The armor opened, the panels spreading apart with a mechanical whir that was intimately familiar and strangely foreign after all these months away.
Beck stepped out of the suit, because of course she did.
“Hey,” she said, giving Eshton a little wave.
In a blink, he found himself right in front of her. And kissing her. Which was not at all what he expected. Apparently she was also caught by surprise.
She pushed him back and punched him in the face.
“What the fuck, man?” Beck said as he bent over clutching his nose. “I mean, well done and all, but you don’t get to abandon me then come at me full on like that.”
He waved a hand in what he hoped was surrender. From the corner of his eye, several locals could be seen biting back laughter.
“Sorry, don’t know what came over me,” Eshton said as he stood straight. Man, the nose was really bleeding.
Beck fixed him with a glare, but moved on after a few seconds. “We’ll talk about that later. I’m here to help, if you all want it.” She gave a signal to the other Watchmen, who now stood in a wide semicircle at the base of the cliff. Their armor began to split open as well.
Parker Novak stepped out of one suit, Remy out of another. Both looked slightly concerned at Eshton’s state.
“We don’t need your charity,” said a voice from the crowd.
Beck grinned. “Rossi! I almost missed you while I was away. No idea why. I’m not here to talk to you, though. I’m here to talk to everyone. This is something you’ll all have to decide on.”
Andres stepped from the gathering, thick arms crossed over his chest. “Is this the Protectorate finally moving against us?” There was genuine suspicion in his voice. And unless Eshton was wrong, real hurt as well.
Beck shook her head. “No. Just the opposite. You can think of it as us moving toward you, if you like.” She pointed at the bags that had been draped across her armor. “We’ve brought medicine, stuff you guys can’t make out here. Other supplies. Tools, components, that pallet over there has another fabricator on it plus parts for a new generator. Oh, and a bunch of Bricks and charging hubs for them. On top of that, Parker and Remy over there are going to show you something that’ll change your world out here. Everyone’s world, really, but it starts with you.”
“What’s it going to cost?” Eshton asked, surprising himself. He could smell Bowers in this, and that man never did anything without requiring a balance paid.
“Nothing,” Beck said. “There have been some serious changes in the Protectorate the last few weeks. The Protector is deposed. We don’t have a new one yet. The High Commander is dead at his hand, or close enough.”
The words lanced through Eshton like knives. Bowers was gone? A thousand questions rose up in him. Beck gave him no space to ask them.
“Policy is changing,” Beck said. “The Protectorate has to do things differently. We’ve been stuck for too long, gotten too set in our ways. It’s been decided that in the face of what’s to come, healing the divide between our citizens and Remnants is the best way forward. The world is about to get a whole lot bigger. We’ve got to coexist in it.”
Eshton saw the grin forming on Parker’s face, and he knew what was coming. Knew it in his bones.
Beck swept the gathered Remnants with her gaze. “I won’t lie to you. Keene—that’s the former Protector—has an army at his command and a grudge against us. We’re going to be dealing with a lot. I don’t think it will spill over on you here, but you need to know the Watch might not be able to protect you so well in the near future.”
Rossi laughed derisively. “Oh, please. We take care of ourselves.”
“You do,” Beck agreed. “But we keep the number of Pales up top low. They don’t come to the edge of the cliff so much because they’re drawn to Brighton and we clean ’em out. With the threat Keene poses, it’s possible the local Watch will need to be elsewhere in a hurry.”
Eshton found himself smiling like an idiot. He knew it.
Parker raised his hands for quiet. “Cure is a strong word. It’s technically possible the genetic alterations in the Pales might be undone, but testing is inconsistent. What I can say is most Pales will start to weaken once they’re exposed, and a lot of them will die within a few hours. It’s a weapon you can use to keep your people safe with no risk to you.”
Andres cocked his head. “What’s the catch? Maybe no cost, but this can’t just be from the goodness of your heart.”
Eshton knew he meant the Protectorate as a whole, but saw the way Beck tightened up.
“The gear and the cure, that’s yours no matter what,” she said. “They’re a goodwill gesture. With the cure in hand, we’ll all be able to spread farther. That means my people and yours will bump against each other. We want to open up a dialog. Diplomatic talks, if you want to think of it that way. My job here is to make sure you know that there’s plenty of space for all of us. That we can coexist.”
That set people to talking, much of it angry. Not all, however. There were a few thoughtful faces discussing the possibility with real if muted excitement.
“For now, go through here and tell us what you need more of, and we’ll try to provide it,” Beck said. “Talk among yourselves. We’ll be here for as long as you’ll have us.”
She stepped away from the fracturing crowd, slipping between clusters of people to end up in front of Eshton again. He held his nose between pinched fingers, face still burning.
“We definitely will talk later,” she said, a twinkle in her eye. “But for now, I’m afraid I can’t let you retire to the country. We need every good Watchman we can get our hands on. You have to come home.”
There was something new in her voice, her mannerisms. A control and caution different from the forced version she had always needed to use before. This looked more like maturity setting in. The hard kind only learned through blood and tears. Though she spoke no command, there was no room for argument in her tone.
“I’ll help however I can,” Eshton said. “However you need me. What’s the mission?”
Beck looked off in the distance, through the spray of the river and across the green of the valley. “We’re going to save the world if we can. Then I’d like to try living in it.”
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Also by Joshua Guess
The Fall (Completed Series)
Victim Zero
Dead Will Rise
War of the Living
Exodus in Black
Revelation Day
Beyond The Fall
Relentless Sons
The Faded Earth
Deathwatch
Song of the Badlands
The Ghost Fleet
Cascade Point
Borderlander
Carter Ash
The Saint
The Next Chronicle
Next
Damage
Cassidy Freeman
Chosen
Living With the Dead
With Spring Comes The Fall
The Bitter Seasons
Year One (With Spring Comes The Fall, The Bitter Seasons, bonus material)
The Wild Country
This New Disease
American Recovery
Ever After
Black Sand
Earthfall
Ran
Apocalyptica
This Broken Veil
Misc
Beautiful (An Urban Fantasy)(Novel)
Sold
ier Lost (Short Story)
Dog Dreams In Color (Short Story)
With James Cook
The Passenger (Surviving The Dead)