I watched him for a moment. “Why are you helping me, Nick?”
He shrugged, and then lowered his voice. “I’ve seen some shit. Bad things that have happened to women and men. We’ve all heard rumors. If you said both you and your friend saw this guy hurt a girl, I believe it. Now, if we can get your friend to testify, it will help your cause. The fact that he’s a veteran is even better.” He paused for a moment. “But, honestly, I don’t think we’ll be able to get him here for the trial.”
Not that I was surprised. Still, having my thoughts spoken aloud burned. “Can’t Lendt order him to come to the Camp?”
“Sure, but I don’t think it will do any good. Colonel Lendt ordered Doyle to come to the Camp after Masden filled him in, and Doyle hasn’t shown up yet.” Nick grinned. “And, Colonel Lendt doesn’t take kindly to being screwed with. I think he’s finally going to make Doyle come to heel and break up the militia.”
“Watch out for Doyle,” I said, a rock forming in my gut.
“What’s he going to do? Attack Camp Fox?” He smirked. “Don’t worry. We have many times the resources and firepower that Doyle’s got. We’re safe enough here. Let’s start prepping for your trial. Start at the beginning, and tell me everything.”
****
Several hours later, I woke, sweating and heart racing. I dreamed that Clutch was in the room with me. Except that he was a zed.
A siren pierced the night’s silence, and I lunged to the door. “What’s going on?” I called out, hoping someone was nearby.
“Echo Four reporting in, requesting status. Over.”
The soldier’s voice was to my right, but I couldn’t see him around the corner.
“All units report immediately to assigned defense points. Camp Fox is under attack. Zed Alert. Code Five. This is not a drill. Over.”
The voice on the radio repeated the message two more times before my guard stepped in front of my door, his eyes wide.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
He stared at me for a moment, and then took off running. A door opened and closed. Then silence.
“Damn it,” I muttered, kicking at my door. Without any visible doorknob or hinges, all I could do was shove at the door, but it was solid steel. Still I tried. Trying was better than accepting that I’d die in this tomb, either from starvation or when the zeds would finally find me. I turned and walked over to the bed. Pulled at the frame but it was screwed into the concrete floor. I returned to the door. After long minutes of kicking, a door opened somewhere. Buried under the piercing siren, I heard gunfire and screams.
Nick’s helmeted visage filled the window in my door, startling me. “It was Doyle,” he said, panting. “His men cut through the fence and laid down flares. Set off the sirens. They must’ve gone out and drawn all the zeds in the area here.”
He pulled off his helmet and wiped his forehead. “Doyle zed-bombed us.”
Chapter XIII
“There are zeds everywhere,” Nick said, putting his helmet back on. “I can’t believe it. Doyle attacked us. He really did it.”
I pressed my hand over my heart as his words sunk in. While I didn’t doubt Doyle’s ruthlessness, the reality that he’d attack hundreds of innocent people made no sense. I pressed against the door. “Let me out. I can help.”
Nick noisily fidgeted with keys. “This is your only shot. Lendt will make you stand trial, and you’ll end up either in the brig or worse. And that’s just not right. I’ve seen shit the Dogs have done. You’ve got to run.”
More rattles, I heard a click, and the door swung open. I jumped out of my cell to find Nick already jogging away, his boot steps echoing through the empty hallway. When he opened the door, the gunfire sounded way too close, but there was no way zeds should have managed to cross acres of the outer camp to get to the center.