Page 198 of After the Burn

A rifle cracked from yards away and the shooter’s head snapped sideways.

Another rifle fired, and two more of Caesar’s men fell.

“Who in the hell is helping us? The U.S. military?” I watched three more men, and several rotters drop almost simultaneously.

Beck laughed as he stabbed a rotter in the temple. “You’re not that far off.”

Figures moved through the smoke near the broken fence, armed to the teeth.

One stepped ahead of the others.

Gray threaded his hair, and he braced a rifle against his shoulder. His eyes were identical to mine.

My knife slipped from my finger, and the world around me disappeared. “Dad?”

Ben looked at me with relief, then his eyes quickly darted past me. “Taryn!”

I spun around, and in that instant, a rotter lunged. With a deafening shot from Ben, the creature's head detonated, showering my men, who had converged on it, with a gruesome mix of blood and brains.

“Thanks, Dad.” Beck was smiling like a lunatic.

“Don’t fucking call me that, boy.” He lowered his rifle slightly. “Pick up your weapon, Taryn.”

A laugh tore out of me as I grabbed my knife.

“Now let’s finish these fucks.” Ben nodded at me in approval.

His people surged through the fence. Men and women, holding rifles and bows. Much more disciplined than the trash Caesar had working for him.

They hit what remained of the compound from behind, and the balance of the fight shifted immediately in our favor. Rotters dropped, and Caesar’s men fell. Those who tried to run found armed strangers waiting beyond the fence.

Adrian subdued an enhanced man while Lucas forced another to his knees and slit his throat. Beck appeared from the smoke, bloodied and still smiling as if violence were his preferred language.

Colson loomed over Gideon, or what remained of him, with Wren beside him, both soaked in blood.

“Oh my god… is that Dad?” Wren kept her gaze on Ben, adoration in her eyes.

Under any other circumstances, I would’ve laughed.

Slowly, the noise thinned. The last rotter near the collapsed fence fell beneath someone’s axe. All that remained was the sound of heavy breathing and distant crying.

I looked toward the warehouse where the women were and saw the door ajar. A woman’s face appeared, then another. They didn’t come out, and I understood. They had no way to know whether these new men were any better than the old.

Beck reached me first. His hands went to my face, checking the bruises even though the fighting had barely stopped. “You good?”

“Yeah.” I pulled my arm back and punched him in the stomach.

His breath huffed out as he bent over. “What in the hell was that for?”

Lucas came up beside him, limping but upright, and Adrian wasn’t far behind.

Adrian smirked, watching Beck struggle for air, “We didn’t have time to tell you.”

“You had a couple seconds to spare while Gideon was going on and on.” I narrowed my eyes.

Lucas took me into his arms. “Don’t be mad, Menace. We didn’t want to ruin Ben’s grand entrance.”

I wasn’t really mad. All three of my men were alive, and so was my dad.