S.W. Tanpepper's GAMELAND, Season One Omnibus Read Free Page B

people who don’t have one yet, just waiting to become an IU in the event of another outbreak.
    So, yeah, while guns have their shortcomings, I’d rather have one than not.
    Despite knowing all that, I decided to stick with the training anyway. I had other reasons for doing so. For one thing, it helped me manage my anger. For another, it kept the bullies who knew my family’s history from kicking my ass.
    The first outbreak took place in New York, on Long Island, but I don’t really remember it. I was maybe four at the time. Eric says it was terrible. The one in Washington wasn’t as bad. The military had some experience dealing with thousands of IUs swarming through cities by then. It’s probably why DC was never abandoned like LI was. That, and because the island was already pretty trashed from the flooding earlier in the century. As it turns out, it looks like that flooding may provide us the means to break in.
    Ashley pinged me last night during dinner to tell me that Micah and Reg had been working on figuring out a way to access LI without passing through the EM barrier. “They think they’ve come up with a working plan!” She’d sounded excited, breathless. Despite my own doubts, I couldn’t resist getting excited, too.
    â€œ And?” I’d asked, trying not to sound impatient. “What is it?”
    Eric threw me a dirty look over the table. I ignored him. He’s always tried to take care of me like a parent, given how there was a huge gaping vacuum in our lives in that regard, but he’s barely able to take care of himself, much less me. Even his department-mandated shrink tells him that.
    â€œ So,” Ash said, “you know how everyone knows about the wall and no-fly zone, right?”
    I grunted. It was all common knowledge. Plus the bridges, which were bombed out years back. I thought about mentioning how the East River was heavily mined, but I knew it would just make me sound like Kelly. And besides, it was a moot point anyway. None of us had a boat, or even access to one, so sailing across the river was out of the question. Mostly, though, I just kept quiet because Eric and Grandpa were sitting right there, trying not to look like they were listening, but not fooling anyone.
    I turned my back and held my Link tight against me ear.
    â€œ Jessie?” Grandpa said. “Dinnertime is family time, young lady. Disconnect, please.”
    â€œ I’m sorry. This is important. I really have to take this.” I got up and slipped out of the kitchen.
    â€œ Jessie!” Eric called. “It can’t be that important.”
    I heard Grandpa tell him to control himself, which, of course, led to another argument between them. I never understood the animosity the two shared for each other—frankly, I couldn’t care less—except for being aware that it had something to do with my father dying when I was two. Eric had been fourteen at the time, so he still has memories of Dad and all that happened after his death. It really messed him up.
    Pretty much everything in my family traces back to that singular event, like it was some kind of Big Bang event or something: my mom’s nervous breakdown, Eric’s pacifist days followed by his stint in the Marines followed by his creepy obsession with the Undead, Grandpa’s scandal and then coming to live with us. I’d never known my father—except by reputation—so I never really felt much interest in learning about him and the circumstances surrounding how he’d died. At least he had the good sense to be murdered before the Life Service law was passed. Not that the government would’ve had much to work with in his case; from what little I knew, most of his brain had never been found. And without a brain, there’s no chance of reanimation.
    I hurried down the hall and slipped into the bathroom and closed the door. Ash was saying something about tunnels. I barely