“But you have an opinion.” It was not a question.
“Yes sir. My opinion is that he has failed, and that at least some of his team has perished in the gunfight. They may have retreated and are unable to contact you directly.”
“And why is that your assessment?”
“Because I can see a radio antenna on the school and have to assume there is a radio set up inside. If Shaw’s men had captured the school, then surely they would have contacted you.”
“Yes. Of course.”
The radio was silent for a minute. Ben thought he heard a noise somewhere in the vicinity.
I’m making too much noise. I’ll have to move. Or take out the target.
“Optio Ben, here are your orders. You will move closer to the target area and determine whether Shaw or any of his men are still in the area. Find out what happened at that school. If you can’t find any clue as to their whereabouts, then we must assume they are lost. You will contact us again after confirming these things.”
“Yes, sir. And if I may, sir—”
“Go ahead, Optio.”
“What will my mission become, if I do confirm those things?”
“You will infiltrate the school under the guise of the soldier that you were when you left there. You will gain their trust.”
Ben closed his eyes. That’s what I was afraid of.
“You will determine if the group is still viable, and who the ringleaders are. If the group is viable, you will remove the ringleaders and we will send another unit to take control of those people. If the group is not viable, you will destroy them by whatever means you have available.” After a second’s pause, he concluded, “Optio Ben, I trust in your abilities to make this happen. I expect you to be in contact with us within twenty-four hours with your initial report. Brenin, himself has high expectations of you. Do not disappoint him. Wallace out.”
Ben shut down the radio and packed it up. Several noises nearby confirmed that he had attracted some unwanted attention. He had already packed up everything else and was ready to move. Still, he took another minute to step back out onto the balcony and have another look in the fast fading light. He spotted another clue that there had been a firefight.
Zombies. Ben spotted a handful at the fences around the school. When he looked at the surrounding area, he noted that more were traveling in that direction. The people at the Ren, whoever remained, would have their hands full in the morning.
Chapter 16
Kevin
Paladin Wallace stood in the radio room. The handset felt heavy in his hand. He slowly lowered it onto its cradle and grimaced as he rubbed his forehead.
How could things go so wrong? They had planned for this!
Kevin opened his eyes.
Like we planned for this apocalypse? How did that go?
Kevin had felt confident that the Order’s agents would find a way. Find a way to survive the unanticipated undead and find a way to complete missions. Instead, Shaw and his men had gotten overrun at their base, and then gotten their asses handed to them by some civilians sitting on a major supply drop. He hoped they had left an accounting for themselves. He wanted nothing more than for Optio Ben to take down that nest of rodents.
One of the radio operators shifted in his seat, and the squeaking of the chair on the concrete floor brought Kevin back to the present.
He knew that he needed to go tell Brenin.
Tell him that an old man foiled his carefully laid plans almost singlehandedly. Tell him that they lost more men and more satellites. Tell him about the spy.
At least that last item was good news. The spy had been caught and dealt with.
But the rest of the news was bleak. Kevin felt the confidence drain from him. He felt that doom was coming.
Kevin woodenly walked towards the exit of the radio room. He opened the door and was about to walk through when a fit of rage overtook him. He slammed the door shut as hard as he could. Then he did it two more times for good measure. His radio operators cowered in the room behind him, but he was oblivious. He took a couple of deep breaths and walked out into the hallway. Somebody was standing about ten feet down the hall. Whoever it was scampered away as soon as he recognized the Paladin. Again, Kevin barely registered it.
He knew his duty. He had to inform Brenin. No matter how much it was going to hurt.
Chapter 17
Back in the outside world, the dark posed no serious obstacle to the undead. Their eyesight was not strong in the first place. Sound was their stimulus.
But their biggest asset was their network.
Any host within range was added to the network, and clusters of hosts quickly became islands of consciousness. They saw what other members of their cluster saw, heard what others heard, and more importantly, they learned.
The greater network was not complete. That would take a few more days. But the islands of consciousness were ever growing as other individuals and clusters joined. They congregated in numbers and awaited signals, like the ones they had just received.
So, they flocked, in stops and starts, towards one place. There was something there. And they were driven to get to it. They drew closer from all corners. Appearing out of the darkness in silence, drawing ever nearer, until an unmovable obstacle blocked their paths. Then no further stimuli drove them onward, so
