by A. J. Sikes
Jed said, “I saw some of that in New York. Collaborators working with the Variants to protect their own and to hell with everyone else.”
“Yep,” Staples said. “That’s the way of things now.”
“Sounds like you’re ready to call it quits, LT.”
“Not even close. Only thing I’m ready for is the fight to make sure what we have left doesn’t end up in the wrong hands. Let’s get to Baytown. If they’re good people, we’ll help them fortify against whatever or whoever might bring the fight our way.”
Jed’s radio crackled.
“Hometown 1, this is Six Team actual.”
“Hometown 1, over.”
“You got your package?”
“Roger that. We’re inbound, ETA twenty minutes.”
“You’re good to go. They were really happy with the gear we brought in. But be advised, this is a hot LZ. Bad company rolled up about five minutes ago. Just knocking on the door now, but they’re strapped big.”
“What are you looking at?”
“Those wingnuts I told you about. At least a company’s worth. They’re outside the gate and making a lot of noise. Nobody’s shooting yet, but I don’t know how long that’ll last.”
— 19 —
Emily watched the doctor leave and felt her lower lip trembling. Chava was either in a coma or dead. She was alone in the world. Her entire family was gone.
Danitha stepped closer to her and reached out a hand. “It’ll be okay,” she said. “We made it here, and we can make it to the next place. Wherever that is, we can—”
Shouting broke into the curtained space. Emily heard voices raised in anger, some in fear and shock.
The nurse, Jennifer, came back in and closed the curtains up tight around them. “Stay here, and don’t move,” she said. As she turned to leave, Emily noticed she had a pistol on her hip.
“What’s going on?” Danitha asked, but Jennifer was already moving away. Danitha pulled the curtain aside and Emily got a view of the room beyond her confined area. She could just make out restaurant equipment and a service counter.
“Dani? Where are we?”
“An old Dairy Queen. They got it set up like a clinic. Doctor said there’s a bigger one with real beds over by the fire station.”
Danitha poked her head out the curtains. She came back to Emily’s side. “I need to know what all these people are running around for and yelling about. You gon’ be okay if I go out for a minute?”
“Don’t leave me alone in here, please. I can’t move my head, and—”
The nurse, Jennifer, came in again. She pushed by Danitha and handed Emily a bottle of water. “Doctor says you should drink, keep your fluid levels up.” The shouting continued outside.
“What’s happening out there?” Emily asked.
An amplified voice cut through the chaos, calling for everyone to stop moving. Jennifer snapped her attention to what was going on outside and quickly excused herself before either of them could ask her another question.
“Dani, please help me sit up. I need to see,” Emily said.
Danitha scooted herself into the booth beside Emily’s makeshift bed and helped her sit up, pushing the pillows together so she could rest against them. The neck brace meant she still only had a limited view of the world, but she could see a window now. Danitha moved the curtain aside further, letting in the weak rays of fading daylight, and a view of what was happening outside.
A heavy wrought iron gate separated two groups of people. On this side were men and women wearing construction hard hats and coveralls. Some of them wore military uniforms and carried guns. But most of the people had tools like axes or shovels. One person even had a sword.
She couldn’t see beyond the fence.
“They can’t be here just for us,” Danitha said. “Ain’t no way they brought all that here just to get us.”
“What is it, Dani? What did they bring?”
“Got a hundred people outside that gate shouting to get in. All of them got guns.”
“Do they have the dogs with them?”
“I don’t see any.”
Jennifer came back in and waved an angry hand at them both.
“Get yourselves down and out of sight. We don’t need them knowing you’re here.”
Danitha moved to help Emily lie down again, but Jennifer was faster.
“Why do they want us so badly?” Emily asked. “We ran away from them, but that can’t be enough to bring them all the way here.”
“I don’t have an answer for that,” Jennifer said. “Just stay down and—”
The amplified voice outside drowned her out.
“Y’all have something of ours. We aim to get it. You can let us in or we can come in as we please. Up to you. I’m counting to ten.”
Emily felt for Danitha’s hand.
“Get me out of here, Dani. Help me stand up so I can run.”
Jennifer put a hand up. “Y’all ain’t running anywhere. No need to. We got people with weapons and the training to use ’em. They’re gonna protect you and keep you safe. Just lie low, trust me.”
Emily wanted to protest, but Jennifer’s hand was resting on her gun now.
Footsteps raced into the room to Emily’s left. She tried to turn her head, and the movement sent trails of pain into her left shoulder. Jennifer stepped out and drew her gun, but quickly relaxed and put it away again. Emily heard a man’s voice and what sounded like a radio squawk, then Jennifer said, “Greg, I’m glad it’s you. What’s happening out there?”
“Wingnuts,” the man said. “They’re saying you’ve got prisoners of theirs. Two women.”
“Prisoners? And what are they saying these women did to get themselves taken prisoner by a bunch of yahoos with more guns than sense?”
“Killed a man in his sleep and took his money,” Greg said.
Jennifer barked out a laugh. “His money? Oh, that’s good. I’m sure everyone’s just raring to get them dangerous ladies back into custody. What do they think we are, idiots?”
