Zone Zero (Book 1 of 3)

Chapter 2

I am dressed and ready to receive my assignment at 6:30am sharp. I stand in line with others like me; UN officials daughters, boys and girls learning the ropes before they turn 18 and get drafted and ex-soldiers that have been injured too badly for any other tasks. We are the unofficial reject squad.

There are over 40 of us in this section of the zone and each day we are split into groups of 4 and go to our respective areas.

For three years now I have been in the Beta Group and for at least the last year of that we have been on street duty which pretty much means check in on the elderly and people with young children to see if they need anything. I find it really boring and slow so I always manage to find my way to the small library we have here before hand and manage to drag along a book with me. The way I see it is if we are all going to be eventually wiped out of the history books, I want to learn as much about our history as I possibly can and since we don't exactly have working schools anymore, it's up to me to obtain said knowledge.

"Beta Group you have a change of pace, you're on fence detail." The commander barks his orders at us and after a few moments of whispered delight we turn and make our way to the cars.

Even though there are only four of us in Beta Group we still need to take two cars with us as a precaution when on fence detail. Cars are to be parked no more than 10 meters away from nearest group member and are to be facing back inward to the city. In the event of a breach, we are to get to the closest car leaving the other one as a distraction and make our way back to the city whilst sounding the alarm to warn others of the intrusion.

At the edge of the city limits there is a silver plated chain link fence with constant guards stationed along the entire stretch. This fence wraps itself around the whole of Sector 1 formally known as Moscow, Russia.

This is where my brother and I live along with countless other people that are somehow tied in with the UN.

When the collapse of all of the zones came, the UN stationed themselves in Moscow with the remaining survivors forming other colonies, also known as sectors, which cover the vast majority of Russia.

We reach the fence fairly quickly as Steele, a military veteran and our group leader, flashes the guards at the gate his paperwork stating what our orders are and we pass through without words.

Somehow I always get stuck with Steele, our mute leader. I think it's my uncle's doing and the only reason Steele is in Beta Group is to watch over me like a hawk and report anything I do wrong back to him. So I choose my words carefully in front of him knowing full well that dear Uncle James will tear me a new one if I do anything wrong in Steele's book.

Steele was injured during a raid in one of the other smaller colonies that we call Sector 3 and now he has to wear a leg brace. My brother Declyn told me once that when they found Steele his leg was almost completely tore off but he managed to crawl back to safety on his belly to be found two hours later. Somehow he managed to keep conscious and make a tourniquet out of his belt which saved his life. Any longer and he would have been dead for sure.

There are a lot of people within the walls of Zone Two that have nothing but utmost respect and admiration for Steele, but since his ordeal he has chosen to barely say a word about what truly happened to him. It's unnerving to be in such close proximity with someone and have them not breathe a word to you.

Steele drives us the 3km to the wall in complete silence as per usual. I don't think that he likes me very much because he very rarely says anything when we are alone. Sometimes I think that he is just sizing me up to see if I will be a challenge for him but even though I am headstrong and speak my mind, I am also one to follow the rules. I know that those rules will keep me alive so I choose to abide by them just like everyone else.