“I’m fine,” Caleb insisted, but Liz put a hand on his chest.

  “No, you’re not.”

  Lana tugged at his leg, and the muscle there contracted, sending a flood of fresh, torturous sensation through Caleb’s body, straight to his stomach. Fabric ripped, and Lana handed the knife back to Derek. “Looks like it went clean through,” she said. “Dad… just… keep still.”

  He nodded, his breath suddenly harder to get into his chest, and braced himself for what he knew was coming. Lana’s hands moved over his bare leg, wrapping something around it. She gave a grunt, and a jolt of pain shot up again as she tightened a tourniquet down over the wound.

  Caleb gasped as she tightened it twice more, then pinned his leg down and tied it off. “That’ll have to hold for now. Dad? Mom is he—“

  “I’m here.” Caleb grasped at Liz’s hand. He held it tight and nodded up at her. “Help… help me up.”

  She hesitated, but then Lana was in view and taking his other arm. They pulled him upright and he saw the ugly mess of his leg for the first time and the smeared pool of blood. It was a lot, but not so much that he felt cold. The bullet had gone through his muscle and missed the tibial artery.

  It was bad, but not the end. Not if they could finish this and get it treated properly in the next hour or so. “Help me stand,” he told them.

  “No, Dad,” Lana said, “you shouldn’t walk on it, we can go ahead.”

  He shook his head. “Not letting the two of you walk in there without me,” he growled, and held Lana’s arm tight when she tried to pull away. He gave her a firm, serious look. “I’ve been shot before. We do this together. Get me up.”

  She glanced at her mother as if looking for permission. Liz hesitated. “Caleb…”

  Ray stepped forward, and held a hand out. There was a half-smirk on his face that Caleb didn’t like, but he took the man’s hand and ground his teeth again as he strained with his injured shoulder to sit up. The pain nearly blinded him.

  “Just a scratch,” Ray said, smiling as he clapped Caleb on the injured shoulder. “Ain’t that right?”

  Caleb would have decked him if he could. Instead, he focused on Derek. “Take point. Situation room. We don’t stop until it’s done. Thomas has to go.”

  “Yes, sir,” he agreed.

  Lana moved to join him, but Caleb reached out to stop her. “No, Lana you—shit.”

  Liz slipped under his good shoulder before he could topple. His injured leg wouldn’t take even the weight of shifting forward. He steadied himself, shifted his weight to his heel, and kept his calf as relaxed as he could.

  “I’m alright.” He brushed Elizabeth’s hand away. “I can walk, just have to be careful.”

  “Dad,” Lana said evenly, “you can barely hold your rifle. We can’t go back, you said it yourself. I can do this.”

  He’d have argued with her, and almost did—but she turned away and joined Derek, and there wasn’t much he could do about it. He sighed and shifted the strap of his rifle up and over his head. “Take this.” He held it out to his wife. “Give me your sidearm. Your gun.”

  Her lips tight, she accepted the rifle and slid the strap over her head to rest on her shoulder, then pressed the pistol into his hand, her fingers closing over his as he gripped it. “Don’t get yourself killed,” she warned him.

  Caleb glanced at Ray, who was still eyeing him like a vulture waiting for an animal to die. “I won’t,” he promised. I’ll never leave the two of you alone with this man.

  “Everyone ready? Check your ammo. One more to go.”

  Derek nodded. Lana watched him a moment longer and then looked away. At Caleb’s order, they moved ahead together.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  LANA

  Horse Creek Base, New United States

  Friday, June 18th, 11:51 pm EST

  Lana’s pulse raced. Adrenaline coursed through her, burning and vibrating in every limb. The ground felt more solid under the soles of her boots, as if it pushed against her each time she took a step. Her skin seemed to register every contact with the fabric of her fatigues, and the rifle in her hands felt lighter than it should have been.

  She knew that she should have been afraid. She should have been anxious, at least. Instead, there was a hard-edged numbness filling her up, swallowing everything until she was made entirely of focus and cold purpose.

