Isolation , Jones, Nathan [top 20 books to read TXT] 📗

Even if the vehicles made Jay more dangerous, at least they had a way to flee back to Wensbrook. And without all their stuff they'd have a lot harder time continuing their insane war with Stanberry.

If nothing else, it would buy the town time. And maybe with things a bit more settled for a while Ellie and Ricky and Hal's family would finally be allowed into the town, along with all the people from the quarantine camp who'd gone through their 21 days.

This attack wouldn't be a complete victory, guaranteeing an end to the war, but it was a huge stride in the right direction.

“Okay!” Denny called after another minute or so. “I'd say we've done as much as we can. Let's pack it up and get out of here. Scouts, go ahead of us and make sure our path to the vehicles is still clear. Rearguard, give us a few minutes before following.”

Nick backed down the hill to help his team untie the slingshot cords from the two trees they'd used, stuff everything but the rags into a pack, and join the other teams following the trail they'd used from the vehicles.

His radio crackled. It was turned down to be barely audible to his own ears, let alone anyone more than a few feet away, but in spite of that the volume of the speaker's shouting was loud enough to be clearly understood.

Jay, of course.

“It's the Zolos survivors from the quarantine camp out there, isn't it?” the Wensbrook leader snarled, sounding more furious, more unhinged than Nick had ever heard him before. “Stanberry doesn't have the stones to leave the safety of their little trash walls, so they're sending you out to do their dirty work.”

His voice raised, became ragged. “Do you even care that there were women and children in these tents? Innocent people who haven't done anything to you. No, you don't care! You just do what you're told like good little dogs, which is what you are!”

Nick turned his radio off and increased his pace, catching back up to the team in front of them.

Jay's accusation stung, but at the same time they'd been careful to wait until the camps had been evacuated before they hit them. They'd done as much as they could to stop that murderer and his cronies without hurting anyone else.

Especially considering that whose fault was it exactly that Jay's war camp had innocents in it? The man had just driven bombs at a town full of innocent people, murdered one man, and seriously wounded others. And that was just his most recent depredations. The people down there had to have realized that Stanberry would be forced to do something to stop them, but they'd still chosen to stay with Jay.

They'd made their beds, and now those beds were burning to ashes.

In only a few minutes Nick and the others were back at the vehicles, no sign of anyone following or lying in wait to ambush. And that was that. They loaded everyone up, the rearguard arriving in time to jump into the waiting vehicles, and drove off, rushing back towards town.

Nick, in the passenger seat, kept an eye on the rearview mirror for signs of pursuit, but aside from their own convoy there was nothing.

The attack had gone off without a hitch; something had finally gone right for them.

✽✽✽

Larry screeched his truck to a halt beside the crowd of his friends who'd fled the camp, the other vehicles they'd managed to save skidding to a stop around him.

Whatever he might say about Jay's leadership, the man did think ahead; rescuing the vehicles before they got firebombed would've been impossible if Jay hadn't made it a point to insist that all keys stay with their vehicle, so his people could respond more quickly in emergencies.

And as disastrous as this surprise attack from Stanberry had been, it would've been worse if Jay hadn't responded so quickly. He was the one who'd led the evacuation of the camps, before their enemies were able to get on target and start hitting the tents. He'd also sent Larry to retrieve the vehicles, without which they would've been in serious trouble out here in the middle of nowhere, and personally gone to recall their fighters who'd had the bright idea of charging an enemy position in the dark.

So yeah, the guy might be deranged and leading them down a path that might get them all killed, along with a bunch of other innocent people, but at least he'd saved them tonight.

Larry climbed out and hurried over to his friends, who were gathered around Jay as he called names, trying to see if anyone had been left behind and needed help. Their Zolos-vulnerable recruits were ten or so yards away, doing their own roll call as the drivers who'd saved their clean vehicles parked nearby.

That was a relief to see; in spite of the chaos, their new recruits had kept up the quarantine precautions, preventing a disastrous outbreak.

Jay finished with his roll call as Larry and the other drivers arrived, and turned to them with grim, businesslike efficiency. “How many did you save?”

“Five for us, eight for the recruits,” Larry replied.

Their leader grimaced but nodded. “Good, that should be enough if we squeeze.”

“Then let's get out of here,” Liza, who'd gone with Larry to save the vehicles, blurted, “before they do anything else to us.”

Jay shook his head. “They're long gone by now, and we should try to salvage what we can from the camps and vehicles. We lost a lot of stuff we really needed here.”

“Only if we plan to keep going with this insane war against Stanberry,” Larry pointed out. He pointed back at the burning camps. “From the looks of things, they're done playing around.”

“You want to call us seeking justice insane, after what Stanberry just did to us?” Jay demanded incredulously, drawing shouts of agreement from several people around them. “Only a dozen or so of