I checked my watch. Five minutes.

I pulled the suppressor from my vest. Ghost didn't suppress his sniper rifle, but it might work to our advantage. There would be more heat on him, but the crazies might not catch on to the rest of us as quickly. I screwed the can onto the M4, the sound of metal on metal faint against that of the rain dripping on to leaves and rocks.

Through my scope, I watched the crazies in my quadrant. Five of them sat around a smaller campfire in front of two tents. Three meandered nearby, jostling each other and talking. Out of all of them, only two held their guns. None of the rest seemed to be on guard. Their weapons were on their back or nowhere to be seen.

Did they think we weren't on to them? Were they that confident? They shouldn't be.

I flicked the M4 onto semi-automatic. One minute. I counted down the seconds.

I'd take the two holding rifles first. From there, I'd shoot whoever was closest.

Ghost shot first, the sound of his cannon-like rounds booming. I squeezed the trigger, watching as the first burst of red misted around my target's head. That split oh shit second afforded me a shot on the second crazy. The round whizzed through his neck.

The steady rhythm of Ghost's shots provided the beat to the pop pop of our suppressed rifles. The crazies blindly fired up at the ridges of the quarry, mostly towards where Ghost hid. I took out two more crazies with body shots. They'd taken cover behind one of the tents, unaware we had them at almost all angles. They were frantic, like ants scattering around the camp as they looked everywhere for the shooters.

Bodies crumpled to the ground as we rained bullets on them. It went fast, and my sight stayed on each person only long enough to verify they fell. A handful of them were confirmed headshots. I had my work cut out for me when I got down there.

A round thumped into a pine tree. Shards of bark flew around me just as my gun clicked dry. I scanned the area, but was unable to find the shooter before more gunfire rained down on me. I dropped to the ground, losing sight of the area below.

The others found me.

I looked to my side to find Blaze working her way towards me. Her cheek bled profusely, creating a streak of bright red against her pale skin. A new scar to add to her collection.

"You good?" I asked.

"Fine. They had me pinned back there. Keep circling."

Since I couldn't resurface either, we moved farther left around the quarry, hoping a new vantage point would throw them off. Taking cover behind a fallen log, I ejected the mag and tossed it into my dump pouch. I grabbed a fresh one from my vest and reloaded. Blaze took cover close by.

The gunshots grew infrequent, so I looked over the log. Bodies littered the ground, some still trying to drag themselves to cover. Another boom from Ghost's rifle and a crawler jerked as half his headed exploded in the mud.

The captives screamed. Still chained to the post, they were huddled together even tighter. As cruel as it was to think, they were advantageous. When the crazies came back as runners, they'd take the easy prey first. They were bait.

I reassessed my quadrant. I knew I'd shot six of the eight that were visible, as well as some that entered my line of sight. There wasn't any movement in the camp. I studied areas of cover longer, such as tents and nearby trucks.

Movement in a tent. Someone looked out of an unzipped flap. I squeezed the trigger, watching the tent shudder as his body collapsed inside it.

I glanced at Blaze and motioned to rally with the group. We stayed far back from the edge of the quarry as we walked back to Lasko and Ghost. Both were unscathed.

We didn't waste any time getting down into the quarry. The walk was dangerous; we had pitiful cover as we slipped on pebbles and slick patches of grass. Based on the lack of shots taken at us, the crazies were all dead or didn't see us.

We fanned out in twos, crushing skulls and putting down crazies who still clung to life. Blaze seemed to enjoy using the pommel of her new knife. I covered her, letting her have these happy moments swirling the brains of twitching bodies.

My hope diminished with each body we took out. Most of them suffered fatal wounds, and were either dead or dying. We could interrogate their captives, but I doubted they'd be able to tell us much, especially if they were anything like the pregnant girl in Valtown.

The camp was what I expected it to be: dirty, smelly, but functional. It had been there for a while, with clear paths formed between and around tents.

What were you doing here? The question repeated in my mind as I plunged my new knife through a man's eyes. Beside me, Blaze crouched and wiped her knife off.

We'd already met in the middle of the camp. Neither Lasko or Ghost captured one crazy.

"Do we take them back to Valtown?"Blaze pointed her thumb at prisoners behind her, twenty feet from us.

They were quiet now, studying us with fear and curiosity. A mixture of old and young, some were emaciated and others looked healthy.

"Well, we aren't leaving them here," I said. "But we aren't letting them walk freely. We don't know what their situation is, plus-"

"Look!" Lasko pointed.

Blaze and Ghost had their rifles aimed. Scrambling up the quarry was a figure, very much alive and very much trying to escape.

