Page 4 of The Girl Who Kicked Ass (Death Fields 3)

“What happened to Fort Shaw?”

“It was compromised. Fort Arnold was still functioning with generators and supplies, but had lost a lot of crew. Erwin packed us up and we headed east.” She stops in front of a closed door and knocks.

“Come in.” Erwin’s voice sends an unpleasant chill down my spine, but I shake it off and within seconds we’re standing across from one another in the non-descript office. A far cry from my sister’s suite at PharmaCorp. “Thank you, Mitchell,” he says and waves her away. I stand awkwardly in the room until he gestures at the chair across from the desk and I sit.

“Did you find your quarters comfortable?” he asks, eyes lingering on my battered face. “Settle in okay?”

“If you mean sleep, then yeah, it was fine.”

“Good, hopefully you’ll all find a bit of respite here. I know it’s been a challenging time.”

My back is ramrod straight because God knows what this man will do if I relax my guard, but his words definitely pique my interest. “How exactly do you know what we’ve been through?”

Erwin lost his formal dress sometime after the fall of society. I don’t blame him. Who wants to wear a suit when there’s a monster outside the door trying to eat you for lunch? But he’s still imposing in his cargo pants and button-up camouflage shirt—similar to what I’ve been given to wear. It’s clear this building is a shell of the operation he had at Fort Shaw, but the man across from me still carries a look of determination.

He leans back in his seat and says, “Alexandra, I realize we got off to a rocky start when we first met in South Carolina.”

“You shot me with a tranq dart and kidnapped me.”

“Right,” he says, looking surprisingly apologetic. “It was an overly aggressive move on my part. Obviously things have changed since we saw each other last. Hell, things could be changing right now for all we know. The foundation of society has crumbled and I’m doing everything I can to hold on tight and keep my people safe. People like you and that team of misfits I pulled off the ground last night. The last time we met, that meant I

needed that vaccination and you were the only way for me to get it. That’s no longer the case.”

“Yes, I remember.” He’d strapped me to a chair and endlessly withdrew blood in an attempt to replicate my father’s test vaccine. He’d nearly gotten me, Cole, Wyatt, and Chloe killed. Yeah, I remember. And he just made it clear I’m here because he still needs me—just not in the same way.

“I realize due to all of that, you don’t trust me. I don’t blame you, but I also know that you’re a good person, Alexandra, and if my intel is right, you’re also aware that your sister has lost her Goddamned mind and has to be stopped.”

“Tell me what you know about Jane and PharmaCorp. Everything,” I say, for once feeling like I may be on even ground.

“It’s classif—“

“Don’t,” I say, holding up my hand. “Don’t bullshit me. Don’t hold back. If you want my help, I need to know everything you know—classified or not.” I snort and shake my head. “I mean, classified from who? You’ve seen what’s out there. It’s a warzone of infected civilians and power-hungry humans. Not to mention the ones that fall in between.”

He eyes me carefully. “Where do you fall?”

“I’m definitely not infected.” I hope my face doesn’t give away that we may be harboring a Hybrid, though. “And I’m not power hungry.”

The General leans forward on his elbows and sets his hard gaze on me. “Maybe it’s time you learned to be.”

*

Erwin tells me what he knows—which is a lot. He knows about Jane and the two vaccines. He’s aware of the testing, the Hybrid armies, and her plans to rearrange civilization on her terms. He also knows where more test subjects are being held, along with camps holding survivors under the guise of protection when really they’re just guinea pigs or potential Hybrid soldiers.

“What does she need these soldiers for?” I ask when he’s finished. “Sending them after me and the others was a bit overkill. We were definitely outmanned.”

“Besides having someone that can fight and eliminate the Eaters, there are pockets of the military left all over the country—just like the one here. I think her primary motive is to take us out and then she can be the Director of the world.” He leans back in his chair. “What were you planning on doing when the Hybrids caught up with you?”

“Going back to The Fort and getting Chloe. From there, the main idea was to run like hell into the mountains and ride it out.”

“What about now?”

I want to say the same thing, but too many variables have already shifted in our very fragile plan. “Well, Chloe is a Hybrid. Wyatt is MIA, and I’m here with you. That area you picked us up from is what we call the Death Fields, a no-man’s land, and it’s worse than I thought. I’d been lulled into complacency living in Jane’s ever-growing territory. As of now, I don’t really have a Plan B set up.” I take a deep, uneasy breath. “I thought maybe I could just run from it all—from Jane and the areas populated with the infected, but I realize that I can’t.”

“So you’re willing to help stop her.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Do you have something in mind?”

“I do. And with you and your team I think we can take her down.”

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