But I was speculating. I was vain, so naturally I'd assume the plot was centered around me. Crazies didn't need a reason.

Scratch that. They had all the reasons they needed. Lots of people's lives to destroy or end, supplies, weapons. I'd seen people kill for far less than that.

"But it is possible. Listen, when we get to the house, I want to split off with a bike and warn Surville. We need our numbers and resources. By the time we get back to Valtown, it might be too late to warn them on CB."

Blaze nodded. "I'll go with you."

"No." I lowered my voice, leaning in. What I had to say could be heard by no one. "We need to save the nest egg no matter what. You go to Valtown. If they aren't under attack, you'll be able to warn them, fortify, and move the truck. If they are, meet me back at the house and we'll go from there."

Everything was a risk-splitting up, hoping neither town was under attack. But without any form of communication, it was the best we could do. If I had a chance of preventing more resources from falling into the Brotherhood's possession, it was worth it.

Blaze agreed, though she seemed hesitant.

The truck stopped. I pulled the canvas aside to find we'd arrived at the car and motorcycles. Blaze jumped out and we met Ghost and Lasko by the cab, where I told them the plan.

"I'll go with you," Lasko said. "I know some people in Surville in case we get into any trouble."

I knew she referred to the leader of the town, Christine. She hated men, especially redheads named Cyrus. I had to kill her husband last year and she took it personally. Their youngest son died from some kind of disease and they kept it hidden. Didn't have the heart to kill him. Christine was in on the whole thing, but the husband took the fall for it.

Even though everyone's lives were on the line, her hatred for me might cloud her vision.

"When will you be back?" Blaze asked.

"Tonight. Maybe tomorrow morning at the latest," I said. "It all depends on what's going on there and what we encounter."

"Stay frosty," Blaze said, giving me a stiff pat on the back before she got into the car. She and Ghost drove away in the direction of Valtown, leaving Lasko and I alone on the highway.

"Haven't driven one of these in a while," Lasko said cheerfully. She'd taken off her funny hat and the rain plastered her short hair against her forehead. An intense look of concentration wrinkled her face as she scanned the motorcycle. She plucked the helmet off the seat then studied it.

I sighed. Maybe Lasko wasn't the best choice. I ran over the basics and we got started. After a few stalls, Lasko seemed to resolve her issues quickly and soon we were on our way, rain soaking us as we navigated the cracked highway to Surville.

It felt good to be on the move. The air was clean and fresh, especially after being in the truck with the prisoners, so I kept my visor up. The stench of body odor was borderline unbearable near the end. The prisoners' confusion was obvious, and I didn't blame them. One second they were captured by crazies, and the next they were being ferried off somewhere else. They wouldn't be quiet about that for long.

Damn. We were treating them like animals, too. Had anyone even explained we were the good guys? At least there was Valerie. She'd take care of them and, if possible, assimilate them into Valtown like she had the rest.

We continued north for an hour before Lasko's bike made a loud clunking noise and lost power altogether. My hands and feet tingled as I dismounted my bike, now that blood flowed in to the appendages. I did windmills with my arms to warm up.

The last remnants of light barely illuminated the highway. Beyond the overgrown ditches on either side was dense, dark forest. A few skeletons of wrecked cars lay beyond. I estimated another ten minutes of driving to Surville.

"I don't know jack about fixing these things," I said, as Lasko threw her leg over the bike and stood. "Just how to drive them. You?"

She stood back, hands on her hip. "Nope. You got room for me back there?"

"Yeah, we'll make it. Drag the bike off the road though. Just in case the Brotherhood is in the area. Don't want anyone to see it."

We could send someone back for the motorcycle when we got to Surville. It would be shameful to let the bike rust if someone could save it. Lasko steered it off the highway through the crumbling barrier between the lanes, letting it rest outside of the road.

I got back on my bike and patted behind me. The position was uncomfortable with our gear and rifles, but we made do. For once I let my mind go blank as I focused on navigating the highway.

I knew something was wrong the moment I saw the outpost, vacant and looming behind a chain link fence beside the highway. At about twenty feet high and constructed of a variety of materials, it was the first line of defense for Surville. Two people could stay in the top. Solar panels made up its entire roof and then some, which almost always provided enough energy for the spotlight they had mounted on top. Even if the spotlight wasn't working, they had a fire lit. Tonight it was dark. The headlight on the bike barely illuminated the legs of the structure.

The fence was closed. The sliding metal gate, reinforced with car doors, remained shut. I scanned the rest of the fence left and right. There were no breaks in it as far as I could tell. In addition to Surville's main fortifications, this fence acted as a net for straggling Zs that might wander into the farmlands. Patrols walked its entire perimeter multiple times a day to dispatch any catches.

