Red Awakening (Red Zone 2)

“I wasn’t forcing my will on you. I just wanted to shut you up.”

“You can’t kiss a person to shut them up.”

“Why not? It always works in the movies. Kiss the angry woman, turn her to mush.”

“Movies? There hasn’t been a movie in fifty years. And if they were full of crap like that, then it’s good riddance to them.”

“I need a break.” Mace slumped into one of the chairs, grateful it was big enough to hold him. “Is there any ice in that fridge?”

She stomped over to it, yanked it open, retrieved an ice pack, and threw it at his balls. He managed to catch it before it hit. Then he pressed it gently against the swelling.

“You have a problem with violence,” he told her.

“Only since I met you.” She pointed a finger at him. “Don’t touch me like that again.”

“Don’t worry, I’m really attached to my dick and want to keep it in one piece. It does most of my thinking for me.”

For a second, it looked like she might smile, and then she started pacing again. “Start at the beginning,” she ordered. “Tell me everything. And I mean all of it.”

“I’ll tell you whatever you want to know, as long as you sit down while we talk. You’re making me dizzy. Wait. Is there anything in this room that records? Is this conversation secure?” Damn it, he was completely out of his depth in this tech-ridden world. He should have asked that question before he started sharing secrets they couldn’t afford to get out.

She let out an irritated huff and stomped over to the nearest panel, where she did that connection thing with her magic nails. “There’s nothing online. If there were something that worked on wifi, it would be jammed anyway, but there’s nothing built in. My guess is that this room is used by staff who’re too low level to monitor. It’s safe to talk.”

“You’re sure?”

“I’m sure. But if you’re so worried I’m lying, why don’t you check for yourself? Just press your hand to the panel and access the controls.”

And just when he thought the night couldn’t get any worse for him, it did. He ran a hand through his hair and considered his options. There weren’t any. If he was going to come clean, it might as well be about everything. “I can’t access it. I don’t have any implants.”

The alarm blared in the background as she gaped at him. “But your accent is Texan, which means you grew up in the Northern Territory, and everyone is given an implant at birth. Even if you were born elsewhere, you would have received an implant when you returned to the territory. It’s compulsory.”

He squirmed, making his sore balls ache. “That’s the thing. I didn’t grow up in the Northern Territory. I grew up in the United States of America.”

Her eyes widened, and she seemed frozen to the spot. Which was fine, because the spot was on the other side of the room from his bruised balls. “There hasn’t been a United States since the Technology War.”

“I know. I fought in it.”

Her hands began to shake, and then she burst out laughing. It verged on hysterical. When she was finished, she wiped her eyes. “Are you telling me you fought in a war that ended over a hundred years ago?”

He shrugged. “What can I say? I look good for my age.”

“I need a drink.” She crossed to the drinks counter, and Mace kept an eye on her just in case she reached for the few remaining mugs.

“I don’t think you’re going to find any alcohol in there.”

She grabbed a bottle of water and lobbed one at him. He snatched it out of the air, unscrewed the top, and drank deeply.

Keiko took her water and sat down in the chair opposite him. “Okay. Talk.”

“Long story short, I was a U.S. Army Ranger fighting on the southern front, at the border with Mexico, when the anti-implant side of the conflict was pushing into America. We were losing the battle, and it looked like they were going to take over the country and make implants illegal. America panicked and dropped an experimental weapon to end the war, much like they did to end the Second World War.”

“I know this part.” She sipped her water. “They dropped the bomb that caused the Red Zone. They thought the poisonous gas would dissipate in a year or two, but it didn’t, and now nobody knows what to do with that area because the scientists who designed the bomb are dead. What’s this got to do with you?”

He kept his face blank. “I was in the Red Zone when the bomb dropped.”

She shook her head. “That isn’t possible. Not only did the government clear out all of their personnel before they dropped the bomb, but everything even vaguely biological died in the blast.”

“Not everything.” He tossed the soggy ice pack onto the floor. “My team was in a cave system in Mexico at the time. We got a five-minute warning before the bomb dropped. Not anywhere near enough time to clear the area. All we could do was wait to die.” There was no explaining what those last five minutes had felt like. He’d held his sister and prayed for her safety. Then he’d told his best friend he’d see him on the other side. He just hadn’t thought the other side would be a hundred years later in a world he didn’t understand.