eaters rumble across the highway below. It’s a surreal sight, like something out of a horror flick. Everyone here is genetically enhanced. Movements are faster, almost blurred with speed. Howls clashing with grunts merge with the cries of death. I tighten my hand around the handle of my hatchet and process the scene, faster and more calculated than ever before.

Paul disappeared before I surfaced but I see the band of skull-faced Mutts skirmishing below. I’m sure he’s already joined in the fight. He’s never been one to hang back for strategy. I look around. Cole is gone too.

Freaking Mutts.

Vehicles roll in the masses firing guns and larger, explosive devices. The sides seem evenly matched. Two tanks face off as they bear down the middle of the road.  Doing anything but running is suicide.

“If we run she’ll keep coming.” Jude anticipates my thoughts. His eyes are a deep, disturbing black. From the weird look he’s giving me, mine must look the same.

“Erwin said we were a distraction…well, let’s fulfill his prophecy.”

I scan the area, looking for the best tool to get their attention. We’re all out of fire and rockets. I do spot a row of rocks and grab one—it’s more like a boulder—and hoist it over the side. They’re large pieces of granite used to shore up the foundation of the bridge and with enhanced strength, easy to dislodge.

The others follow my move, dropping stone after stone over the edge. They crash onto the first unsuspecting Hybrids below, smashing skulls. But it gets their attention and soon, the soldiers rush up the hills and it’s time to fight.

There’s little time to react, the first Hybrids reach the bridge in seconds. I flex my fingers and jump into the fight.

At first it’s like a rugby scrum, everyone fighting for the same space. But the changes in my body cause an escalation I couldn’t have predicted. My punches are deadly. One Hybrid’s head snaps back, broken from the impact of my fist to his forehead. Another’s arm dislocates when I toss him over my shoulder. The earth quakes when he hits the ground.  I stare at my hands for one brief moment of awe.

This. Is. Awesome.

My glee is short-lived as a hybrid kicks my feet out from under me, forcing me on my back. I’m not stronger than they are but I am equal. I roll to the right and then the left, but feet, bodies, and limbs surround me. I take the nearest arm, severed from its body, and use it like a bat against the evil-eyed bastard trying to take my life.

This manages to surprise him, and I stick my knife in his gut. He falls but I’m crushed by too many people to get out of the way. I poise my feet above me, prepared to kick him out of the way, but his body stops mid-air, clutched by two hands at the shoulders. Blood spills onto my chest from his wound, his jaw gapes wide. I take the opportunity to get on my feet. The dead Hybrid is tossed to the side and I come face to face with a man. A hazel-eyed ninja covered in blood and bruises.

“You’re here,” I say, which is not what I want to say.

“I’m here.” He touches my chin and holds my eye. I don’t think it’s what he wants to say either. Then his eyes flick over my shoulder. “Duck.”

I feel the movement behind me and follow directions. He fires his gun over my head, three times. Bodies fall and we fall into the fight, back to back, slaying Hybrids as they rush us with an unrelenting pace.

Down the bridge I spot Jude, then Jane in the same predicament. There’s no time to breathe. No second to adjust. Punch, kick, stab. Over and over until my hands are coated in blood. Sweat drips into my eyes and I fight through the stinging blur.

I lost track of Finn and Mary Ellen. My ears ring from the roar of fighting, the howls of the Eaters. It’s like the whole world has come to an end at this tiny, little bridge in eastern Kentucky.

Wyatt clutches the neck of a Hybrid and twists, snapping his neck in two. He spares me a glace, a weary, worn-out, human glance before diving back in.

Another explosion rips through the air, screaming overhead. It lands too close to the bridge, creating a ripple of vibration across the concrete. I’m flung forward, away from my defensive position at Wyatt’s back. Bone-chilling howls pierce the air as Eaters are crushed, steamrolled by the massive tanks. I assume Chloe is hiding inside one. Erwin in the other. Neither like to do much fighting. They prefer the dramatics of their minions doing it for them.

The Mutts fire another rocket and this one streaks over the bridge in a fiery arc. I look away from the Hybrid I’ve just cut down and watch it stream overhead. It lands feet from the tank. I push aside the scrambling Hybrids to look over the side. The vehicle has come to a stop and the fighting is pushed in a circle outward. I spot a blip on the road, a figure not involved in the brawls but headed toward something—the tank.

My brain clicks, calculating speed, height, frame. I know who it is and where they are going. My body moves before my mind and I climb onto the barrier overlooking the highway. A quick glance over my shoulder brings me face-to-face with Wyatt.

It’s a frivolous moment in the middle of immense danger. An Eater charges at us and Wyatt cold-cocks him in the face, then flips him over the side of the railing. I zero in on his face. The sweat dripping down his neck, the blood smear over his eye. Even in the hyped-up, sensory-overloaded moment I swear I can hear his heartbeat raging beneath his chest.

I don’t know what to expect but he risks everything to grab the back of my head, the cool metal of his knife pressing against my cheek, bringing me into a hot-mouthed kiss. My senses go on overdrive, the Mutt in me igniting in a totally different way.

He pulls back and says, “End this.”

He pivots and jumps back into the fight, slashing the throat of a Hybrid charging toward us.

