Fire and Ash (Benny Imura 4)

“Yeah,” came the reply. “Got it.”

A moment later the chain guns opened up. Lines of impact points ran along the turnaround, kicking up pieces of gravel, until they caught up with the figures at the door. The rounds punched into the dead and flung them in all directions. When they were all down, Joe landed. Lilah had the sliding door open before the wheels were settled.

She and Nix jumped to the ground. Lilah had her spear and Nix drew Dojigiri.

“Stay here,” ordered Nix. “We got this.”

Benny glanced at Chong. “They got it,” he said.

“Uh-huh.”

Chong helped Benny out of the helicopter, then reached in and removed the bow and arrows. Together they limped painfully after the girls. When Lilah realized they were following, she turned and gave Chong a look that would have peeled paint off of steel plate.

They approached the tangle of dead zoms. Two were still twitching, and Lilah quieted them with quick thrusts.

“Hello!” called Nix. “Is there anyone inside?”

Benny looked down at some of the reapers who lay dead. Not the ones Joe had just killed, but victims of whoever was in the siren house. There were no knife or bullet wounds. Most of them had crushed skulls—or rather skulls that had been dented by precise impacts from small round balls.

He bent very carefully, hissing at the pain, and picked one up. A steel ball bearing.

“Nix,” he called, and then held up the ball bearing for her to see. “Riot. Oh my God . . . Riot!”

Nix shouted the name.

Then they were all shouting her name.

They pounded on the door, laughing and cheering that Riot had—against all logic and odds—managed to escape to this tiny stronghold.

There was a sound from inside. The scrape of a chair being moved, then the metallic click of a lock. Then the door opened slowly, and Riot was there.

Her clothes were torn. She had gashes on her face, her scalp, and across her stomach. Her arms were bloody to the elbow. Tear tracks were cut through the soot and grime on her pretty face. She held a pistol in one hand and a blade in the other.

“Oh my God,” said Nix as she rushed forward to hug Riot. “We were so worried! But I knew you were okay. You and Eve. Where is Eve? We can get you out and . . .”

Her words rambled on and on, filled with joy and relief. Chong grinned and touched Riot’s shoulder. Lilah nodded, smiling.

Riot stood there and endured the embrace. She did not return it. Or react to it.

Her eyes looked past Nix’s red hair and out into the desert.

“Nix . . . ,” said Benny quietly. He touched her shoulder and pulled her gently back.

“Benny, what are you—?”

Nix saw the look on his face. Her smile flickered. She looked at Riot, perhaps finally realizing that the girl had not reacted or responded in any way.

“Riot?”

Riot’s eyes shifted slowly toward her. The smiles faded slowly from Chong and Lilah’s faces, too.

“Riot . . . ?” asked Nix, uncertainty shading her voice. “Are you okay?”

The former reaper said nothing.

“Riot,” said Benny gently. “Where’s Eve?”

Riot slowly raised her left hand so they could see what she held. It was a small push-dagger. Like a sliver. The kind of thing that was only ever used for one thing. For one terrible purpose.