Ground Zero (Patient Zero Book 1) Read online

  “They are simply confident in themselves,” Scout offered. “After all, they’ve survived too.”

  As if the plan was a forgone conclusion, I nodded and clapped my hands together sharply. “Alright. Get the wagon behind those trees, then everyone find a protected area to shoot from. We should have some people take the high ground.”

  Rex, who had doubled back to join the planning process, looked up at the trees. “Up a tree? Won’t be too easy to retreat if necessary.”

  “True,” I nodded, and tried to come up with a way around it.

  “Have a couple people nearby on the ground to cover them. They can shoot if our snipers are seen,” Jake suggested.

  “Prati should hide with the cart, and one other person to help keep her and our supplies safe,” Rex added.

  “Maybe Shanti can guard them,” I agreed.

  The other girl wasn’t generally a fan of my plans, but surely even she wouldn’t have a problem with protecting the youngest of our group.

  Caleb and Kristy approached. “We’ll take the guard positions for whoever is up the trees,” Kristy offered. Her brother nodded. As was often the case, both of them had looks of determination.

  “Thanks guys,” I said. “Rex, Jake, feel like doing some climbing?”

  “Not you?” Rex asked. “You’re our best shooter.”

  I accepted the praise with a slight nod and a smile. “That may be, but I’ll be on the ground for any guards who manage to get too close.”

  Kane returned from hiding the cart further down the trail, hopefully far enough from the impending fight to keep Prati and Shanti safe. Speaking of… “Shanti!”

  The older girl approached. “Yeah?”

  “Could you take Prati and keep the supplies safe? We can’t lose them.”

  Instead of her normal glare, the other girl simply looked concerned. “Are you sure we shouldn’t just run? This seems dangerous.”

  I shook my head. “They’ll just keep following us.”

  The sound of gunfire from behind us had died down, and I worried about the people Scout had left to cover us.

  “Please, Shanti?”

  She nodded, still seeming nervous. With no further argument, Shanti went to Prati and took her hand to lead her away. With one glance back at the rest of us, the two headed to the cart.

  As if sensing my concerns, Kane touched my shoulder. “The cart is hidden well. They’ll be fine.”

  His unspoken message was clear: keep my mind on the problem in front of us.

  “Alright, thank you Kane. Now you, Aly, Ben, Tony, Case, and Quinn find some trees to hide behind. Scout, you and your people do the same. We need to take out this threat, so we can make it to safety.”

  The words had barely left my mouth before we heard the pounding of footsteps along the trail.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “They’re right behind us!” The man who yelled was one of the three Scout had left behind.

  Only one other person followed. They hadn’t made it out of the skirmish with the perimeter guards unscathed. Now, only two men and two women remained from Scout’s group.

  Everyone except Scout and I had made it to a protected position. I held a handgun in my right hand, and fingered the hilt of my sword with my left. Heat rushed through me at the instant desire to cause pain to my enemies, and I almost couldn’t wait for the fighting to begin.

  “Zero! Get to a safe position!” Jake hissed from his spot several trees in from the path.

  For a few more seconds I stood in the center of the path, picturing the bloodshed that was sure to happen soon. Once again, I would bathe in the blood of my enemies, and they would suffer.

  A hand grasped my arm, pulling me from my bloodthirsty thoughts, and nearly yanking the arm out of its socket as it dragged me off the path.

  “Wha—?”

  “You were lost, a bit,” Jake explained tightly. “Something we need to know?”

  Now out of my unnatural bloodthirstiness, I realized: “They’re being followed!”

  “What?”

  “Jake, the guards are being followed by a horde. Probably the same one that attacked Scout’s group yesterday. I don’t know if they’re aware of it or not, but the guard’s fight with Scout’s people must have drawn their attention.”

  “So we’ll be facing both the guards and the horde?” Jake’s face was drawn back into a worried frown, and he eyed the trail warily.

  I matched his frown with one of my own. “Possibly. Unless the horde gets to them first. Which would actually be better for us. I can deal with the creatures. I have a much more difficult time with the humans.”

  Scout tossed a stick toward us to get our attention and we realized more footsteps were approaching. These too were moving quickly. It was unclear whether their speed was due to their desire to catch up to us, or get away from the approaching horde. The back of my neck tingled and I shook my head to clear the fog of bloodlust that was attempting to take over again.

  “Z, you need to separate yourself from them, or you’ll be more hazard than help. Please stay with us. Don’t let them affect you.”

  Shots rang out as the guards ran into our hastily formed ambush. I hung back from this fight. The others could handle the guards. I had to prepare for the horde. The sounds of rushed shuffling floated through the air, and gunfire on both sides stopped.

  “Truce!” Scout called out. “Work with us to stop the true enemy, and we’ll let you leave when it’s over!”

  The apparent leader of our human opposition scoffed. “Not likely. We’ll be back for the girl, Scout. You can’t hide her from us forever.”

  He gave a shrill whistle, and all of the guards withdrew.

  “So, they won’t help us, but at least they won’t be a threat right now,” Scout called.

  “They’re going right towards the creatures,” I said.