With his words and the taste of his mouth as my motivation, I jump over the side of the bridge.

Chapter Twenty-Two

My feet hit hard, but it’s as though my soles and ankles are reinforced. Two other people drop beside me. Jude and Jane.

“Chloe’s in that tank,” I inform them, dodging an Eater coming my direction. I kill him easily, knife to the eye, and take off in a run before the Hybrids find me. Dashing between legs, punches, and bullets, I feel like I’m in the Matrix, moving in slow motion as I navigate the chaos. When I reach the tank Cole is on the roof wrenching the door off with his bare hands. The metal whines under the pressure, reluctantly bending. Jude jumps to his aid. I climb to the top of the tank and hold my gun steady, aiming at the door.

The top pops like a lid, screaming in protest. It flies backwards, cartwheeling over Cole and Jude’s heads, landing twenty feet behind them with a loud clang.

The Eaters howl and rush for the disturbance.

I hold my gun steady. Jane watches my back. I laugh at silence in the pit of the tank. “What? You too scared to come out and play?”

Cole doesn’t wait. He dives down the hole, boots sticking out. Jude reaches for his legs and yanks at his calves. His head appears followed by his arms and hands, wrapped tightly around his sister’s neck.

He flings her away and she clings to the tank looking around like a wild, rabid animal.

“You’re done,” I tell her.

“Do you not see my army? What I’ve built? There’s no end to this, Alexandra.” I can’t argue what she’s saying. We’re in the eye of the chaotic storm. “Look at you, you’ve taken the injection. You’re no better than him.” She spits in her brother’s direction. He hauls off and slaps her hard across the face. Laughing like a maniac.

Cole grips her throat again with his large hand, muscles bulging as he fights off rage. Her eyes widen as he constricts her airway. I think killing her would be very, very easy for him right now.

“Let her go,” I demand. “Cole, let her go.”

The tendons in his neck strain as he fights against the demon in front of him and whatever one lurks beneath the surface. I step forward and press the barrel of the gun against her head and say again, “Let her go. I’ve got this.”

He releases her and we stand, eye-to-eye, enemies longer than we were friends. It still hurts for it to come to this, but family doesn’t kill family. It’s my job to do and I cock the trigger.

Chloe’s eyes narrow and she hisses, “My Hybrids will live to fight on, Alexandra. It’s in their blood. Attack. Conquer. Spread. Killing me does nothing.”

“Do it,” my sister shouts from her position just out of reach of the fighting.

“I never wanted it to end this way,” I say. I can tell by the look on her face that she doesn’t believe I’ll do it. Neither do I, until I actually pull the trigger.

Even over the roar of battle the sound of the gun firing cracks my eardrums. Chloe’s eyes widen just before the bullet slices through her brain, our eyes meet, and it doesn’t feel like a victory but a harsh, painful defeat.

She tumbles backwards, falling off the tank into the fray below, and the first person I look for is Cole, who stares at me with wide, clear eyes. I don’t look away, unwilling to watch her become cannibalized by her own soldiers as they stomp on top of her remains. She’d been right about that; her beloved Hybrids never stop. Not for a second, unaware that their leader is gone.

The tank from the opposing side of the bridge rolls forward, led by skull-masked Mutts. The battle rages on and I blink, trying to acclimate back into the scene around me. I feel a hand on my arm and I look up. Cole stands close to me and says, “Thank you for releasing her.”

His words would have cracked a non-mutant Alexandra. But my armor is still mostly intact and I just nod that I hear his message. I didn’t kill Chloe, his sister. I killed the monster she’d become. I watch as Cole dives off of the tank and into the fray, racing to meet with his mutant brothers.

Two Hybrids spot me on top of the tank and lunge for me and I barely get out of their way. Jude shoots them in the chest and they fall back, only to be replaced by two more. My hands tingle and I hold them up to my face and although they don’t look different they feel different. My brain is still alert and ready, like I’m hopped up on a mega dose of caffeine or something more lethal.

You know, the way you feel right before the crash.

Jane comes to my side. “I think the EVI-3 may be wearing off. My legs feel weird.”

“Same.”

Even if we can keep going we’re not going to stay strong as the injection wears off. I know at least one other person out there, no matter how bad-ass he is even without modification, that can’t keep fighting forever.

“We need to get out of here.” Jane nods in agreement. “Any idea where Finn and Mary Ellen are?” Paul and Cole are actual super-soldiers and can take care of themselves. I learned that long ago.

“I saw them last on the bridge.” She shouts this because the tank is rolling closer.

“I’m going for Wyatt.” I grip her arm and pull her close. “Can you and Jude get back to the farm? It should be cleared of Eaters by now.”

“We can try,” she says.

“I’ll meet you there.” I pray Wyatt’s still up on that bridge and jump off the tank to find him. I’m pushing against the injection, repeating to myself that I need to get to safety, no matter what my inner Mutt wants me to do.

That’s the difference between a Mutt and Hybrid.

We can choose.

The clock is ticking on my temporary enhancements. I feel them slipping away like sand. I use a burst of speed to get through the mass of fighters on the ground and for once I’m thankful for the Eaters. I understand why Erwin set that horde on us and why he used us as bait. He needed Chloe’s army in a certain place under particular circumstances. The Hybrids can easily fight the Eaters off but they’re a constant, singularly-focused nuisance. Since I’m not fighting at the moment it allows me a chance to get through the fray.