Ghost's shot jammed. Blaze's went wide, sending up a burst of sand and rock beside him. I took aim and fired. The bullet grazed his calf and sent him flying forward. The front of his body hit gravel and he slid down.

I went into action, running forward. The man came to a stop at the bottom of the slope, half trying to scramble back up it while squeezing his bleeding leg. In his free hand was a revolver.

Blaze stood next to me and we descended on him. She pried the flailing gun from his hands as I held him down.

He panted hard, his wild eyes staring into mine with recognition. I pushed the knit hat off his head, revealing red hair.

If I'd known who he was, I wouldn't have shot. I would've run after him or let him go. But in the bulky clothes and hat, all I saw was another member of the Brotherhood trying to make things difficult for me. Not Alex. Not the teenage kid who brought me candy and thought I was cool.

"You're fucking kidding me." I sighed as I hauled him up by his jacket. "What are you doing here and why were you running away from us?"

Alex shook as I dragged him back to the middle of the camp and sat him down by the bonfire. Unlike most times I saw him, he didn't have much to say.

"Lasko, see if you can get that truck running," I said. Both she and Ghost recognized Alex. Valtown wasn't really that big. "Don't ask. I don't have answers yet. Ghost and Blaze, start getting the survivors ready. We'll drive them back to Valtown and grab the car and bikes on the way."

"There won't be a Valtown soon."

All heads turned to Alex. Tears streamed down his face.

A mixture of emotions went through me. Confusion, anger, betrayal to name a few. I glared at my team. "What are you waiting for?"

They finally dispersed to complete their tasks.

I sat next to Alex. The wound wasn't too bad now that I studied it. It was truly just a graze. I shrugged off my pack and pulled out some gauze, handing it to him. "Wrap it up then keep pressure on it."

While there were a hundred questions I could ask him, many of them could wait. What was important was the here and now.

"Is everyone here, or are people missing from the camp?"

"A group is gone out somewhere." He flicked his fingers, counting off crazies. "Five guys. Left a couple hours ago."

"Do you know where?"

"No."

"Is there any threat right now that I should know about?"

Alex took a ragged breath. "They're going to destroy Valtown. I don't know the details, but I heard them talking about it. Planning an attack."

The transportation truck shuddered to life. Ghost and Lasko led prisoners to it, their hands still tied together. Most looked confused, but a handful seemed relieved.

"Alex, what the fuck happened? Why are you here?"

"I snuck out after I saw you, like usual, you know? Heard about a housing complex that hadn't been raided ever and wanted to check it out. Well, I got lost and these crazy people found me. They took me to this weird place, like some kind of old factory or something. There were so many of them there. I'd never seen so many."

"As many as Valtown?"

Alex made a noise between a laugh and a sob. "Twice as many."

He pulled down the hem of his shirt, showing the top of an infected mass of burnt flesh. It was angry yellowish red and leaked pus. "They did this to me. It hurts really fucking bad. I think it's infected and I'm gonna die."

"I know it hurts." I said. "Why were you here?"

Blaze shouted my name. They were ready to take off, so I helped Alex get to his feet. The kid hadn't turned sides. He was a victim of circumstance, like most of the Brotherhood.

"Mr. Sinclair, I'm really sorry."

"Alex, spit it out."

"I told them about the secret point in the wall. I told them how they could get in. They brought me here so I could show it to them."

"And did you?"

Alex stared at the ground. "Yes."

Chapter 15.

The rain picked up and turned into a bitterly cold storm. Drops beat against the transport truck as Ghost navigated his way to the main road. The route we took to get to the stone quarry was, of course, much longer than taking the truck back. But if those crazies heard us coming, I had no doubt we would've died. Circling the quarry from above was the best tactical advantage we could've asked for.

We'd return to the house, where we'd pick up the motorcycles and car, then head back to Valtown. Assuming there was a Valtown left. My stomach was in knots. Among all the terrible things they'd do, the Brotherhood would also take our nest egg. The loss was unimaginable.

I made Alex go over his capture twice during the ride so I could fill in some blanks. We were in the rear of the truck. Through loose canvas flaps, I watched the forest disappear behind me.

Alex estimated he walked five miles before he was captured by a convoy from the Brotherhood. Alex wasn't exact on numbers, but from what I gathered there had to be around fifty. They already had a few captives. One of them Alex recognized as a girl from Brickston. That also confirmed who destroyed Brickston. They had to be the ones who'd slaughtered the town and brought some of the residents with them.

