by A. R. Shaw
22
Jason
The man ran past him. Jason slunk farther into the forest cover. He’s looking for me. Without hearing his own movements, Jason carefully picked his way through the foliage. The drone was concealed. It could wait. The man would eventually give up and come back this way. He might even search through the forest between here and there.
I’ll go ahead of him…that’s what I’ll do, but I’ve got to get the drone first.
And without any more time thinking about all the potential risks, Jason resisted the urge to run for the drone and instead carefully maneuvered each step closer to the drone’s resting place. Impeded by the effort to avoid the noise-making twigs and leaves, he crouched to keep out of sight. Between glances to ensure his footing, he kept his eyes watchful of any movements near the roadway. Then he neared the drone’s landing but didn’t see the machine yet. Pushing away a fern, he discovered where he placed the machine was sloped on a bed of pine needles. Oh crap. Pushing away a few branches, he leaned over the embankment and saw the machine lying on its side about eleven feet downhill. With a quick glance to the road again, Jason lowered his legs down into the small gully to retrieve the fallen drone. It would take longer than he’d like but there was no way around the problem. He had to get the damn thing and get going before the man came back.
Carefully, with each hand and foot placement, Jason slipped down on the avalanche of desiccated pine needles to get the drone. He could see why the drone’s slight weight caused the cascade. Even with Jason’s weight, once you started, it was like riding a wave; you couldn’t stop the descent. His boots finally stabilized, Jason reached down to pick up one foot of the drone and then he was left to deal with the predicament of how to get back up.
Brushing away as much of the pine needles as possible to reach some form of solid earth to grab onto, Jason pulled himself up with his left hand grasping a pine tree root. I’m making too much noise. He’s going to find me.
But that’s not what happened. Instead, Jason surfaced to the top of the gully. Placing the drone first onto safer ground, he pulled himself up and out while watching the roadway.
Maybe he already came by?
Then…suddenly, Jason crouched to the ground. At first, he thought he might have been shot. Something cut through the air with frightening speed. Never before had he wished his hearing were returned to him fully. After grabbing the drone, he looked around and saw no one. Then he turned and was about to run when he heard…something. What’s happening?
Instead of running, Jason edged himself closer to the roadway to get a glimpse and took refuge behind a large pine tree trunk.
After a moment, the drone slid from his hand to the forest floor.
23
Sloane
She did what Kent wanted. She prepared herself and the girls to flee if needed. They knew it too. They watched her go through the little house like a hurricane.
Mae stood in her way and shook her head. “We have a whole cache house out there. I know we do. I helped you stock it months ago like this one. Why are you wasting your time doing this now? We just have to leave if we need to.”
“Mae, I can’t explain everything to you. I’m doing what I need to do for us. Now please, just let me work on this while you and Nicole handle the radios.”
Standing still before her, Mae held her arm out. “But Chuck is waiting for you. He wants to know our next move. They depend on you, Mom.”
“I can’t! I can’t do leader right now…I can only do freaked-out-mom right now. They’re going to have to understand that.”
Her daughter donned a calm demeanor and said, “What? You quit? Mom, you’re better than this. Kent will find her. He’ll do the same thing he did last time. He’ll bring her back. Have faith in him.”
She wanted to believe her daughter. Truly. But dammit, she was too realistic. Lucky once…if you want to call it that, but twice…no.
“Mom.”
“Mae, just go tell Chuck to handle things. I have some preparation to do for now. I’m sure he’ll do a good job for now. I just need a few hours.”
Mae said, “That’s crap, Mom. And you know it! They need you! Not Chuck. Not that he’s not a nice person.”
Her unflappable daughter had lost patience with her then. Her face turned a crimson shade as her chest heaved.
“Sloane?”
Somewhere in Sloane’s mind, she heard Nicole call her name but at the moment, she could only stare at Mae seething at her. In reality, she was preparing for Wren’s death. The inevitable. She knew it would happen. No one was that lucky. She barely survived the first time.
