The Fall (Book 3): War of the Living (19 page)

Kell looked at his hand, carefully watching as he pulled it free so he could begin CPR. Though, if it was blood loss, maybe internal bleeding—

Josh opened his eyes.

“Holy shit!” Kell shouted. Still no breathing or heartbeat.

Zombie.

“Why are you yelling?” Josh asked, confused, then fell unconscious.

By the time help arrived, Josh was breathing again, his heart pumping. Kell handed him off to the medical team, but said nothing about his temporary death.

Jess stayed behind at the request of the medics. They promised to send word.

“Kincaid,” she said to the man who had been silently helping. “Give us the tent, please.”

“Sure,” Kincaid said. “I'll be close if you need me.”

When they were alone, she pulled a pair of beers from a cooler. “They're warm,” she said. She sat across from Kell, scrubbed a hand across her wet cheeks, and popped the top off the bottle with one hand.

They drank in silence for a long minute.

“What was that?” she said at last. “He wasn't breathing. How the hell did he talk?”

Kell hesitated. “Can I trust you?”

She actually laughed, though there was pain behind it. “You helped when we needed it. You tried to save my husband's life. You can trust me with anything, after that.”

It was said without artifice, a statement with the ring of absolute honesty.

So he told her.

He explained Chimera, and his role in creating it. At her insistence, he even gave an overview of how it worked, including the structures the organism grew which allowed it to take in air without using the lungs.

At that, Jess gaped. “He was able to talk because he breathed
through his skin
?”

“It's more complicated than that,” Kell said uncomfortably, “but essentially. There would have been at least some use of his lungs, and...”

They talked for a long time after. It was only when Kincaid appeared carrying a message from the mobile hospital that they stopped.

“He's alive. You can see him,” he said to Jess.

Kell said his goodbyes, assuring her he would take the time after the fighting was done to explain everything to her husband, as well as answer any other questions she had. She thanked him and jogged into the darkness.

He only paused to scrub the blood from his hands and wrists, not even bothering to take off his boots before laying down. The thin camping mat and sleeping bag felt like a king's own bed to his weary frame. It had been a strange, exhausting day, and though his body begged for rest, his mind ran in overdrive.

Kell would happily answer any questions they had, though it wasn't solely altruism which drove him. Josh had died, yet was still alive. Chimera had done something completely new, and the rational part of his brain, the dedicated scientist and master of observation, was foaming at the mouth to get time with the man. Kell
had
to study him.

To get that chance, he would have offered anything.

There was a reprieve the following day. The UAS, being a much larger and ungainly force, was like a river barge; it changed course slowly but inexorably. The flood of zombies had thrown off their game, but every indication was that they would attack as soon as possible.

It gave the Union soldiers just one day to prepare, but Will and Dodger decided to do the last thing anyone expected and ordered an attack of their own.

Kell had no doubt it would be brutal, but after hearing every detail, he was convinced it was the best idea. Given the current situation, going on the defensive would be tantamount to suicide.

The day of rest came and went, and the Union forces found themselves spread out along the wooded perimeter surrounding New Haven. Kell was among them, watching through his binoculars as the seething mass of UAS soldiers built up along their front. They had begun returning at dawn, and even hours later they were still showing up.

The road was a solid wall of people and vehicles for as far as Kell could see.

“We're not fighting that,” Lee said. “You're not moving toward them even an inch, so stop thinking it.”

Kell's mouth twitched as he held back a smile. “You can't read my mind, little fella.”

“I might be smaller than you,” Lee said in a lazy drawl, “but don't think I won't put you down and cuff you for your own good. You're too important to walk into that meat grinder. I was crazy to let you do it once. Twice is out of the question.”

It was hard to argue the point, given the odds. The UAS was more careful this time, watching the trees for any sign of movement. They would find none, at least on the road close to them. Not only was the morning sun up, making staying hidden next to impossible, but it had also been a tactic with a limited lifespan.

“How long?” Kell asked.

Lee glanced at his watch. “Less than a minute.”

The seconds ticked by glacially, Lee counting down the last ten. “...three, two, one.”

Nothing happened. Kell frowned.

Fifteen seconds later, the UAS line exploded.

“It's the end of the world,” Lee said. “You can't expect the timing to be perfect.”

