Beyond Ruin by Joshua James & Daniel Young

Author:Joshua James & Daniel Young [James, Joshua & Young, Daniel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-01-19T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

Battle Plans

Ben looked at the assembled survivors that Ada had saved—or that had saved each other, as Ada insisted. There were a priest, a couple of able-bodied men of fighting age, and an older woman looking after a couple of kids.

LeFay whistled softly to herself. “This is it, huh?”

Ada crossed her arms, looking annoyed. “This is it,” she said. “Good people.”

“No doubt,” LeFay said. She shrugged. “Well, your first little band of orphans didn’t look too impressive to me, and look how that turned out.”

Tomas flipped her off. The survivors were still in shock from Ada’s relaying of what had happened to the others who’d gone with her to investigate the assimilation center at the downed Atlas, and didn’t seem particularly bothered with LeFay’s assessment.

“I don’t know about this,” Tomas murmured. “How many of them can actually fight, Ada?”

Ben shared his sentiment. The last thing they needed now was dead weight.

“We’ve lost friends too, you know,” said the priest. His name was Father Eran, and it seemed he had better hearing than Ben gave him credit for.

Tomas grimaced. “I don’t mean to imply—”

“We’ve lost family,” Eran said, “and we’re not about to just sit here and hope that you come back. Because people rarely do.”

“You’re going to fight, Father?” LeFay asked. Her question seemed more genuine than mocking, which was a surprise, coming from her. Ben was pretty sure that LeFay wasn’t the religious type.

“I’m going to contribute. We all are.”

“No,” Ada said, shaking her head. “Not all of you can. If you want to come, Father, that’s fine.” She pointed at the two men in fighting shape. “Perry and Reinholdt, you can come too, but that’s it. Meryl stays here with the kids. One of us will stay back here with you to help you out.”

“No,” Meryl said.

“Going the child soldier route?” LeFay said sarcastically. “Bold move.” She wasn’t the family type either, Ben decided. Truth be told, she didn’t seem to be the anything type.

“I mean nobody is staying behind with us,” Meryl said caustically to LeFay. The old woman clearly wasn’t one to suffer her jabs quietly. “You need everyone with you.”

“What will you do if those bald sons of bitches, or worse, those damn aliens, come knocking?” asked Ada.

“I’m going to lock us in the basement, and you’ll come get us when you’re done.” Meryl crossed her arms defiantly.

To Ben’s surprise, Ada shrugged it off. Something about Meryl’s demeanor told him that Ada and the elderly woman had locked horns before. “Fine, Meryl. You’ve clearly made up your mind. But I need you to understand that we might not make it back. And in that case…”

Ada’s words faded away as Ben tuned her out and considered the new additions to their raiding party. To say that he wasn’t confident in them was an understatement. Perry and Reinholdt looked like eager puppies. They had no idea what was coming. And the Father, well, he had a heaviness in his sunken eyes that didn’t strike Ben as typical of a religious figure coping well with an alien invasion.

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