Isolation by Jones, Nathan (the first e reader .TXT) 📗

bit confused here . . . I can see why you might have a problem with your leader trying to blow up a bunch of innocent people, and succeeding with several, then murdering one man and critically wounding another with a hunting rifle from hundreds of yards away. I can't say I blame you. The question is . . . why did you come here? Why not just ditch him and go home?”

The prisoners looked surprised. “One of them survived?” Liza blurted, sounding genuinely relieved. “Jay said he killed both.”

Starr didn't answer, just stared at her coldly while she squirmed.

Larry quickly filled the uncomfortable silence. “Neither of us wanted to be part of this fight. We kept on trying to convince Jay to come to his senses and let it go. But I won't deny that we stayed with him up until now, even helped him. But eventually it got to the point where Jay had dragged us so far over the line we couldn't even see it anymore, and we decided enough was enough and left.”

“Eventually,” Starr repeated with a derisive snort. “Just took a few acts of biological warfare and murder, along with mass arson and several bombings, to open your eyes, huh?”

Larry and Liza both lowered their heads in shame.

“Well better late than never, I guess,” the old veteran continued sourly. “But you still haven't answered why you came here. If your guilty conscience made you want to give us information that could help us stop Jay, you could've found a way to get it to us without putting yourselves in our hands. So why come? Why turn yourselves in?”

Larry took a deep breath. “You probably won't believe me, but I'm tired. I'd already lost everything, and then Jay dragged me into this awful fight with you and I went along with it, even when it got completely insane. So I came to turn myself in, submit to justice. I hope Stanberry will give me a fair trial.”

“So you're giving up, eh?” Starr turned to Liza. “And you?”

“The same for me.” She hesitated, glancing at her companion. “And I didn't want him to have to face this alone.”

Nick still had his suspicions about the pair, but she at least seemed sincere in her loyalty to her partner. He could admire that.

Larry obviously hadn't been expecting that from Liza either, judging by the deep emotion he tried to conceal as he turned back to Starr. “We can't go home. You all know Jay's lost it, and you haven't even been around him to actually see him go off the deep end. We were afraid that if we went back to Wensbrook he'd come after us.” He hesitated. “Or you would,” he admitted.

Liza nodded grimly. “We're some of Jay's closest friends, and we've been trying to convince him to cool his jets this entire time. But he just gets worse and worse, and nothing is going to make him stop unless he's stopped . . . you guys burning down our camps didn't even faze him, just made him want to come after you even more.”

Starr cursed under his breath. “Do you know when his next attack will be, what he's planning?”

“Nothing specific,” Larry said. He fell silent a few moments, looking as if he was giving the question careful thought, then continued. “He's lost just about everything we had in the camps, so he's going to need to gather more stuff. We had some stockpiles in Wensbrook, so he'll probably go for those. And since around ten people from our main group left with me he'll probably try to get his Zolos-vulnerable recruits to take part in his next attack. Going by everything so far, it'll probably be his biggest yet.”

He hesitated, looking reluctant, then continued in dire tones. “And next time I think he'll really try to kill as many people as he can.”

That wasn't what Nick wanted to hear, although it was hard to dispute considering what he'd seen so far.

Starr rubbed the bridge of his nose. “All right Mr. Barons, Ms. Coates. If you came here to help, let's start with everything you can tell us about Jay and your group.”

✽✽✽

Larry stared morosely through the chain-links of his cell, which he was pretty sure was a repurposed enclosure for livestock, looking around at the survivors' camp.

He shouldn't have been surprised that Starr and Statton and the others would toss him and Liza into jail, even after they'd given Stanberry as much information as they could think of. If it had been him he also wouldn't have trusted former enemies, even cooperative ones, until they'd had a chance to prove themselves.

He hoped he and Liza would get a chance to prove themselves.

But until then, here he was trapped with her in this open-air cage, with chain-link fence segments making up the four walls, ceiling, and even the floor. Apparently it had previously been used to hold a couple who'd infected a family with Zolos and gotten a bunch of people killed, although they'd escaped during one of Jay's attacks.

That offered the slight hope that he and Liza could escape too if they really needed to, although at the moment Statton had one of his people keeping a close eye on them at all times. Thankfully at least the hole dug for a crude latrine was surrounded by a tarp for privacy, although having to relieve themselves through the chain-link flooring was a messy and disgusting process.

Not exactly ideal circumstances for a prison. He just hoped it wouldn't be long term.

Sighing, he turned away from the chain-link wall in front of him and turned to check on Liza. She was huddled in one of the sleeping bags they'd been given, snoring softly. Which he could hardly blame her for, considering the sleepless night they'd just had.

She looked unexpectedly peaceful at the moment. Her face had been filled with so much tension for so long, a result of stress from Jay's insane war with Stanberry and the