Page 23 of The Girl Who Kicked Ass (Death Fields 3)

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The Fort Arnold medical team puts me on bed rest for the next week. The concussion is severe, along with a significant case of dehydration. The timing isn’t bad since Erwin is in the process of integrating the civilians from the school into his army, but when I get the ‘okay’ from the doctor, I’m ready.

“They gave you the go-ahead?” Parker asks when I get back to the room. She’s making her bed with extreme focus. She’s fully healed from her bite, but Erwin and Davis agreed she’d be better right now with the incoming civilians than in the field.

“They did,” I say and hold up a note. “With orders to go straight to Erwin’s office.”

“They don’t waste any time around here do they.”

“Nope.”

There’s a third bed in our room now, and Josie’s sparse belongings are piled at the end. I nod at the space. “She down in the lab?”

“Probably. You’d think she’d be more like Paul and steer clear, but she seems to prefer it.”

I roll my eyes. “Her and Cole. I’ve barely seen him since we got back from the mission.”

She sits on the now-made bed. “Yeah, so what’s going on with that? With you guys?”

I shrug. “We’re okay. Why?”

“You seem different, or at least he does, I guess. He’s still nice and supportive but there’s a distance or something.” She quickly adds, “Not that it’s any of my business.”

“He’s struggling with his role in this whole mess, I guess. He worked with my father from the beginning. I don’t know if he feels guilty or responsible. Then there’s the whole thing with Chloe.” My sister may be a crazy megalomaniac, but I didn’t share a womb with her. “He probably feels like he lost part of himself.”

“I can’t imagine.”

“No, me either. And he’s not talking about it much either, even though I asked him to talk to me. I think his solution is to throw himself into science.”

She wrinkles her nose. “That sounds like an awful solution.”

When I can’t avoid it any longer, I follow the orders and go to Erwin’s office. He’s standing over his desk, studying a large map spread across the surface. He glances up when I enter and gives me an approving nod. “Glad to see you’re feeling better.”

“Yeah, me too.” I don’t mention the lingering headaches. I point at the color coded map. “What’s this?”

“This is the breakdown of the southern states as far as we know.” He points to a green section—mostly the Appalachians down to Columbia, South Carolina. Another green patch circles the city and suburbs of Atlanta, sliding into Alabama. “The green represents the Death Fields still teeming with Eaters.”

I search for Augusta, and it and the surrounding area all the way to the coast are a shade of light blue. “These areas are clear?”

“Yes, and under your sister’s rule.”

I lean over the desk and search for Tennessee, the part where Fort Arnold is located. There’s a small section of red. “That’s us.”

“Yes, that’s the Resistance.”

The school outside of Columbia is now red, as well as other dots along the way. I recognize the locations for factories

and small towns Erwin has systematically had us target for the last month. “We have a long way to go before we’re even a blip on her radar,” I acknowledge.

He smiles ruefully. “That’s why we’ve decided to up our strategy. Not to get on her radar, but we can’t keep going at this pace forever. We have to have some big gains. We’re in the tactical stages of planning to attack the vaccination center outside of Augusta.”

His words drop like a bomb. “I’m sorry, what?”

“It’s the biggest and most well-run facility, other than The Fort itself. It’s time we cut off Jane’s right arm.”

“But we were based there.” We know those people, I want to add, but bite my tongue. “The entire area is cleared from Eaters. It’s well defended by Fighters and I’m sure now Hybrids.”

“Yes, Hybrids,” he says, leaning over with his hands flat on the surface of the desk. “Do you think your old cohorts are pleased with that situation? That they want to be ruled by a group of monsters?”

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