It happened with cruel efficiency, just as Will and Dodger had planned. Far to the east, well beyond where the UAS could have possibly sent scouts without being seen, were three pieces of artillery. They had been in place for more than a month, their aim perfected as much as possible for exactly this moment.

They fired in sequence, so close together the booming reports were one continuous fluctuating sound. The shells fell among the crowded men and women, blasting dirt and asphalt and body parts outward in expanding rings of destruction.

The initial salvo did its primary job, which was to cause riotous panic. The front ranks, packed with several hundred bodies, ran forward in a desperate bid to escape the death raining down on them.

Those unfortunate souls, Kell saw, had the presence of mind to keep their weapons raised as they fled. It was an act of bravery, strength, and level-headed thinking he would have been proud to see in his own people.

It did not save them.

The landmines were arrayed in staggered lines to allow the maximum number of people to hit them at once. Even from a distance, the sound hit Kell as a solid wall of force, like standing next to a fire alarm going off. The Union soldiers, waiting for this moment, fired even as the dust and debris from the mines was still rising.

Their bullets raked those clouds, unconcerned about whether they hit the people still running through them. Their target was the huge gathering of enemies at the mouth of the clearing, who were once again trying to regroup.

Those hundreds of rounds acted as suppressing fire, a deterrent against more UAS soldiers heading toward the mostly depleted mine field. Before the smoke could clear and the enemy could unify once more, the last trap was sprung.

All down the road, hidden antipersonnel mines went off in a massive staccato burst of detonations. Kell watched in fascinated horror as forty of them exploded at once, tearing people apart with terrible ease.

Around him, New Haven soldiers moved through the trees. They stopped here and there, using a trunk for cover as they fired off a shot. Most of them carried hunting rifles with scopes, an army of men and women used to calmly killing targets at a distance.

A bell began ringing frantically in a pattern which made Kell's blood run cold.

Soldiers were attacking Union command.

Kell ran, long legs eating up the distance. Lee shouted at him as he tried to keep up, but his words were lost in the rush of blood pumping in Kell's ears. Laura was at command, as Will's body man. There were other facts, including the limited number of guards there due to the massive attack taking place at the moment.

Command had been moved northeast since the previous day, moved to a position which should have been all but impossible for the enemy to find. Nestled atop a hill deep behind a copse of pines and shielded on two sides by sheer rock face, the idea that anyone could have stumbled across it was ludicrous. More, the band of scouts assigned to patrol the area should have given warning if anyone was sneaking about.

Kell burst from the trees at the base of the hill with his spear at the ready. It wasn't a steep ascent, but he didn't think he'd be making the climb. At least forty soldiers carrying assault rifles trudged toward him from the opposite direction. The first to notice him cried out, leveling his gun.

He would have died then if not for Lee. The smaller man made good on his promise, tackling Kell with the perfect form of an NFL veteran. They tumbled to the ground together, Kell's spear flying from his grip, as bullets shredded the air above them.

The few soldiers who had been climbing the hill, firing toward the trees, turned to face the commotion below. Kell saw that much as he tried to regain his footing. Lee had bought them a few more seconds, but that was all.

Gunfire tore into the ground a foot from his head. Kell pushed against the earth with all four limbs, frantically trying to stay a moving target. It was a miracle he hadn't been hit yet.

Which was what he thought until he actually looked at the approaching swarm of soldiers.

From behind them, one of the severely modified vehicles used to mow down zombies had appeared. It must have been hidden on the other side of the hill to have appeared so quickly, and whoever drove it was either suicidal, a maniac, or both.

The soldiers forgot about Kell as the armored monstrosity plowed into their ranks, bullets slapping into it with the frequency of raindrops. The driver slammed on the brakes and whipped the vehicle sideways, sweeping half a dozen men at once. The sound of bones shattering, then crunching beneath its wheels, made Kell's stomach do backflips.

Lee stepped in front of him, kneeling and firing his rifle in one smooth movement. That was no hunting tool; the closest soldier jerked as the burst of rounds took him in the chest and neck.

“Come on!” Lee shouted, yanking on Kell's jacket with surprising strength.

Other Union soldiers had appeared—or perhaps had been there, unnoticed in his terror—to engage the enemy. Several knelt at the crest of the hill, including Will himself, laying waste to the gathered enemies.