  “Door’ll be secured.”

  When she didn’t respond, Derek slowed, prompting her to glance at him in question. “You okay?”

  “Just want to get this over with.” She didn’t like the way his brow furrowed, or the pinch at the corners of his eyes registered concern. “Keep moving,” she prodded.

  He looked away, and together they led the group to the final corner. Derek checked it, signaled them forward, and she rounded it with him.

  A short corridor led to the white-painted door of the situation room. The camera blister above blinked slowly. The general was watching.

  Derek approached the door and pressed the key card to the pad beside it. It gave a negative buzz, the light flashing red. He shrugged. “Worth a shot.”

  “What’s the alternative?” Lana asked.

  “Blow the security pad out.” He glanced past her to where her father stood leaning against the wall to take weight off his injured leg.

  A trail of blood followed behind him. That, at least, brought some emotion into Lana’s numbness. She had to remind herself that the bullet hadn’t nicked an artery. If they made it through this, he could be fixed up. If they didn’t… Well, then it wouldn’t matter.

  Some part of her wanted to go to him, and her mother, hug them, and share some final words, just in case. But the weight of that blank feeling pressed back against her, tightening down. If she broke now, she might not be able to put herself back together.

  Caleb waved at Jake. “Give me your radio.”

  Jake tugged it from where it was clipped at the back of his pants to hand it over.

  Caleb twisted the dial, then spoke into it. “General Thomas, I’m asking you to stand down.”

  There was a brief silence before the intercom crackled to life. “What makes you think I would do that, Machert?”

  Was that resignation in his voice?

  “You’re out of people,” Caleb replied. “The situation room has one way in or out. There are armed civilians already in the base now. You can open now, or we can post guards out here and wait for you to starve. The supplies will keep us fed for a while. If that’s what we have to do, that’s what we’ll do.”

  “And then what, Machert?” Thomas asked. “You want to take my place? You think you can lead these people?”

  “No.” Caleb shook his head. “I’m not going to lead anyone. I don’t know if a man like you can believe this, General, but I’m in this for two reasons. My wife, and my daughter. You’re a threat to them. That’s all. To be honest, I barely care if you want to carve out some kingdom for yourself here. But you threatened my family, and you’ve killed a lot of people. You’re the chaos, General.”

  There was another long silence, broken only by a distant rumble of thunder that Lana felt more than heard. With it, though, came a flicker of the lights.

  “Corporal Masterson,” Caleb spoke into the radio. “You’re on comms?”

  There was no answer.

  “I know you are. I know you’re listening. I’m betting everyone in there can hear me. We can end this peacefully, with as little bloodshed as possible. Turn the general over, and we can all live—“

  There was a single gunshot over the intercom.

  Caleb closed his eyes and lowered the radio.

  “You’re not poisoning any more of my people, Machert,” the general growled over the intercom. “You want me? Come on in. Let’s see what your naive idealism is worth.”

  The keypad flashed green, and the door gave a deep thunk as the lock disengaged.

  Derek reached for the handle, glanced back at Caleb, and waited for a signal.

  Lana’s gut twisted. Anxiety finally reached her, clawing at her insides. A flash of insight burst into her thoughts. The gunshot had sounded over the intercom.

  Not from behind the door.

  Caleb gave Derek a nod. Lana surged forward and grabbed Derek’s arm. “Don’t, it’s a—“

  She didn’t hear the explosion. One second, she was at the door, prying Derek’s hand away from the handle, and the next she was on the ground, the air crushed from her lungs. Her vision tunneled, light cutting in and out. Her whole body throbbed. She scraped her hands over the floor, clawing for purchase to move, to get up, to try and react, do anything, but her body refused to move with any urgency.

  With an effort that made her head pound, she craned her neck. Everything doubled, her vision wobbling. The security door was bent at two corners, but still mostly intact.

  “Mom?” she tried to say. “Dad?”

