Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 132491 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 662(@200wpm)___ 530(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132491 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 662(@200wpm)___ 530(@250wpm)___ 442(@300wpm)
“If he’s been out there on his own the whole time, maybe he knows where they are.”
It’s the most I’ve ever heard Nova say, and I can see why Marcus depends on her. She’s giving him sound advice and sharing the load of stress so he’s not carrying it alone.
“We need to get in there,” he says.
Amira gestures for me to follow her and she quickly tiptoes back the way we came. I follow, and she turns around when we’ve gone about twenty feet.
“Be cool,” she mouths, before talking out loud. “I like carbon fiber arrows with broadheads for hunting, preferably made from one-piece stainless steel.” She starts walking. “You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to make wooden arrows that fly straight.”
“I didn’t know that.” I play along, pretending we’re just happening upon this spot for the first time.
“Think we’re close to the lab?” she asks as we round the corner we were hiding behind.
There’s no one there. Niran opens a door nearby from the inside, frowning at us. “You two waiting for engraved invitations?”
“We didn’t know where the lab was,” I say. “Sorry.”
“Ask someone next time.”
Amira and I walk into the room, joining around forty people already there. Marcus’s gaze finds mine and a ripple of something passes between us.
He clears his throat, scanning the faces in the room. “Let’s get started. First things first, I know we usually do this differently, but Briar and Amira, are you willing to join Command Team One?”
Someone scoffs. “That’s not fair.”
It was Zara, who’s probably still salty about our three-second sparring match.
“We need strength on both teams, and I vouch for both of them,” Marcus says. “Amira’s a crack shot with a bow, better than anyone else in this camp. And I’ve seen Briar in the field. She’s swift and decisive with a knife. There’s no time for infighting, guys. We have to stay united and take care of each other. We just lost a valued member of Command One, and Des is out of commission.” He looks at me and Amira. “It’s optional. You don’t have to.”
“I’m in,” I say.
Amira nods. “Me too.”
I glance at Zara, hoping I can heal things with a little humility. “I’ll put in the work and take direction from those of you with more experience.”
“Same,” Amira says.
“Perfect.” Marcus moves on. “Command Two, you’re going to oversee the transfer of whatever the kitchen needs for cooking into the Sub and then get a crew together to start rebuilding the tower. Security One and Two, you’ll assess damages to the farm and the garden and secure all livestock. Security Three and Four, patrol the perimeter.”
He nods at the door and most of the people in the room clear out.
Once they’re gone, we’re down to eight people, including me and Amira.
“This fucking sucks, guys,” Marcus says grimly when we’re all alone. “Shan died a hero and we can’t even give her the burial she deserves right now. But we have to put that aside.”
“What’s the situation with our electricity?” a man with blond wavy hair asks.
“We’re at partial capacity.”
“Yeah, but do we have enough for the shield?”
“We’ll need to divert power from everything else. It’s gonna get rough.” He turns to Nova. “Do we have radios for our newcomers?”
Nova brings two radios over to me and Amira, cringing as she wipes the blood off one with her shirt. It must have been Shan’s. I take that one.
“We use the names of Greek gods as our radio call signs,” she says. “Never, ever use your real name, or anyone else’s over the radio. Never say anything that gives away security information. If you aren’t sure if something is safe to say, don’t say it. We speak in code as much as possible.”
“Amira has to be Artemis,” the blond man says. “I know that used to be Kelsey’s call sign, but I think she’d approve.”
Marcus nods. “Artemis it is. And Briar, you’re Aphrodite.”
A smile tugs on Nova’s lips. “We’ve never had an Aphrodite.”
“So I’m Ares,” Marcus says. “Nova’s Athena, Niran is Atlas. And Briar, I don’t think you’ve met Chance.” The blond guy waves. “He’s Helios. Wyatt is Hades.” A dark-skinned man with a shaved head nods at us. “And Adele is Circe.”
“The call signs—are they top secret?” Amira asks.
Marcus considers. “Not really. We have a Command One channel that we communicate over and then there’s a channel for all command and security team members. You’ll get the hang of it.”
“So what are we doing?” Niran asks, looking impatient. “Kicking some Rising Tide ass, I hope.”
“You guys are going to patrol the edge of our shield area in shifts. Virginia is likely to try to make moves on us while we’re vulnerable.”
“If she even knows we’re at partial power,” Nova says.
Marcus nods. “They know our tower came down. They’re starving and desperate. They had almost nothing when Briar was there, and it can only be getting worse.”