The Fall (Book 3): War of the Living (15 page)

No one was smiling when Lee and the rest of his team returned an hour after the last zombie had been killed. Kell was helping haul bodies into a pyre outside the buffer when headlights came over the hill, moving slowly enough that for a moment he thought it might be an enemy.

Then a scout separated from the returning fighters, jetting ahead and cutting across the field to where Kell and several dozen others worked beneath battery-powered floodlights. The scout pulled up to the work crew, pulling his helmet off. It wasn't anyone Kell knew, a man on the edge of middle age, though still fit. His eyes had a haunted look as he surveyed the growing pile of bodies.

“Did we lose anyone?” the scout asked the group.

“Six dead, a lot more injured,” answered one of the crew. “Not sure how many.” The crewman hesitated. “What happened?”

The scout grimaced. “We were tricked. I'm sure you'll hear all about it after I give my report.”

And with that he started his bike and trundled around to the main gate.

The convoy crept close enough for Kell to make out some details, and what he saw confused him at first; it looked like a large group of people being guarded as they walked in front of the vehicles. Had they taken the UAS soldiers captive? If so, they would be valuable sources of information.

Kell finished his work and trudged back home. He was happy not to be hauling bodies until the job was done, happy to let another group of volunteers take over. During the fight he had the surge of adrenaline flowing through him, damping his pain and giving him strength. When the hormones ebbed after the fight and he began moving the dead, every cut and bruise flared into bright reality right along with the ache of his strained muscles.

Still, the walk back to his camp was refreshing, the cold breeze welcome after his heavy exertion. He made his way without rushing, aiming to grab something to eat if there was any food left from dinner, and sleeping for as long as possible.

What he didn't expect to see, as he moved through the eastern gate from central New Haven, was a blazing fire surrounded by people. Kell picked up his pace, though the uphill climb made his legs scream for mercy.

The group sat around the flames, chatting quietly as he limped in.

Laura, who might have been a telepath, appeared from behind the gathering of people as Kell sat on the steps leading into the RV. She carried a tray covered with a thin cloth. Steam rose from it, along with food smells that made Kell forget about his pain.

“You're a goddess,” Kell said as he took the tray.

She gave him a lopsided smirk. “Don't get used to it.”

Kell tore into the food, which turned out to be a thick stew, a side of fresh corn, and fresh bread. As he began to eat, someone cleared their throat. The bodies shifted to reveal Lee, who sat on top of the picnic table. There were bandages on his hands and neck, though his demeanor was unchanged.

“We had a meeting with Will after we got back,” he began. “I knew you'd all want to know what happened, so I made sure I was allowed to tell.” The corner of his mouth twitched. “Though I probably would have anyway.”

“So tell us,” someone said.

“It's pretty simple,” Lee said. “They tricked us. The group our scouts saw wasn't the only group. There were others who led that swarm here. We only found out about them after we hit our target.”

“And you took them alive?” Laura asked, sounding impressed.

“No,” Lee said. “The main UAS force was following a group of UAS defectors, who were heading here. I guess their leaders figured it would be a good opportunity to hit us, too, which is where the swarm came from. They made the team pursuing the defectors so obvious we couldn't miss them, while the three people leading the swarm were all but invisible.”

“We missed the swarm because we're short on scouts, and the ones we have weren't patrolling since they were watching the UAS,” Laura said. “Damn, that's smart.”

Lee nodded. “They got lucky, too, but in the end we managed to take out all of them. The group following the defectors gave up the others, so they're no longer a threat. And as some of you saw, we brought the defectors back here, minus their vehicles and gear. For now they're prisoners, at least until Will and the council decide what to do with them.”

Kell swallowed a bite of his food. “What were they like? The ones you fought, I mean.”

Lee paused as if weighing his words. “We've known for a while that the leadership is bad. They keep making stupid decisions. These guys were organized, though. The brass might be morons, but they have at least some competent officers and soldiers. I think we've underestimated them. They're also hungry, really hungry, and it makes them dangerous.”

“Like, literally hungry?” someone asked.

“Yeah,” Lee said. “The UAS has a lot of fuel and gear, but they're always short on food. They also have a lot of people.”

“Which means,” Kell said, “we'll be facing enemies who basically have to kill us to eat.”

Laura laughed, sudden and sharp. Everyone looked at her.

“Sorry,” she said, fighting back more laughter. “But come on, don't you guys get it? Zombies are hungry, too...”

There was no word about the captives that week or the next. The weird sense of impending doom Kell had felt since finding out about the UAS incursion began to fade as the days wore on. This was helped in part by the return of some of the volunteers. Granted, they were short visits, but seeing the brave men and women fighting for New Haven and the Union coming home lifted his spirits. Kell always volunteered to help them with whatever task brought them back, whether it was refueling, packing food, or stocking up on weapons and ammunition.

Talking to them gave him a thin but real connection to what was happening out in the world, and the things he learned painted a far different picture than he had imagined.

Much of his worry was based on that first disastrous loss, leading to the assumption that Union forces were suffering continued defeats and the council was keeping it quiet to preserve morale. The reality, confirmed by every volunteer he spoke to, was much more reassuring.

It wasn't that the war was going especially well; there were no large victories to speak of for either side. What surprised him was how effective the Union forces were at slowing the advance of the UAS. In story after story, the volunteers painted a picture of the overall strategy those left at home were unaware of.

