“Ken… do you know why Xander never made you a captain?” Mars asked. “You planned every single one of those heists with him. You met with the buyers, you set up the drops… hell, I think he even threw you a few of his women. Me and Bray never sat in any of those meetings. We were never passed any sloppy seconds.”
“I have no idea why…”
“…It’s because you’re a spineless worm, Ken, plain and simple. You’ve got a good head on your shoulders, but somehow you’re not smart enough to realize that you’re being taken advantage of. You remind me of a Maple Leafs fan that keeps buying season tickets even though he never gets to see a decent team take the ice. Xander keeps feeding you shit, the whole while telling you it’s chocolate. Without ever questioning him, you take him at his word and just keep eating it. At some point you became convinced that the shit was delicious and just like that rabid Leafs fan, you keep coming back for more.”
“I don’t follow.” Ken said with a confused look.
“Ken… that’s all you do.” Mars said flatly. “Xander just screwed up our entire deal here and you haven’t even got the balls to say anything about it? Spit the damn shit out of your mouth and be a man, for fuck’s sake!”
“What do you want me to say, Mars? I’m not happy about any of this either, but I don’t want to be left out in the cold. You and Bray have always had Xander’s ear, but he doesn’t give a shit about my opinion. If you disagree with him you have a slight argument and it’s over. If I say something, though, he kicks my ass to the curb.”
“Listen, Ken, I don’t think you truly get your deal with Xander. I’m the guy who couldn’t care less what you have to say. He actually values your opinion quite a bit. Why do you think Xander assigned you to me this winter? He wanted me to keep you safe, so you’d be there in the spring to help plan our move south.”
“I had no idea.” Ken said.
“Tell the man what you have on your mind, Ken.” Mars said. “Xander respects strength and I think you need to start showing a little.”
Ken thought about what Mars had just told him and decided to take his advice. He would be careful to slow approach the subject, but he would indeed start letting Xander know when he was about to make a mistake. He would also comment when the mistake had already been made, beginning today.
Ken would soon learn of Mars’ sizable culpability in this mess as well, but he would quickly decide to maintain the status quo on that particular subject. Xander was a beast and questioning him could be perilous, but second guessing Mars would be suicidal as he was an absolute monster.
“You’re right, Mars… That was a fuckin’ disaster.” Ken said.
“That was my line, fuck stick. Get your own material.”
Mars and Ken decided to wait for the others from the comfort of the cab of Ken’s truck. Having what amounted to an endless supply of diesel fuel, both trucks sat with their engines idling and their heaters cranked. Boredom and a need to lighten the mood would quickly see their conversation devolve into a tennis match of insults. Serve, return, smash… serve, return, smash, each giving as good as he got. Rather than get angry at Ken’s surprising aptitude at the game, Mars had actually found the exchange invigorating. Xander and Bray were the only other people on Earth that could get away with calling Mars some of the things that Ken called him and they both knew it.
Ken had figured Mars out long ago and knew that he always enjoyed a good trash talking session. Unfortunately for Ken, Mars was a master at finding one’s deepest vulnerabilities and exploiting the hell out of them. One after the other, Ken’s shortcomings were brought forward, meticulously scrutinized and relentlessly ridiculed. Once Mars let loose with his particular brand of soul sucking invectives, Ken knew that he was helplessly outgunned. He eventually had no choice but to relent and admit defeat.
So it had been throughout the majority of Mars’ life. Upon meeting someone he wished to dominate, Mars would happily engage in friendly conversation, but he would soon jump into a brutal auditory smack down. Facing a blitzkrieg of expletives, most people would instinctively back down. The ones that didn’t were quickly introduced to another one of his disturbing talents, the ability to beat a man to within an inch of his life without the faintest bit of remorse.
Ken had seen Mars kick the tar out of many men over the years, some right in front of their families, but he had never seen him lay a hand on one of his own crew. That was the enigma that was Marcel Norris, loyal to the friends that he could barely tolerate and deadly to his foes that initially believed him a friend.