  Her words came out slurred. She managed to twist her body to one side and roll to her stomach. She got a hand under her. On wobbly arms, she pushed herself up to her knees. Ray and Jake were in sight, groaning as they tried to stand. She didn’t see her parents, or Derek, and hot, fresh panic bubbled up inside.

  Someone coughed behind her, and she twisted to find Derek on his back. One arm was bent at the wrong angle, and blood matted the hair on the side of his head. His other arm, opposite her, made confused, jerky movements. He coughed again, and blood spattered his lips.

  Jessup’s face swam in her vision.

  “No,” she breathed, and clambered toward Derek. “No, no, no—you can’t—“

  His eyes focused on her. He licked his lips. “Kay,” he rasped. “S’okay… g-get… security room… only other place… intercom…”

  Derek’s eyes rolled. He coughed again and more blood flecked his lips.

  Her father’s voice called from behind her. “Lana!”

  She tore herself away from Derek. “Dad, I’m here.”

  Caleb emerged from around the corner, her mother with him. They’d been behind cover when the trap had sprung. Caleb leaned heavily on the wall. “Derek?”

  Lana shook her head and staggered, a wave of vertigo and nausea forcing her to stop. “He—I don’t know. He’s breathing.”

  “We’ve got to move.”

  Her father was right. They couldn’t stay there and wait for the general’s remaining men to come mop them up. She looked back at Derek. They couldn’t leave him. Not again—not like they’d left Jessup.

  “He’s in the security room,” Lana said, turning to face her father. “It’s the only other place to access the intercom system.”

  Caleb bared his teeth in a grimace and cursed. “It’s not far. Come on.”

  He turned to go, limping a step away.

  “We can’t just leave him,” Lana called after him.

  Caleb stopped and turned back to her. He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out.

  “I’ll stay with him,” Elizabeth offered. Caleb watched her as she came toward Lana and knelt beside Derek. “I’m… I’ll just be in the way.”

  Lana stared at her, unsure what to say.

  Her mother reached out and put a hand to her arm, holding her gaze. “I promise, it won’t be like Jessup.”

  Grief and fear coiled around Lana’s chest and constricted until she could barely breathe. But a moment later, her mother’s hand reached her cheek, her palm warm and rough. “Go keep your father safe.”

  It took an effort of will, but Lana stood slowly, watched Derek’s chest rise and fall once, then twice, and finally stepped back. “We’ll be back,” she told her mother. “Both of us.”

  Elizabeth smiled at her, and then at Caleb, and gave a nod. “I know. You make a good team.”

  Lana bit her lip as she withdrew and joined her father, offering her shoulder to lean on. Jake and Ray joined them, both limping, faces pinched with pain.

  “We’re going to come back,” Caleb promised Lana softly.

  “Yeah,” she agreed as they checked and turned a corner, “I know.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CALEB

  Horse Creek Base, New United States

  Saturday, June 19th, 12:36 am EST

  It was dangerous to run on anger. Caleb knew that; knew that it would make him irrational, screw with his judgment, make him prone to mistakes that could cost him dearly. But it was the only thing that kept the pain in his leg and shoulder at bay. It didn’t do a good job, but it certainly made it easier to force himself to take step after step.

  He’d underestimated General Thomas. He wouldn’t do it again, but it felt like the damage had been done. It was easy to tell Lana that they’d get back to her mother and to Derek. It was harder to make himself really believe it.

  Even if they did pin Thomas down in the security room, he didn’t know that he could take a clear shot in his condition. The general wasn’t going to stand down. Offering the out had been the right thing to do, though.

  So, good for him. If he died here, he could die with a clear conscience. If he didn’t…

  What if the world is too dangerous to do the right thing anymore?

  Maybe it was the loss of blood, and the exhaustion that he was barely keeping from swallowing him up, but he couldn’t keep the thought away. Who would he be—what would he be—if he set aside his principles over and over to keep his family safe? Worse—what would they become if he let them follow him down that path?