At that point, the group went to the factory Alex spoke of. It took hours to drive there, the roads taking them past remnants of civilization and up into the mountains. I was glad to hear that; it meant they were far away from us. They'd have to expend resources to move their people to attack Valtown, and with the horde of Brickston undead wandering the area, I hoped it would make it harder.

"There was rust everywhere," Alex said. "There was a lot of metal. I remember a dark orange color. The factory was huge and really old, like it might've been abandoned Before. There were woods. They didn't have walls like us. Just a shitty fence that was falling apart in places. A lot of people were living outside the building. They were fenced up. Those fences were strong. Made of wood and metal and stuff."

Some of the prisoners sitting next to us whimpered at what Alex said. I glanced at Blaze, sitting opposite me. She clenched her jaw, making the veins in her temple and neck bulge.

"But inside was where the bad guys lived." Alex paused. "They'd built walls everywhere inside the place to make more rooms. It seemed a little better in there, better than outside, but it was still gross. Not like home. Everyone was cruel. They tugged people around on ropes and beat them and raped them and..." His face grew red as he struggled to continue.

"Just keep going, Alex. We need to know everything."

"The guy who found me wanted to sell me to this other guy, but he said I was too old. Then he tried to pawn me off as 'food' to someone else, but they said I was better off slaving. So he kept me. Lined me up with all the other new people and branded us one by one."

"What did they make you do?"

"Lots of stuff." Alex sighed. "They made us clean up blood from the slaughterhouse sometimes, once the troughs got too full. Other times they made us watch them do things to people because they thought it was funny."

"How did they find out you were from Valtown?" I asked.

"We were in this huge room for the branding. Kind of like throne rooms from books, you know? This woman sat in a chair, and everyone looked at her like they wanted her attention. She was fucking scary, Mr. Sinclair. Her face had so many scars and her teeth were sharp. She had all these guys chained to her chair." Alex took a deep breath. "It was disgusting."

"Everyone was crazy. Out of control. But when she talked, they listened. She asked where we came from. They told her 'near the settlements' and she asked if any of us were from Valtown. Of course, I didn't say anything. Then she said, 'Whoever tells me what I want to know goes free.' And Lindsey from Brickston ratted me out." Alex looked down, his anger fading into sadness. "The woman said, 'Eat her' and they did. They fucking did. They tore her clothes off and cut her up alive. Some of them used their mouths like the dead do. She only screamed for a second because someone cut open her throat and started gulping down her blood."

The tears flowed freely and his body shook.

"They asked me questions. I answered every one of them because I knew they'd kill me for sure if I didn't. I just wanted to live, you know? My mouth kept flapping even though I knew it shouldn't."

"You did what you had to do," I said. In the face of a painful, miserable death, few people would sacrifice themselves. Especially a kid.

He ran his sleeve over his runny nose then straightened up. "The woman in charge told them to send out a group to make sure I was telling the truth. She said to take me with them. We went to this camp-it was already set up-and we just got back a few hours before you showed up. I took a couple guys to the wall in the morning before it was light and showed them. They were laughing and joking about the things they'd do once they got in."

An attack on Valtown by the Brotherhood. If they wanted to slip in undetected, the weak point in the wall was the best place to do it. The wall wasn't as secure because an old door to the outside was there. It was supposed to be a secret escape for Arbuckle, but it was easy for people to break in and out of. It was boarded over, but kids had a way of getting through it, whether on a dare or because they thought it would be fun to run away.

A whole army couldn't squeeze through it without a wall patrol seeing, but if a handful did they could wreak havoc on Valtown. They could open the gate, or perhaps destroy us from the inside. Damn, so much of the city was built out of wood. They could burn it down if they wanted to.

"Do you have any idea when they're going to attack?" Blaze asked.

"No," Alex said.

"If they already wiped out Brickston, Valtown is next." I paused. "What about Surville? Have we heard from them recently?"

Blaze shrugged. "No idea."

"ETA ten minutes!" Lasko shouted from the cab, making the prisoners jump.

I shifted seats, moving next to Blaze. Alex dropped his face into his hands and stared at the muddy truck floor.

"What if they're going to Surville next, not Valtown?" Blaze said.

"That doesn't make sense, but it is possible. They have the perfect way to get into Valtown now. Why would they waste their time on a smaller town when they could take out the big one?"

I thought of the basement filled with branded corpses. The symbols painted everywhere in Brickston. Maybe I was being paranoid, but I felt like they were sending us messages.

Plus, if Gabe was alive... The thought lingered in the back of my mind. Could she be the crazy woman leading the Brotherhood? Assuming she knew my role in Arbuckle's towns, and if she knew Blaze was around, it made sense she would want to terrorize us before killing us.