The Girl Who Broke Free (Death Fields 5)

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…”