Surville was, in a sense, more streamlined than Valtown. The storage unit facility was bigger and shrouded by forest. It was a pit stop on the highway, fifteen miles before a bigger city that was decimated by bombs early in the apocalypse. When Christine opted to lead the settlement, she expanded systematically by first reinforcing the storage units then chopping the forest in a mile radius around it for farmland. The trees were used to build the town and another stronger wall closer to the city. The process was tedious, but it resulted in open fields surrounding the entire town, yielding great visibility. The highway ran straight through the original storage unit town and the newly built town.

Far beyond the fence, glowing dimly through the mist, was Surville.

"Looks promising," Lasko said, peering over my shoulder. "I'll jump the fence and let the bike through, okay?"

Lasko was slender, and her boots were much smaller than mine. She'd have an easier time climbing the fence. I held onto her pack, lightening her load, while she inspected the chain link. It rattled as she climbed. Beads of water shook free and sparkled in my motorcycle light. At the top, she fumbled a bit, catching herself as she maneuvered her leg over to the other side. A few feet from the ground, she jumped.

Still no activity from the outpost tower.

The sound of metal scraping against metal drew my attention back to the gate. Lasko pushed it open just enough for the bike to slip through.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

I braked and set my feet on the ground. Walking into the light, guns pointed at us, were two men and a woman. They were dressed in warm clothes and looked normal enough. Definitely not crazies.

"Easy," I said, raising my hands up in peace. "We're from Valtown."

The woman nodded to her companions. "I know him. He's Arbuckle's guy, Sinclair."

My name preceded me. I liked it.

"Still, what the hell are you doing here?" her friend asked. He was a sallow man, my height but stick thin. His hands shook, making his gun sway. I doubted he could hit me point blank in his state. "Why did you open the gate? Chuck, go shut it."

Seeming uninterested in us, Chuck did exactly what he was told. Limping, he walked past us. I spotted a dark patch of blood on his tan pants.

"We could ask you the same thing. This outpost should be manned at all times," I said. I wasn't a stickler for rules, but when I was on the receiving end of an interrogation I'd use whatever I had to.

Then I recognized the woman. Her name was Dori, and I killed her brother sometime back. If people didn't try to hide their undead loved ones so much, and I didn't have to kill them, I bet they'd like me much more.

Maybe.

"We were attacked by a small group of raiders a few hours ago on the east gate. Everyone has been doing damage control," Dori said. A scowl tugged at the edges of her mouth. "Not like I have to explain it to you."

"How many were in the group?"

She conferred with the willow man beside her.

I got off the bike, kicking the stand out as I stood. Dori returned her attention to me.

"Ten, but they were jacked up on drugs or something. I mean, I haven't seen people on drugs in a while but they seemed unstoppable. Stormed the gate, took out two guys in the outpost, and made it to the main gate before we shot them down."

Weird. What was it? A scouting party?

"We need to talk to Christine. We have reason to believe a massive group of crazies is planning an attack," Lasko said. "Everyone needs to be on high alert right now."

"Lady, you don't think we are?" Willow guy snapped, spit flying off his lips as he spoke.

"Calm down, please." They were on edge, so I threw the 'please' in out of generosity. "Brickston was attacked. Surville has been attacked. Valtown might be under attack right this moment. Every second we stand here talking, we're jeopardizing everyone's safety."

Willow guy was about to lose it again when Dori put her hand on his shoulder. Behind us, Chuck already climbed back into the outpost.

"I'm sorry. We haven't had to deal with stuff like this in years. We're shook up," she said. "I came to get the guys to do a sweep of the perimeter, but we shouldn't have all left the outpost. Go. Do whatever you need to."

I nodded and got back on the bike. Lasko followed suit. We passed long hoop houses made from thick white plastic and flexible piping. The shadowy forms of plants dwelling within stretched over their walls.

Then Surville became clearer through the fog and finally we were at the main gate. Here, the walls were hefty and entirely made from wood saved when creating farmland. It took a few minutes of explanation and a little bit of authoritarian threats before they let us in. Mostly it seemed like they just didn't have the mind to argue with us. Boredom resulted in confrontation, but the wall guards were buzzing with talk of the attack.

Their fear was palpable.

Chapter 16.

The thick scent of campfire wafted strong as we entered the town, and smoke and mist mingled together. The streets were almost empty. It reminded me of Valtown before we left, which seemed like ages ago even though it was only earlier that day. As per protocol in all settlements, we checked and left the bike at the front gate and went on foot to the town hall where Christine would be.

In a way, I respected Christine more than Arbuckle. She never developed the air of superiority that Arbuckle did. She lived in the same storage unit facility she had since the conception of Surville, and I'd heard from someone at Scrub's she was known to work in the farms. It was her idea to create the fence as a primary defense while everyone collaborated on cutting down trees and making the main wall of the town. If it weren't for that little debacle with her husband, we might've gotten along.

As we approached the town hall, we saw more people. In single file, they carried plastic tubs and wood crates towards the west gate. No one gave us a second look, but I heard them rehashing the attack.

Once outside of the town hall-a two story wood building right on the main road-Lasko stopped me. "Let me do the talking, okay? I spent a couple months here. She knows me."

