The Girl Who Broke Free (Death Fields 5)

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.