The Dead Zone (Book One)

Chapter 14

 Paige had been circling the boxed in city for over three days now, with no sign of Bryson or Zach. It surprised her that only a minimal amount of their guards patrolled the woods; instead, the majority sat atop the wall, among the large spikes that had been carved from what appeared to be sharpened tree trunks. 

 To put things lightly, the wall was freaking huge. And ominous. And effective. She'd never be able to help Zach this way. She huffed, sitting on the cool earth, at a loss for what else to do. She'd already tried climbing the trees to see over the wall, but it was useless. In order to see over the wall, she'd need to climb the closer trees, but then she'd risk being seen by the guards. The branches were much thinner the higher she climbed, and she'd be very visible to anyone on that wall, exposed and vulnerable. And believe it or not, these didn't seem like the type to be too friendly with peeping toms or unwelcome visitors. 

 She had, however, been able to glimpse some of the layout of the city, though. It was traditionally built, with a 'town square' circled by what appeared to be several public buildings. Most of the residential buildings were built around the town square, a few dozen houses. This town was extremely small, making it very easy to defend.

 Every morning at dawn, the prisoners were brought out- she'd counted thirty so far, but there could be more that she'd missed. From what she could tell, they were building a humongous trench around the entire city. Many cut down trees, and some were repairing the wall, or maybe they were reinforcing it, she wasn't really sure. Because every time they came out of the giant gates, she was forced to retreat deeper into the woods to keep from being spotted by one of the guards.

 She decided to head back to her hiding spot, a large foxhole she'd found buried at the base of a tree. It was deep enough for her to fit in, and cover herself with twigs and leaves so she could sleep undisturbed, albeit a few insects and small animals that decided to check her out in the middle of the night. She was tracing her path back to her shelter when something dark dropped from the sky- something huge, falling from the tree, landing with barely a rustle in front of her.

  Her first thought was that it was a bear; did Idaho have bears? Her hand twitched toward her handgun before the figure rose to it's full height, and she found herself face to face with a set of very disapproving blue eyes. 

 Bryson! 

 She nearly fainted from relief as she threw her arms around him. He didn't respond at first, but slowly, his arms encircled her, pulling her closer to his strong chest. He smelled of dirt and sap and nature, and she found that she loved it, because she loved him. He could smell like a pile of poo and she'd still want to be near him.

 "I thought I told you to wait for me."

 "I thought you'd know me well enough by now to know I wouldn't listen to you." 

 A faint smile curved his lips, but he still managed to look stern, almost fatherly. "That's what I was afraid of."

 "Have you found anything out? About what's going on behind those walls? Is Zach okay?"

 "Come up, I'll show you."

 They both climbed as high as they dared, and once getting settled, Bryson handed his rifle to her. 

 "Um... what do I need this for?"

 "Look through the scope. Use it as a magnifying glass."

 She brought the rifle up to her eye, surprised at how far the rifle's view was. "Wow, that's genius." He chuckled lightly, but it was just to fill the silence. Nothing about this situation was funny.

 "Do you see City Hall? And the bank?" Yes, she did. She gave him a nod of confirmation. There were several other buildings around the town square as well.

 "Now look to the right of city hall, you'll see a large building with peeling blue paint and glass doors on the corner. That's the mess hall."

 "Mess hall?"

 "It's where they gather to eat their meals."

 "Ah, I see." So now they knew the layout of the city, but nothing else. Great. For a second she'd thought he'd made some leeway, maybe even had a plan established.

 "That's their weak link." He says matter of factly, interrupting her thoughts. "Over the last week, I've never once seen them bring food into that building, but I've seen them bring it out, when their feeding the... prisoners." 

 She could tell it was hard for him to get that last word out. He was speaking about his brother, after all. A prisoner. A slave. 

 "Okay... so we know where they eat their meals?" She didn't really know how this was their weakest link, or the flaw that led to their ultimate downfall or anything like that.

 "Yes. Do you see the importance of what I'm telling you?" He was looking at her with one brow raised, obviously waiting for her to catch on, when he was the one not making any freaking sense.

 "Mind explaining to me?" 

 "They keep all of their food supplies in one building. What do you suppose would happen if something bad happened to said building?"

 Paige almost smacked her palm on her head, it was so obvious when he'd put it that way. 

 "They'd be cut off from their food supplies. They'd have to get more somehow."

  "That's true. Or we could use the building as our distraction method while we break in and get my brother." He'd put a lot of thought into all of this. 

 "What about all of the other prisoners? I saw a few trying to escape earlier." They hadn't gotten very far, although she'd been rooting for them from the sidelines. Concern for all those people down there was gnawing on her from the inside out. "They need help. It's just not right to leave them like this."

 Bryson turned his blue eyes to her, looking pained. "Nothing about this is right, Paige! But we can't save everyone. It's me and you against all of them. This mission needs to be about stealth. We have to save our guy before we can even consider thinking about anyone else."

...Could she live with herself if they didn't help those people? Probably not, but what choice did she really have? Two of them against all those guards. Bryson was right, of course, and oh how she hated it; because where his unyielding logic shone through, she let her emotions get in her way. Her heart hurt more and more for those poor people. If only she could stop feeling, this decision would be a whole lot easier to make.

 "You're right." Her words were barely more than a whisper, her throat burning with unshed tears. "Zach has to be our number one priority."

 He relaxed a bit, but the pain in his eyes was still there as he brushed a dark strand of hair out of her face, his hand lingering on her cheek a few seconds longer than necessary. 

 "So. Tell me how we're going to destroy that building."