DAY ZERO

Joseph

Kai spotted it first.

A building set back from the road, surrounded by a wall with a gate at the front. It looked normal enough from the outside. A few lights on inside. No obvious signs of blinkers.

"There," he said.

David slowed down and pulled off the road, parking behind a cluster of overgrown shrubs where the jeep wouldn't be visible from the gate. He hit the camouflage mode and the exterior panels shifted to match the surrounding colours.

They all got out and looked at the building over the shrubs.

"So what's the plan," Tobey said.

"We go in as ourselves," David said. "No weapons. We act like we need help, we look around, we find Elena and we get her out."

"And if she's not there?"

"Then she's not there and we leave."

"Just like that."

"Just like that."

Tobey didn't look convinced but he didn't argue.

"I drew something," Kai said.

He pulled a folded piece of paper from his jacket. He opened it and held it out. It was a sketch, pencil, detailed enough to be useful. Elena's face based on what Derek and Tanisha had described, with notes beside it. Eye colour, height, a small scar on her left chin that Tanisha had mentioned.

Tobey looked at it then looked at Kai. "When did you do this?"

"In the car."

"I didn't even see you—"

"You were talking."

"I talk that much?"

Nobody answered him.

They studied the sketch for a moment. Then they folded it away and walked toward the gate.

David knocked.

A small panel slid open at eye level. A pair of eyes looked out at them, moving across all four of them slowly.

"What do you want." Not a question. Just words said in a flat unfriendly way.

"Shelter," Tobey said. "We've been on the road for days. We can work for it, cook, whatever you need."

The eyes moved across them again.

Then the panel slid shut and there was the sound of bolts being pulled back and the gate opened.

The man on the other side was tall. Broad. Bald head, tattoo on his neck, a scar sitting above his right eyebrow. He looked at them the way people look at things they're considering buying.

"I can use people like you," he said. "Come in."

His name was Joseph. He told them that while walking them through the entrance, like it was a fact worth establishing early.

The inside was large. Open space divided into sections, high walls, makeshift structures built along the perimeter. It had the shape of a prison without the bars. People moved around doing things, heads down, not making eye contact with Joseph or the men walking with him.

David counted the men as he walked. Seven visible. More probably inside.

No children anywhere he could see.

"What made you pick this place?" Joseph asked. He was walking slightly ahead, not really looking at them.

"We saw signs someone was here," Kai said. "Lights."

"You didn't go looking for the government bunker?"

"What government bunker?" David said.

Joseph stopped walking and turned around. He looked at David for a moment.

"You really don't know," he said.

"We've been on the road."

"It's been on every channel that still works." He studied David's face. "There are government bunkers set up across the country. Safe zones. Fully stocked." He paused. "People have been trying to get to them since the first week."

David kept his face neutral. He filed that away.

"Anyway," Joseph said. He looked at all four of them. "You're not going anywhere now. So it doesn't matter."

"Sorry?" Tobey said.

Joseph didn't repeat himself. He nodded at someone behind them and David heard footsteps.

He looked at Lia beside him. She was standing still, not moving, but he could feel it coming off her.

"You've got a pretty girl with you," Joseph said. He was looking at Lia when he said it. "I've got one of my own somewhere. Could use another."

He moved toward her.

David stepped forward and grabbed Lia's arm and pulled her back. Joseph's hand closed around her other arm and for a second it was a straight pull, David on one side, Joseph on the other, and Lia caught between them.

Then two of Joseph's men grabbed David from behind.

He didn't let go.

One of them hit him across the shoulders with something hard. He stayed on his feet and kept his grip.

"Let go," the man said. "Let go you stubborn bastard."

He hit David again. The pain spread across his back and up into his neck and he gripped tighter.

"David." Tobey's voice. "David let go."

He looked at Lia.

She was looking back at him. Her jaw was set. She glanced down at his hands, at the white of his knuckles, then back up at his face.

She shook her head slightly.

Just once.

He held on another second. Then he let go.

Joseph pulled her back and two of his men stepped between them. Lia went with Joseph without fighting. She looked back at David once as she was walked away and then she faced forward and didn't look back again.

David stood there. His back was on fire. He watched until she went through a door on the far side of the compound and it closed behind her.

They were taken across the compound to where a group of teenage boys were working. Moving crates, preparing food, hauling things from one side to the other. A few of Joseph's men stood at the edges watching. One of them pushed David's group through the door.

"You work," he said. "You eat. Simple."

David looked at the boys. Some of them glanced up briefly then looked back down. A few of them looked like they'd been here a while.

He started working.

He moved crates, stacked things, watched the layout of the compound while he did it. Where the doors were. Which guards rotated and which ones stayed in place. He kept his head down and paid attention to everything.

Tobey was beside him after a while, carrying boxes.

"I can't find Elena," he said quietly. "None of these kids are girls."

"She might be where they took Lia," Kai said from his other side.

Tobey thought about that. "Makes sense." He shifted the box in his arms. "I hope she's alright. Lia. I swear if anything happens to her I won't be able to—"

The hit came from behind. Hard, across the back of Tobey's head. He stumbled forward and dropped the box and grabbed the back of his head with both hands.

"Shut up and work," the goon said. "I won't say it again."

Tobey straightened up slowly. He wasn't making noise but his eyes were wet and he was breathing carefully, the way people breathe when they're trying to keep something in.

David turned toward the man.

Kai grabbed his arm.

David looked at him.

Kai shook his head. Once.

David turned back. He picked up the box Tobey had dropped. He put it in Tobey's arms and picked up another one for himself.

"You good?" he said quietly.

"Yeah," Tobey said. He wasn't, but he said yeah.

They kept working.

David kept his eyes forward. In his head he was marking the goon's face. The way he stood. The side he favored.

When we get out, he thought.

And they would get out.

He was sure of that.