Page 48 of Warrior

The president turned to one of the guards.“Escort the Shadow Warriors to the perimeter where you saw the hellhounds.”

He glanced back at Labyrinth.“I have a busy day scheduled.Tomorrow will be soon enough to examine the defenses we have in place.”

He shook Labyrinth’s hand without a hint of distaste, and I had to remind myself that this was the same man who called them savages just yesterday.

He was truly evil, his hypocrisy masked by a polished exterior.

Then he turned to me, offering a warm smile that didn’t reach his eyes as he shook my hand before leaving the room.

Officer Daniels stepped forward and waved me toward the door.Clearly, I wasn’t welcome to linger in the Warriors’ quarters.

My escort led me to the cafeteria I’d used back when I worked in analytics.The space hadn’t changed, but it felt lonelier.My co-workers weren’t here.A quick glance at the large windup clock on the wall told me why.

They’d finished breakfast an hour ago and were already hard at work.

My food surprised me.

It wasn’t the gruel I expected.It consisted of oatmeal that tasted like it had passed its expiration date years ago and, wonder of wonders, a piece of dry toast.

Maybe someone with a sliver of influence complained, and everyone was getting an improvement.

The thought of the president and his generals eating fresh, healthy meals while leaving their lowly workers and soldiers to suffer with garbage made my blood boil.The sheer disgust of it churned in my stomach as I forced myself to swallow the barely edible breakfast, even though I was starving.

I ate in silence, avoiding eye contact or conversation with Officer Daniels.

When I worked in analytics, I kept to myself after my father died, which allotted me a weird, standoffish persona.I used it now.

With another bite of stale, bland oatmeal, I let my mind wander to what the president had possibly said to General Smyth.

Oh, to be a fly on the wall for that conversation.

Now that I was the official liaison between humans and Shadow Warriors, my thoughts inevitably drifted to King.

I missed him.

Ms.Beast grumbled.

She missed him too, and it was a physical ache in my chest.

Chapter Sixteen

King

It had been a week since we landed in the U.S.We moved slowly due to changing the original plan.We now avoided towns that might still be inhabited, fearing that outlying humans would attack.There was no time to negotiate with the towns, even if they were willing to try.We didn’t want to kill anyone but Federation.

From what we’d seen, the Federation targeted smaller groups of civilians.We came across three destroyed towns, while mid-sized towns were left untouched.It looked like they were playing it safe, going after people in smaller areas.But why?

The closer we got to Boyce, Virginia, our rendezvous point, the more hellhounds we encountered.Their numbers increased steadily, making sleep difficult, which put us more on edge.If everything went according to plan, we’d reach our destination tomorrow, with the other groups of Shadow Warriors arriving within a few days.

Boyce was seventy-one miles from the Capitol and, according to earlier reconnaissance reports, deserted.The major abandoned railroad there would provide metal sleeping quarters, safe from hellhounds.Between the rations we’d brought and what we’d scavenged along the way, we could hold out for months if necessary.But months wouldn’t work for me or Beast.Knowing nothing about Marinah was killing us slowly.

I switched mental gears trying to keep thoughts of her in the background.

The America we were walking through now was a scarred wasteland, blasted by bombs in the early days of the war.After the initial waves of electromagnetic pulses and areas with nuclear fallout, the U.S.had tried to stop the hellhounds by bombing its own cities.If you survived the hellhounds, the military became your next threat.Civilians had been forced to clear their homes and move closer to Washington when the evacuation orders came.If they didn’t leave, they became just another casualty of war.

Greystone had known from the beginning that the longer the war dragged on, the greater the chance that young Warriors would be forced into military service disguised as humans.That would have been catastrophic.The stress of fighting would’ve exposed us, revealing our secrets.It was one of the reasons the older farmers, like my father, volunteered first.They weren’t as volatile as the younger group Greystone had been training for years.He wanted our class of Warriors under his command, not the government’s.

My father’s sacrifice still didn’t sit well with me.Most of the Warrior farmers died early on.At that time, the Federation didn’t exist, and the military was in chaos after many of their commanders also died.With little communication and a crumbling chain of command, the situation grew worse by the day.It wasn’t until angry citizens demanded the use of the underground tunnel networks that the government changed.Unfortunately, the new government that emerged to form the Federation turned out to be worse than the old one.

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