Page 71 of Desperate Omega

“What is that place?” I whisper.

“Don’t know,” Markus says. “Looks like some kind of fortress.”

He’s right. There’s a big wall running all the way around the compound, and along the top of the wall, I can see sunlight glinting off coils of steel wire hidden among the green leaves. I’ve seen that type of wire before during my many excursions through the Zone, so I know it’s covered in lots of tiny knives that will slice you open if you’re not careful. I’ve got scars on my fingers from my first encounter with the stuff.

Whatever this place used to be, it seems like the people who built it wanted to keep other people out.

Then again, walls can also be used to keep people in

“I think it used to be a prison,” I whisper.

“Shit,” says Brik. “I think you’re right.” After a pause, he adds: “Is that where Thorus is?”

I nod.

I can sense the older alpha’s presence emanating from somewhere near the very center of the structure. We’re going to have to go inside that place to save him.

It’s not going to be easy.

The knife-wire running along the top of that wall is the least of our worries. I can see figures moving around down there, some of them inside the wall, some outside. I know my two alpha mates can see them too.

Farlanders.

Even from a distance, their appearance is unmistakable. I can even smell them a little. There are at least twenty that I can see, and I’m willing to bet there are even more of them inside the building.

The ones outside the wall are patrolling the area, and they are armed, but not in the usual Farlander fashion. Their weapons are black and shiny, too short to be spears, too strangely shaped to be clubs. I’ve never actually seen that type of weapon before, but I know what they’re called—guns.

But guns are Outsider weapons. What the hell are these Farlanders doing with them?

I pose this question to my companions.

“They must be working with the Outsiders,” Markus says. “It’s happened before. About fifteen years ago, a bunch of Farlanders raided the Central Ruins armed with Outsider weapons. They even tried to destroy the Source.”

I remember that. I wasn’t there when it happened, but I certainly heard about it. The whole tribe was abuzz for a while.

The Outsiders can’t come into the Zone, or at least they can’t venture very far inside. Not without mutating, usually into betas. They have armor to protect themselves against the mutations, but it only works in the Farlands. Toward the center of the Zone, the power of the Source is stronger, and their armor becomes useless.

That’s why the Outsiders had to get the Farlanders to do their dirty work for them. They provided guns and other weapons, which the bloodthirsty Farlanders were more than happy to accept. In exchange, the demented Farlanders agreed to destroy the Source. If they’d succeeded, it would have been the end of the Zone as we know it.

Luckily, the plan was thwarted.

I wonder if these Farlanders are part of a similar plan. Have the Outsiders hired them to try to destroy the Source a second time? I probably ought to be concerned about that, but I’m not.

For now, all I care about is getting Thorus back.

But how?

I look at Markus, then at Brik, hoping one of them might have an idea of how to proceed, but they seem to be as much at a loss as I am. Neither one of them appears to be frightened by the Farlanders in the valley below, but their faces are tense with concern, and I can sense the rapid thinking taking place behind their eyes.

“What are we going to do?” I ask, my voice low.

For what feels like a very long time, nobody says anything. Then, finally, Brik answers.

“We’re going to get help.”

“Where?”

“The Central Ruins.”