  I could tell the enemy was aware of the human guards. It occurred to me that the guards would simply hide, and when we drove off the horde, they would return. They would take me, and do who knows what to my friends. I couldn’t allow that. At this moment, the guards seemed like the biggest threat we were facing, so I tried to push all of my anger and fear of them toward the creatures.

  It was something I had attempted before, with no success. It still occurred to me that if they could affect me, it stood to reason I could affect them too.

  Those men were as much a threat to our safety as the horde. Their safety didn’t matter. My kids were the most important, and I wouldn’t allow these men to risk their safety. Every molecule of my being wanted to make sure those in my family remained safe.

  I could almost feel the moment when my intense attempt to control the enemy actually worked.

  The connection nearly knocked me off my feet, but instead of the creatures’ bloodthirsty behavior affecting me, mine affected them. They turned from the trail to follow the harder path through the woods.

  Jake gave me an odd look as I staggered back a couple steps. “Z, what—?”

  He was cut off by startled yells. His head jerked at the sudden bursts of gunfire in the direction the guards had run.

  “Bought us time,” I explained with a weary smile. “We should…” My voice trailed off as my vision grew dark.

  Chapter Nineteen

  My first thought when I regained consciousness was that my head was about to explode. The second was that I maybe shouldn’t try so hard to affect the horde.

  After I felt the ground under me moving, my third thought was that what I had done was worth it. The cart was being pulled slowly enough that I figured my friends had taken advantage of the distraction I’d caused.

  “You alright?” Aly asked when she noticed I was awake. Her blue eyes were still wide with fright, but her voice was soft with concern.

  I sat up slowly, my head swimming as I gulped at the sudden nausea. “Sure,” I grunted.

  “Jake got you to the cart and made sure the rest of us headed out. He said…” She let
her voice trail as she glanced behind us.

  “What?” I asked. “He said what?”

  She looked around as if she didn’t want to be heard, and answered in a whisper. “He said you controlled the creatures. That you were able to turn them against the perimeter guards, and away from us.”

  “True,” I answered in a whisper. “So, why are we whispering?”

  Once again, the older girl glanced around nervously. “Jake said we shouldn’t let the former guards know. He said they already know enough about what you can do, they don’t need to know any more.”

  A smile escaped, despite my migraine. “Yeah, he may be right.”

  As we spoke, Jake approached. “Zero, good to see you awake. How’re you feeling?”

  The caravan slowed to a stop, and he made a show of examining me as he whispered. “Please don’t share this with them, Z. They may not have your best interests at heart. If they knew you could control the horde… I don’t know what they might do.”

  His plea made me wonder how he had convinced the others the horde was no longer a problem. What made them willing to follow him when there was a plan ready to be implemented?

  “You should be okay. Just stay in the wagon for a little longer to rest. Let the headache dissipate, and we’ll figure out our next step from there.”

  Since my world was currently spinning, I decided it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to listen. In my short time sitting up, I realized we were missing someone. “Jake, where’s Rex?”

  Both Aly and Jake avoided my eyes until I moved to sit up again. “Jake…” I warned.

  “He wanted to scout back to see if the guards were going to still be a threat. He should be back any minute,” Aly answered.

  When Jake glared at her, Aly shrugged helplessly. “What am I supposed to do? Lie? I won’t lie to Z. She should know what’s happening.”

  Jake held his glare for another second before the expression softened. “You’re right. Rex will be fine. He promised to move cautiously, and Scout sent a woman named Amelia with him. Said she was one of his best stealth scouts.”

  My mouth twitched in reluctant amusement. “Scout sends scouts?” I giggled.

  Jake smiled as Aly joined in the giggles. Somehow, he always seemed happiest when we acted more childish. Unfortunately, the light moments were few and far between.

  Prati and Shanti were walking in front of the cart, just out of range of our whispered conversations, but they joined us when they heard us laughing.

  My amusement was enough for me to get over the attempted lie from my friends. The fact that they hadn’t let Rex go off by himself was also a relief.

  “How long ago did they leave?” I asked, ending the short giggle-fest.

  “Rex?” Shanti asked. “He’s just back now. They were only gone about half an hour.”

  “Send him to me,” I ordered. “We need to know what they found.”

  Prati ran off, presumably to get Rex, and Shanti shuffled her feet hesitantly.

  “What?” I asked. It may have come out snappier than I intended, but my head was still throbbing, and Shanti had a way of getting on my nerves.

  Her mouth twitched nervously. “I’m sorry, Z. I… I don’t mean to question you, but I like to know what’s happening. So how exactly are we trusting these people?”

  My mind switched gears. I’d been thinking about what Rex may have found about our newest enemies. Going back to how the others may feel about Scout’s group required a bit of a shift.

  “You don’t trust them, and that’s fine,” I acknowledged. “Please just trust me. I am doing this as a way to keep all of you safe. Can you believe that?”

  Surprisingly, the older girl nodded. “I believe you want to keep us safe. That has never been in question. If I can be honest, I’m just questioning how trusting the man who kidnapped you is the best way to do that.”

  “No, she’s right,” Rex said, coming up behind Shanti. His assessment shocked me, especially after his vehement disagreement about them joining us. “Without them, I don’t think we’d stand a chance against the guards.”

