The Fall (Book 3): War of the Living Read Free Page B

time.”
    “It wasn't coincidence,” Kell said. “Dodger is planning the attack right now, and he needs everyone he can get. You and the rest of the supply crew aren't heading back home. You're fighting with us.”
    Kate grinned. “Good. It's been too long since I had a good fight.”
    Her enthusiasm pulled a smile from him, but it was tempered with caution. The last fight was still fresh in his mind, the memory of adrenaline pumping and blood rushing loud in his ears. What they were doing—attacking in the open, hours away from any possible rescue or support—was risky beyond imagining. They did it because the choice was between taking that risk or letting those small communities die.
    Kell thought of those people, most of them farmers now, working from dawn to dusk to feed themselves. Families, many of them. People with loved ones. A memory sparked and caught in the back of his mind; a wife and child long lost.
    He would not allow that to happen to these people. He refused to let the Hunters take from them what had been taken from him.
     
     
    Though he had reservations about the sheer volume of blood being spilled in the conflict with the Hunters, and by proxy the UAS, Kell still felt a thrill of excitement that the conflict was at least changing. The original plan had been for him and his group to leave New Haven shortly after relocating John to the safe house. That had been early in the year, and now November loomed. The conflict had been stagnant for months, and however distasteful it might be, picking this fight was the only way to disrupt the status quo.
    The problem was the Hunters and the UAS, of course. So long as they were looking for someone to capture, someone who knew the plague well enough to possibly create a cure, it was a bad idea for Kell to join John in his work. Will Price, the leader of New Haven, frequently made this point by referring to the old saw about eggs being in one basket.
    Kell tried not to get his hopes up that the fight would be over quickly. Instead of dwelling on the possibility during the hours of travel to their next destination, he instead stood in the back of the truck and enjoyed the scenery. This time of year brought a riot of colors, the trees exploding in reds and yellows, with bluish evergreens dotting the landscape here and there.
    “How far to the staging area?” Kate asked, raising her voice above the sound of the engine and the wind.
    “Not far,” Kell replied. “They're camped ten miles out from Oakwood, a little group of about thirty people.”
    Kate screwed up her face in thought. “Why does that sound familiar?”
    “Oakwood is one of our refineries,” Kell said. “They're the westernmost outpost we're affiliated with. New Haven supplies them with food, clothes, everything they need. In return they turn our crude oil into gas.”
    “I thought the Hunters didn't need fuel,” Kate said.
    “They don't,” Kell replied. “We have the huge oil reserve up north, the UAS has one in the south. But it's a good strategic target. Wouldn't kill us, but it would strain our supply lines. Not to mention Oakwood keeps several tons of food in storage at all times, just in case.”
    And that, Kell suspected, was the real prize. The UAS was big and getting bigger all the time. Moving across a third of the country was costly in fuel and manpower, yet the UAS did it constantly. His first encounter with their people had been early in the year. It was a group of men and women out on a hunting trip, stripping the surrounding area of all game and shipping it back to the homestead. The actual number of the enemy was vague, but if there were less than several thousand of them, Kell would have been shocked.
    And that many people required a lot of calories.
    Afternoon light faded into dusk, painting the sky with bands of pink, purple, and orange stark against the deepening blue. Along with the changing autumn landscape, it made for a breathtaking sight.
    Darkness fell just as the