  He looked sidelong at Lana as they limped toward the final turn in the corridor ahead. She’d killed someone. She’d killed a few people now, of course, but… she only got that bloody by killing someone up close, with her hands.

  A knife, probably; she and Derek had been doing a lot of knife work, and Caleb had taught her some himself. He was sure that she’d had to do it. It was survival—her or someone else, and he’d have chosen her every time, whatever the circumstances were.

  But it did mean she was changed. All of this had changed her. She was fluid now, still transforming into whatever she’d need to be to make it through this, if there was even a way through to be found. If he stopped doing ‘the right thing’, if he showed her that it was okay to give up principles to survive…

  Would it be his fault if she lost her center—her goodness?

  What was worse, though, was the burning desire to tell her all of this while there was time. That he’d wanted to be a moral man. That if there was any other choice, they wouldn’t be hunting Thomas down to kill him. That she needed to stay good and true and not let the ugly bits of the new world ruin her.

  But if he told her even a snippet of his thoughts, she might hesitate. And that might get her killed.

  Lana slipped from under his arm carefully, giving him a chance to catch his balance, and slid along the wall to the corner. She readied her rifle, and leaned out briefly to check, pulling back too quickly for anyone with normal reflexes to get a shot at her. Almost a professional.

  “That’s the door.” She peered around the corner again, this time longer. “There are voices. Can’t make them out clearly.”

  Above them, another earth-shaking boom of thunder sounded. The lights in the corridor flickered, then dimmed.

  Then, they went out.

  The darkness was absolute and instant.

  Jake hissed out a curse.

  Caleb held an arm out. “Lana?”

  Fabric brushed his fingers. Her hand found his and she maintained contact with his arm. “I’m here. Dad—the lock disengaged. I heard it shut down. It’ll lock again when the backup power comes on.”

  He tried to get his fingers around her hand. “We can’t go in—no, Lana wait—“

  But she’d already pulled away. No!

  He waved frantically in the darkness, choking down her name when he almost shouted it. He felt for the wall and got his hand on it, then limped forward, following it to the corner. “Ray,” he whispered, “Jake. Quiet as you can. Straight ahead. Be ready.”

  He felt them shuffle past him and eased around the corner. He half fell to one knee and raised his weapon with his good arm.

  There was a whisper of sound when the door opened, but it was enough for him—and it was enough for the people inside.

  “Down!” someone inside called.

  Rifles fired. The darkness was interrupted by strobing orange flashes. Caleb’s heart leaped to his throat, but he saw Lana pressed against the wall by the door. He aimed at one of the flashing muzzles and fired. Three shots. The strobing paused, then picked up again, showing Lana on one knee, leaning around the doorway.

  Lana took two shots. The strobing stopped, then started—shorter and briefer this time. He saw the two hunters on their knees, rifles up as they fired into the darkened room.

  Backup lights came on—weak and red, flickering slightly.

  Lana took another shot, and then slipped into the room. Panic flooded Caleb’s body, driving him forward to go after her.

  “You f-ing crazy?” Ray barked behind him.

  The words barely registered. His daughter was going to die. He staggered through the doorway to find her gunning down one man while another whirled with his weapon raised.

  “Here!” Caleb shouted, the sound explosive in his chest, scraping at his throat. He brought his pistol up as the man flinched and trained his rifle on Caleb.

  He pulled the trigger. The man spun. Not a kill shot, but enough to throw off his aim. The man’s rifle flashed and the shot went wide. Another shot from behind Caleb and the soldier fell backward. Ray and Jake were at the door now, picking men off—all but General Thomas.

  Thomas was crouched down, barely visible behind a toppled file cabinet. Lana sprayed the cabinet with fire, advancing a step at a time toward him. Until her rifle clicked, empty.

  Caleb’s lungs seized. Every moment he’d watched his little girl over the years, full of parental worry—first teetering steps, first time climbing a jungle gym, first time off a diving board—every rush of a heartbeat and a held breath, hoping she would learn and grow and thrive. It hit him all at once.