Page 164 of After the Burn

Three massive white storage tanks rose near the rear of the property, rust bleeding down their sides. Smaller propane tanks lined one section behind additional fencing. Two delivery trucks sat beside a long maintenance garage, along with pickups, an old tanker, and several farm vehicles.

A squat brick office stood near the front gate. Behind it were two metal warehouses, trailers, and an equipment shed. Solar panels covered part of the garage roof.

A generator rumbled somewhere deeper inside.

Electricity.

Fuel.

Vehicles.

No wonder Gideon traded whatever they asked for.

I briefly wondered how many places like this existed in our world now.

Beck crouched beside me. “How many do you count?”

“Nine.”

“Eleven,” Lucas corrected me.

I looked toward him, and he pointed toward the shadow beside one warehouse.

Two men.

“Eleven,” I conceded.

“That’s visible, anyway,” Taryn said quietly.

Exactly. There was no way to determine their true numbers from out here.

I scanned the perimeter.

Two guards stood at the front gate, and one patrolled inside the fence. Another was positioned on a makeshift platform near the tanks.

Men moved between the buildings, and most of them were armed.

Then one crossed the yard carrying a steel toolbox that should’ve required both hands.

Enhanced.

Another jumped down from the bed of a truck with the controlled ease I’d learned to recognize.

Enhanced.

A third spun before a loose barrel behind him made enough noise for an ordinary person to react.

“Three enhanced,” I stared intently, looking for others.

“I see another,” Taryn murmured.

“Where?” Colson asked.

She pointed toward the office. “He heard that barrel and turned to look before anyone with normal hearing could.”

“Fuck.” Beck’s expression hardened.

None of us needed the reminder, but there it was anyway. We weren’t the only people the meteor had changed.