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  The liquor warmed his gut. He stood, well-fed and relaxed. Grabbing his M4A1 carbine, he set off for a patrol with the other half-dozen men on night perimeter duty. The team was just one cog helping spin the security wheel at the outpost.

  Two soldiers manned the M240 fighting position outside town hall. Guards walked on flat rooftops, their weapons cradled, looking out over the sleeping outpost. Everywhere Cedric looked the soldiers seemed relaxed.

  There wasn’t much to be stressed about out here.

  Most of the men hadn’t seen action for years besides skirmishes with raiders.

  Hell, this was the best gig of Cedric’s career. And he’d had a ton of assignments since the Hemorrhage Virus first raced across the world, from a cruise ship sailing in the Atlantic during the first year of the outbreak to security duty in the relocated White House at the Greenbrier.

  Cedric had even guarded Captain Reed Beckham; his wife, Doctor Kate Lovato Beckham; and their son, Javier Riley, back when the boy was just a toddler. After Cedric hit retirement age, they transferred him here.

  “Turkey River is a modern-day retirement community, my friend,” Beckham had said, patting Cedric on the shoulder with his prosthetic hand. “Plenty of food, good neighbors, and peaceful enough you can actually enjoy a well-earned nap in the afternoon.”

  President Ringgold had even thanked Cedric for his service, and the next week he boarded a train to northern Iowa.

  Field of Dreams didn’t seem so far from the truth.

  Cedric considered pulling his flask out and taking another slug of whiskey, but he was old enough and smart enough to know evil never slept. The Variants might not have attacked recently, but beyond the wall, guard towers, razor wire fences, sensors, and mine fields, they were still out there.

  Waiting…

  He continued the trek through town square and past the houses and businesses. Like most outposts this one had everything from a general store to a post office with solar panels mounted on most of the roofs. He walked by both buildings and moved to the sidewalk to let a pickup truck down the narrow road.

  The circular community was surrounded by a twenty-foot steel wall. He exited through a gate that opened to a bridge over a creek. On the other side six soldiers waited. Two German Shepherds sat on their hind legs, anxious for their noses to be put to work.

  “Evenin’ Sarge,” said a private named Malcom.

  “Evenin’,” Cedric replied.

  They set off. All of them knew the drill. Alpha Team went to the right, and Bravo went left, each team taking a dog. Cedric was an exception. Commander Bell had given him his own route to walk, operating as a lone ranger of sorts. He walked toward the next line of defense, multiple razor wire fences.

  On the other side, moonlight captured a sea of corn and soybeans planted in the rich topsoil beyond the minefields.

  The gate at the road was closed now that the harvesting for the day was over. No one was allowed outside after dark unless Commander Bell gave the order.

  Guard towers rose above the fences, and Cedric raised a hand to the men in Tower Four. Both of the soldiers there were about the same age he had been when he first enlisted, over forty years ago. But these kids were too young to have fought in the war against the monsters.

  Chances were good neither of them had ever come close to meeting a Variant face to face. Cedric, on the other hand, had scars to show off his battles, including his empty eye socket.

  He smiled when he recalled how he had killed the beast that had done it. Who would have thought a flare would do so much damage if you stuck it in the right place?

  “Got anything on infrared?” Cedric called up to the guards.

  “Negative, Sarge, just deer.”

  “Well shit, maybe we should go hunting,” Cedric replied. It had been a long time since they had even seen a deer. Like humans, the animals had almost been wiped out by the Variants.

  He continued his walk along the perimeter, scanning the dirt on the other side of the fences for any flash of movement and sniffing the air for the rotten fruit odor of the beasts.

  The Variants had rapid evolution and adaption on their side. Epigenetic changes had turned the abominations into the perfect predators that could camouflage their skin and see in the dark. Some had morphed into terrifying creatures ranging from gigantic beetles to monstrous flesh-eating worms in Europe.

  Most of those beasts were nothing more than dust now. Only the first generation of Variants had survived the bullets and the bioweapons the government designed to kill them.

