The Fall (Book 4): Genesis Game by Joshua Guess Page B

from time to time.”
    Victor waved a hand at their surroundings. “My town wasn't far from here, and by sheer coincidence it sat in the middle of a triangle formed by three other towns, each with their own zoos. When things got too stressful, I'd take my girlfriend and her kid to one of them. For a while I was able to forget. That's why I picked a zoo.”
     

Eleven
     
     
     
    Trenton reminded Kell of something, but it took nearly two hours of walking around the place to put his finger on it.
    “It's a little like the Shire,” he said when it finally came to him.
    “The what?” Lee asked.
    “You're right,” Emily said, chuckling. “All the hills, the openings in the ground, it's sort of like Hobbiton.”
    “Ooooh,” Lee said, nodding his head. “Yeah, I can see that.”
    The comparison was weirdly accurate. Beyond the loose similarities Emily stated, there were others. Food grew everywhere, for one, and the place had the sort of isolated English town vibe Tolkien had tried so hard to get across. The zoo had doubled as a botanical garden, so a wide variety of trees and other flora could be found in clusters at every turn. It gave the place a surreal quality, a small chunk of serenity in an otherwise rugged and dangerous world.
    It was certainly a hell of a lot nicer than the death trap they'd stayed at the night before.
    The people of Trenton served as a sharp break where the pleasant fantasy diverged from reality. They weren't rude or even impolite, but neither did they offer any sort of help or greetings. It made a lot of sense, when Kell spent a few minutes thinking about it. Living in relative isolation and relying on physical barriers to keep out threats meant anything from the outside was suspect. The bone-deep bonds forged by trusting your neighbor to have your back in a fight just didn't exist here.
    A part of him felt distrustful—even a little angry—that these people had it so easy for so long, but Kell didn't hold onto the feeling. It was a stupid way to live your life, holding onto resentment because someone else was lucky enough to avoid the blood and death you had to fight through. Hadn't he isolated himself early in The Fall for that same reason?
    Kell spotted a few kids playing as they moved about Trenton, and whatever dregs of anger he felt drained away. Maybe if he'd have moved faster and gotten his family to a place like this...
    “Here we are,” Emily said, gesturing toward a re-purposed shipping container partially buried in the side of a hill. “This is where Esther lives.”
    Esther would be the third stop on their tour, the previous two candidates refusing to cooperate after lengthy discussions. The first two stops had begun with a fluttering hope in Kell's chest along with the nervous energy of someone about to sit down for a job interview. Now he felt nothing but the bored anticipation of being rejected like a census taker or a political shill begging for donations.
    Emily's knock on the door of the makeshift house resounded like a deformed bell as the metal hummed. The sound of footsteps led to a clanging rattle as the lock on the inside was disengaged. The door swung open to reveal Esther, who was smiling. Kell knew it was her from Emily's description, as the woman was unique in the way only people like Mason could be.
    A wide, colorful bandanna held back a mane of thick, dark hair lightly threaded with strands of silver. It also held another piece of cloth in place, this one at an angle over what Emily had said was a missing or damaged eye. Rake marks from the zombie who had clawed her eye out ran down her cheek and jaw but missed the major vessels in the neck, which Kell thought a minor miracle.
    “Hello!” Esther said, motioning for the three of them to come inside. “I've just put on some tea, if you'd like a cup.”
    “Tea sounds great,” Kell said. “I'm a little surprised you have it.”
    Esther chuckled. “I spent too many years in England to ever go without it,”