“Oh, God.” That sounded exactly like something Tack would do. Even though he was only a few years older than Jase, Tack had taken him under his wing. I figured it had something to do with the fact that Tack had a younger brother about Jase’s age. After the outbreak had hit, he searched but never found him.

Jase winced and then rubbed his hair. “I saw it all from the water. They tackled him. Then they tied him up and came after me. I had to ditch my life jacket and swim. I got lucky and hid under a tree trunk floating down the river. They got really close but I heard Sorenson on their radio and he called off the search. I think he assumed I was a goner.”

He looked at each of us, his eyes pleading. “We’ve got to go back and get Tack.”

“We will,” Clutch said without hesitation. “We don’t leave any of our own behind.”

I hugged him. “We’ll get him back. We have a hundred times the firepower that Sorenson has.”

“What if they’ve already killed him?” Jase asked.

“If they wanted him dead, they would’ve gunned you both down in the water. I’m sure he’s safe. Sorenson needs Tack as a bargaining chip,” Clutch replied.

I tried not to frown, but whenever Clutch threw in extra words like “I’m sure” or “maybe”, he didn’t really mean it. A chill ran down my spine. Did he really think Sorenson would kill an innocent man? I swallowed and made a mental note to ask him as soon as we were alone.

When we reached the galley, Clutch stopped, lifted himself on his crutches, and turned to me. “You got this?”

I nodded. “Yeah, we’ll be fine.”

He started to climb the stairs to the bridge while Jase and I headed inside and down to the crew quarters. I propped my rifle against the wall, and helped Jase strip out of his gear and boots. His fingers were shaking too much to unbutton his shirt, so I took over, gently brushing his fingers away. Once he was down to just his pants and a t-shirt, I opened the utility closet near the shower and kicked on a generator hooked up to a small, tankless water heater Wes had brought on board. Within seconds, warm water came out of the shower. Jase stepped under the spray without bothering to take his pants off and stood, leaning against the stall.

I went to his bunk and sifted through his trunk for a change of clothes.

“You don’t need to stick around for me.”

“It’s okay,” I said, putting on a smile. “I’ve got nothing better to do.

He lowered his head under the spray. “To be honest, I could use some alone time,” he said after a bit.

“You sure?”

“Yeah. I’ll see you above deck.”

I waited for a moment before taking a step back. “Okay, but I’ll be here if you need me for anything. Anything at all.”

“Thanks. I’ll be fine,” he said all too quickly with that deadpan tone.

I wasn’t surprised that he was closing himself off, but I was still disappointed. I sighed. “I’ll leave your clothes on the chair.”

With that, I set his clothes down and headed back through the crew quarters. I heard shouting and I ran up the stairs, through the galley, and onto the deck.

One of the scouts was pointing to the river. “The Lady Amore is a couple clicks to the south, heading our way!”

Tyler was running down from the bridge, followed closely by several others. Clutch, being so much slower, brought up the rear. I caught up to him quickly. “Sorenson’s here,” I said, though I knew he’d already figured that out.

“We need to be ready for a fight,” he said as he settled into his chair. “Do you have all your gear?”

I winced. “Shit. I left my rifle below decks with Jase’s stuff.”

“You might need your rifle for this one.”

Griz’s voice came over the loudspeaker from the bridge. “All scouts report to the deck. Everyone else, please go to barge Number One immediately. This is not a drill.”

“I’ll be right back,” I told Clutch and headed back to the galley, only to have Jase nearly run into me.

“You left this.” He handed me my rifle.

“Thanks.” I checked my rifle and slung it over my shoulder.

“Is it the riverboat already?”

My body shook with anger. “Yeah,” I replied, and I narrowed my eyes. “Let’s go.”

We ran to meet up with Clutch and Tyler. Griz was just coming down from the bridge. He held an extra rifle and looked around. “I guess none of you need one.”

Clutch, who already had his Blaser on his lap, grabbed it. “I’ll take a spare.”

“Do you see Tack yet?”

I jerked around at the voice to see Deb right behind me.

“You should be in the barge right now,” I said.

Deb’s lips tightened.

“Or you can stay,” I quickly added.

I turned my attention to the incoming riverboat. We were in a shallow part of the river, which meant a few zeds washed up on the island every day that we’d have to dispatch. It also meant that the Lady Amore couldn’t get very close without hitting the river bottom, which was the first perk I’d seen about being on a boat that didn’t go anywhere.

Deb’s hand flung over her mouth. “Oh, God.”

“What is it?” I asked.

Deb pointed to the riverboat. “No.”

Every pair of eyes followed.

There, on the bow of the riverboat, Tack was strung up like its figurehead. He hung limply, a dark clump of bloodied hair hinting that he couldn’t be alive.

“No, no, no,” Deb cried out and then collapsed.

I fell to a knee and wrapped my arms around her. Clutch, his brow furrowed, looked from Deb to Tack.

“Aw, shit. No,” Jase said. The sound of his heart breaking couldn’t be missed in those few short words.

“We’ve got incoming!” someone yelled.

I looked up to see flares being fired from the riverboat. Sorenson and his crew had dozens of flare guns, and they were shooting constantly into the air and directly at the towboat. All but one from the first round of flares missed the Aurora. The flare that didn’t miss landed on the deck and lit up a tarp covering a raft. Kurt lunged for a fire extinguisher hanging near the stairs.

“To your posts!” Tyler yelled, waving his arm. “They’re trying to burn us down! Teams Alpha and Bravo, prepare to launch a counterattack from the boats. Charlie, get those barge bay doors closed now! All other teams, get the civvies to barge Two now!”

Over a dozen scouts, including Griz and Tyler, ran toward the ladder to head to the boats. Jase and I were on Clutch’s Charlie team, which meant we stayed behind to protect the towboat and its barges.

“You heard the captain,” Clutch yelled as he grabbed his crutches. “We need to get the big generators running and those doors closed now.”

A young man came up and stood there, looking in shock. He’d arrived with Manny and had just joined Delta team a day ago. His eyes were wide and looked like they were about to burst with tears. “I don’t know what to do.”

“Grab as many fire extinguishers as you can handle and distribute them,” Clutch ordered. A commotion of cattle bellowing and pigs squealing came from barge Four. He turned to Jase. “Jase, take lead of Delta and Echo teams. Cash and I will get the bays closed. Save the barges.”

Jase didn’t say anything. Stress was instantly replaced by a smooth, hardened sense of purpose on his face. “Come with me!” He took off at a sprint, and the other scout followed.

Ever since Tyler had divided scouts into teams, we’d practiced, but we’d never needed more than three teams on a mission before. Delta and Echo teams were made up of only corporals and civvies. “You sure Jase can handle teams right now?”

“He’s a natural,” Clutch said. “Besides, he needs this. Let’s go.” He grabbed his crutches again, and we headed into the galley.

Starting the generators was an easy task…except that black smoke was bleeding through the doorframe leading below decks and exactly where the engines were.

Chapter XVI