The Girl Who Punched Back (Death Fields 2)

As much as we hated it, there was little choice but to give Paul a couple more days to recover. Wyatt left the bunker and explained to Walker that we were just being safe—keeping the possibility of exposure to a minimum. The story seemed flimsy, at best, but Walker trusted Wyatt.

The rest of us held tight.

In the meantime, we gathered whatever supplies we felt like we would need from the bunker’s stocked cabinets.

“What about the others we brought from the school? Shouldn’t they be down here, too?” Parker asks about the three survivors in quarantine. We’re sorting first aid supplies and cans of food into piles on the counter. We can hear grunts from down the hall where Davis is working with Jude on his hand-to-hand.

“There’s not enough room—and none had regained consciousness when we came down here. I think they’re better off with actual medical care,” I reply. “Wyatt says there hasn’t been much change, but hopefully if they’re better by the time we leave, we can bring them with us. I don’t think it’s safe for them to be here, you know?”

“Let’s go over the plan again,” she says. “We’re waiting for a patrol group to head out and we’re going to slip through the gates with them.”

I nod, stuffing a roll of toilet paper into one of the backpacks.

“Then, we’ll head to the vehicle Cole has stashed about a mile away. Hop in that and go to The Fort.”

“Yep, that’s the plan.”

“Then what?”

“Then Wyatt and Cole go in, get Chloe and come back out. They aren’t flagged or anything. None of us are. It shouldn’t be a problem other than making sure she can travel.” That’s where I had my doubts. And what came next. Where were we going? How would we get there?

I’d spent the night before scouring a small book of maps I’d found in a drawer in the kitchen. It was outdated—five or so years old—but it gave me the general idea of the roads and towns surrounding Augusta. We needed to get far away, in as desolate of an area as possible. I’m thinking deep in the Appalachians.

I hear footsteps down the hall and spot Cole. He waves me over and I zip up the backpack, leaving it on the counter.

“I’ll be right back,” I tell Parker. I can feel her eyes following me down the hallway.

“How’s he doing?” I ask, nodding at the back room.

“Better,” he says. “Actually, I think he’s on the mend. He’s eaten the food I brought him and he just got in the shower.”

“Oh thank God.” I wrinkle my nose. “It was getting a little intense in there.”

Cole smiles and his hand settles on my hip. “He should be ready when it’s time to head out. I think he’ll be fine.”

“You really think so?”

He shrugs. “All signs of illness are gone, other than being tired and a little dehydrated. Both understandable things for any of us at this point.”

I lean into the wall and say, “I’m glad you changed your mind about getting out of here. I can’t take my sister’s mind games any longer. She’s crazy—and freaking brilliant, and we’re just no match against her.”

“The hybrid army is a problem,” he agrees. “I don’t see how we can stop them.”

“Do you think Wyatt will really try?”

A worry line slashes across his forehead and a wariness lurks in his eyes. “I think he’ll do what he has to.”

“He feels responsible.”

“Yeah, well, he should.”

“Cole! He didn’t know she was farming his DNA to make replica soldiers! No more than I knew what you and my father were up to in the lab. If only you’d told me you were working on a vaccine I could have made different decisions.”

“It’s not the same thing.”

“No?” I ask.

He drops his hand from my hip and runs this fingers through his hair. “No. You—“