NO!

You think you’re the only person to lose a child?When you get out of here, take a good hard look around. Everybody has lost someone. Everybody is hurting. You think you’re special? You’re not! Suck it up and get on with your life, you wimp. If Sophia is watching, she’s probably pissed at you for acting like such a whiny asshole. So summon your strength, firm your resolve, and for Christ’s sake, fucking live. It’s what she would want you to do.

The voice in my head sounded so much like my father’s, I actually looked around my cell to see if he was in there with me. But he was not, of course.

I think.

Shaking myself to clear my head, I said, “Thanks for coming by, Tyrel. It’s good to see a friendly face.”

He smiled and we shook hands again. “Take care of yourself, son. I know the Army will probably have you travelling all over hell and half of Georgia, but if you get the chance, look in on me.”

“I’ll do that.”

As my old mentor began to walk away, I said, “Hey Ty?”

He half turned. “Yeah?”

“Just in case I don’t get another chance to say it, I love you, man. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had.”

He stared a few seconds, and if I did not know him better, I would say his eyes reddened a bit. “I love you too, kid. You watch your ass out there, you hear?”

“I’ll do that. Goodbye, Tyrel.”

“Goodbye, son.”

He left, and I stayed in my cell another day until it was time for a sheriff’s deputy to escort me to my container to retrieve my personal effects. I took Blake’s medallion, the picture of my mother holding me as a newborn, my father’s and Lauren’s wedding rings, Sophia’s locket containing a picture of her with her mother and father, and my spear. Afterward, I checked my things in with the quartermaster at Peterson AFP, took the oath of enlistment, signed the paperwork, and started my new life.

The government seized everything else I owned as restitution for my crimes.

I have not seen Tyrel since.

SIXTY-FIVE

Hollow Rock, Tennessee

“You were right,” Miranda said. “That did not end well.”

Caleb glanced out the window. It was nearly dawn. “Took a lot longer to tell than I expected. Sorry.”

Her hand caressed his face. “You’re the one deploying today. Apologize to yourself.”

“Won’t be the first time I’ve had to function on zero sleep.”

A silence stretched between them as the light through the window grew brighter. Caleb gripped Miranda’s hand and said, “So now you know all of it.”

“Not all of it. What happened after you joined the Army?”

A shrug. “Basic training wasn’t so bad. Had a hell of a time getting back in shape, though. I’d really let myself go.”

Miranda’s fingers traced the ridges of his abdomen. “I never would have guessed.”

“You didn’t know me back then. I’ve gained twenty-five pounds since I enlisted.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “Yikes.”

“Yep. I was in pretty bad shape for a while there. As for what’s happened over the last two years, well … let’s just say it’s been ninety-five percent boredom and five percent abject terror.”

Another long silence. Caleb knew he had to get up soon and get into uniform, but he was loath to leave the bed. Finally, he said, “So what do you think? You gonna run for the hills, knowing everything I’ve done?”

“I’ll admit,” Miranda said, “some of it gave me pause. Especially the thing about the deserters that attacked you in Boise City. But honestly, I’ve heard of people doing worse. Much worse. And I’m not so innocent myself. People do what they have to do to survive. I know I’ve done some pretty messed up things since the Outbreak.”

“That’s different. The Free Legion-”

“I’m not talking about the Legion.”

Caleb met her eyes. She looked away. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“You don’t have to. Ever.”

Miranda rolled onto her back. “I might someday, just not today. I’m not ready.”

“Well, when you are …”

A smile. “You were right about what you said before, Caleb. The past doesn’t matter. I still love you. Some of the things you told me … I’ll need some time to process. But as far as you and me, we’re good. I’m glad you shared with me, and I’ll keep my mouth shut about all of it. Fair enough?”

He kissed her on the tip of her nose. “Fair enough.”

“And about Sophia and your daughter … I’m so sorry, Caleb. No one should have to go through that.”

Caleb sat up in bed and stared out the window. Across the street, a man stepped out of his trailer and began walking toward the north gate, a tool belt hanging from his right hand. “Miranda, so many people have lost children since the Outbreak it’ll be a wonder if the human race survives at all.”

He felt her move behind him and slip her arms around his chest. “We will. Somehow, one way or another, we’ll find a way. And if we don’t, there’s no one else I’d rather live out the end of the world with.”

EPILOGUE

“I’ll give you one thing, you’re a hustler,” Caleb said. “How you convinced Captain Harlow to let you come along with us, I’ll never guess.”

Eric Riordan grinned. Hicks sat beside him, the truck they rode in following behind an Abrams battle tank heading northeast toward Kentucky. As usual, he had fallen in with Delta Squad. Behind them, visible through the canopy’s aperture, lay Hollow Rock. In another half-mile or so, they would be too far away to see it.

“I prefer to think of myself as a taker of carefully measured risks,” Eric said. “Nothing ventured, nothing gained, and all that.”

“Keep spouting clichés and it’s gonna be a hell of a long ride. How’d your wife take the news about you coming with us?”

Eric’s smile faltered. His wife, who until a short while ago had been the town’s only medical doctor, had not taken the news well at all. He thought about the baby growing inside her, his first child, and wondered if he was doing the right thing.

“About as well as can be expected,” he lied.

Caleb shot him a look from the corner of his eye, but did not press. “What about Gabriel? When there’s trouble afoot, you two are never far apart.”

“He’s in the command vehicle with Captain Harlow. You believe that shit?”

Caleb laughed. “Doesn’t surprise me.”

Eric heard the distinctive thrum of a Chinook fly overhead, followed by the lighter drone of an Apache Longbow attack helicopter. The Apache was to leapfrog the convoy and land far ahead of them, close to where they would be meeting up with Task Force Falcon. The Chinook carried troops tasked with protecting the Apache while it was on the ground.

For a significant portion of the ride to Kentucky, the convoy would be without air support. Eric was not worried. First Platoon rode in the company of an Abrams, two Bradleys, several Humvees equipped with heavy machine guns, and two big green HEMMTs carrying their gear. If that was not enough to handle whatever lay in their path, they were all dead men anyway.

Eric sat up when he heard a thundering boom from somewhere in the distance ahead. He looked around, confused, as it was followed by the piercing sound of something approaching and descending at incredible speed. Beside him, Caleb’s eyes went wide.

He drew a breath and shouted, “INCOMING!”

The soldiers around them echoed the cry as they ducked and covered. Eric felt the truck’s brakes lock and the sound of gravel rattling against metal as it went into a controlled skid. He could not see for the press of bodies around him, but heard several booms and felt a series of hard vibrations thump his chest through the bed of the truck. In a flash of panic, he remembered a stretch of road not far from where he lay and the crack-BOOM of a LAW rocket detonating less than two-hundred yards away. The hollow feeling in his chest was nearly identical.