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mission including setting roadblocks at Spit Junction where braindeads hit horde proportions. Choose your reward.’
    Vassar stood proud. He had a tall, rangy Aussie look more suited on a farm than the base. His copper-tinted hair and honest face reminded her of Sue’s three brothers. Strong, reliable countrymen with formidable strength and ability to wrangle cattle and fight bushfires. Guilt made her heart thud. They would all be safe if she’d listened to Sue whose salt-of-the-earth parents had offered all three women a home.
    Sue sat up straighter in her chair so that her boobs looked perky. She smiled right at Vassar.
    â€˜Sue,’ Ruth called, noticing her friend’s reaction. ‘Don’t you dare fall for this. This is not Perfect Match.’
    â€˜Perfect snatch more like it and I’m getting Vassar before you do,’ Sue said. ‘I saw you looking at him.’
    The men roared with laughter.
    Vassar grinned.
    â€˜You don’t even know him,’ Ruth said. What was wrong with Lea and Sue? Were her friends paying her back for getting them into this mess? The whole world had gone crazy and it was the kind of insanity that she couldn’t fight on her own.
    Sue looked from Vassar to Ruth, uncertainty setting a confused look on her face. ‘It’s true I don’t.’
    â€˜Sue. Listen to me. We have to stick together,’ Ruth said, her tone urgent. Sue had to see this whole reward thing was an appalling way to treat women. She and her friends were career women who’d worked hard to achieve their dreams. Sure the whole world had changed. She got that, but that didn’t give the captain the right to treat them like meat.
    â€˜Vassar, escort Ruth back to my private quarters and set a guard. I think she’s had enough for one night,’ the captain said.
    â€˜I am not spending a night in your company,’ Ruth protested.
    The captain’s face hardened. ‘You’ve been bitten. I’m quarantining you until I’m convinced it’s safe for my men to be near you.’
    A rumble of disapproval echoed around the Mess.
    Sue’s eyes widened and she jumped out of her seat and made straight for Ruth. ‘You were bitten? Just when were you planning to tell me? After you turned and attacked me?’
    â€˜Ruth claims the incident took place three days ago,’ the captain added. ‘She’s not quite out of her quarantine period.’
    Talk about divide and conquer. The captain had perfect manipulation skills. He knew just when to plunge in the knife and alienate Sue from her when they needed each other most. Ruth stood, preparing herself for Sue’s onslaught. ‘We were running out of water. I didn’t want to upset you. It didn’t break the skin.’
    Rage made Sue’s face flush and her hazel eyes glint. ‘Well this will.’ When she reached Ruth she raised her hand and slapped her face hard.
    Ruth staggered. Head ringing. Sue had never hit her. No one had ever hit her. Before she could come to her senses, two men took her by the arms and propelled her towards the door. Behind her she could hear Sue screaming, ‘I will never listen to you again. I will never trust you again. What kind of a friend are you?’
    The Mess became a roar of noise.
    Ruth wished the ground would open up and swallow her whole.

Chapter 4
    This was going to be ugly, Jack thought as he approached his house on Imperial Parade in the base where he’d ordered his men to take Ruth. Yet he’d never felt more alive. Totally buzzed. Ruth could no more get out of his fortified house, than the braindeads could get in. The metal, lock-down shutters on every window made it secure along with the grills he’d fitted to the doors. With extra weapons locked up inside and plenty of tinned food, he could hole up there for several months in an emergency if the braindeads broke down the fencing. His house was a perfect retreat.