I climb to the top of the bridge, past the metal door of the bunker. I step over bodies, getting tangled up with a not-so-dead Eater, looking for one last chance to infect. I kick him in the face and scramble up to the road. At first glance the fighting is over up here, only the mangled bodies of the dead and severely injured remain.  I run through the bodies, scanning faces, searching for something familiar.

I push over a Hybrid collapsed over another person. The dirty, pale face of an Eater shot through the head stares blankly back with dead, spidery eyes. I move to the next fatigue-clad body and flip it over. I do this again and again, until my hands are sticky with blood. My hands are dirty, so dirty, with the blood and grime of so many people. Hundreds of Eaters, dozens of Hybrids, Chloe and my mother. I try to wipe them on the back of a body, knowing the stain will never truly come out. I catch a blur of movement down the road. I look up and find two people huddled. Mary Ellen’s blonde hair waves in the breeze. I race over, jumping across bodies to reach her.

It’s only when I get close enough I see Finn. A dark red stain spreads from his chest. The worst part of the Mutt enhancement slams down on me. I know he’s dead before she says it. There’s no heartbeat. No breath.

“He’s gone,” she says, voice devoid of appropriate emotion. The darkness in her eyes is fading though, blue peeks through and soon enough the trauma will hit.

“I’m so sorry.”

“He had my back. We were doing really good, but this Hybrid, he just got past me. Fired the gun and he was gone.”

“He was a good man and he loved you so much.”

I squat in front of her and try to pry her hands off of his. “The EVI-3 is wearing off. Erwin’s still fighting down there and it’s getting nasty. We’re meeting the others back at the farm.” I swallow. “Have you seen Wyatt?”

“He was fighting up here.” Her eyes glaze over but I’ve finally gotten her to release her grip. Another explosion rocks the bridge and I wonder what Erwin’s plans are. Destroy everyone? Mutt and Hybrid alike?

I wonder for a second, as gunfire explodes, if he just can’t stop? Like Cole and Paul constantly diving back into the fight. I feel the tug myself.

I’m helping Mary Ellen off the ground when I hear a groan behind me.

“Dammit,” I mutter, so sick of it all. I turn, hatchet over my head and mid swing. “Oh my God.”

I pull back on the blow and reach for Wyatt, who can barely stand. He’s bent over at the waist and I think he’s injured—or maybe just exhausted.

“I was looking for you,” I say, wrapping an arm around him. Mary Ellen is with me but her eyes keep shifting over to Finn. Wyatt grimaces when he sees him. “We’ve got to get out of here. The EVI-3 is wearing off and you’re, well you’re not doing well and—”

“Is she dead?” He cuts me off with the most important question.

“Yes. I killed her.”

“You’re amazing.” He kisses me, using a burst of energy I didn’t know he still possessed. I feel it all the way to my toes and a bit of the numbness from my act washes away. It was the right thing to do. The only thing to do.

Mary Ellen moves to the other side of Wyatt and we make the slow walk over the bridge. I glance down the road, to the west where the sun is setting, away from the fight. Erwin came from that direction and there’s nothing but death and destruction in his wake. It’s unreal. Like a video game or a newsreel. It’s what Jane developed the E-TR virus to stop, yet we’ve come full circle into something worse.

I stare at the wasteland but stop short and narrow my eyes.

“What?” Wyatt asks—or sort of grunts.

“I saw something. Like a reflection.” It blips on the horizon again. “See! It’s moving!”

My words are cut short by a sound overhead. A familiar yet completely out of place noise shakes the foundation of the last few months. A helicopter streaks across the sky, low enough to nearly blow us off the bridge. I clutch against Wyatt’s side and watch the propellers spin. The reflection is no longer so far away, it’s bouncing down the highway. Trucks. Big ones with giant flags shooting toward the sun. I spot the red stripes flapping in the breeze and an unmistakable field of blue and my knees nearly give out.

We move to the railing and lean over, noticing the fighting below has come to a complete and total stop.

“I’ll be dammed,” Wyatt mutters as the first truck rolls to the edge of the underpass.

“Is that the real army?” I ask, stepping on the squishy arm of a decapitated Eater. Mary Ellen leans next to me.

“I don’t know.” But it seems like it. It feels like it. The helicopter makes another swoop overhead. The door slides open and a figure leans out the side carrying a massive megaphone.

“This is the United States Government. Lower your weapons immediately. Cease fighting at once. Stay right where you are and wait for further instructions.” Wyatt and I look at one another and my heart leaps into my chest.

“Is that…” I clench his arm, because oh my God. I know that voice.

A flash of red hair comes into view and I’m not surprised in the least. Wyatt smiles, it’s the first one in days, and he squeezes my waist. “Yep, that’s Walker. I think the cavalry has arrived.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

The helicopter lands at the end of the bridge, blowing dust and debris far and wide. We start toward it, hoping to get to Walker before all hell breaks loose, but the soldiers on the ground don’t follow directions.

“Look,” Mary Ellen says, pointing to the highway. The Hybrids in particular scurry into the tree line, disappearing into the forest.

