Resurrection (Eden Book 3) Read Online Free Page A

that all was not well in Riley and Alex land. And Evan couldn’t say he was sorry to hear that.
    He breathed in the cool air, knowing it would warm up somewhat later in the day, knowing the days of the morning-air warming up would soon be gone. As he breathed it in, he was all too aware of the radiation he was probably inhaling and how this was affecting him, shortening his lifespan.
    He wore his camouflage skullie to keep his shaven head warm.
    “Come in, Zebra-Three. Over.”
    Evan was startled out of his reverie by the crackle of his radio. He blinked his eyes and raised the comm. mic to his face.
    “Zebra-Three here, Rodeo. Over.”
    “Hey, Evan.” It was Diego, stationed a klick down the wall from him. “Take a look at alpha-two-niner. You see movement out there? Over.”
    “Give me a second. Over.”
    Evan raised his Model 7 semi-automatic rifle to shoulder level and fixed his face to the cheek plate of the scope, scanning the terrain beyond the wall. He didn’t see anything unusual. Rolling hills…grasslands…scrub and trees in the distance. The usual.
    He was about to lower the rifle, let it rest on its sling from his shoulder and respond to Diego’s inquiry, when he saw it. Movement beyond the perimeter. Something was out there. In the Outlands.
    Two somethings.
    Evan squinted through the scope, but whatever it was disappeared behind a hill.
    He lowered the rifle and depressed the call button on his radio. “Yeah, I saw something. Looked like two hostiles. Over.”
    “Confirmed. I’m going to call this in. Over.”
    “Do it, Rodeo. I got my eye on them. Thanks for the heads up, over.”
    Evan lowered the radio, letting it rest on the wall, and raised the M7 again, peering into the Outlands through his scope.
    He searched for the hill and thought he found it, but didn’t see a thing until a head poked up over the peak, and then shoulders attached to the head, followed by a second head. Evan watched and waited as two figures came into view, starting down the hill. They were moving slowly, but they were headed for the wall, headed straight for his position.
    Zed . Evan had never fired on one live in the field. During training, yes. But he’d been pulling shifts on this wall for over a year now—not counting the time he spent here during his training—and he’d never seen Zed out here. Still, there was the better part of a continent out there, and probably millions of zombies left.
    In school you learned about the zombie wars, about the millions—some estimated billions—of Zed that were destroyed around the world. You did this from the relative safety of New Harmony, a society whose walls hadn’t been breached in years—a place where people died from cancer but not from zombies. You always knew the zombies were out there, doing whatever zombies did while they were out there. But you didn’t see them much anymore outside the controlled conditions of your Guard training or documentaries.
    To see one of them in the wild like this… Two , Evan corrected himself. There were two of them headed in his general direction. He suppressed a shiver, knowing it was natural, knowing also that he was safe. The wall kept him three meters off the ground. Zed couldn’t climb it. Zed would walk right up to the wall and start slapping, and a week later Zed would still be there pat-a-caking the concrete. Zed wasn’t so swift.
    Evan sighted through his scope and watched them come. He was sure half a dozen other sets of eyes within range—including Diego’s—were fixed on the strolling pair too. But courtesy dictated they’d allow him to fire the shots. It would have been rude and a breech of protocol for someone else to take them down. Evan would let Zed get within range, and then he’d hit them up. It would be a fitting finish to an otherwise uneventful five nights on the wall. Give him something to talk about tonight with Anthony and Troi, with Riley.
    Evan waited, eyeing the two things through the scope atop