The Dying of the Light (Book 1): End by Jason Kristopher Page B

summoned. The whole 1 st Team — except for the still-recovering Reynolds and his incarcerated assailant Ames — was ready and raring to go. Of course, there were those of us who thought we would be assigned our first mission, but given Commander Anderson’s un-stressed attitude, I thought that was unlikely, at best. I knew I’d be at least a little tense if I was sending people to maybe get killed. No, this is something else entirely.
     
    Maxwell walked in, and we all stood at attention, waiting until he reached the front of the room.
     
    “Take your seats.” There was a shuffling of feet as we sat at the tables, and he leaned forward on the podium a bit. “I have some good news, folks.”
     
    I glanced at Kim, who shrugged. Clearly, she didn’t have a clue either.
     
    “We’ve recorded no walker activity in the last five months, while you’ve all been in training. I don’t know whether this is due to the weather being unseasonably cold, or simply just our dumb luck, but at the moment, we have nothing for you folks to do but stay here and train.”
     
    He straightened and began pacing. “Now, I’m all for training until you can do this in your sleep, but we’ve got our orders.” Maxwell glanced at Anderson, who appeared grim and very unhappy at the announcement. “1 st Team is hereby moved to ‘inactive’ status until further notice.”
     
    I wasn’t the only one to respond with a hearty “Bullshit!” or similar. This makes no sense, no sense at all. We need to keep training.
     
    Maxwell waited until we calmed down, then continued. “I know, and I don’t like it any more than you do, but these are our orders. The commander and I will stay here to coordinate activities with the research group and the spec ops teams for any minor incursions that may happen. We’ll also be drawing up plans for other teams to start training, when and if we get those orders.”
     
    “Let me be clear, folks. I’m not letting this order stand, if I can help it. We all need more training, and more training after that. So don’t expect to be gone long.”
     
    “What happens now, sir?” asked Rachel. “Where do we go? Not all of us have lives outside of this base.”
     
    “I know that. I’ve been authorized to have our people make arrangements for you, wherever you’d like to live — provided you can be back here in 12 hours if the shit hits the fan. Make an appointment with Nancy, and she’ll get everything set up. I’d recommend you stick together as much as possible, but I can’t order you to.”
     
    He looked over at Anderson. “Anything you want to add, Frank?”
     
    The commander looked thoughtful for a moment. “Maintain operational security at all times. Keep an eye on the news. Keep your phones close. That’s it.”
     
    “Alright, 1 st Team, you have your orders. Dismissed!”
     
    “Alright, 1 st Team, you have your orders. Dismissed!”
     

Chapter Six
     
    Somewhere in Texas — 9 Months Later
     
    *ring*
     
    “Hello?”
     
    Cold, electronic tones. “Voice identification confirmed. Code AEGIS Five. Authenticate.” A short pause. “Authenticate!”
     
    The training took over. “Authentication Delta Tango Bravo. Active.”
     
    “Confirmation and activation accepted. Standby.”
     
    *click*
     
    My hand shook as I hung up. It had finally happened, and there was no going back now. All our careful preparations… would they be worth a damn, in what was to come? No time to worry about that now. If we were moving off inactive status, then the shit must have hit the fan somewhere.
     
    I dropped the phone into the pocket of my jeans and snagged my keys from the kitchen’s bar, moving at a fast walk down the hallway. Stopping briefly to retrieve a large duffel bag from the hall closet, I opened the door into the garage and took a quick last look around at what had been my home. I hit the garage door opener, and set down the duffel bag next to the covered motorcycle. Pulling the