“Guess they know their commander is dead?” Wyatt says.

I watch the men and women run like ants, fading into the night. “They were loyal to her. They’re not going to stick around for a new regime.”

The megaphone starts up again. Walker’s voice is loud and clear. “Do not leave the area. Any person unaccounted for will be considered armed, dangerous, and wanted for arrest.”

Another voice rises into the night, echoing off the concrete. Erwin shouts the command, “Soldiers! Stand down.”

Walker must recognize his voice and steps from the helicopter. We move into view and she stops dead in her tracks.

“Alex? Wyatt?” For a brief second she looks shaken. I drop Wyatt’s hand and race, nearly knocking her down with the force of my embrace. “Holy shit, girl, it’s you.”

“And it’s you! With the freaking US Army! You did it! You found them!”

She looks over my shoulder and frowns at Wyatt, who is slowly making his way over. “Is he okay?”

“Took a beating, but you know how he is.”

“Yeah, I do.”

“Davis? Parker? Are they okay?” I ask.

“Davis and Jackson are down with the convoy.”

She doesn’t mention Parker and I don’t think I’m ready to know.

The soldiers from the truck are now spilling into the streets. I can’t find my friends but Erwin is exiting his tank and there’s a higher level meeting about to happen. I don’t feel comfortable not being there.

From the expression on Walker’s face I don’t think she does either. There’s a beat between us and she stares at my face. “Are you okay? Your pupils are a little dilated.” She looks at Mary Ellen. “Yours too.”

“It was just a long fight. Really long. Chloe is dead.”

Her eyebrows shoot up her forehead but she nods in approval. “Well done.”

“You want to find out what that’s all about down there?” I ask.

“Absolutely.”

Wyatt makes it over and Walker says, “You look like shit, Faraday.”

“Good to see you too, Walker.”

I can’t help but exhale for the first time in hours. We made it, we’re back together and it’s possible Chloe was wrong. We can stop this, once and for all.

*

After a surreal standoff amidst the piles of dead bodies on the highway, Erwin and the US official, Mackenzie Hamilton, agree to meet at the farm house.

I’m relieved to see Paul and Cole backing Erwin up, looking beat up but still alert. Benjamin must have been with Erwin in the tank as he stands close by, seemingly moved to a higher station with Erwin now that he’s taken the EVI-2.

Erwin definitely knows how to surround himself with powerful soldiers.

The best part though is how pleased I am to spot Davis, hulking and quiet, as part of Hamilton’s direct guard. I can’t fight the smile when I see him and I spot the twitch of his lips. He doesn’t break from duty to give me the hug I want but God, I’m glad to see him. Jackson, still lean and strong, flanks Hamilton’s other side. They’ve got their game faces on and I don’t exactly know their positions in Hamilton’s world. Or what Hamilton’s world even is. I’m just happy to see them alive and part of whatever’s coming next. It’s good to have friends on the inside.

“Get a team together and prepare to track down the missing Hybrids,” Hamilton says to Davis. He eyes the rest of us. “I was serious about them being wanted.”

No one argues. No one says anything. Davis follows his command.

The rest of us climb into the trucks, our bodies tired and weary, and head to the farm.

At the house Jane and Jude wait on the porch, shocked to see our caravan. I hop off the truck and pull them to the side. They are both exhausted from the fight and the turmoil our bodies have gone through with the rapid change from human to Mutt back to human. I feel my feet dragging but I know we’re near the end, and it’s enough to keep me going.

“Keep your head low,” I whisper. “I’m not sure what’s going on but—”

“There’s a dining room table inside,” Jane says, pointing to the door. I roll my eyes for her cutting me off but absorb the exchange Hamilton has with Walker. He knows who my sister is and what she’s done.

The two men go inside, leaving the rest of us on the porch. Wyatt collapses in a wooden slat rocking chair, sighing heavily. Jackson and Walker stand close to the window. Paul, Benjamin, and Cole hover at the edge of the porch. Cole looks strangely in place amongst our rag-tag team, as though he never abandoned us.

It’s been so long since we’ve been together—they missed the attack on the farmhouse all those months ago. They didn’t know I’d been kidnapped with Jane and the Mennonites. They didn’t know we thought Wyatt was dead or the Fight Club Cole and I endured.

And we have no idea what they’ve been up to at all except showing up with a powerful force we had no idea existed.

Hamilton never gave us his rank, but he carries himself with an air of dignity and power. I move closer to Walker and watch him through the window. He’s African-American, tall with broad shoulders. His thick but trimmed beard implies he’s had access to housing and good conditions. I notice his nails are filed and clean.

“We have so much to catch up on,” I say. “Things got really crazy right after you left.”

“I’m aware of some of it. Our intelligence is superior to anything we’ve had since the virus spread. But yeah, I’d love to hear your side of the story.”

“I can’t wait to find out where you’ve been for the last six months and how you found this guy.”

She grins but it’s weak and there’s something wary in her eyes. “Is everything okay?”

Wyatt’s chair creaks as he shifts to get a better view of the two of us. I don’t have to look at him to know he’s picked up on the weird vibe.

Her voice lowers and although I’m sure we are the only ones that can hear her, I know three others on this porch have super-hearing.

