"We've got about ten miles to hike tomorrow," Blaze said, consulting the map and coordinates. "If we get an early start, we'll enter the base during daylight hours. Not sure if that will work for or against us, since we don't know the exact layout."

Her light slowly dimmed. She folded the map and set it in her pocket, not bothering to crank the Dynamo again. My eyes adjusted to the darkness, and I found Lasko was almost out of sight along the riverbank.

"Let's get a few hours of sleep then we'll keep going." I leaned against the tree, getting as comfortable as I could. "I think we all need some time."

"She doesn't. Not for this, at least. Some of us need to keep moving. Rest time means time to let your demons consume you." Blaze patted down her pockets and pulled a cigarette from its case. She lit it and took a deep drag, smoke billowing from her lips.

"That's awfully poetic of you."

Blaze shrugged. "Just experience."

She was right. As we sat there waiting for Lasko to return, those demons kept flickering in the edges of my thought. It took all my concentration to not think.

Lasko came back with a meager bundle of twigs in her hands, and she used her fire rod and knife to build a fire. By the time embers died down, I drifted to sleep.

I dreamt of burnt faces dancing over me while an undead Ghost ate me alive.

"That's it?" Blaze asked.

"That's it." It wasn't what I expected, but then again I didn't know what I expected.

The mine entrance was little more than a slit in a rocky hillside. Old wooden beams collapsed under the weight of the earth above it. Tangles of blackberry bushes growing around it almost made me miss it. I spotted it thanks to a faint glint of light on rusted tracks that lead away from the opening.

As abandoned as it looked, there were signs of activity upon closer inspection. A piece of torn clothing hung from a branch inside the entrance. Once I leaned inside, I spotted a corpse, perhaps a year old. Blackened, decayed skin stretched over old bones.

It smelled musty. The passage was narrow and stretched on straight beyond the sunlight's reach.

"We alternate lights so we are never in the dark," I said, then I unclipped my light and cranked it fast, building up energy. "I'll go first."

"I'm a bit claustrophobic," Lasko said, trying for nonchalance, but her worry was obvious. "I'll be okay. Just let me bring up the rear."

I managed a smile. "I'm not thrilled with the prospect of going in there either. You're not alone."

After I holstered my rifle in my pack, I opted for my Glock for better maneuverability. Hopefully I wouldn't have to use it. Firing a gun in an already dangerous tunnel seemed like a bad idea. But not having a gun ready was worse.

With my light at full power, I clipped it back onto my vest and shimmied through the entrance. The walls pressed in against my shoulders and tugged on my gear. After five feet, it opened up, though it was still no wider than my arm span. Overhead were more thick wooden beams spaced close together.

"How far did he say the base was from here?" I asked. The words echoed, disappearing down the tunnel.

"Two miles. If you pick up the pace, we'll be there in no time," Blaze said.

Even at top speed, I climbed over an increasingly large amount of bones and rubble. The terrain was slippery and uneven. After almost half an hour, Blaze wound up her light and handed it to me.

At first, I thought I imagined the faint scent of rot and piss, but it grew stronger the farther we walked, until I had to cover my mouth and nose with my scarf to fend it off.

The passage looked like it widened ahead.

My boot landed in something soft. I recoiled, bumping into Blaze as I stepped back. While staring at the zombie below me, I didn't budge.

She had one arm, and her torso was cut off at the waist. Rotting organs trailed behind her. With her tendons on the verge of disintegrating, she could barely move. Long knife cuts scarred her body. It was hard to make out more than that, since a thick coating of mud camouflaged her.

The Z couldn't make a sound because her jaw was gone. She could hardly raise her head, and she was a pathetic sight, with her arm twitching as she tried to reach out for me. I brought my boot down twice, caving her skull in like an eggshell.

I took the light off my vest, gave it a few cranks, and held it out in front of me. Ahead, the passage opened up into a much larger space, filled with toppled rusted carts and old mining gear left behind. A carpet of corpses in various states of decomposition spread out in all directions. Some were truly dead, while others used whatever limbs they had left to push, pull, or wiggle their way toward us.

My light wasn't strong enough to illuminate the entire area, and that made me nervous. On first glance, none of them were an immediate threat. None of them could even stand-why don't they have any fucking legs?-and many were incapable of moving.

"Holy shit. What is this?" Lasko approached from my left and looked at the body nearest to us. "What are they all doing down here?"