The hundreds of roads and highways leading from the central part of the country were systematically blocked and trapped, for starters. This turned out to be a piece of long-term thinking on Will's part, the process begun long before the UAS began to ready for war. For months, people from every allied community had been sabotaging roads and felling trees with every supply run, creating a relatively narrow set of approaches for any given community. The closer you got to New Haven or any of the other strongholds, the fewer avenues of approach were available.

It made perfect sense to Kell as soon as he heard it. Any attacker wanting to take an alternate route instead of the easy way—which would raise suspicions—would have to take time to remove huge piles of downed trees to do so. Regular patrols would almost certainly catch anyone stopped long enough to do the work it would take.

Which meant most of the UAS forces trickling into Union territory were being extremely cautious while using the clear roads.

The number and variety of traps on those roads had reached a level bordering on competition between the volunteers. If one group weakened a bridge such that the weight of a vehicle would collapse it, the next would saw and prop entire stands of trees with blocks of wood and wire so they would collapse on passing enemies. It was a macabre sort of contest, seeing who could come up with the most efficient means of stopping the enemy, but Kell was glad for it.

And as the volunteers came and went, the rest of New Haven grew less fearful, too. The air of worry never entirely vanished, of course, but there was a sense of growing confidence that they might win.

It wasn't the big, showy victories made popular in movies. There had been no epic battles. Instead the Union was winning in a slow grind as the UAS forces lost moral, their troops less and less willing to feed themselves into the maw that was enemy territory.

Kell had hope they would give it up and decide to settle other land, realizing the cost was not worth the reward. Lee had been right about the danger posed by desperate people, but the worry seemed distant given weeks of otherwise solidly good news.

Which was why, when Kell was ordered to a late-night meeting, the bad news still managed to catch him off guard.

He paused inside the door of Will's office, unhappily surprised to see Kate in attendance. Then he noticed the other person sitting in front of Will's desk, and had to blink to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

“Tim?” Kell asked. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Close the door,” Will said sharply.

Kell did as he was asked, then flopped down into his favorite chair by the door. “I thought you didn't want to come back here,” he said to Tim. “You said your friends would come looking for you.”

Tim, a large man covered in enough scars to make Kell wonder if he'd lost a fight with a wheat thresher, smiled. “I've been supplying New Haven with information for a long time, and Will needed to know he could trust me as a source. He's one of the friends I was talking about, but he hasn't let anyone know I'm still alive.” He paused, then added, “My real name is Mason, by the way. You can call me whatever you want.”

“Wonderful,” Will said. “Glad we've cleared that up. Can we get on to why I asked you here?”

Will was haggard, his usually neat appearance ragged and unkempt. It was never a good idea to push his buttons when he was as irritated as his tone said he was, so Kell nodded.

To his surprise, it was Kate who took over.

“Mason brought us some news tonight we can't ignore,” she said. “The UAS isn't holding back only because they're worried about running into traps or losing in a fight. They're trying to clear enough of a space between us and them that we can't attack them outside our borders without seeing us coming.”

“Which is the same thing you've been doing to them,” Mason added.

“Right,” Kate said. “We've been trying to keep them from coming at us full force, but Mason's information leads us to believe we're leaving them exactly where they want to be, which is settled in land close enough to us to threaten the Union but far enough away we won't try to take it from them.”

Kell raised an eyebrow. “So? That sounds like a good thing. They want to settle there and farm, why shouldn't we let them?”

Mason shook his head. “You don't get it. They're planning to dig in for the long term. They're going to start farming, sure, but those communities will be military. They'll keep mostly to themselves at first, sending small teams across the border to hit our trade convoys when they need more food than they have. They'll hunt the area clean to survive the rest of the time, and by the time they're stocked up they'll have brought up ten thousand fighters from the south. If not more. Then they'll come at us all at once.”

“Basically,” Will said, “they're trying to lull us into a false sense of security so they can roll over us later.”

“What does this have to do with me?” Kell asked.

Will glanced at Kate, who sighed. “I made the point that we might not be able to safely get you to John, but that doesn't mean we can't put you somewhere safe,” she said. “So I asked Will if I could go on a solo scouting trip, and he let me.”

She didn't look at him as she spoke, though her words weren't unfriendly. “There's a place in southwestern Indiana set up for you and up to five other people. I've stocked it with weapons, food, and supplies. There's fuel and I found a vehicle nearby. I have directions—”

“I appreciate it,” Kell said. “I really do. But I'm not leaving.”

Mason grinned at Will. “Told you. I only spent a little time with him, but I told you he wouldn't run.”

Will ran his hands across his face, rubbed his eyes. “I didn't think he would, thanks.” Locking tired eyes with Kell's he shrugged. “I know you don't want to leave your people. I get it. All I'm asking is that you think about it. If it gets bad here, if it looks like New Haven is gonna fall, please tell me you'll seriously consider this.”

Kell looked at Kate, who despite her flaws had risked her life for him more times than he could count. At Mason, who under another name and as a virtual stranger had taken a stand against the UAS with him. And Will, who despite the pressures of his job and the headaches doing so caused him, had helped Kell in every way he could. None of the three pressured or pushed, and that made the difference.

“How sure of this are you?” Kell asked.

“Dead sure,” Mason said. “I heard two of their commanders discussing it myself.”

Kell's eyebrows rose. “How the hell did you manage that?”

“Same way I got in here tonight,” Mason said, his grin stretching the scars on his face. “I'm a SEAL. Sneaky is what I do.”

“Okay, I'll do it,” Kell said. “But I decide when.”

Will deflated, sitting back in his chair. “Oh, thank Jesus.”