“I’m out,” she said.
Another reaper, a child with a burn-withered leg and melted face, stood up from the shadows at the far side of the cave mouth. She pulled a black plastic trash bag with her and held it open for the scientist, who reached in and took a handful of small plastic bags. Fifty colored balloons in each bag. The scientist and the burned girl worked together to tear open the bags and dump the contents into the box. When it was filled, the girl limped back to her spot.
The scientist took a long drink of water and squinted out at the sun-bleached landscape. Such a terrible place. From where she sat, hidden in the shadows, she could see the tall metal spires of the siren towers of Sanctuary.
She picked up another balloon, stretched it, took a deep breath, and blew her air into the bright red rubber.
CHAPTER 41
The monk guarding the quads saw the four of them coming and immediately began shaking his head as he walked to meet them.
“Captain Ledger left express orders that no one is to take a quad without his permission.”
Benny glanced at Nix. “Do you see Captain Ledger anywhere?”
“No.”
“You see him, Riot?”
“I don’t see hide nor hair of that big ol’ boy anywhere.”
“Lilah?”
Her answer was a sour grunt.
“The captain was very specific about it,” insisted the monk. “He mentioned Brother Benjamin in particular. Under no circumstances were you to take a quad.”
Benny patted the monk on the arm. “I believe you’ll find that was more of a suggestion than a rule.”
The monk sputtered at them, but there was nothing he could do. Nix gave him a smile as bright as all the flowers in the world. Riot winked at him. They unslung their gear and began looking through the compartments of their quads. They had food, carpet coats, their entire remaining supply of cadaverine, every weapon they possessed, and a first-aid kit. Benny wore his sword slung over his shoulder the same way Tom used to wear it. Nix had Dojigiri, the Monster Cutter — the ancient sword given her by Joe — in her belt, and Tom’s old Smith & Wesson .38 revolver snugged into a shoulder holster. Riot wore her bandoliers of firecrackers, a Raven Arms .25 automatic in a belt holster, various knives, and her favorite weapon — a sturdy pre — First Night slingshot and a full pouch of sharp stones and metal ball bearings. Lilah had weapons everywhere, including a nine-millimeter pistol. They each wore vests with many small pockets crammed with other survival gear.
The monk gave up trying to physically stand between them and the bikes and began fretting over them. He double-checked their food and water and admonished them about using violence against any of God’s creatures, living or dead.
Nix slid into the saddle of her quad, a fiery red Kawasaki. “Brother,” she said, “we don’t ever want to hurt anyone. We’re actually trying to save lives.”
The monk studied her. “Seriously?”
Riot held up a hand. “Swear to God.”
That put a puzzled look on the monk’s face, and it was still there when they fired up their quads and drove away.
They passed through the chain-link gate, and Riot took the lead. Even though Benny, Nix, and Lilah knew the way, Riot was the expert; she knew every inch of this country. As soon as they cleared the twisted maze that was the hidden path leading from the open desert to Sanctuary, Riot raised her hand over her head and swung it in a circle. They immediately revved their engines, and the four of them burned their way back toward the dying forest.
They drove fast, and except for the roar of their engines, they traveled in silence. Benny kept reviewing everything that had happened since yesterday morning: Chong, the strange interviews with the scientists, the fight with Nix, the ugly truth about the missing D-series files, the fight with the reaper who used to be a soldier, the discovery of the Teambook, the conversation with Joe, and the realization that he knew where Sergeant Ortega might be. No… where Sergeant Ortega was.
They paused once on a rocky hill overlooking a big swath of the forest. The plateau with the crashed transport plane was off to the east. The densest part of the forest was north and west of them. A thin man-made stream that was part of the golf course’s original landscape design cut through the terrain, and from this distance they could catch glimpses of it as a blue ribbon winding haphazardly through the trees. Farther west was a big field that had once been a fairway. A ruptured irrigation pipe had carved a channel through the field, undercutting the foliage to create a long, crooked ravine that was surprisingly deep. The ravine was in a natural depression in the landscape, so Benny figured that what little rain runoff there was had helped to cut the channel through the loose and sandy soil.
Benny pointed.
“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.
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.