The Girl Who Kicked Ass (Death Fields 3)

Pushing back the green and orange floral curtains, I peek out the bars on the windows. Three skinny kids wait on the front porch. The tallest, Devin, has a large gun propped on his shoulder and he looks out over the carnage from the night before. I quickly flip the series of locks on the door and open it wide.

“Get in,” I tell the children, not hiding my smile. I shut and secure the door. “I was hoping you’d find us.”

“You blew up the town. It wasn’t hard.” Devin looks around. “Where are the other people? That big dude and the Chinese guy and the girl?”

“Paul is Korean and they’re not with me. I’m here with my friend, Wyatt, but only because he followed me.” I jerk my thumb to the living room behind us and all three raise their weapons.

The children gape at the man on the couch and I assess him through their eyes. He looks no better than he did two days ago, although a bit of the swelling has subsided. The bruises on his face are now yellowing, giving him a sickly look. His gun is pointed back at theirs.

“Put the guns down,” I tell them. I shoot Wyatt a look. “All of you.”

He lowers his weapon but keeps his eye on the kids. “Alex, can you come here for a minute?”

I go over to my pack that I’d left by the front door the night before and dig out a couple of protein bars I’d found in the bunker. “Here, eat these and I’ll be back.”

They snatch the food out of my hands and tear into the packaging. The girl, Kori, looks up at me and says thank you around a mouthful. I enter the living room and sit next to Wyatt on the couch.

“Care to explain?”

I tell him about meeting the kids the first time around and how I’d made a mental vow to come back and at least check on them. “They have the SUV locked up in the garage. I brought them some food and supplies. I’m going to trade it to them to get the car back.”

“The car?” he frowns. “Driving that SUV into the cleared area to get to The Fort is suicide. They have check points and various gates to get through. It’s a completely different place than when you left. She’s got it locked tight.”

“I know.”

“Then what the hell are you doing?” But he knows. Realization dawns and he leans back into the corner of the couch and sighs. “You want to get caught.”

“It’s my best way inside.”

“You won’t get back out. You won’t get him back out.”

“I’m tired of running,” I confess. “I don’t want to fight Chloe again. I need to see Jane and see if I can at least reason with her. Erwin isn’t going to back down. You heard him. He’s going to keep building and growing his own Army and we’ll all die.” He opens his mouth to argue but I stop him. “You told me to play nice. To join her movement. I tried, and well, you know how that turned out. I did whatever everyone else wanted me to do. I helped for the Resistance. I fought, killed, and sabotaged. But I owe it to my father, my dead mother, and the rest of the world to try to knock some sense into my sister.”

He shakes his head. “It’s a terrible plan.”

“I didn’t invite you to come, remember?”

He catches her eye and holds my gaze. “Yeah, I remember.”

“I suggest you rest up for a couple of days and get these kids back to the Center. Take them to Erwin. He may be a vengeful bastard but he has the resources to take care of them.” I look down the hall and watch them on the floor. They’re rummaging through the rest of the food in my pack. “God knows how they lasted this long. It’s only a matter of time before Jane and the Hybrids push this way.”

I move to stand but Wyatt catches my hand and pulls me back down on the couch. We’re thigh to thigh and he brushes my hair over my shoulder, resting his hand on the back of my neck. My skin burns from his touch. “You’re something else, Alexandra Ramsey.”

“Yeah?”

“You’re crazy and impulsive and I’m starting to suspect everyone in your family has a little bit of a God complex.” I frown because he’s not headed where I expected. He runs his thumb gently along my jaw. “But if anyone can stop her, it’s you.”

“You really think so?”

He doesn’t reply, because no, he doesn’t think so, but this is the best Wyatt can give me. He understands a mission and carrying the boulder of failure. He knows about righting wrongs. This burden may not be mine alone to take on, but I may just be the only one that can do it.

*

Wyatt

rests a hand on the back of the SUV and says, “Unless you hit a snag, the gas should get you to at least the first gate.” Then for the third time today he asks, “You sure you want to do this alone?”

“They’ll kill you, Wyatt. You and I both know it.”