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Chapter 203 - The Other Mother
Ray threw himself sideways as the stage eleven swung. Its fist hit the stair rail and tore it off the wall. Wood and metal flew everywhere."Back! Back down!" Jane shouted, firing into the dust.Four Zeds walked out of the smoke in a slow line, all with the same face and the same calm smile. One of them raised a pistol and shot the fighter next to Corran. The man dropped without a sound."Fall back to the tunnel!" Corran yelled.Ray did not move. The woman in the dark uniform was still standing at the top of the stairs, and the stage eleven had turned toward her. She stood in front of it without fear."Stop," she said.The huge infected froze, one fist raised.All four Zeds stopped smiling."What are you doing?" they said together."Something I should have done in Kansas," she said. She looked down at Ray. "Do you still want the name? Then take my hand."Ray did not stop to think. He ran up the broken stairs, grabbed her wrist, and pulled. She came with him easily, as if she had been
Chapter 202 - The Copy
Ray did not sleep. By dawn he had a plan, and by noon he had told only three people: Jane, his father, and Corran."The clone is in Washington," Ray said. "She stood right behind Wolfe. That means she's close to him and she's valuable. If we take her, we learn how the cloning works. Maybe we learn how to stop it.""It's a suicide run," Jane said. "Washington is full of stage nines and tens.""Not all of it," Corran said. "The White House has a service tunnel. I used it twice when I worked for Wolfe."They left that night with eight fighters. Ray's mother begged to come, but Priya refused to let her out of bed. Before he left, she grabbed Ray's wrist."She has my face, but she isn't me," she said. "Don't hesitate. She won't.""I know," Ray said.Eli stood at the gate in a blanket, watching them go. Ray crouched in front of him."Stay close to Dani. Don't talk to anyone you don't know."Eli nodded. "Be careful."The trip east took three days. They traveled by night, avoiding roads, pass
Chapter 201 - Ash President
Wolfe was smiling when Zed walked into the Oval Office. It was a small smile, but Zed had worked for him for years and rarely saw it."The Wraiths attacked Kansas," Zed said. "Ray held, but he lost a lot and his loyal man Saul is dead so are the fighters who went with him.""Saul," Wolfe said. "The one who heard everything.""Yes, sir."Wolfe leaned back in the President's chair. "Then Ray is deaf now. Good."He stood up and walked to the window. Below, the lawn was full of people who did not move. Some stood in rows. Some sat on the grass and all of them were infected."Show me the city," Wolfe said.They rode out in a black car with soldiers in front and behind. Washington had changed. Stage 9 infected walked the avenues like guards. Stage 10s stood at every bridge. Near the Capitol, a few stage 11s sat on the steps, huge and quiet, their gray skin split in places.Nobody screamed anymore. Nobody ran the city belonged to the infected."How many of the soldiers are still huma
Chapter 200 - Fire against the Dead
Ray found Eli on the third night.The lead came from Corran's contact and the note from the depot. It pointed to an old feed store, two hours north of Kansas. Ray took six fighters and went in fast and quiet. They took out two guards before anyone could shout.Eli was in the back room, sitting on a cot with his knees pulled up. When the door opened, he looked up and didn't move."Ray?" he said."I'm here," Ray said. "Come on."*****Eli ran into him so hard Ray almost fell. He lifted the boy and carried him out himself, and he didn't put him down until they reached the truck."Did they hurt you?""No," Eli said. "They just kept me in that room. I'm okay."Ray didn't believe it was that simple, but he let it go for now. The boy was alive and hat was enough for tonight.Back in Kansas, the whole camp came to the gate. Dani grabbed Eli first and wouldn't let go. Mia cried so hard she couldn't speak. Ray's mother stood at the clinic door with her hand over her mouth.Ray watched it all
Chapter 199 - Power of Silence
Ray did not wait for anyone's permission. He seized his gear before Jane could finish arguing that he was needed in New York, and that retreating now would jeopardize the gains they had just achieved."The offensive holds even without me standing here," Ray said, already on the move. "Kansas won't hold unless someone finds out what just happened to that team."His father fell into stride beside him without being asked. "Then I'm coming too."They arrived at the clinic district twenty minutes later, and the scene halted Ray in his tracks at the gate.Buildings scorched along one side, a supply cart overturned in the street, and not a single sound where there should have been shouting, radios, or something."Spread out," Jane ordered the fighters who had come with them. "Eyes open and no one goes anywhere alone."They found the first signs near the old grain depot: scorch marks along the walls and three bodies from the response team laid out in a row—not scattered the way casualties
Chapter 198 - Shepherd Plan
A feeling washed over them all. It wasn't specific but they all knew something was off. Jane walked through the halls of this facility, boots crunching on glass. Her rifle was raised as she passed empty containment vessels."Whatever they were storing in here has gone. They haven't destroyed them but they're gone," Corran said, touching the broken vessel.Jane didn't respond as she looked at the dry drag marks on the floor.They found a terminal at the back of the lab still working. It was flickering due to backup power but not too badly damaged. Corran got to work quickly so they could salvage as much data as possible before it shut down completely."There's no sign of Eli or anything big enough to contain a human cell," Jane said quietly.The Shepherd looked at the destruction a little longer."We should get out of here before they come back."******They arrived back in Kansas early in the morning. They were all very tired and didn't say much. When Ray greeted them at the gate,
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