The curtain moved aside and a man’s face entered Emily’s field of vision.
“This them?” he asked, turning over his shoulder to talk to Jennifer.
“Yes, and more hardened criminals I doubt you’ll find anywhere.”
“We didn’t kill anyone,” Emily said.
“Never said you did. What about your friend?”
Emily found Danitha’s face and searched her eyes for an answer.
“Dani? What did you do?”
“Had to,” she said. “Had no choice. He was trying to get on me, just like what that girl, Angie, had to deal with. It was time I was running out to meet you, so I stuck him with his own knife and left him there to bleed.”
She stood between Jennifer and Greg, looking at their faces, then turning so she had her back to the curtain. “Guess I know how that council’s gonna vote, so if you’ll excuse me.”
Danitha stepped back quickly, and neither Greg nor Jennifer moved to stop her. She hovered on the threshold of Emily’s would-be hospital room. Emily tried to move her neck so she could see Danitha. She stood beyond the curtain, but hadn’t left yet.
“Dani, please don’t leave. Please,” Emily said.
“Professor, you know well as I do how these folk gon’ treat me. Same as they would’ve done to Angie. I’d rather take my chances out—”
The shouting started outside again, and was followed by a rattle of gunfire.
— 20 —
McKitrick floored it and they sped up Highway 146 past small neighborhoods and empty marshland. The whole time, Jed was on the radio with Radout, getting updates about the situation in Baytown.
“It’s the militia from up north,” Radout said. “The ones around Mont Belvieu. They say we’ve got two prisoners of theirs and they want them back. I mean, obvious bullshit is obvious, but when you’re staring down a company-strong force, you ask yourself things you never thought you would.”
“What’s their
story about the prisoners?”
“One of them killed a guy in his sleep and took his money. The other one helped her escape.”
“Her?”
“Yeah, it’s two women they’re after. They’re playing the frontier law card, but I know a song and dance when I see it. We’ll keep the parley going.”
“How’s their trigger discipline?” Jed asked, dreading the answer.
“Good one. They’re actually not shooting. We sent a warning volley their way just now, keeping them off our fence. Something tells me we don’t have much to worry about from this bunch, except their numbers. How long until you get here?”
“Maybe ten minutes now,” Jed said. “Keep us in the loop.”
“Hooah, and don’t forget your flag. Six out.”
Jed had Keoh dig up some gauze from the corpsman’s bag. It wasn’t very big, but it was white and could be flapped out the side window like a flag. She handed it to Mehta up front.
The road along the coast was framed by storm debris. Some spilled across the pavement, but much of it had been pushed to the side, making the drive easier than Jed had expected. They reached a small neighborhood just outside of LaPorte. The houses there were all in good shape, and the streets looked pretty clean.
As they got deeper into LaPorte, the LT faded in and out of consciousness. Keoh turned around in her seat to treat Staples for shock. Jed was watching her when he noticed about a dozen people wandering around near a cluster of homes. They looked like scavengers, picking around the remains of what used to be a wealthy suburb on the Texas coast. Most of them wandered without any real purpose, but a couple near the front of the group had their heads up, like they were sentries for the others. Jed watched them until one turned his attention to the truck.
It was the crackhead from Mercer’s AO, still wearing the same dirty, white shirt and popping candy into his mouth.
That’s impossible. No way that’s him.
“Is that who I think it is?” Garza asked.
“Can’t be,” Jed said.
They passed the scavengers, and Jed tried to get a better look at the guy, but Garza’s head blocked his view.
“I swear that was him,” Garza said. “Swear on my soul. How the fuck did he get this far on foot?”
“Couldn’t,” Jed said. “Not in just a few hours.”
Jed turned to look over his shoulder. Keoh was still working on the LT, and blocked Jed’s view out the back window. As they left the suburb behind, he was able to see the whole group of scavengers again. They wandered a bit, then stopped in their tracks and all lifted their gaze to stare after the SUV.
In a sudden movement, the people fell to the ground and vanished from sight.
Jed searched the long grass for any sign of movement until McKitrick pumped the brakes and slowed them down. Their path became choked with vehicles up ahead, funneling all traffic into a single lane in the middle of the road. The bridge to Baytown was beyond the choke point. McKitrick brought them to an idle just before the road narrowed.
“What do we do, Sergeant?”
Jed checked the LT. Keoh had him stable. He was breathing steady, but his eyes were closed.
“Take us up slowly. Get the flag out.”
Mehta hung the roll of gauze out the window and let some hang loose as he waved it up and down. McKitrick rolled them forward at a slow pace.
Jed dug out a pair of binos and scanned the bridge ahead. Two trucks had been backed together blocking the road at the far end of the choke point. They had .50 cals mounted in their beds. A small dark ball flew out from behind the trucks, and Jed’s ears caught the heavy choomp a second later.
A smoke round burst behind their SUV, then the .50s opened up.
“Dismount!” Jed yelled as he tried to fling his door open. It rebounded and slammed into his arm. Garza struggled with his door, too. They’d already entered the narrowest stretch of road, with overturned cars blocking them from getting out. The gunners on the .50s kept chopping at the air around them, but no rounds impacted on the truck.
