The Lair

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Carter

There’s a lot of shit I’ve had to get used to since the Tick-pocalypse. The burn of gasoline in my mouth and sinuses when I suck too hard when siphoning gas. The constant, low-grade hunger and the way it makes you think about food all the time. The relentless cold of living in a cave that’s sixty-five degrees year-round. The muddy taste of boiled, bleached water. The nostalgia for fresh fruits and vegetables. I’ve learned to live with all kinds of crap.

But there’s one thing I don’t think I’ll ever get used to: the sight of a rotting body staked up by a chain outside the fence of a Farm.

Every Farm had them. The Dean of Lily’s Farm had made it sound like some kind of precautionary measure. He’d claimed the decomposing bodies kept the Ticks away as strongly as the scent of fresh blood lured them closer. I didn’t know if the sight and smell repelled the Ticks, all I knew was that they sure as hell repulsed me.

I would never get used to it. I didn’t want to.

It had taken us just about twenty-four hours to get from Utah to San Angelo. I only hoped we’d gotten here soon enough.

As stupid as it seemed to be hanging out a hundred yards from a Farm during the day, I knew from experience that the middle of the afternoon was the best time to sneak up on a Farm. The shadows were starting to lengthen, but it wasn’t dark yet. At dusk, the Collabs started to scramble. By full night, they were alert and trigger happy. This time of day, most of them were still asleep.

I stood, back pressed against a brick wall about fifty yards from the fence—about forty-five yards from the dead bodies. Zeke was a few feet in front of me, crouched behind a shrub as he set up the sat phone antenna. I suppose this must have been the main drag, back when the Farm was still a college. It was a solid block of fast food restaurants, bookstores, and shops. I was in the alley beside a Subway, serving as lookout while Zeke set up the antenna that would allow us to use the sat phone from anywhere within a one-mile radius.

He’d been fumbling with the thing for several minutes. Sure, it would have taken me a lot less than that, but I never liked to be on a mission where I was the only one who knew how stuff worked. That was just asking for trouble. If shit went bad—and it almost always did—you needed as many people as possible who could get you out of it.

Across the street was an expansive student parking lot and then, right up next to the buildings, the double row of electrified, razor wire–topped fences. And outside those fences were the remains of Greens, which Collabs had left chained there to die. I didn’t ask myself if Zeke had been the one to chain any of them up. But I did make myself look at them. I relished the surge of anger, the raw scrape of it against my nerves. I needed it. I’d need it for when Zeke and I broke into the Farm. I’d need it for what I had to do later. Because later, there was a damn good chance humans were going to get hurt. And that I’d be the one doing the hurting.

This wouldn’t be the first time I’d kicked a Collab’s ass. But in a world where humans were an endangered species, I had to psych myself up for it. I had to remind myself that whatever I dished out, they deserved. I wasn’t planning on killing anyone, but in a fight with someone who’d betrayed the human race, I couldn’t be the one to hesitate.

So while Zeke worked on setting up the antenna for the sat phone, I studied the bodies outside the fence. In the mid-afternoon light I couldn’t tell exactly how many there were. At least a couple that were fairly fresh if the stench in the air was any indication, but there were other, older bodies around, too, their white bones stark against the black asphalt. Turkey buzzards roost in the nearby trees, their bodies fat enough to bend branches.

We’d driven down from Utah in five cars of five. The plan was simple. Sort of. There were two cars along with Tech Taylor, and that group was going to find whatever power source was feeding the Farm and try to secure it. Most of the Farms had more than one source powering the fences, a solar grid, and wind turbines, as well as a generator. The other cars were out working on the backup plan. If we couldn’t keep the electricity online, we’d need some way to keep the Ticks away.

The car Zeke and I had driven down in had dropped the two of us right at the fence line. Our goal was simple: get the antenna set up and then walk in through the front gates. Hopefully, by morning, we’d either have subdued the other Collabs or won them over to our side. If Zeke was right, the Dean was long gone.

If Zeke wasn’t right . . . well, then I had bigger problems to worry about. I didn’t want anyone else inside the fence until we’d secured the Farm.

Beside me, Zeke straightened and asked, “That good?”

I looked down at the antenna. “Yeah, basically. Just make sure it has a clean shot at the sky and we should be set.” I handed him the sat phone. “You’ll want to do a test call to make sure it’s working.”

He called the second car, whose antenna was installed on the car itself. A minute later he ended the call. Instead of handing the phone back, he slid it into the pocket of his jacket.

I felt a weird little trickle of apprehension work down my spine. I held out my hand. “My phone?”

He gave a nonchalant shrug. “I’ve got it.”

“No offense, but if I’m going to waltz into a Farm, I’d be a lot more comfortable with my phone where I can reach it.”

Zeke narrowed his gaze at me. “Yeah, about that.” Before I could reach for my own weapon, Zeke whipped out his gun and had it aimed at my throat. “I’ve got a better plan.”

