The Girl Who Kicked Ass (Death Fields 3)

“We may be alive,” Trucker Hat says, “But that doesn’t mean we’re okay.”

I can’t determine if they’re Hybrids or something else, but I do see that the other men have started closing in and we’re quickly surrounded.

“What do you want?” Cole asks.

“You.” The girl looks up at us with those dark, pained eyes. “We’re hungry.”

Chapter 3

The first thing I think is that they want to eat us. It’s a well-known fact that when the end of the world comes people will quickly turn to cannibalism, right? They bind us and we’re pushed up the steep incline of the underpass until we reach the dark, cave-like area at the top. The ground under the road has been hacked away, making a deeper crevice, a nice-sized room, camouflaged with cement blocks. We’re navigated down short dirt steps into an area lit with lanterns, scavenged pillows, and even a soiled mattress is against the back dirt wall. There’s an odd collection of pre-crisis things on the table. A deck of cards. A dusty Teddy bear. A glass filled with shiny marbles that glint in the candlelight. Things I doubt will ever be made again.

As I mentally attempt to plot our escape, Trucker Hat directs us to sit on the hay-covered floor and says, “The damn Fighters working in that ’clinic’ have cleared out every available food resource in this area. It’s not like there was a lot in the first place. If you hadn’t noticed, we’re in a pretty desolate part of the mountains. We need your help to break into the clinic and bring us everything you can.”

“Wait, you’re not going to eat us?” I blurt. Everyone gives me a weird look. I stare back. “What? It could happen?” I glance at Jude and whisper, “You didn’t think that would happen?”

He wisely ignores me.

“How do you think we can get in and out with supplies?” Cole asks. “We’re on foot and we’ll definitely be outmanned. I doubt we can just walk in and out of there carrying bundles of food. Why don’t you just leave? Other areas aren’t so scavenged.”

“Other areas are also over run with Eaters, too. Plus, it’s not so easy. Once you’re in the zone it’s hard to leave, especially if they’re looking for you. The soldiers from the camp are watching all the roads. Probably getting ready to come looking for you right now.” A dark look comes into Josie’s eyes when she adds, “They’ll kill us if they find us. They’ll kill you, too. We’re not supposed to exist.”

He’s right. They’ll come for them like they came for Paul. My sister doesn’t want her mistakes out there for the world to see. That’s when I decide to come clean and tell them the truth about our mission. Well, most of the truth.

“Look, you’re not the only survivors of the camps. We have a friend going through the same thing, although he lucked out and didn’t have to fight an Eater,” I say, but it’s not for lack of trying on Jane’s part.

“Where is this ’friend’?” Trucker asks, using air quotes around the word.

“In hiding,” Jude replies.

“Then what are you doing here?” he asks.

I reluctantly explain our plan. We need to get in and out with a sample of the vaccine. We’re hoping to replicate the real one to actually help survivors. I don’t tell them that I am Jane’s sister. I don’t tell them about The Fort. They’re too angry and I’m afraid they’ll do something stupid. One day, I’ll take my sister down, but not until Erwin has built an army big enough to destroy hers.

“If you let us be on our way we’ll see what we can do to help you. Find some food. We’ll gather everything we can.”

Trucker Hat and Josie look at one another, sharing silent communication. He strokes his creepy beard and I decide I really, really don’t want to fight these people. She whispers something in his ear and waves over one of the other men holding a shotgun too close to Parker’s head. A muscle ticks in the back of his jaw and once again, I start plotting my escape. I’m better fed and stronger, but they have way more weapons.

I really wish Wyatt was here.

“Okay,” Trucker says once they part and get back into position. “We’ll let you pass and then we’ll help you escape, if you manage to get the vaccine and food.”

“We want something else, too,” Josie says, chin jutting into the air.

“What’s that?” I ask, willing to agree to anything just to get out of this damp, dark cave.

“Take us with you when you leave.”

*

We agree to their terms, of course. I have no idea if we’ll be able to fulfill our end of the deal since our original plan was risky enough, but they release us back on the highway with the understanding that they’re watching.

“There are eyes all over this road,” Trucker says, his twangy Tennessee accent thick and slow. “Make one bad move, and we’ll get you.”

I’m so glad he didn’t try to eat me; it would have been the worst possible way to die.

He gives us some final advice. Make yourself known. No sneaking up on the base. About two miles out we’d be approached by a team who would escort us in to the compound and filter us through quarantine. We knew most of this already, but Trucker’s group was able to give us a little more information than Erwin had gathered through his spies. Like the fact once we got inside we’d mostly deal with medical staff and not soldiers. They tended to stick to the perimeter of the property.

“The soldiers,” he says, scratching his beard. “There’s something off about them. They seem itchin’ to fight.”