I remembered what Alex said and shined my light upward. There were rectangular slats of metal above us, and chains hung from the ceiling. "This is the place he told us about. Where they throw their waste down. There should be a way up somewhere around here."

"We're in a fucking garbage disposal," Blaze said, laughing at her own joke.

"Come on. The only way through this is forward." My boot crunched and squished the mess underneath. "Be careful."

"No shit," Lasko muttered, tiptoeing delicately beside me.

The space was about forty feet across and the walls were jagged rock. Not a single zombie had enough parts to function, so I didn't bother putting them down. I could even walk around the ones who had both arms intact. Unlike the Zs in the buses, these ones would be here until they turned to dust.

Halfway through, I spotted two ladders on the wall. I was about to tell the others when a loud squeak and a blinding light came from the ceiling, twenty feet away. While I squinted, my hand flew over my Dynamo. My body went stone still as I aimed my gun upward.

"Yeah, yeah, you dumb fucks. Want something to eat?"

A stream of liquid splashed down onto the piles. The man laughed, and another bucketful of nasty splattered the undead below, then a deer carcass.

He couldn't see us. Relief flooded me. The darkness and unlikelihood of our being there kept us safe.

A hand clenched my ankle, and a pair of white eyes, withering in their sockets, stared up at me. The Zs grip intensified as it tried to haul itself up my leg. It was a genderless mess of withered skin against bone and stringy hair. Skin peeled away from its lips, showing mottled gums and blackened teeth. I tried shaking it off, but then I stopped, worried the crazy above would hear it.

Fighting the urge to do something, I ground my teeth. Its hands were on my knee. Bony claws dug into my flesh.

The second the metal door shut, I grabbed the thing by its hair and yanked it off me.

This confirmed there were still people at the base. We needed to be cautious.

I holstered my gun and started up the ladder. The rungs were slick, but my gloves made fast work of it, and I was soon at a trap door above. I paused, listening. Below me, Lasko waited. On the other ladder, so did Blaze.

There was nothing. I couldn't be sure if it was because the door was too thick, or because there really wasn't anything out there. I reached up, pushing gently. The hatch gave way, letting a sliver of light through. My arm strained to support the weight as I tried to peek through.

Windows covered with thick dirt. Concrete walls stained brown. But no one in sight. I pushed the hatch open more, taking a quick glance before deciding no one was there. So I climbed out, holstering my handgun and retrieving my rifle in two swift motions.

Lasko and Blaze popped up and entered, then they shut both hatches behind them.

It was one giant room with two doors. One door was shut, but the other rested halfway open.

I listened. Nothing.

I crept over to the open door. Outside, a mammoth factory towered. Parts of it had steel roofing and walls all rusted a deep orange.

We neared the corner of the structure. Outside, a worn, muddy trail led from our building to the factory, then it forked out in different directions. Trash littered it: cigarettes, bottles, food cans. One led to the forest, the other to another building, and the rest to the cages.

I'd seen this before with the Brotherhood, but this was so massive it made my heart stop. Cages made from wood posts and fencing held hundreds of emaciated people, and these stretched around the entire front of the factory. They were packed tightly, almost sitting on top of each other, and there was nothing to protect them from the elements. I used to think the Brotherhood treated them like cattle. Now I knew for certain.

Each unit was separated by a fence, and each cage held ten people.

Movement a few cages down caught my attention. Four Zs in one unit. They must've separated them so they wouldn't turn the rest of the prisoners. I wondered what they did with the bodies. Why they kept them.

Lasko checked the other door that faced the forest. We exited through there, using the building as cover as we dashed to the main factory. No one was outside. If the prisoners saw us, they didn't care.

We followed the building until we came upon a huge metal door. I wished we had a better sense of the place. Any door could lead to death and we'd have no way of knowing. But there was only one way to end this.

I tested the door and found it unlocked. I cracked it open and discovered the throne room Alex mentioned. Concrete pillars reached up to the ceiling. Blood smeared the floor, and a sour smell permeated the place.

Two men fought in the middle of the room. Or tried to, at least. They were skin and bones and their movements were sluggish. Both were naked and filthy. Then I realized how old they were. White hair, skin sagging. Backs hunched.

Onlookers goaded them and shoved them at each other if they stumbled too far apart. Whenever one managed to hit the other, they roared with laughter.