“There they are.” Mars said, looking in the right side mirror.
Ken looked over at the driver’s side mirror and saw six snowmobile headlights approaching.
“Finally.” Ken said. “Man, I hope I don’t end up on one of those snow machines. I was just getting used to the heater in here.”
“There’s room for all of us in the trucks and camper, but I’m sure Xander will want to keep at least a few of those sleds.” Mars said. “Maybe you’ll get lucky and he won’t want to keep them all. I’ve got a solid ‘up yours’ loaded for him if he expects me to ride one.”
Coming to a stop between the two trucks, the snowmobiles were immediately shut down. Before Mars or Ken could say a word, Xander was already barking orders. As promised, he was showing clear signs of being extremely angry and everyone was more than willing to leap into whatever task they were assigned. It was also obvious that none of them had a rifle slung over their backs.
“You two, I need the furnace going in that camper.” Xander said, pointing to Mars and Ken. “Tom, I want you in that camper too. Bray’s with me. The rest of you worthless fucks can go warm your asses in the trucks.”
As Mars and Ken hopped down from the tanker’s cab, Tom jogged over and opened the propane tank of the tongue of the trailer. While the three of them worked away at getting their new ‘clubhouse’ warmed up, Xander walked back to his sleigh and began unstrapping one of his bags. They had a lot to discuss and he had a ton of shouting to do, but he needed somebody to patch up Bray first. His arm was a mess and Xander had noticed how much Bray was struggling on the ride out here.
After holding the camper door open for Bray, Xander followed and slammed the door shut behind him. Despite Xander’s left arm being stained in blood he was behaving like he didn’t even realize he was hit. On the contrary, it was very obvious that Bray was seriously hurting. Unlike Xander, Bray was abundantly aware of the fact that he had two bullet holes in him. He had mercifully lost most of the feeling in his right arm a while ago, so the pain was down to a dull throb now. He had lost all use of it, though. In order to squeeze the throttle lever on his snowmobile, he had been forced to ride with his left arm crossed over to the right handlebar. The only reason he had made it the entire way was because Bray was strong and physically fit… for the time being anyway.
“Shit, Bray, has anybody had a look at that yet?” Ken asked.
“No, not yet.” Bray replied. “Linda made up this sling for me, but I haven’t taken my coat off yet. It’s seriously messed up, though. I think it’s busted all to hell.”
“How about you, Xander?” Mars asked. “You alright?”
“I’m fine.” Xander replied curtly.
“I’ll take a look at it if you…”
“…Kenny, my weapon.” Xander said, cutting off his number one.
Ken immediately dug Xander’s pistol and spare magazines out of his coat pocket and handed them over.
“Help Bray with his coat and get to work on that arm.” Xander then said to Ken as he holstered his pistol and pocketed his mags. “There’s some stuff in this bag here that’ll help. Hopefully, he doesn’t still have a bullet in him.”
“Any chance those women will be coming up the road?” Ken asked, accepting the bag.
“Just get to work.” Xander said. “We’ve got all the time in the world to figure out what we’re gunna do about those bitches.”
“You got it.” Ken sai
d.
“Mars, I just want to know one thing from you.” Xander said. “What in the hell were you thinking?”
“You’re gunna have to give me a little more.” Mars replied, well aware of the tirade that was coming.
“You took that shot without even checking with me first, dickhead.” Xander said.
Ken looked up from Bray’s arm for a moment, but this time he wisely chose to keep his mouth shut. Whatever was about to happen in that camper, it wasn’t about to be influenced by anything he had to add. He simply went back to work and hoped that he didn’t catch a stray bullet.
“That was bad enough, but then you went and screwed it up.” Xander continued. “What… the fuck… were you thinking?”
“What was I thinking?” Mars asked. “Taking over that place was your decision not mine. This train wreck is on you not me.”
“Don’t try to turn this bullshit around on me, asshole!” Xander shouted.
