The Girl Who Broke Free (Death Fields 5)

“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.”