Prologue

2015 A.D.

Hidden Location

South America

"We should cut our hair again. It's getting too long," murmured Roux, pulling at a stray lock of her own as she stared into the permanently dirty hand mirror. There was no point in trying to clean the glass – if they were going to put that much effort into cleaning, they would just do the katana again.

There was no reply, so she started again. "I said–"

"I heard you," said Mat quietly, still unmoving from his position, even to look at her.

"Then why didn't you answer?" asked Roux, getting up to peer over his shoulder, out at the cold dark night. He stood in front of the sniper tower window. It wasn't a chilly night – in fact, it was quite humid. "We need to talk, to-"

"Keep sane, I know, human contact, etcetera." He turned to flash her a brief, tight smile. "Now shut up, you're going to attract something. The wind carries."

Roux kept from getting angry. She was still getting used to Mat's solidly survivalist, almost condescending mannerisms towards her. In fact, all of them still treated her like she was new, despite the fact that she'd been residing there several months already – almost a year – and also that she'd already proven herself an asset.

Suddenly Mat pushed her down and blew out the dim candle. His rifle was on his shoulder in a flash, night vision scope to his eye. Roux didn't even hear the moan change pitch before the soft thud.

"I'm willing to bet it was just a stray," Mat whispered to her. "All the same, be on guard, and wait a few hours before you get out there with Sapo for disposal, all right?" Mat let out a breath and reloaded the sniper rifle. "Tell Magpie to shut off the generator again if she's running it. And wake up the others. Hurry."

Roux nodded. They'd been using her for a silent alarm for ages, but her heart still pounded furiously against her ribcage as she stumbled from the room. It was the first spotting in at least a few months.

She found Mag fast asleep, a cloth stuffed lightly in her mouth to muffle her loud snores. Roux nudged the young Hispanic woman with her toe and she started at once with a snort.

"Dónde está el fuego?" she said wildly, still half-asleep. Then she saw Roux through half-closed eyes and straightened.

Roux hushed her. "Mat's got something down," she briefed. "Be on alert and turn off the generator. Is it on?"

"Yeah, yeah, I was just charging the walkies," she yawned, pulling herself to her feet. "There is only one?"

"Better safe than sorry," Roux shrugged. "Probably a stray, but still … gotta take precautions."

"I'm on it." Magpie whispered. "Why do these things always happen on my off-time?"

"There's no such thing as off-time, Maggie."

Roux turned to the next room to wake the others, when there was a small crash behind her.

"Sorry, sorry!" Mag hissed, gathering the swords that had fallen from their secure shelf when she staggered into it. Roux sighed. The walls were thick and built well enough that it mostly likely wasn't heard from outside, but Mat would have her head for it.

She turned into the next room. Caída and Donovan were strewn over the floor, Fats slumped against a wall, while Sapo and Duck talked quietly in a corner. The two looked up as she entered, and Duck's grin slid off.

"Mat's got another one," Roux whispered, nudging Caída and Donovan awake. They both started instantly. Fats took a little more nudging, but eventually they were all geared and heading to their posts. Roux stopped Duck from heading off with Caída, kneeling to look at her face-to-terrified-face.

"Hey, it's gonna be fine," she whispered, putting her hands on the little girl's shoulders. "We'll all keep each other safe, huh?"

"I know," the little girl sniffed. "I just … I'm scared, Roux."

"Oh, come here." Roux forced a smile, and gathered Duck into her arms. "It's probably nothing, okay? We're only taking precautions. Just in case. We've seen barely anything for months, right? Why start worrying any more now?"

"I know," Duck whispered again. "But … I can still hear them. At night."

Roux closed her eyes. "We all can, baby." She pulled away and looked into Duck's young eyes, which held much too much pain and wisdom for their age. "I won't let anything happen to you, okay, kiddo?"

She sniffed again. "Okay."

"Now go catch up with your auntie."

Roux sighed as she watched the eight-year-old stumble off after Caída, her longish curls trailing after her. They'd all definitely need to cut their hair after alert that night.

She hurried up the steps back to the sniper tower. Swinging open the door, her heart stopped.

"Where the hell have you been?" Mat demanded, reloading his weapon. The eerie, horrifying moans floated up from the ground, clear as day. A lot of them. Roux hurried to the window, looking down.

Outside of the three sturdy perimeter fences surrounding the fortress were dark, misshapen forms, staggering and clawing at the chain-link fence. The tower was high enough up that she could see they crowded around one spot, but also seemed to sense human presence in the building.

"Who was the idiot who made that crash down there?" Mat hissed, furious as he fired his shots. His anger threw off his shooting and Roux saw him miss, time and time again.

"It – it was me, Mat. I'm so sorry, it was dark, and–"

He hissed a bad expletive, and then sighed. "Damn it all, Roux … Well, no time for sorry now, just get your ass down there and help them fix it. I'll do my best from up here and the other tower. Go!"

Roux started and hastened back down the towers. She heard Mat muttering the worst curses he could think of under his breath and she winced. If they ever made it out of this one alive, he would slaughter her.

"I thought it was a precaution!" Fats hissed at her as she passed him.

"It was, aren't you glad we took it?" Roux elbowed him and kept running, "Mag! Stations!" she said as loud as she dared into the generator room.

"I thought it was only a precaution," she looked alarmed.

"Well, it's not anymore, go!"

She found Caída at her post outside, overlooking the situation with her own rifle fitted into the reinforced opening in the first wall, at head-height.

"I sent Duck up to the safe tower and told her to pull up the ladder," Caída informed her. Determination flooded her face and left no room for worry about her niece. It was a weakness that she'd learned to overcome years before. Personal feelings only got in the way when you were fighting.

"It was a man," she continued between silenced blasts. "The first one that Mat got – it wasn't one of them. His blood is everywhere, though – must have called over everything in the area – and then their wails only called more over – and that crash told them we were here – fuck, I hate these things–"

Through the crack Roux saw her hit head after head, all of the creatures going down instantly. And yet more kept coming, they weren't stopping … she wondered what Duck was seeing from the tower – a huge swarm? Or did it only seem like a lot from ground position?

She left Caída for the watchtower on the primary wall, scaling quickly. She didn't even need to reach the top before she gulped and almost fell off of it again. It wasn't miles and miles of them, but it was a larger horde than had ever attacked yet. She felt faint at the thought of the disposal of all those bodies.

Because they'd survive. She wouldn't even let the thought of losing get into her head, because then it would happen. They could do this. It was only a few dozen more than they'd dealt with before.

…Then again, though … they'd just lost Caleb and Juniper in the last battle, and the two had been the top hand-to-hand combaters out of all of them. Any little mistake could…

Roux wouldn't think about it. They'd make it just like every time before.

That incessant moaning, though … she dug in her pocket for her earplugs. They muffled the wailing and she automatically felt a little better.

The crowd of undead wasn't much bigger than those she'd made it through on many occasions in previous years, and on her own, too. For three long years she'd been on her own. Three. Long. Years.