“If you recall, boss, Bray tried talking you out of this bullshit last night and you wouldn’t even consider it.” Mars said. “When you put me out front, you know what you’re gunna get. I’m the guy you call in when you know the shit’s gunna fly, remember? Have you ever seen me handle anything differently? Don’t act surprised when you bring a hired gun to a fight and a gunfight breaks out.”
“You bit off way more than you can chew back there and you know it.” Xander said, completely unable to accept Mars’ point of view.
“I thought I had 11 guys watching my back!” Mars said. “That broad nearly took my damn head off! You fucks are the ones that didn’t even take a shot. Who the hell expected them to actually know what they were doing? Not me and not you either, Xander. Once they opened up on us, I dove in the ditch same as you, same as everybody else.”
“Yeah and then you stayed there like a scared little bitch!” Xander shouted. “Tom managed to put down one of those whores. Of course, he wasn’t curled up in a ball crying for his mamma.”
Mars stared at Xander blankly for a moment, a gesture Xander was happy to return. Mars had never wanted to deck a guy more in his entire life and it was taking everything he had to resist the urge to do so. It was an impulse that they were both struggling with.
Looking slightly over Xander’s shoulder, Mars noticed Tom standing behind him. Tom’s face was also expressionless as he stared intently back at him as well. He had no idea what sort of rapport Tom had developed with the boss over these past few weeks, but he looked like a man that was anxious to prove his grit.
“Hey, Ken… you see what Xander just did there?” Mars asked, never shifting his gaze. “That’s how you get under a man’s skin. You call him a coward in front of his guys.”
“Everybody’s just a little wired right now.” Ken said, looking up from Bray’s arm. “You guys should…”
“…Is that why you invited your pet ape in here with you, Xander?” Mars asked, not even noticing that Ken had responded. “You know I would never fight you, but you wanted to hurt me anyway. The only reason Tom’s in this camper with us right now is because you want him to do your dirty work for you.”
“You don’t know shit, Mars.” Xander said. “Tom’s here because I need guys close to me that I can depend on. That used to be you and Bray, but the way you two have been ‘performing’ lately… I’m starting to have my doubts.”
“What the hell did I do?” Bray asked. “I’m the one that’s gunna lose an arm out of the deal.”
“Fuck, Xander, open your damn eyes!” Ken shouted, surprising them all. “Mistakes were obviously made today, but we all made them. Sure, Bray and Mars could have done better jobs, but you screwed up too. We could have just taken off this morning and gathered the entire crew together by now. Instead, we lost four guys, six trucks and most if not all of our weapons and ammo. I didn’t notice our moose on any of those sleds either, so I suppose we lost all of our food too. All because, once again, a shitload of awesome wasn’t quite enough for ‘Alexander the Great.’ That’s where I went wrong. I should have said something long before now.”
By now Xander’s gaze was fixed squarely on Ken. He clenched his teeth together as he considered his response. Ken had never spoken to him in such a way and he didn’t like it one bit.
“Kenny… I’m just gunna pretend you didn’t say that because I don’t want to have to push your ass around in a damn wheelchair.” Xander said.
“No, Xander, you’re gunna let Ken’s words sink into that thick skull of yours.” Mars said. “You’re not gunna lay a finger on him either. Ken’s the closest thing you’ve ever had to a little brother and you’d be fucked without him, so start listening to him for a change.”
Xander stood silently and shifted his eyes from Mars to Ken to Bray and back to Mars again. Mars could see it in Xander’s eyes… ‘The Shift’ was about to occur. The only question was in which direction it would swing, towards the calm or the nuclear.
“Tom… get the fuck out.” Xander said calmly. “Pick the four fastest snow machines we have and drain the fuel and oil out of the other two. Get the others to give you a hand.”
Tom shifted his eyes momentarily, offered the others a confused expression and stepped outside. He had no idea what was going on, but he knew enough to not bother asking.