“Hamilton is a smart man. A Colonel in the Army. Lower-ranking than Erwin, with a history in bio-weapons, pre-virus. Thankfully, he’s smart and determined to get this country back on its feet.”

“Well that’s sounds awesome, right?”

“Sure.” Her eyes dart at the Mutts standing to the side. “If you’re human and meet the criteria he’s established. Hamilton wants every Eater, Hybrid, Mutt and any other variation rounded up and terminated.”

It sounds rational but it’s not. These are people we know. Hell, I may fall into the ’other variation” ‘category myself after taking the EVI-3.

“The Hybrids are dangerous, yes, but the Mutts, well, that’s not so easy,” Wyatt says. I’m surprised he’s coming to their defense. “Without the Mutts we can’t take down the Hybrids. We’ve tried and failed. We only made a dent today because of them and even then it was a massacre.”

She takes a deep, steadying breath. “You know it’s time for this to end, Wyatt. We’ve fought for this since the beginning.”

His eyes connect with mine and I see the guilt behind them for spreading this virus in the first place. It’s his boulder. The one thing he can’t fix. Except maybe now he can? Maybe this is the solution he’s been looking for.

“Wyatt.” It comes out a stronger warning than I intended.

Walker continues speaking low and quick. “He’s telling Erwin right now where he stands and that he wants the Ramsey’s to destroy the vaccinations and start clean. No mutations. No manipulations. Just a vaccine that protects us from the E-TR virus.”

I shake my head. “A lot has changed since you’ve been gone. So much.”

The tone of her voice and the hard edges of her eyes make me know better than to reveal that we took the EVI-3 injection. I can still feel the lingering results. But that injection saved my life. It saved all of our lives.

“Hamilton has a strong vision for the future. A good future. Clean and safe,” Walker says. “He has resources, weapons, food, and supplies. He’s what left of the actual government. He can help us get back on track and we can be a part of it, as long as we follow his plan.”

I glance uneasily at the two men in the house. They look casual. Like they’re having a normal conversation, but there’s a vibe rolling off the room. I don’t know if everyone feels it or if it’s the spidey-sense that comes along with the injection. I take a breath and say, “That’s not going to work. You do realize that Erwin is a Mutt, right?”

Immediately her expression and demeanor changes. She curses and says, “I knew something was different.”

She pushes past me. Benjamin, who’s closest to the door, runs in after her. I haven’t moved, instead watching frozen in my spot through the wide picture window as Hamilton leans back, the metal of a gun in his hands. Erwin lunges across the table, reflexes like a cat. But Green dives between them just as the gun fires.

He lands with a thud, taking the table down, under his weight. A second shot fires and it goes straight through the center of Erwin’s forehead.

I look back at Paul and Cole. “Get the hell out of here. Now.”

I rush into the room, two steps behind Wyatt but it’s too late. Erwin and Green are both dead. Their lifeless bodies are in the middle of the room. The rest of us have our weapons are drawn. Jackson, Walker, me, and Wyatt. We’re caught in standoff, friend against friend.

Hamilton rubs the tip of the barrel against his sleeve. “It was my understanding you and General Erwin had a challenging relationship, Alexandra.”

“Why did you do that?” I ask, trying not to look at the bodies of my two dead allies on the floor. It’s impossible and I swallow back nausea at the blood pooling beneath Green. “Erwin’s done nothing but fight against the Hybrids and for this country for years.”

“He’s an abomination, as all of the mutants are. We simply cannot become a whole society again until each and every one is eliminated.”

“That’s impossible. The Hybrids ran tonight. There were hundreds left. The Mutts, too. When they hear Erwin is gone they’ll run,” Wyatt says. “The Mutts are a useful asset.”

Hamilton raises an eye at Wyatt. “I’m surprised to hear such talk from you, Sergeant Faraday. You’re known for being such a patriot.”

“This has nothing to do about patriotism.”

The Colonel laughs, flashing his white teeth. “Oh, you’re wrong about that.” He leans forward. “Let me make this clear. The Hybrid wars are over. We’re reestablishing society, one I’m hoping you’ll be a part of.”

“Have you been out there?” I ask, still reeling from the murders. My voice cracks when I speak. “The whole country, particularly the South, is falling apart. There’s not enough vaccine to go around. The Eaters are not under control—the best ones to keep them under control are the Mutts. Don’t you understand that?”

“What I understand is that there’s no gray area here. It’s black and white. Human or not. Only one can survive.” What he says rings true, but at the same time I see one friend and one ally dead in the middle of the room and it’s not okay. Hamilton must sense my hesitation. “Change is difficult but you’ve proven yourself a useful asset, and your references,” he nods at Walker and Jackson, “are impeccable. I’m willing to give you a chance. All of you.”

“What do you want us to do?” Wyatt asks.

Hamilton smiles knowingly at him. “Accept the invitation to join my new world order. I think I have the perfect job for everyone, specifically you two.”

I fight to keep my face blank. Everyone else in the room is much, much better at it than I am. I ask, “And what exactly is that?”

“I plan on having you and Sergeant Faraday lead the Bounty Hunter Initiative.”

“Bounty hunters?”

“You’ll be in charge of rounding up the Hybrids and Mutts and exterminating them,” Walker says. “Under my command.”

