Defiant (Lee Harden Series Book 4) by D.J. Molles

Author:D.J. Molles [Molles, D.J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-05-18T16:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-FIVE

─▬▬▬─

NATURE

Billings followed Kate as she headed for the reception counter and the office behind it. “Pickell, Chris, stay with Doc Trent. Ryder. Jones. You’re with me.”

Sam was somewhat surprised, like a kid that’s been allowed to graduate to the adult’s table. He nodded and followed them into the office.

It was a smallish space, but they were able to fit all four of them without crowding each other too much. Kate closed the door behind them, her face already grim as her mind cast itself back to the previous weeks.

Compared to the stink of the huddled humanity in the lobby, the office wasn’t bad, though Sam still registered the smell of his and his squad’s body odors, along with a different smell that he could only assume was Kate, whom he wasn’t accustomed to.

Kate leaned back against the desk in the room, an old, dark computer sitting on it. She crossed her thin arms over her thin chest. The muscles in her forearms were distinct, like someone that had spent their life in manual labor.

“How bad was it?” Kate asked, her eyes coming up to Billings’s. “The Safe Zone, I mean.”

Billings regarded her for a moment, then shook his head. “Not much left, Kate. We found one kid. A boy. His name was Braden.”

“Not sure I know him. Might recognize him by face. He was alive?”

Billings nodded. “Alive. But injured.” He seemed to consider his words for a moment, and Sam could almost feel his tension at not being able to find an adequate way to describe what they’d witnessed. In the end, Billings went with the cold, unvarnished truth. “The primals, we’ve witnessed them taking live captives. They incapacitate them by breaking their arms and legs so they can’t move. Then they store them. We assume they’re storing them for later. For…uh…food.”

Kate’s eyes were hollow as she stared at Billings. Not even a ripple of horror in them. It gave Sam the impression that she already suspected this. “Was that how you found Braden?”

Billings nodded again. “There was a warehouse in the center of the Safe Zone. It had a lot of incapacitated bodies. Braden was the only live one we found.”

“Christ,” Kate whispered. “They must’ve been there for weeks.”

“That’s what we figured as well.” Billings adjusted the strap of his rifle. “All the bodies in that warehouse…they were all men.” Billings looked pointedly at Kate. “I can’t help but noticing, ma’am, that you’re the only woman here. Is that the case?”

Kate blinked a few times, a skim of tears appearing at the bottoms of her eyes, but she didn’t let them spill over. “One of the trucks ran out of gas,” she said after a moment, her voice thick. “Right there on the overpass. Everyone else was running on the last dregs. So we siphoned all the tanks, and put all the gas into one of the Humvees, and we sent two soldiers and two civilians on to Moody.” She swallowed. “I don’t suppose they ever got there.”

Billings shook his head.

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