My hand dropped to the Glock at the back of my jeans.

“I took the clip out already,” Zeke said quickly. “But you’re welcome to check it to verify if you want.”

I pulled the Glock out and instantly realized he was right. My previous full clip had been replaced by an empty one. I hadn’t even noticed the difference in weight. Jesus. How effing stupid did I feel?

“Down on your belly.” Zeke gestured with the point of his gun. “Hands behind your back. Nice and slow.”

Yeah, I could have charged him. It’s true what they say, that most people, even trained marksmen, can’t shoot a moving target, but it’s usually true of targets moving away from the shooter, not right at it. I didn’t want to risk it.

“You’re making a mistake,” I said as I laid down, trying to smother my panic so I could think. Okay, Zeke was clearly still working for the Dean. He’d betrayed us all. Had Ely known what Zeke was when he’d brought him in?

No. I couldn’t believe it of Ely. He wouldn’t betray me. Besides, it didn’t make sense. If his goal had been to lure me down here and turn me in to the Dean, then he wouldn’t have volunteered to take Lily to Canada. He would have stayed with Zeke to make sure the job got done.

“Trust me, Carter, this is much better.” As soon as I was down on the ground, he planted his booted foot in the center of my back and reached for my hands. “They were never going to believe—”

As he leaned over, I reared back and reached up with my hands, grabbing whatever I could. I caught a handful of arm in one hand and scratched the underside of his chin with the other. My upward momentum knocked him off balance. I rolled with the motion and scrambled up, but he was faster. He plowed into my chest, knocking me back a few steps, right into the tangle of the prickly brush. I tripped on the antenna and went over backward. He came toward me again. I scrambled away, but not fast enough.

I couldn’t find purchase under my feet and the branches of the bush clawed at my skin. I transferred my momentum into a sideways roll to free myself from the bush but when I came up, I was no longer facing just Zeke and his weapon. Suddenly, there were ten guns—ten tranq rifles.

Zeke was back a little ways, panting. “Hold your fire! Hold your fire!” he called out a couple of times. “He’s unarmed.”

One of the Collabs—the guy with both a rifle and a tranq gun—said, “Where the hell have you been, Zeke?”

Zeke straightened. “I’ve been to Utah and back.” He put up his hands so they could see the gun he held before he slowly tucked it away in the holster at his side. “I brought us a nice little bargaining chip. Just don’t tranq him. He’s not alone and I want him awake until we know for sure where the rest of them are.”

From my spot on the ground, I could see a few of the Collabs starting to lower their weapons. But the one in the middle, a big guy with dark hair and a scowl that made him look like a pit bull, didn’t relax at all.

Zeke nodded toward that guy. “Is the Dean here?”

“No,” the pit bull answered. “Haven’t seen him since right before you disappeared.”

“Well, good. Then we can use his office to question the prisoner.” Zeke nudged me in the ribs with the toe of his shoe. “Hands behind your head. No tricks this time.” He gave me a kick.

The blow stung my pride more than my ribs. Somehow that only pissed me off more. If he was going to beat me up, he could at least put a little effort into it.

“I’ll fucking kill you, you bastard,” I growled just low enough for Zeke to hear. But with ten tranq rifles pinned on me, what could I do except put my hands behind my head like a good little POW?

I felt cold metal snap around my wrists, and smiled.

Handcuffs. The idiot had bound me with handcuffs? Zip ties are not impossible to get out of, but you need a knife or something to cut with. And you need the right leverage. Cuffs are so easy to pick, it’s a wonder he even bothered. Not that that made me any less pissed at him.

As Zeke hauled me to my feet, he muttered, “See? Told you this was better than the other plan.”

The arrogant grin on his face churned the anger in my gut.

So this was who he really was: a Collab through and through. A liar. A self-serving bastard.

I’d trusted the wrong guy and it had come back to bite me in the ass. And now I was caught. Half the Elites were down here with me, as well as Dawn and Darren. Sometime in the next twenty-four hours, they would be done scouring the area for cars and gas and they’d come back here, expecting Zeke and I to let them in. And I’d failed.

My hands had been behind my neck when Zeke had cuffed me. I raised them over my head and pulled them down in front of me as Zeke dragged me forward by the arm.

There was a path big enough for a delivery truck cleared right up to the gate. The trash there was sparser, but there was enough of it in the road to make me think the Farm hadn’t had a delivery of any kind in at least a few days.

The pit bull sent half the guys out to patrol the perimeter, looking for the rest of my crew. If my guys were where they were supposed to be, they wouldn’t be anywhere near here—at least not for a couple of hours. But it wouldn’t be long before they started to check in. And then, one by one, they would be caught.

Lily had been right: the entire human rebellion was a house of cards. This one betrayal had brought it all down.