  America was on her way back. Some European countries were starting to recover as well. He didn’t know much about South America, Africa, or Asia, but the little bits of news that made their way to Turkey River gave him hope the human species would recover fully in time.

  Cedric walked for an hour before his joints started hurting and the chill of the evening finally got under his layers. He let his rifle sag on its sling as he rubbed his gloves together.

  Then he pressed on, ignoring the pain of his lower back, and the persistent arthritis in his fingers. He didn’t mind that his retirement was being spent doing what he did best, but he did wonder how many more years he had left before Commander Bell assigned him to some boring guard tower.

  Not happening anytime soon.

  As the whiskey wore off, the cold crept into his feet. His toes started to numb. He found a seat on a swing hanging from the solid limb of an oak tree, a favorite of the children that lived here.

  He sat and wiggled his toes to get the blood moving. Pulling out his radio, he contacted Alpha and Bravo teams. No contacts sighted by any of them. He asked for reports from the guard towers next.

  All clear, came the responses.

  Another quiet night at Outpost Turkey River.

  Cedric stood and walked toward his next stop. The barns were always his favorite part of the rounds.

  A farmer named Will slept in a chair outside the barn door, his head slumped against a shoulder. Cedric cleared his throat, waking the man.

  Will shot up and raised a hand in defense. “What… What’s wrong?”

  “Relax,” Cedric said. “I’m just checking on things.”

  Will looked around and then seemed to relax and sat back down.

  “Does your wife know you’re out here?” Cedric asked.

  A sly grin spread across Will’s face. “She’s the reason I’m out here.”

  Cedric chuckled. “You’re in the dog house again?”

  “Better than the barn, right?” Will stood and stretched.

  Cedric held back a laugh.

  In a town this small, everyone knew everyone’s business, and everyone knew that Will and his wife had been on the outs for months.

  Commotion from the animal pens distracted Cedric, and Will joined him on the path to the livestock. The beasts were all crowded in the corner of their pens.

  Will spat a glob of tobacco on the dirt.

  “What the hell has them riled up?” he asked.

  Cedric pulled out his radio. “Alpha, Bravo, you got anything?”

  “Negative.”

  “Negative.”

  The guard towers all reported the same thing. Nothing on infrared, and nothing moving in the night vision. Cedric knew the Variants could sometimes avoid detection, but they couldn’t avoid the mines or the fences, and they couldn’t dodge bullets either.

  Cedric aimed his rifle at the cornfields beyond the animal pens and jerked his chin for Will to return to the safety of the walled-off compound.

  “Go home to your wife and lock the doors,” he said.

  Will backpedaled away from the barn, nearly tripping, then he turned and ran. Most men would have done the same thing, but Cedric clenched his jaw and scanned the fields for the monsters.

  Moonlight illuminated the white blades of two massive wind turbines churning in the distance, providing energy for the outpost by harnessing the wind.

  His radio crackled on his vest as he searched f
or hostiles.

  “Master Sergeant, what’s going on out there?” came the gruff voice of Commander Bell.

  “Not sure, sir, something’s got the animals spooked.”

  “Meet me on the bridge,” Bell replied.

  Cedric cursed.

  So much for a quiet night.

  He jogged back toward the bridge, the gate opening and disgorging ten more men and three dogs. From the east side of the outpost came the guttural barking of the other German Shepherds with Alpha and Bravo. A flare shot up into the sky, bursting into a red glow over the cornfields.

  “Everyone that’s not in a guard tower fall back to the bridge,” Bell ordered over the radio.

  Search lights flipped on in the towers, the beams raking over the cornfields beneath where the flare had burst. The stalks rustled in the breeze.

  Bell, a good foot taller than almost every man on the bridge, stepped out in front of the pack. All five of the dogs growled, their fur standing like needles.

  Cedric straightened his stiff body.

  “Show yourself, you diseased son of a bitch,” Bell grumbled.

  The spotlight from tower four roved over the field, Cedric’s only eye moving with the light. The guard brought it to a sudden stop over a patch of corn. Alpha and Bravo soon returned with their dogs.