Watching him leave, Mars had the answer to the question he had posed to himself earlier.
You don’t know Xander like I do, shithead… Not yet anyway.
“Is this what I can expect out of you from now on, Ken?” Xander asked. “You gunna be a mouthy little thorn in my side?”
“I’ve always got your back, Xander.” Ken replied. “I’m willing to offer you an alternative point of view, but only if you’re willing to hear it. You always get final say… We all know that.”
“Xander… you realize you just called him Ken instead of Kenny?” Mars asked.
“Yeah, I know.” Xander replied. “Kenny was my shit stained little assistant, a guy that didn’t know how to speak up for himself. Ken is a tough son of a bitch… and my newest captain.”
Chapter 15
Stu had been rushing to get them back home and they were now only a few kilometres from George’s trail. While the others sat in silence, nervously holding onto whatever they could, Stu was taking full advantage of the freshly cleared roads. With only a light coating of snow still covering them, the snowplow was up and the gas pedal was down. He was driving more than a little on the reckless side, but undeniably he was making excellent time.
He had drifted around several turns, confidently maintaining near perfect control, but eventually Stu’s lack of experience at driving like a lunatic became apparent. He misjudged a corner slightly, fishtailed a little wider than expected and clipped a snowbank. No damage was done, the incident barely even slowing them down, but it was more than enough to finally break the silence that Stu had enjoyed for the first 30 minutes of the trip. Corey was the first to speak up and tell him to slow down.
The reason for Stu’s haste wasn’t lost on any of them, but running the truck off the road and getting them stuck would be the opposite of helpful. That bit of logic was also easily understood, so Stu relented and reluctantly eased off the accelerator for the final kilometres of their journey.
“Hey, what about the gas?” Leo asked from the back seat. “Are we still stopping to fill those jerrycans on our roof?”
Leo was reminding them all that they still had one last critically important task to perform. Once the Bronco pulled onto that forest trail, they didn’t plan to drive out again until the spring. There was no way they currently had enough gasoline for the generator to last them that long and they all knew it. The idea of parking all three of their vehicles with empty fuel tanks would also weigh heavily on their minds for weeks.
In addition, there was also one other important detail that George had made abundantly clear to them all. Without the addition of his enzyme fuel treatment, the gasoline in the various abandoned vehicles in the area would soon spoil. The see
mingly magical blue formula was capable of preserving fuel for up to two years, effectively stalling the degradation process, but it had no ability to bring back gas that had already gone bad. Propane has no expiration date and stocks in the area were still fairly decent, but gasoline was on the clock… a clock that was quickly winding down.
In an effort to give them a future supply to draw from when that inevitably occurred, George had treated 20 vehicles back at the abandoned campground. If a car or truck was found to have a full tank of gas in it, George poured in the appropriate amount of treatment and discretely scratched a small ‘x’ on one of its wheels. He knew full well that someone else in need of fuel might happen along before they had a chance to get to them, but the risk posed by doing nothing was a far greater.
“There’s no freakin’ way I’m stopping to syphon gas right now, Leo.” Stu firmly replied. “We need to make sure everybody’s okay first.”
“So far, I’m only seeing our tire tracks from yesterday morning out here.” Corey said from the passenger seat. “There’s no snowmobile tracks either. We’re the only ones that have used this road lately, so I think we’re alright.”
“Well, that’s good news.” Stacey said.
“It is. I still wanna make sure nobody came in from the other direction though.” Stu said. “As soon as we’re sure they’re alright, a few of us will head back out. We have to get that gas tonight before the snow starts up again.”
“It’s actually looking like it might start snowing soon.” Brian said.
“Good. The sooner this plowed road gets covered up again, the better.” Stacey said.
“Stace, would you mind staying home and getting the furnace going in our camper, please?” Corey asked, looking into the back. “I’ll just give the girls a quick hug and head out again.”
“Yeah, that’s fine.” Stacey replied.
EMP [Collateral Darkness] | Book 4 Page 24