After: Red Scare (AFTER post-apocalyptic series, Book 5) by Scott Nicholson

convenience?”
    “We have to start somewhere.” He was worried the surrounding Zapheads would revert to their violent ways and turn on him, but they wandered back and forth like they were lost.
    As if reading his thoughts, Willow said, “The others like me, the New People, are organizing the tribe. We’re the leaders. We’re learning from your kind, which is why we wanted Rachel. Since she was the first of you to become like us, she can help us understand.”
    “Understand what?”
    “Why you fear us so much. Why you want to destroy us.”
    DeVontay shook his head. “What did you expect us to do? We’re facing extinction.”
    “Would that really be so bad? You had your time. From what I have learned, your kind was already destroying itself. Climate change, pollution, warfare, genocide. And we haven’t even begun to deal with the multiple nuclear power plants that are melting down.”
    She had a point. Given the psychos banding into survivalist camps and Shipley’s fascist ambitions of ruling the world, DeVontay couldn’t make the case that humans offered a brighter future than the Zapheads. He just hated like hell to be caught in the middle.
    “We can fix all that later,” he said. “Right now, let’s get to Rachel.”
    “That way,” she said, pointing a tiny finger to an apartment complex a few hundred yards beyond the school. The buildings were in no immediate danger of fire, and the route looked as safe as any other. DeVontay still had a Plan B of slipping out of town under cover of darkness, but not until he’d done his best to rescue Rachel.
    If she even needs or wants to be rescued.
    “How far is it?” he asked.
    “Around the corner. A shop beside the gas station. Go down the stairs around back.”
    “Okay,” DeVontay said. “I’m going to cover your face with the blanket to filter out some of the smoke.”
    Willow nodded, the fiery sparks in her eyes quieting to a dull glow. Just before he pulled a fold of cloth over her, she said, “I trust you.”
    Great. Bad enough when other humans were counting on me. Now I’ve adopted a pain in the ass whose tribe wants to knock us off the top of the food chain.
    “Wait a second,” DeVontay said. “You won’t be able to tell me where to go if you can’t see.”
    “I don’t need to see,” Willow said, her words muffled. “I know .”
    DeVontay clutched the bundle to his chest and veered away from the school. The heat from the flames warmed his skin and hot air seared his lungs. A figure to his left sprinted through the open door of a house, and DeVontay was pretty sure it was a fellow survivor—the first living human he’d seen since arriving in Newton.
    Maybe she knows where the others are.
    He called after her but heard no response. A series of explosions ripped the outskirts half a mile away—grenade launchers, most likely. Franklin and Lt. Hilyard had told them about Shipley’s arsenal of death, and even a small Army unit could pack a big punch with them. Bullets could start flying at any moment, and DeVontay didn’t want to be out in the open when it started. Shipley’s crew wouldn’t care what they were aiming at. Any moving target was a good target.
    “There’s one of us,” DeVontay said to Willow.
    The hidden baby answered, “I’m not one of you, remember?”
    DeVontay was reminded how quickly he’d accepted the existence of a hyper-intelligent infant that couldn’t take care of itself. This was the future of the world. And he was burying the old one with every step.
    He ran toward the house after the woman.
    “Where are you going?” Willow called, the blanket rippling as she struggled to peel it away from her face. “Rachel is the other way.”
    “You’ve got your people and I’ve got mine,” DeVontay said.
    He entered the dark house. “Hello?” he called.
    “Get away,” a woman said. She sounded frightened, panicked, and likely on the edge of madness.
    DeVontay couldn’t make out her face, but she was