  “Commander, I’ve got a heat signature northwest, close to the area I spotted a deer earlier,” came the voice of Isaac in tower four. “Not sure what it is.”

  “Can you get a shot?” Bell replied.

  “Sir… It’s pretty far out.”

  Bell turned back to the men on the bridge. “Get ready, I want a team to go out there with dogs and take a look once it’s dead,” he said. “If it’s a Variant, leave it there. We’ll try and find where it came from in the morning.”

  “And if it’s a deer?” Cedric asked.

  “Then we’re going to have a nice venison steak,” Bell said.

  The other men seemed to lighten up at that.

  “Take the shot, T4,” Bell said over the comm.

  A crack pierced the night.

  Crows took flight around the compound. For an eerie moment, the cawing was the only sound.

  “Target down,” Isaac reported over the radio.

  “Nice shot, T4,” Bell replied. He looked again at the soldiers standing around him. “Who’s going out there to check it out?”

  Cedric’s hand shot up. “I’ll go, sir.”

  “Who else?” Bell asked.

  The men all avoided his gaze, looking at the ground in shame. Cedric didn’t blame them. Even one Variant was enough to kill a team of greenhorns, and they were likely worried there were more beasts out there.

  “Malcom, Agan, Kelly, you go with Cedric, take two dogs. The rest of you fall back inside the compound,” Bell said.

  Cedric led the other three soldiers over the bridge, the dogs pulling on their leashes down the road to the main gate. They stopped when they reached the guard tower that looked over the minefield beyond the gate.

  “You sure you got it?” Cedric called up.

  Isaac emerged from the tower. “It ain’t movin’, Sarge.”

  Cedric looked down the road cutting through the cornfields. A shudder tore through his flesh. He blamed it on the cold, but worried it was from fear.

  “Go on, Cedric,” Bell said. “Take your team out there and see what’s going on.”

  “Yes, sir,” Cedric said.

  They unlatched the main gate and swung it open.

  Cedric led the team outside, listening to the gate click shut behind him.

  “T4, tell me if that heat signature moves,” he ordered over the comm.

  “Copy that,” Isaac replied.

  “Combat intervals, keep sharp,” Cedric said. He started out onto the road with the dogs on each flank. They sniffed the ground and air, their muzzles searching for the rotting lemon scent of the diseased beasts.

  Cedric scanned for movement but saw nothing besides the shifting corn stalks. It only took a few minutes to reach the area of the spotlight from tower four.

  The team stopped and faced the fence of corn. None of the dogs bared their teeth or growled.

  Maybe it was just a deer, Cedric thought. He shouldered his rifle and the other three soldiers followed suit, their muzzles aimed at the corn.

  “I’m not going in there,” Malcom whispered.

  Cedric thought about ordering the young soldier to get ahold of himself and go in anyway, but instead he said, “Hold your position.” He didn’t need a scared kid popping off rounds behind him in the dark.

  The gusting wind picked up as they stood there, blowing through the fields violently and turning the wind turbines faster. The branches of oak trees in the distance swayed and creaked.

  “Do you see that?” Kelly said quietly. He pointed at the tips of the corn that seemed to be parting like something was moving through them.

  “T4, you got anything on infrared?” Cedric asked.

  “Negative.”

  “Something’s coming…” Kelly said.

  Cedric held up a hand. “Hold your fire.”

  The wind calmed, and the corn stalks straightened.

  “I’m going in,” Cedric said. “Agan, you got the balls to follow?”

  The big man nodded and followed Cedric into the field, using the spotlight to guide them. Stalks scraped against their skin, scratching his neck and face.

  Through the gaps in the corn, Cedric spotted something lying in a fetal position under the glow from the light.

  He aimed his muzzle at it and moved his finger to the trigger.

  A sudden screech in the distance made him flinch.

  “There’s another one out there,” Agan whispered.

