“There,” he said, though they all knew it. It was the place where Benny and Nix had first met Riot. That first meeting had been strange. Riot had used the sharp bangs from her firecrackers to scare off a pride of hungry lions that had trapped Benny and the others. The rescue hadn’t been a kindness—Riot’s true goal had been to save Eve, who Benny had found in that very ravine. Eve was part of the group of refugees fleeing a reaper massacre; Riot was taking them to Sanctuary when Eve went missing. Oddly, it was an attack by reapers that had allowed Benny and Nix to escape Riot and her companions. That had been another very strange day.
Nix took her binoculars out of their holder and surveyed the landscape, shook her head, and handed them to Lilah.
“See anything?” asked Benny.
“No,” said Lilah.
Benny wasn’t much relieved. Zoms were surprisingly hard to spot in a landscape like this. Unless they were actively pursuing prey, they tended to stand still. Absolutely still, with none of the small, reflexive, or habitual gestures all humans make after a while.
Riot took a long pull on her canteen, then cocked an eye at Benny. “Are y’all sure about this?”
“Pretty much.”
Riot grinned. “?‘Pretty much’ ain’t as comforting as y’all might think.”
“It’s what I have,” confessed Benny.
“Fair enough.”
“Stop talking,” said Lilah. She gunned her engine, crested the rise, and went roaring down the slope.
“Fair enough,” Riot said again. She winked at Benny and plunged after Lilah.
Benny cast a meaningful look at Nix.
“He’ll be there,” said Nix, but her words were pitched in exactly the tone people use when they’re trying to help you brace for a disappointment. She aimed her quad toward the ravine.
The voice inside Benny’s head said, On the plus side, if this works, people might stop thinking you’re a half-wit.
“Oh . . . shut up.”
Benny gave the Honda some gas and raced downhill to catch up.
FROM NIX’S JOURNAL
If I was in charge, I’d do things differently.
Ever since I was ten I’ve been collecting every bit of information I could about zombies. How they move, how they attack. I’ve talked to every single member of the fence guards and all of the members of the town watch. I talked to everyone whose job it is to protect the town against the living dead. And the thing is . . . they’re doing it wrong.
They think that the fence and the watch-towers are the right way to go because we’ve never been hit with a big wave of zoms. Tom said that it’s because zombies won’t go uphill unless they’re actively following prey. Mountainside is way up in the Sierra Nevadas. That’s why there are so many more zoms in the valleys and lowlands. So . . . it’s not that our defenses are all that great, it’s just that we’re lucky because of where we are.
What if that changes? There are faster zoms now, we’ve seen them. We fought some of them. And since leaving town we’ve seen zoms moving in flocks. The reapers can even make the zoms move in flocks or herds.
If a big wave of zoms attacked, the chain-link fence wouldn’t stop them.
I’ve read so many books about fortifications and defenses. From ancient Rome to medieval sieges, to the Napoleonic wars to the tunnel wars in Vietnam. There are a lot of ways to make better defenses. The people in town are too lazy to be smart.
If I was in charge I’d do things differently.
I’d do them better.
42
THEY PARKED THEIR QUADS AT the far side of the field, turned off the engines, dismounted, and then ran quickly and lightly through the shadows under the trees. They found a good spot several hundred yards away from the edge of the clearing, and there they stopped to observe the place where they’d parked. Lilah touched a finger to her lips, but they were all cautious enough to make no sound. Benny remembered one of Tom’s lessons about stealth and observation. When in doubt, observe, listen, wait, and evaluate.
The roar of their quads had been an unavoidable noise, which meant that they had announced their arrival to everyone and everything. The spot where they’d parked the quads was in deep shadow, though. It was impossible to tell from any distance where the riders of those vehicles were. If there were predators out here—zoms, reapers, the pride of lions, or anything else—then they would be observing that spot, waiting for movement.
Riot gestured to the others to indicate that she was going to go deeper into the woods and circle around to check the vicinity. Lilah nodded and took off in yet a different direction, leaving Nix and Benny where they were. With the two best hunters abroad in the woods, they’d be able to establish a very good idea of how safe they were.