Broken Lands by Jonathan Maberry

Author:Jonathan Maberry
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

50

THEY ATE, SLEPT BADLY, AND woke in the cold light of morning, ready to go and needing to be gone. As Benny helped prepare breakfast, he could feel the oppressive weight of the ugly place bearing down on him, as if it was becoming his prison. It made him feel claustrophobic. Memories of what they had done yesterday made him feel like a criminal.

Over breakfast they studied the maps and made plans. The one highlight of the previous day had been the discovery of the locked armory. The key had been among those Riot had found, and when they opened the heavy steel door, they stared slack-jawed at what was inside. More weapons and equipment than they could ever use.

“How come no one looted this stuff before?” wondered Chong.

“Because people are stupid,” was Lilah’s gruff response. It was hard to argue with, because there were enough weapons and ammunition in there for a small army. Benny thought it was more likely that the plague had spread too fast inside the prison. It also suggested that the guards who worked here must have simply abandoned the place during First Night, maybe before the refugees ever got here. Most likely they went home to see to their loved ones and were washed away by the tidal surge of the Lucifer 113 infection.

Whatever the reason, finding that armory made their mission to Asheville suddenly seem possible. Within half an hour they were all kitted out in black Kevlar limb pads, ballistic helmets, and vests that would stop a bullet and—Benny hoped—a bite. The carpet coats were an extra layer of protection to cover any areas left exposed—wrists, waists, and so on. It was all dreadfully hot and heavy, but at that moment Benny would have wrapped himself in cast iron because of what lay ahead of them. They debated whether to use the cadaverine as yet another bit of protection. Lilah and Riot argued against it, citing their limited supply. Benny, Nix, Chong, and Morgie overrode them, and they each smeared a little on their armor.

They took as much as they could carry or cram into the quads. Riot and Morgie rounded up all the remaining food, too. Then they peered out through the cracked windows of the loading bay, where five of the six quads were stored. The sixth was way out in the field, mostly hidden by tall weeds and too many zoms.

“Getting Benny’s bike’s not going to be easy,” observed Chong.

“Nah,” said Morgie. When everyone glanced at him with expectant eyes, he said, “Those weeds are dry. We can use some fuel from in here, make a firebomb . . . the weeds will go right up and we’ll burn ’em out.”

“What about my quad?” asked Benny.

“We can—” began Morgie, but Riot cut him off.

“Morgie,” she said caustically, “you are so dumb you could throw yourself on the floor and miss.”

“Huh?”

“The wind’s been blowing strong and it’s blowing north. You start a fire and it’ll march all the way to Reclamation and keep on going.

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