"Fine by me. I'm not here to make things harder."

The first floor was one giant room with shelves of books. The aisles between them were barely big enough for one person to walk through. Surville collected all manner of books, but they focused on the sciences and practical matters like mechanics and medicine. Tonight, numerous people were cramped in the space, packing books into crates.

"Watch it, buddy," a teenage girl huffed as she squeezed by me.

I moved out of the way, then I spotted Christine coming down the stairs on the other side of the room.

"Lasko, is that you? What in the world are you doing here?" She embraced my companion, but her eyes never left me. Christine would be polite in the face of her own death.

"We need to talk about the attack, hun. Anywhere quieter we can go?" Lasko traced circles around her stomach. "And we're really hungry."

My stomach grumbled. When you were amped up on adrenaline and trying to focus, it was easy to forget about your basic needs.

"Of course. Come up to the office." She grabbed a passerby, an elderly woman directing the team in the library. "Grab two plates of food from rations, okay? Thanks, Ruby."

She did it without question. People trusted Christine around here.

Christine led us upstairs to a small office. There were more books, these ones untouched. After a second, I realized they were all fiction with a strong theme of crime drama. I even recognized a few titles as ones I'd read long ago. It gave me a pang of nostalgia I quickly beat back down. There wasn't time for sentiment.

Lasko and I sat on metal chairs facing Christine's desk. I shrugged off my pack, setting it in front of me. It felt good to get the weight off my shoulders.

"Tell us about the attack first," Lasko said.

Christine leaned forward, resting her head in her hands. She stared at the desk a moment before speaking. "It was unexpected. We haven't seen a single raider in at least three months. Then, out of the blue, about ten of them are outside the east gate. They are insane, really overly spastic. We think they were on drugs. I guess that isn't totally out of the question. Someone could still be making them. Anyway, they had guns and overwhelmed the outpost, hopped the fence. Some of them went for the town, others started on the fence. They had molotovs, and a lot of them. They knew we had wood walls. They threw them all-maybe twenty-at the wall and it went up in flames. Fortunately the wood is damp and it fizzled out, but if it was summer? If the weather was a little drier?" She shuddered, and her eyes sparkled as she fought tears. "The town would've been destroyed."

"Did you kill all the crazies?" I asked.

"Every last one of them. But since it happened, we realized how vulnerable the library is. This is the future of humanity in here and it could've gone up in flames. We're moving it four miles west and hiding all of the books until we're sure things are safe." As Christine finished the story, her expression hardened. "Please, Lasko, tell me why you're here."

Lasko pointed to me. "Sweetie, I know you hate him, but he can explain it best."

She took a deep breath. Nodded. "We can set aside personal differences for the greater good."

That I could agree with. "There is a massive group of crazies that call themselves the Brotherhood. We think there could be hundreds of them. We intercepted a group a couple hours from here and took them out. They're planning an attack on Valtown. They've already destroyed Brickston."

Christine's jaw dropped. "Brickston is gone?"

"Yes."

The word made her flinch. She wrung her hands together nervously, biting her lip in a grimace before getting herself together.

"That's why we haven't gotten ahold of them on the CB. I thought it was just on the fritz." She sat straighter now, eager for answers.

"It happened a week ago. I think their intent is to wipe us out," I said, throwing in a bit of my own conjecture. "If they brought that much fire, it's because they knew it was a weak point in the town. They used someone from Valtown to find a discreet way in. Maybe they got similar information from someone in your town."

She stood and paced behind her desk, shaking her head. "Not possible. We never leave the town, and we never let anyone in. The only movement in and out is when we deliver supplies, and everyone is accounted for. That couldn't be what caused this."

"That is beside the point," Lasko said, her voice soothing. She shot me a quick glare for derailing the conversation. "The important thing now is that you're aware this might not be the first attack. Everyone needs to be armed, all outposts manned. Until we figure it out, we're at war with them."

"What about the books? We have to save them."

"Cyrus and I will escort the group on our way back to Valtown."

Christine ran a hand through her wavy blonde hair, catching knots as her fingers went through. When her hand came away, she looked more frazzled than when we arrived. "Fine. Thanks. We're getting everything ready, but my mechanic says he won't have the truck fixed for a few hours."

"That's fine," I said. "We don't want to do something like that at night anyway."

"We'll leave at dawn then. Is there anything else we should be doing to, ah, to prepare?"

"Did you try contacting Valtown over the CB?" Lasko asked.

"Yes, but we didn't get a response," Christine said. "Like I mentioned, we thought our radio was broken since we didn't get a response from either town."

"Try contacting them every half hour, just to be safe." It was time to get things moving. If we had to help them secure the books, Lasko and I had to get some rest first. "We need to see the bodies to be sure they're from the Brotherhood, or see if we can get anything useful off them."

The request wasn't unreasonable, and I was glad Christine didn't question me or put up a fight. She sat down at her desk and leaned back in the chair, staring at the ceiling.