I open my mouth to speak. To tell them to shove their crazy plan where the sun doesn’t shine, but I feel the pressure of a hand on my back from Wyatt and a glint of urgency in Walker’s eyes.

“We’ll do it,” Wyatt says, speaking for the both of us.

“Good choice. We’ll make spots for the rest of the humans on your team. Your sister, father, and anyone else.” He stands and takes a wide step over the bodies. “Walker will hand out assignments and instructions.”

With that, he leaves. Walker follows, saying, “You have five minutes to get yourselves together. I’ll meet you by the truck.”

Jackson is the last to leave the room, his brown eyes hard. I grab his arm and he stops. I ask him outright: “Is this the right thing to do?”

“It’s the only thing,” he says, walking out the door.

Wyatt and I are finally alone. We have five minutes. We haven’t had a conversation in days. Our lives change fast. I spare a glance at the bodies on the floor. So fast.

“What do we do?” I whisper.

“We join in and fight from the inside. We’ve done it before.”

“With disastrous results.” I remind him. “What if they find out about what we did today? What I did?”

His jaw tics. “They won’t.”

“But what if they do?”

He brushes my hair out of my face and cups my cheek. “Then they have to go through me.”

His words hit me like a punch because in the end it’s all we have—each other. Since the very beginning, Wyatt has had my back. He’s the only man to survive a full-on Hybrid-Mutt war and come out alive. I wrap my arms around him, stealing this one last moment.

Chloe had been right. The battle will never end. The Hybrids won’t stop but neither will the humans. It’s in our nature.

He kisses me; it’s too quick but there’s not enough time. With our hands wrapped together he asks, “You ready?”

I nod. “I’m going to have to be.”

The sixth and final installment of The Death Field’s Series: The Girl Who Saved the World will be released in June of 2017. It’s available now on pre-order. Be sure to join my mailing list for updates , news and special deals!

Author Note

Hey guys,

So let’s get real. The Girl Who Broke Free was a harder book for me to write. Some real life stuff happened. My mother-in-law passed after a long illness and obviously that rocked our world. It became hard for me to focus and get my daily work together. I’m not exaggerating in the least when I say your notes, facebook posts, emails, reviews etc are so helpful and motivating. If you love a book series, IMO, this is the best way to see it happen. Just encourage the author (not the same as harassing haha) and it’s like magic juice to get us on track and focused.

My MIL was very supportive of my writing. She loved books. She loved reading and always was one of the firsts to grab my books (especially if it was on sale!) Not everything I wrote was her particular jam, but she always gave it a try.
This family situation has given us a lot of extra responsibilities but I’m on track for the final book in the series. From there I have something I’m pretty excited about and I can’t wait to share it with you. Thanks again for everything!
angel

Continue reading for a sample of the next book.

The Girl Who Broke Free
(This is a pre-view unedited sample—please excuse mistakes)

Laughter echoes off the hallways and I hear the clickety-clack of fingers over a keypad. My phone sits snugly in my hand like an old friend. There’s no service, but I can look at my pictures, through the screen that got cracked at some point along the way. I mean, I didn’t even remember having a cell phone until someone handed me a cord and said, “Want to use this?”

Cell phones.

Computers.

Electricity.

Laughter.

I look around the room and watch everyone in motion. Working as though nothing had happened—or was happening—outside this place. There are still Eaters out there. I know that. There are Hybrids on the run, slipping across the country like ants. There are Mutts in hiding—trying to figure out their next move. Both of their leaders are gone and no one told them what to do once the battle was over, what would happen to them with a new person in charge.

“Name?” the man at the desk next to my chair asks. I glance at Wyatt one desk over and his eyes pierce mine. He gives the slightest of nods.

“Alexandra Ramsey.”

“Age?”

“Twenty.”

“Place of origin?”

I hesitate and think back over the last year-and-a-half. Catlettsburg, Asbury, then Catlettsburg before that. I had a stretch of traveling from Georgia, but also spent time in Tennessee. I think past the Vaccine Center and PharmaCorp and Fort Shaw, all the way back to the beginning. When I met Cole and Wyatt. When I was still with my mother. I blink at the man whose hands wait over the keyboard for my answer.

“Raleigh, North Carolina.”

He types this information into a computer. A computer that hums and has white light. I watch as he scribbles something on a small blue card with a plastic pen.

“Take this to receive your rations; this includes clothing and food. Follow the arrow on the floor.”

I’m aware of the tremble in my hand when I take the card. Once I step away Jude’s number is called and he replaces me. The same questions start again.

“Name?”

“Jude Hansen.”

I look up, a little lost, but perk up when I spot Wyatt waiting for me by the exit. There’s a blue hued arrow painted under his feet.

“You okay?” he asks. I spot a similar blue rectangle in his hand. “You look a little pale.”

“Yeah, I think it may be the effects wearing off.” I whisper. The EVI-3 which transformed me into a temporary Mutt for the battle between the Hybrid’s and Mutt’s has finally worked its way through my system and I’m feeling it. Extreme fatigue and a slight headache over my temple. “I think I just need some water and a nap.”

Wyatt studies me. I know he’s worried about side effects from the drug. Overall I feel fine. The hyper focus is gone—the extreme strength and heightened senses—all faded. When I challenge his look he sighs and starts down the hallway. The sooner we check in the faster I can find a place to sleep off the hangover.

