Read The Hunger (Book 3): Ravaged for Free Online

coast? Well, they’re almost here.”
    “In fact, they appear to be headed straight for us,” Eifort said. “The Wildman said they’re slowly working their way up 70 from Baltimore right now.”
    Lance pressed his palms against his temples, cursing. “These are the guys who blew up half of Annapolis, right?”
    A week ago, the crazy man on the radio had talked about a series of devastating detonations in Annapolis, Maryland. A lot of survivors had drifted there because of the docks, using the water and boats to stay safe.
    There weren’t many anymore.
    The Army, or whatever these men were calling themselves, had rolled in, shooting up the Vladdie nests. Not long after that, they’d apparently decided that the city was beyond saving and blew it to hell.
    How many innocent lives had been lost? They’d killed a lot of the infected, but at what cost? There weren’t many humans left—they couldn’t afford to lose any more.
    No one was really sure what had happened. The reports coming in were all over the map. Some said that the army had slaughtered innocents. Others said that the military force had sustained heavy losses and had to blow up the city just to survive.
    “Correct.” Brown stared at the map. “And they’re coming here.”
    “How do you know?” Lance asked. “Maybe they’re heading to Pittsburgh.”
    “It seems they’ve expressed their intent to the Wildman during radio conversations. He said that they claim to have access to working satellites and other forms of communication.”
    “So, what do they want with us? We’re safe here—we don’t need them blowing us up in order to give us some form of fucked-up help.”
    Nathaniel grunted. “Even at the end of the world, the government shows up to kick you in the teeth.”
    Eifort put her hands on the table and leaned over it. “This isn’t the Army of old. We lost contact with almost everyone when we were at Heinz field. Whatever these guys are, they’re operating outside of the old ways. The chain of command was broken long ago. Whoever is running them is just making it up as they go.”
    “Maybe they aren’t as bad as we’re thinking,” Cass said. “We’re assuming that they’re up to no good, but that might not be the case.”
    “They blew up Annapolis,” Lance said.
    “Yes, but we don’t know why.”
    Brown said, “I think it would be prudent of us to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. Nate, can your men take them on, if necessary?”
    “No.”
    “Well, you said that rather quickly.” Brown smirked. “Why do you say that?”
    “They have at least two tanks and a helicopter.” Nathaniel held his hands out in a give-me-a-break gesture. “We would be nothing more than monkeys throwing rocks.”
    Eifort shook her head. “We have an entire stash of RPGs and mortars from Ralph. We could put up a hell of a fight.”
    “At what cost? Are yinz willing to lose three quarters of the people here?” Nathaniel frowned. “We aren’t going to charge head first into a buncha bullets.”
    Brown turned to Eifort. “You think we could repel them?”
    “Probably, but Nathaniel is right. We would lose a lot of people. The helicopter would be the worst. If we surprised the tanks, we might be able to destroy their tracks with the RPGs, but the helicopter is a whole other problem. Besides, we don’t even know how many men they have. If they’re two hundred strong, it’s game, set, and match.”
    Cass puffed her cheeks out with a breath. “And if we attack them first, they’re going to be pissed.”
    They sat in silence for a few moments, each staring at the maps.
    “Yinz best bet is to arm everyone here and wait. See what they have to say. If they get hostile, then at least everyone has a fighting chance. Maybe they just want a roof over their heads for a few days.” Nathaniel stood. “I best be going, Doc. You mind if I bring the kid around later this week? Assuming there aren’t bullets zipping around,