"Get him, grandpa! You got a 'lil spark in ya still, fucker!"

"Kill him!"

"Whoever wins gets to eat tonight!"'

One of the fighters collapsed after a blow to the head. Whether he gave up or was dead, I wasn't sure.

A female cackle pierced through the male grunting. The crowd shifted as they looked at the source. "Fucking pathetic. Get another! I want a real fight."

Blaze pushed open the door another few inches until we saw the entire room.

If there was a pink fucking gorilla doing ballet somewhere in there, I wouldn't have noticed. The second I saw her, sitting alone on a throne atop a makeshift stage, my mind went blank.

Then Blaze pushed past me and ran straight for Gabe.

Chapter 30.

A flash of brutal pain in my thigh brought me to my knees. Whoever hit me from behind had no mercy. They brought the butt of the rifle down again, but my pack protected my back and it dulled the hit.

Four men circled me. Two pulled my gun from my hands, while another kicked me in the stomach. I was outnumbered. Outgunned.

I was fucked. But I wasn't going down without a fight.

The third kick brought me flat to my stomach, and my cheek pressed into the sticky ground. They pushed Lasko down next to me, and one tried to get my pack, but I rolled to my side, grabbing him and pulling him down as I did so. I used his momentum to throw him aside.

His rifle clattered when it hit the ground. I grabbed for it and tried to back away from the group.

Through the chaos, I heard someone shout, "Stop, or I kill her!"

Lasko still lay on the ground, and one of the crazies had their foot firmly planted against her neck. To my right, a man held Blaze in a sleeper hold. She struggled against him, her face bright red. A woman stood next to him, pressing a wicked long knife into Blaze's side.

I set down the gun and turned to face Gabe. One of the crazies snatched up my weapon then returned to a safe distance.

"I can't say I didn't expect you," she said, still sitting in her chair. She smiled, revealing teeth filed into stubby points. "Although I am surprised you made it this far."

This wasn't the girl I knew seven years ago. Her face was a mess of scars. Some looked deliberate, while others were messy and violent. They reached from her neck all the way up her head. Her blonde hair was shaved on both sides, creating a limp Mohawk that was pulled into a ponytail at the top of her head. Only the bright blue eyes, vibrant even from where I was, seemed familiar. She demanded complete respect from everyone in the room.

Gabe stood and stepped down from her stage. She circled Blaze, who had almost passed out. "Tie her up. Tie all of them up."

"Your plan failed," I said. "We killed your convoy."

"I doubt that." She laughed, eyes fixed on Blaze as the man retrieved paracord from his belt and tied Blaze's wrists and ankles.

"Four school buses, four SUVs." I kept my voice steady. "Sound familiar?"

She stopped pacing and turned. I hit a sore spot. She'd genuinely thought I was bluffing until I gave her the numbers. When she drew closer, I took in the intricacy of her scars. They swirled around her eyes, moved down to her lips.

"How?"

"Ambushed them. Blew them up and put a bullet in every one of them after they turned." I had to overpower her. If she was used to being in control, I'd do everything possible to reverse her dominance. The way the members of the Brotherhood watched her every move told me everything. They were devoted. As I spoke, they looked at each other skeptically.

"He's lying," Gabe said. "There is no way."

"Of course, Chosen One," said the man who towered over Lasko. "This is the guy we've been searching for?"

"It is, Brother Pearson." Gabe said. "He isn't so scary, is he? Just an old man. Nothing without his guns."

I scowled. First of all, thirty-three wasn't old, but I'd let that one slide. "It was easy to defeat that pittance of an attack on Valtown. Fuck, kid, they practically lined up to be slaughtered."

She closed the distance between us and went to strike me across the face. My reflexes were faster and I deflected her blow. But her other hand came up, punching me square under the chin.

I held my ground. The man who tied Blaze came at me next, pushing me to my knees and bringing my hands behind my back to tie them.

Really? This is it? After everything, this is it?

"Take the women to the cages." Half the group hauled off Blaze and Lasko, but Gabe shouted at the rest of them to get moving, too. She took one of the rifles. "I can handle him."

Her followers were hesitant, but did as she commanded. Gabe waited until the last of them were gone before returning to her seat on the stage.

"They're the smartest out of everyone in the Brotherhood, but that makes them harder to control. I always keep my eight closest to me. It's why I didn't send them with the rest. I worried they might declare mutiny, or whatever the fuck you call it."