We approach a window that overlooks the small city below. We’re in Cincinnati, a place bigger than I ever thought I’d step foot into again. The building is a government assistance facility, no longer needed for driver’s licenses or social security. It’s perfect for processing in new citizens. From what Walker told us coming in the night before the entire city 100% Eater free. They have the power grid up, running water and a functioning infrastructure. It’s basically the government approved version of Avi’s Catlettsburg although much larger and well equip. apparently, the government had multiple cities prepped for a cataclysmic disaster. Cincinnati is one of them. Well, I say Cincinnati. They no longer call it that. It’s been officially renamed New Hope.  According to Walker other safe cities, dotted around the country, are in various states of flux. Some are still fighting the Eater’s to hold their ground or do not have adequate survivors to maintain the infrastructure as much as they hoped. Although, according to her, a few are doing as well as this one.

Wyatt listened to all this with intense interest, the wheels in his head spinning. He has the same look now when he looks out the window at the clean, functional city. “Surreal isn’t it?”

I touch the glass. “It doesn’t seem real.”

“We probably shouldn’t get used to it. If we’re really being assigned as bounty hunters I don’t think we’ll get to stay long.”

I watch him watch the city. “Is it weird that I’m okay with that? That I want to go back out?”

“It isn’t weird to me. But I’m not sure I’m the best example of post-crisis mentality.”

I face him, other than a sanitizing wash off and temporary clothing in quarantine we’re fresh off the battle field. Less than twenty-four hours before I’d killed Chloe with a shot to the head. We’d watched Erwin and Green executed by Hamilton, the totally unknown man in charge of this city. I grip Wyatt’s hips and push up on my toes, giving him a peck on the lips.

“You may not be the best example but you’re the best for me,” I tell him.

“You lay it on thick, you know that right?” Wyatt is well aware of my inability to be the mushy-girlfriend. I’m well aware that he likes me that way.

Jude and Mary Ellen approach from the processing room. Jane? I haven’t seen her since we arrived but I have little doubt she’s already been put to work.

They clutch cards in their fingers. I take a deep breath and say, “Let’s get this over with,” before taking the next step in the game.

Chapter two

The bizarre feeling of normalcy only grows when we’re escorted to a nearby auditorium for orientation. The group we’re in isn’t big—maybe twenty people, of varying ages, all looking as tired and weary as I feel. I can’t imagine what they’ve been through—it’s clear the functioning, post-crisis world is very different than what I had in mind—but I doubt they just got in a battle with super-soldiers the day before.

“It’s weird being in a place like this, with electricity and everything,” Mary Ellen says. Her feet bounce on the ground, shaking her knees. I wonder if it’s nerves or side effects.

“Sometimes it feels like whiplash,” Jude says. “There’s no constant. One minute we’re living like survivalists, the next it’s like nothing has changed.”

I agree that it’s definitely hard to process, which may be why I’m itching to get out of here. I also know that I need to learn more about this place and Hamilton because if I’ve learned anything over the last year is power corrupts—now more than ever.

A slight woman pale brown hair and a wide nose walks to the podium. Her lips are painted bright red and I can’t help but notice her dress. It’s not the utilitarian kind that Mary Ellen wore as a byproduct of growing up with the Mennonites. No, it’s made of a silky black material with dotted flowers. It’s the kind of outfit that you can’t fight in. It, more than anything else I’ve seen today emits a level of luxury I am fully unaccustomed to.

A wide screen rolls from the ceiling behind her and she steps to the microphone.

“Good afternoon. My name is Andrea Miller and I’m the welcome liaison for the city of New Hope. Colonel Hamilton extends his warmest welcome and hopes you find a path to the future in our designated Safe City.”

A picture appears on the screen with the city’s logo. It includes an American flag and a seal that says “Safe City.” Andrea looks appraisingly at the image behind her and then turns back to face the crowd.

“I’m aware that many of you have struggled long and hard to get to this day. You have lost family and friends. You’ve lost your homes and jobs and sense of security. New Hope cannot replace the things close to your heart but we can offer you a home and future in absolute safety. Where running water and electricity are the norm and not something to fight and scavenge for. Believe it or not the government wasn’t totally unprepared for the ETR-Virus. The likelihood of biological warfare was well known and documented by agencies like Homeland Security and the CDC. With the advent of drone warfare anything was possible and what was once a vague outline became a fast moving reality. Six cities were finalized before the ETR-Virus wiped out the southern states. Ten more were planned that never came to fruition. Of these six three are fully functional. The other three are struggling and we’re in the process of assisting those get on their feet.”

The screen behind her flips through a series of images that look pre-crisis of apartments and single family homes. School children walking out of a classroom. The nostalgia is thick. I spot a small movement near the door. Hamilton is observing the presentation. I nudge Wyatt and gesture to the man watching.

“Now that you’re in New Hope we hope you take time to rest and recover. We’ll help you find a job and housing. You won’t have to sleep with weapons anymore or worry about your neighbors. This is truly a safe place to call home.”

“I have a question,” a voice asks from a couple of rows over. I can’t see his face but his hair is gray.

