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

going to see him sniping your people a lot more.” He shrugged to show it was just his opinion. “Honestly, I'm surprised he isn't doing that already.”

That sounded like a nightmare. Although the silver lining of that cloud was that if Jay tried it, Denny's patrols might finally be able to chase him down and catch him, like they almost had when he sniped Darrel and Darby.

Or maybe not; the guy was slippery and always had his escape planned.

Nick sighed. There was no sense worrying when they were already doing everything they could. He motioned to the two defectors. “Want to take a walk around camp, stretch your legs?”

The two hesitated. “Is it safe?” Liza asked.

Nick motioned to Val and Charlie, who were standing together a ways off talking quietly. “It should be, in broad daylight with the three of us.”

“I wouldn't mind a walk,” Larry said. “Beats being cooped up in this cage.”

Nodding, Nick called to the squad leader manning the headquarters that he was taking the prisoners out for a while, then they began weaving through the tents, Larry and Liza eating as they went.

A few people shot them hostile looks, but less than Nick had expected. It was no secret the two were providing information about Jay, and that went a long way towards generating some goodwill.

After a while they reached the scavengers' camp, where the people not on patrol were cleaning up after breakfast. Tallie ran over to jump up into Nick's arms, giving the man and woman with him a wary look; probably not because she knew who they were, just that they were strangers.

“We were just going for a walk, sweetie,” he said, kissing the top of his daughter's head. “Want to come along?”

She nodded eagerly. “Shoulders!” Without waiting for an answer she began trying to climb up onto his shoulders, and he obligingly shifted around a bit to help her until she finally found a good perch.

Then they set off again, heading for the border between the main camp and the survivors' camp. Nick figured while they were out and about they might as well have a chat with Starr, see if he'd come up with anything since last night.

The old veteran wasn't there when they arrived, no surprise, although a passing woman promised to try to track him down for them.

It was as they were waiting for a response that the radio lit up with warnings, followed almost immediately by gunfire in the distance.

Although even so far too close for comfort; Nick could've sworn the shots were coming from just beyond the quarantine camp to the west, and the screams from the main camp seemed to support that guess.

Biting back a curse, he pulled Tallie down from his shoulders, ignoring her protests, and shoved her behind him. Larry did curse as he stepped protectively in front of Liza, looking around frantically.

Nick spotted Starr bolting past them among the tents, shouting into his radio as he headed for the southwest corner of camp. “What's going on?” Nick called after the old man, as the sharp crack of rifles in the distance was joined by sporadic return fire from closer by in the camp.

Starr barely paused in sprinting past him. “Get on your radio, dipstick! And get your gun!”

Flushing, Nick hastily grabbed his radio and turned up the volume, trying to sort out what was going on through the confused chatter. As he listened he hauled Tallie back into his arms and motioned curtly to the prisoners, as well as to Val and Charlie who'd finally come to huddle around him in the chaos, and led the way back towards the scavengers' camp.

“If you don't have anything useful to report, get off the radio!” Starr growled through the speaker, punctuating his order with a blistering curse. “Someone who's got eyes on the attacker, what are we looking at?”

“This is Hardy in the western sentry post,” a frantic man almost immediately responded. “We've got at least thirty people who must've snuck up to the camp in the dark and are now shooting at us from cover. They hit the southwest post first and have already shot at least two people . . . we need help here, now!”

Behind Nick, Larry cursed. “Jay doesn't have thirty people from Wensbrook anymore. Those must be his Zolos-vulnerable recruits.”

Nick immediately raised his radio, cutting into the chatter. “Statton here. Be advised our defector believes this is the Zolos-vulnerable recruits. Don't let your guard down everywhere else, Jay and his fighters might be unaccounted for.”

“In that case gather everyone you can who's off duty and go guard the area east of camp,” Denny snapped. “I just sent all our patrols there around to reinforce the main camp.”

“On it,” Nick said. “If you're off duty and on the radio, get your gear and head for the eastern sentry post.” He sped up to a run towards the scavengers' area.

✽✽✽

Ellie sighted down her AR-15's sights, biting back a curse as she struggled to settle them on one of the attackers besieging the quarantine camp.

Even with the rifle resting solidly on its bipod atop the south barricade, her arms shook so much that the distant figures jittered in and out of her sights, so small she could barely see them at almost two hundred yards. Especially since they'd had all night to find places with cover from both the camp and the barricade, and were settled in.

All things considered, it would take a miracle to hit anything.

She'd always prided herself on being able to stay calm and in control in a crisis, whether it was unruly employees demanding answers back when she'd been a workplace cohesion consultant in another lifetime, or panicking people rushing the fences in a quarantine camp. But this was a situation she'd never been in, and honestly had barely expected to be in despite her shooting practices with Hal.

She wasn't handling it well.

For one thing, the enemy wasn't even shooting at her and she still couldn't seem to