  Cedric moved over to the creature lying in the dirt. Something twisted in his gut. It wasn’t a creature at all—it was a filthy human. Blood soiled the dirt, but the guy seemed to still be alive, his ribs expanding and contracting slowly.

  Agan lowered his rifle.

  Cedric went to radio it in. Another high-pitched wail pierced the night.

  The call of a monster.

  “Help me with him,” Cedric said.

  Together, the two soldiers carried the injured man back to the road where Malcom and Kelly stood with the dogs. The animals cowered, their tails between their legs.

  “Keep it together,” Cedric ordered. “There is one of those things, and four of us. You run, you die.”

  “Fuck it, I’ll take my chances,” Kelly said.

  He let go of the dog leash and took off.

  The radio crackled with confused voices. Cedric ignored them as they carefully put the injured man down.

  “He’s hurt bad,” Agan said.

  Another screech came, this time from the opposite direction.

  Malcom abandoned them then, running after Kelly.

  The two remaining dogs both growled and barked viciously.

  Gunshots popped through the night as the radio exploded with panicked voices.

  “Agan, watch our back,” Cedric said.

  “Okay, Sarge.”

  Cedric bent down and rolled the man over gently. Blood covered his side. The bullet had hit him just under his ribs. The man was young, maybe in his thirties, hard to say with mud caking most of his features.

  Cedric knew they couldn’t carry him back, but he wasn’t going to leave him here. They needed to get him up and moving.

  Using a gloved hand, Cedric slapped the guy on the cheek, trying to rouse him to consciousness. The man winced in pain, breathing heavily.

  “You got to get up,” Cedric said. He clamped a hand over the wound and looked up at Agan.

  “You cover us on the way back to the gate,” he said.

  Agan nodded quickly.

  Cedric went to help the guy up, but the man grabbed his wrist, squeezing hard. His eyes widened like he was caught in the grips of insanity.

  “It’s too late…” he mumbled. “You can’t go back there.”


  More gunshots cracked out, and a second Variant screech sounded.

  Then came the screams.

  Cedric glanced over his shoulder at the gate where Malcom and Kelly were still waiting to get back in. A land mine exploded in the distance, the boom thumping like a grenade.

  When Cedric looked back to the two soldiers at the gate, they were gone, shadows sweeping them into the field. A human cry of agony rose like the howling wind.

  Agan back peddled. “Sarge,” he whispered.

  Two Variants skittered up the side of Tower Four. They reached in from opposite sides, surprising Isaac and the other guard.

  The beasts yanked them out and tossed them onto the minefield on the other side of the fence. Another boom thumped as the two men were blown to pieces.

  The beasts climbed higher up the tower, before perching on the top. Wispy hair blew away from the pale skin of the creature on the left, a female judging from her naked chest. The male one reared his head back and let out a howl.

  Several more abominations answered the call.

  “We have to go,” mumbled the wounded man.

  Cedric yanked free of his grip and stood. Dozens of the monsters climbed to the top of rooftops inside the compound.

  “How…” he said. “How did they get inside?”

  “I came from out there…to warn…” the injured man pointed in the opposite direction of the outpost.

  “I came to warn you,” whimpered the man.

  Cedric hesitated, trying to make sense of things. The guy had to be one of the homesteaders trying to strike out independent from the outposts.

  “Sarge, what do we do?” Agan’s voice was breaking from fear.

  The two Shepherds took off running away from the compound, racing as fast as they could into the cornfields.

  Screams of horror filled the night. Cedric imagined the monsters tearing through the outpost, devouring the people inside.

  “Sarge,” Agan entreated. “What do we do?”

  For the first time in his career, Cedric did what he always damned other men for doing. He turned, and he ran away from the fight, following the dogs into the darkness.

  — 2 —

  At dawn, Kate Lovato walked along the Peaks Island shoreline of Casco Bay, Maine. It was the same thing she did most mornings. The humble house she shared with her husband, Reed Beckham, and eight-year-old son was just five hundred feet from the water’s edge, close enough Beckham didn’t mind her morning excursions.