Read The Fall (Book 2): Dead Will Rise for Free Online

group rushed to make lunch for everyone.
    Kell's own people had planned to eat prepared meals, mostly granola and water. In a fight, he noted with amusement, the unit would be far beyond their counterparts, but when it came to whipping up a meal they had his own people beat by a wide margin.
    “You know,” he said to Kate as they watched the meal coalesce before them, “that's pretty impressive.”
    She raised an eyebrow. “You're kidding, right? They're just throwing together lunch.”
    “No. They're putting together a meal large enough to feed our people, theirs, and the escort. And they're remarkably organized and efficient about it. They know where each item they need is located, how much of everything they'll need. No one is tripping over anyone else to get their job done. It's not combat, but they're actually pretty good at functioning in a crunch.”
    Kate's face twisted into a doubtful smirk, but whatever she might have been about to say was cut off by a knock at her window.
    A girl—a woman, really, but Kell figured eighteen was pushing it—stood waiting there, a covered plate in hand. Kate glanced at him suspiciously, but Kell's smile was restrained. She rolled the window down.
    “Would you guys like some barbeque? I have a couple sandwiches here.”
    The girl, who was pretty in a girl-next-door sort of way with mousy brown hair and dark blue eyes, might as well have been an angel, judging by Kate's reaction.
    “Are you serious?” Kate asked. “How—you know, I don't even care how. Yes, please. It's been years.”
    The girl handed the plate over with a sunny smile and darted off to join her companions. Kell let his grin show as he watched Kate tear the foil from the plate to reveal two heavy, steaming portions of heart attack waiting to happen.
    Kell accepted his with grace, still smiling.
    “Shut up,” Kate said.
     
    “Blown tire!”
    Kell heard the voice ahead bellow the bad news and held up a hand, signing a general halt. The migration slowed and stopped, which wasn’t a difficult task given the slow crawl the vehicles were forced into.
    Many hours past lunch and far beyond the range the escort scouts had searched, the last ten miles were exactly the kind of nightmare the group was hoping to avoid. Blown-down trees, broken glass and debris from cars and spilled cargo. A minefield of sharp objects and obstacles capable of stopping them dead.
    Now they were.
    “Dan,” Kell said loudly as he moved toward the vehicle ahead, which tilted down slightly on one corner.
    “I'm here,” the older man huffed as he jogged to Kell's side. “What's up, boss?”
    The two of them stood a few feet away from the shredded tire as a small group of migrants stood nearby, shaking their heads and trying to figure out how to fix the problem.
    “What's the problem, fellas?” Dan asked, stepping forward.
    As the other man engaged the migrants, Kell got a good look at the damaged tire and understood the problem. There was a pit in the ground, a pothole with a piece of fabric jutting out over the lip. It was a trick Kell himself had fallen for, a covered trap filled with spikes to ruin a wheel. Except this entire stretch of road had been inspected for such things only days before.
    This was new.
    Kell spun, quickly striding back to the RV to speak with Laura, who was the current driver.
    “That truck hit a marauder trap. Send Scotty ahead to check the road. They'll need to push that thing out of the hole before they can jack it up and replace that wheel. Have a team of three go forward and clear the road as fast as they can. Get everyone else inside vehicles.”
    Kate jogged up, and Kell filled her in.
    “Damn it,” she said. “Bad enough we've had to idle along and walk in front to watch for debris, now we have to wait for a repair, too? How did they miss the trap?”
    Kell shook his head. “Easy mistake if you're looking for obvious, natural stuff. You don't think to look under every scrap of fabric when you're