Free Earth Zero: A Post-Apocalyptic Thriller (Next Book 2) by Scott Nicholson Page A

Division might buy them a brief reprieve, but any strength in numbers would be more than offset by the extra attention they would draw from those that wished them dead.
    If you stay here, would HQ ever even know? They’ll just assume you’ve been wiped out. Hell, they expect you to be wiped out.
    He didn’t like his line of thought. He forced his mind to the problems at hand. If the others found out about Colleen’s sabotage, he’d have to kill her to maintain discipline. But what if the radio was merely malfunctioning instead of sabotaged?
    Lt. Randall was the only one who knew the radio was operational. Antonelli could make up a story about how it shut down and Antonelli tried to fix it, but now the destruction was clearly evident. He could also just pretend he’d received orders, but subsequent field communications might blow his story wide open.
    You could also just tell Randall what you’re doing. Give Randall the option of staying at the bunker with them or taking the rest of the unit to their rendezvous in Asheville.
    Antonelli realized he’d already made his decision. He sank heavily into the chair, looming over Colleen, who sat on the floor with her back against the wall.
    “So, are you going to kill me?” she asked in a low, calm voice.
    “Of course not,” he said with a sigh. “I’m going to kill the baby.”
    Colleen’s shoulders unclenched in relief. “Why do you need to kill her?”
    “She can’t be here if we’re staying.”
    “HQ told you to hold her as a prisoner.”
    “So what? I’ve already mutinied. What are they going to do, send one of our last helicopters to hunt me down?”
    “She’s just a baby.”
    “She’s just a Zap. Don’t go all soft on me. They’ve killed your brother, your friends, your comrades. They took your world away. And they’ll kill you as soon as they get the chance.”
    “What about the others?”
    Mark gave a doubtful shake of his head. “They can go or they can stay. After that bird attack, I’m guessing they’d be happy to hole up here for a while. But I’m not making that decision for them. Not anymore.”
    Colleen tried to hide the pleasure of victory, but it was bright in her eyes. “You’re still the captain. They’ll follow wherever you lead.”
    “I can’t call myself an officer anymore.” He tugged at the captain’s bars on his lapel pin, the only insignia he wore. “I’m just a man now.”
    Colleen cupped her palm over his knee. “That’s all you need to be.”
    “We’ll have to deal with Franklin and the boy. If they make it back.”
    “And the two others they went out to find. And the girl, Marina. We’ll be responsible for her now.”
    “We’ll make it work. The thing is, now we have a fighting chance.”
    “A chance for us,” Antonelli said. “But we’re screwing it for everybody else.”
    “They’re already screwed, Mark. Take it all the way down the line. You’ve seen New Pentagon. What, six hundred people trying to take probably thirty thousand Zaps? And that’s just here in the Southern Atlantic region. Multiply that out by the whole country—or worse, the whole world—and you see we never had a chance.”
    “But we’re not alone. Look what happened right here in the bunker. Five civilians living with a Zap, and they had it together enough to save us when the shit hit the fan. They’re dealing with this better than New Pentagon is. If there are more people like these left, maybe we can win this one day. Not by fighting, but by surviving.”
    “Right,” Colleen said. “We’re not quitting, we’re just regrouping.”
    She was trying to salvage some of his pride, but Antonelli didn’t need it. He was thinking about how to kill the baby. He supposed a single shot to the temple would do it. That would be another lie he could sell to the troops—that HQ had given him the order.
    Not that anyone would question him. Somebody needed to pay for the slaughter of their comrades.
    He glanced at the monitors,