Kell dashed around the eastern side of the hill in an attempt to put it between the enemy and himself. It would have worked, too, since the UAS soldiers were too busy to attempt to follow.

Unfortunately, some of them had gone the long way around.

“Down!” Lee screamed as the trio of soldiers saw them.

Rather than fall, Kell took a diving leap and rolled hard to his right. Lee's rifle spat behind him, the thunder so close the hearing in his left ear decided to take a break. Pleading internally that Lee remembered to fire left first, Kell flowed directly to his feet from the roll, putting him nearly in front of the rightmost soldier.

The man gave an involuntary flinch when Kell popped up before him, only half a second. It was enough.

Kell slapped his left palm into the bottom of the gun, pushing it up and away as he gripped it. His right hand only paused at his waist long enough to snatch the knife hanging there, then whipped toward the man's face.

The soldier pulled his head back, avoiding the knife, and managed to slam his elbow into Kell's arm as it extended. The gun ripped free of the enemy's hands, but also from Kell's grip. He stumbled and caught himself, as did the soldier, and for a brief moment they stared at each other.

Though Kell couldn't know what the man saw in his own face, that instant told a story. His skin was tan, though whether from the sun or heredity he couldn't tell. The stubble on his face was black, sharp against the drawn points of his cheekbones. He had a tired look in his eyes, the hollow weariness of someone who had seen and suffered too much, too quickly.

Kell danced back without taking his eyes away. “Surrender and we'll feed you,” he said to the soldier.

Something flashed in the other man's eyes, a mixture of hope and disbelief. Kell knew the gears were turning, measuring the value of living as a prisoner with a full belly versus maybe dying in the next few minutes.

His answer was left unspoken, however, when Lee used the distraction to put a bullet in the enemy's head.

Less than five minutes later they were riding in the armored bed of the truck—driven by Kate, naturally—as it patrolled the base of the hill in search of stragglers. She had followed after Kell as soon as she saw him leave, she'd said. She was injured, judging by the blood covering her legs and the wince as she drove, but Kell didn't say anything. If she wanted to discuss it, she'd bring it up.

Lee leaned in through the rear window and talked with her briefly before returning to his place next to Kell.

“What did she say?”

Lee shook his head, an awed expression on his face. “The scout patrol was wiped out except for her. She killed the guy who stabbed her, then ran through the woods to where the truck was hidden. She was the one who rang the bell. She would have hit those guys faster, but—get this—she had to hotwire the goddamn truck. Couldn't find the keys.”

Kell smiled ruefully. “Yeah, that sounds like her.”

He watched through the slits in the armor as Will and the rest of the command packed up and moved to a new location. It was a remarkably quick procedure. The key personnel left first, while others broke down the tent and hauled the furniture.

After the area was clear, Kate drove the narrow paths between trees, bearing east before circling back around behind New Haven itself. The fighting had died down, though it wouldn't last. The UAS army could be seen blanketing the road, the woods on either side of it, and spreading forward into the clearing itself. There were barriers, what looked like some kind of portable barricade, snaking across the front. They were digging in.

The two armies spread out across the land, one starving, the other outnumbered. The invaders were wary, less confident of their advantage now that they had been deeply bloodied. They had the common sense to use the terrain to shield them, parking vehicles between trees to create a barrier. Kell saw them working as Kate drove the truck just at the edge of the clearing. They would not be so easily killed, now, though their defenses would make it harder for them to mount an attack.

The defenders had no solid front line. As in most things, they were the opposite of the UAS in how they organized themselves. Their line was fluid, changing as needed, and flexible given the wide array of skills their fighters possessed. The UAS sat behind their growing fortifications, the Union was all but invisible. Kell saw people here and there as Kate drove them back to the fallback command position, mostly hidden in tree stands or behind blinds as they watched for signs of the enemy.

Once safely behind their own line, Lee unhooked the rear panel of the truck and let it swing down. New Haven dwindled in the distance, the trees quickly obscuring it from view.

“How long do you think we have before they attack?” Kell asked.

Lee stared into the distance. “Doesn't matter. Will won't wait for them to make the first move. He'll hit them like a sledgehammer as soon as we have the chance.”

“Tonight, then,” Kell said, and Lee nodded.