“The fuck are they shooting at?” Garza yelled.
“McKitrick, back us up,” Jed said.
“No!” Keoh shouted. “Contacts back here.”
Jed spun in his seat. The smoke obscured most of his vision out the back window, but he could make out shapes darting around faster than any human could move. They would pop up, then drop down only to appear again somewhere else. The smoke seemed to confuse them. Their orientation would shift each time they dropped from sight and came back up.
Sometimes one would jerk with the impact of a .50 caliber round, but most of them avoided the incoming fire. And they were getting closer. Jed couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“What the fuck? Are those—”
“Yes, Sergeant,” Keoh said. “Those are Variants.”
McKitrick stomped on the gas and they flew down the chute between the hulks of smashed cars and trucks. Another grenade round flew overhead and filled their wake with thick, covering smoke, and still the .50s laid down suppressive fire. Jed wanted to help, but he couldn’t safely stick his hand out the window, much less his weapon.
Up ahead, the trucks with the .50s crept apart, until the widening gap was just big enough for McKitrick to fit them through. They raced between the trucks and onto the bridge where McKitrick slowed down at Jed’s order.
“Keep us close in case they need support,” he said.
Behind them, the trucks reversed to close the gap. The gunners maintained their fire the whole time. A third person on the ground held up an M203 and fired another round. This one detonated in a starburst of white-hot flame. Another burst of fire from the .50s finished the matter.
Jed grabbed the radio and hailed Radout.
“We’re on the bridge. Contact behind us and coming fast. It’s Variants!”
“Copy, Shorewatch. Get over here fast. We’ve got our own problems.”
The bridge guards hailed Jed next and said they would follow him over.
“We have wounded,” Jed said.
“Good copy. We’ll get you to the aid station.”
As McKitrick took them over the bridge, Jed thought about what they’d just seen and what they’d survived. It was a Variant ambush, plain as day. But what about the scavengers he’d seen before they reached the bridge? They dropped out of sight as soon as they spotted the truck. But the crackhead being there made it even more likely that Jed’s suspicions were correct. If the scavengers were still there when the Variants showed up, they’d have been taken apart.
Unless they weren’t just scavengers…
— 21 —
Hands grabbed Emily’s shoulders, then her ankles. She was lifted and brought through the curtains. They carried her into the kitchen area behind the counter, moving fast and arguing about which way to go. All Emily could see were their shoulders and the industrial ceiling overhead.
“Where are you taking me?” she screamed.
“Out the back door,” the man said. Emily tried to remember his name, but her mind was full with the sounds of violence behind them. They reached a door. Emily heard it open, and weak light spilled into the space. Then they were outside and she felt the humid air on her skin, thick like a blanket she couldn’t throw off.
The screaming out front was louder, too. People were fighting there, but the shooting had stopped.
“This way,” the man said.
Greg. His name was Greg.
Should she call out, ask where they were going? Were they delivering her to the militia? What about Dani? Was she helping them? Were they going to sacrifice her because she was injured?
“I can walk,” she said. “Let me go! I can walk!”
If they heard her over the shouting and screaming, they didn’t respond. After a few more steps, the group slowed down, and Emily was lowered to her feet.
She spun away from them all and looked around as best she could. Her head was still immobilized, but she felt no pain in her neck.
<
br /> “Take this thing off me. My neck is fine. Dani, please!”
Danitha moved like she would help, but Jennifer stepped in first. She still had a hand on her hip, just above her gun.
“I’ll take it off, but don’t go blaming me if your neck’s broken.”
Emily let Jennifer come forward and remove the neck brace. When it fell away, she carefully pivoted her head to take in their surroundings. Her shoulder was still sore, and the wound in her arm hurt like hell. But she could move her head fine. They’d come to a copse of trees behind the Dairy Queen. She could see the group of people inside the fence, holding their tools as weapons, and a few with guns aimed toward the gate. The shouting and screaming continued. Greg looked at her and nodded.
“You’ll be okay here? I need to go check my people. Make sure they’re good.”
“What’re you gonna do?” Jennifer asked. “They’ve got a hundred people out there at least. We have that many or more, but not in one place. Half the community is on a salvage run across town.”
“Shouldn’t be a problem,” Greg said. “Something tells me these dogs are all bark and no bite.”
He jogged across the dirt to the Dairy Queen and snuck around the building toward the standoff.
“Dani, we need to go,” Emily said. “We need to leave these people be. Go somewhere else.”
“Where you gonna go?” Jennifer asked. “You can’t survive on your own. You’re wounded and need care. Plus, out there you’re fair game. You stay inside our gates and they need to come up with a better reason to hand you over than saying you killed a man for his money. What’d they do to you up there? Did they—”
“No,” Emily said. “They took over, and they killed people who didn’t agree with them. But that’s all they did.”
“Not all they wanted to do,” Danitha said. “I told you he was trying it with me when I stabbed him. And you heard them talking about plantation living again. You and me both know what they had planned, Professor.”