“Go ahead,” Andrea says.

“What kind of perimeter do you maintain? I saw the fence line but does it go all the way around the city? Have you had any breaches?”

Amanda nods, her face showing the right amount of concern. With the remote in her hand she flips forward a few pictures to a diagram of a tall fence. “The city of Cincinnati had the barricades in storage. As soon as Florida was cut off from the rest of the country the walls went up. Now, things weren’t perfect at first. Infected citizens were already here before the walls were secured. We lost people but our police and local National Guard were ready for them. They’d been trained for something like this.”

“How do you train for cannibals?” Another man blurts out. “And the panic and fear of not trusting your neighbors? Are you saying the government had a tip off that this was coming?”

Andrea’s calm expression falters, her lip twitching just a bit. “No, of course not—”

“I lost my baby girl out there. Not from the cannibals but from the bastards that hoarded and stole all the food in my town.” He nods to the boy next to him, he looks young, maybe ten or eleven. “My son had to see things he never should. Every day I wondered if we’d be better off dead.”

“Sir, I know you’re upset and we have many resources for you and your so—”

“Thank you, Andrea,” a rich, controlled voice says from off stage. Hamilton moves from this spot at the door and walks calmly across the front of the platform, into the seating area. Andrea is doing her best to stay calm but the man is right, finding out now that a safe place like this exists is a little too late.

It also hammers home that people do not know about my sister and the real cause of the ETR-Virus. I worry in a whole new way about her safety.

Hamilton does something surprising. He walks among the attendees and stops before the man. He’s wearing more casual clothing today, a V-neck sweater and olive green pants. Nothing about him reveals the deadly executioner we met last night.

“What’s your name?” he asks the man.

“Richard.” He nods at his son. “This is Liam.”

Hamilton offers his hand to the son first and they shake, then to the man. Wyatt hasn’t moved an inch watching the scene unfold.

“The fact you are coming to New Hope this long after the crisis began is proof of how strong you are. Did you know that when we first started the orientations for new citizens these rooms were packed with survivors?” He looks around the large room, compelling us to look ourselves. “Many were from the original city and suburbs but for months we had a large influx of people rolling in, happy to be out of the Death Fields.”

“We didn’t know you existed,” Richard says.

“I know and it was not widely advertised outside this area. It took months to get the city up and running. We welcomed in all the healthy people that came to the gates but we weren’t in a position to travel outside ourselves until very recently. Many of the other Safe Cities still aren’t.”

“That’s not fair,” Liam says. “Leaving people out there—with the monsters and bad people.”

“No, son, it isn’t.” Hamilton sounds sympathetic. His voice warm and welcoming. I can’t shake the feeling of watching something scripted, like a reality TV show or something. “But we’re doing the best we can and as a unified community, determined to eradicate the infected and dangerous, we’ll return as a country, stronger than before.”

He pats Liam on the head, who actually does look appeased, and walks up to the podium. He adjusts the microphone to his height and says, “Now that we’ve stabilized and have eliminated much of the threat from down south we will continue the cleanup of the countryside until we are free to come and go from the safe barriers of the city. It will take time and perseverance but we’ll get there with the help of capable soldiers and fighters.” He glances in our direction. “We have a plan and a mission—both for the greater good. Rest, heal and figure out the way you want to be part of the future of New Hope.”

Richard jumps to his feet and starts to clap. I’m started by the act but he’s followed by others in the room, many with a look of relief on their faces. Jude nudges my arm and stands with the others. I move to my feet and as a group we cheer on our new leader with the most recent citizens of New Hope.

I feel pressure on my elbow and Wyatt leans close. “Where have I heard a speech like that before?” he asks.

I keep my eyes fixated on Hamilton, who’s waving back at the small group, many who have left their seats to go greet him personally.

“In a room like this, back at PharmaCorp,” I reply. “From my sister.”

Angel Lawson Books

The Death Fields:

The Girl Who Shot First

The Girl Who Punched Back

The Girl Who Kicked Ass

The Girl Who Kissed the Sun

The Girl Who Broke Free

The Girl Who Saved the World

Creature of Habit Series:

Creature of Habit (Book 1)

Creature of Habit (Book2)

Creature of Habit (Book 3)

A Vampire’s Seduction (Ryan’s Story Book 4)

A Vampire’s Fate (Sebastian’s Story Book 5) Pre-Order

The Wraith Series:

Wraith

Shadow Bound

Grave Possession

Urban Fantasy

The Lost Queen

Vigilant

Contemporary Romance:

FanGirl-A Girl Who Shot First Companion Novel

For the Win

Table of Contents

- Chapter One
- Chapter Two
- Chapter Three
- Chapter Four
- Chapter Five
- Part Two
- Chapter Six
- Chapter Seven
- Chapter Eight
- Chapter Nine
- Chapter Ten
- Chapter Eleven
- Chapter Twelve
- Chapter Thirteen
- Part Three
- Chapter Fourteen
- Chapter Fifteen
- Chapter Sixteen
- Chapter Seventeen
- Chapter Eighteen
- Chapter Nineteen
- Chapter Twenty
- Chapter Twenty
- Chapter Twenty-One
- Chapter Twenty-Two
- Chapter Twenty-Three
- Chapter two