  He gave me a narrow, worried look. “The guards won.”

  Chapter Twenty

  After Rex’s announcement, we picked up our pace. According to him, the guards had been slowed down by the fight, but not stopped. They’d managed to drive off the horde. Of course, they’d sustained injuries, so they would be moving more slowly. Rex offered to continue to check them, but I didn’t want to risk him losing us.

  “We stay together, and we get as far from the threat as we can,” I said.

  “But we’re still going to try to cross the boundary, right?” Rex asked. “The guards must know that’s our ultimate goal, so they have an advantage.”

  He was right. The only thing we could do that might surprise them is move away from the border. Move away, find a safe place and send a small group across the border. Same as the original plan, except finding a safe place on this side of the border might be harder. As would convincing the others to remain behind.

  Or we wait. Find a safe place here and lay low for a few days before heading back to the border fence to break through.

  Or—

  My musing was interrupted. “There,” Scout exclaimed, pointing to a rough stretch of fence. “That is probably our best way through. We should go now, before the guards catch up.”

  Or we could go through now. I’d been out long enough that we’d found our exit point.

  “Great!” I surveyed the fence line. “It looks like it will be easy to get through, at least.”

  “Far enough from the guard station to not be noticed, but near enough that it won’t take forever to reach a town,” Scout spoke with a wave of his arms for emphasis. “With an added bonus of no zombies to hunt us.”

  “Theoretically, anyway,” I agreed cautiously.

  Everything we’d heard said the area past the boundary was free of the nightmare creatures. After dodging the enemy for so long, it was difficult to believe.

  Scout grinned. “When I was a guard, we were able to cross into the safe zone occasionally. Never once saw one of those things there. Trust me, kiddo. It’s definitely zombie free.”

  Trust him. It’s what I had been telling everyone to do, so I guess it was my turn. “Looking forward to it. Just gotta make sure it stays that way.”

  Jake tossed an arm over my shoulders. “It’ll be fine, Z. Just keep yourself under control. We’ll help you.” He spoke softly, but his tone was firm and sure.

  I smiled up at him. “Thanks, Jake.”

  “We don’t want to cut the fence, so we’ll need to either climb over or dig under,” Scout said. “We want out, that doesn’t mean anything else should get out.”

  He had a point, so we stood and studied the fence. “Over, I think,” Jake suggested. “Only thing is, we may not be able to get the cart across.”

  Rex joined us and shook his head. “Shouldn’t matter. We all have packs. If we load them with our supplies, we should be able to find a different mode of transport once we get across.”

  Within a few minutes, we had our food and bedding divided among everyone in the group. I made sure to be the only one handling my bedding. “Kane, can you block out the electricity to the fence? We don’t want to get electrocuted on our way over.”

  The boy nodded. “Should be able to. I’ve got some stuff I can use to make a safe path over. Give me a couple minutes.”

  True to his word, Kane had the fence ready to go within five minutes. Scout’s people—and I resolved to get to know them by name at some point—climbed over first. I sent Rex over next to Prati, to help the girl if she had a hard time.

  Getting over the fence was surprisingly easy. Once we were over, Kane removed the wires he’d placed, allowing the electricity to flow once again. Once he was done, we rushed to put some distance between us and the border. The guards hadn’t been far behind us, so they would likely be following us as we made our way through the zombie free
zone.

  So far it didn’t feel too different from where we’d been. It was all forested, and the same creek ran through this section of woods. Birds chirped, and I felt a slight tingle at the back of my neck that indicated we weren’t too far from some of the creatures.

  “Some are nearby,” I warned Jake quietly. “Probably on the other side of the border, but be on the lookout anyway.”

  “Just in case,” he agreed.

  Everyone remained unnaturally quiet, as if still concerned we would be followed by the creatures. As time passed without incident, they seemed to relax a bit.

  The tingling in my mind had faded, and I felt strangely empty. Like some important part of me was missing.

  I scoffed at the thought. Yeah, the missing part was the part that was only necessary if the enemy was around. Without the creatures, I was just another girl. Granted, a girl who could cause a new outbreak in this zone, but still just a girl.

  “Everything okay?” Kristy had edged away from her twin in order to join me, but Caleb watched curiously.

  Pasting a smile on my face, I nodded. “Yeah, everything’s great. No sign of any creatures, and I think we even lost the guards.”

  Kristy’s face relaxed into a smile. “That’s terrific! We were worried. So, what’s the plan now?”

  The other kids slowed and eyed us curiously. This was unknown territory, and my plan was to leave most of the kids behind.

  “We’re going to find a safe place to stay,” I answered. “From there… well, we’ll have to discuss a few things. For now, we need to get out of the woods. Hopefully there’s someplace we can go where we can blend in. If there are other people around, we may not stand out so much if the guards come looking.”

  Oddly, it was Caleb who voiced the part I hadn’t yet. “It might be even better if we split up.”

  Aly shot him a harsh glare, but Kristy stood up to her. “He’s right. I definitely don’t like the idea, but they’ll be looking for a large group of young people. We’re it. They want Zero. It’s time for us to step up and do something to keep her safe.”