“What, Nicole?” Mae answered instead as she gave her mother a disgusted stare.
“It’s Kent…he’s asking for Mom.”
“Oh,” Sloane said, breaking the contest. “What? Have you found her?” she asked.
“No…no, I don’t want to you to get your hopes up. I’m just checking in. The roads this way are pretty bad but we’re going as far and as fast as we can.”
“Okay. We suspected that.”
“Yeah,” Kent said.
“How are the others?”
“Boyd’s fine. He says he misses you. I haven’t woken Marvin yet. I’ll do that soon to gain any intel.”
“That’s funny about Boyd. Good one.”
“I know, look. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. So far, there’s no sign of her.”
She nodded and found tears running down her cheeks. She told herself to get a grip. “Okay, it’s too soon. I know. Please be careful.”
“Will do.”
And then he was gone.
Sloane realized then that she was holding the backpack she’d been filling earlier. They already had go bags ready and Mae was right, there was an entirely stocked cache house waiting for them if needed. “Here,” Sloane handed the pack to Mae and turned to the door.
“Where are you going?” Mae asked.
“You said Chuck was looking for me? That’s where I’ll be. Let me know the moment Kent calls back.”
Mae’s eyes lifted. She smiled. “Yes, Mom.”
24
Wren
She stopped. Hands to her sides. Her heel taking a backward step.
The black man barreling toward her was definitely not Jason.
With molasses movements, Wren reached for her gun. Pulling it, she aimed at the man only fifty feet from her and gaining. “Stop!” she screamed.
He kept coming.
“Stooop,” she screamed again. “Don’t come any…!”
He kept coming.
And then her finger squeezed the trigger.
25
Kent
He hated to do it, but he had no choice. They needed him. Slapping the side of his face lightly, Kent said, “Marvin. Marvin, wake up, man.”
“He keeps falling back to sleep,” Boyd said.
“I know…we have to keep at it. The sedative I gave him earlier was pretty strong. I don’t want him in pain. We don’t need him yelling a lot or causing himself more harm.”
“Was this really a good idea? What if he tries to lead us into a trap?” Boyd asked.
Kent was trying to formulate a response when they heard, “Not leading you…in trap.”
Marvin was trying to open his eyes. They fluttered like crazy. The struggle was real.
“Just take it easy,” Kent said. “Keep trying to wake up. I need your help.”
But a second later…Marvin snored again, and they started the whole process once more.
“Keep driving,” Kent said.
But when he saw that Boyd kept checking on their progress in the backseat, he said, “And watch where you’re going. We don’t know what’s out there. I’m not just referring to the road debris.”
“I know. I just hope he can help us.”
But Kent knew there was more than just the location of Wren that Boyd was thinking of. Boyd volunteered for this trip for a reason. It was his chance to learn more a
bout the enemy and the location and fate of his young sister.
Kent had reservations about taking Boyd along, but he needed someone willing to go and though Chuck offered, he needed him back in town. Boyd was the best option in a short amount of time.
“Marvin,” he tried again. “Wake up, man. I wish I could sit him up without hurting him.”
“He’s going to be in pain no matter what you do. Hold on, I have to go over a branch here.”
With a thud, Marvin sucked in a breath and let out a groan.
“Help me sit up,” Marvin mumbled with his eyes closed still. “I’m trying.”
“Here, hold my arm. Pull yourself up.” Kent said and steadied his forearm in front of the man for him to grab.
Marvin reached for Kent’s arm but soon realized something was wrong. “Wait, you guys handcuffed me? I have a broken leg for fuck’s sake.”
“Doesn’t matter. I can’t take any chances you’ll reach for my gun when I’m not looking.”
Still, Marvin struggled to open his eyes as he argued with Kent. “Whatever, man,” he said and used his bound hands to reach for Kent’s offered arm. Then he pulled himself up in a near-sitting position, all the while groaning in pain.
“I know it hurts. If I give you more pain meds now you’ll fall asleep again, and I need some answers.”
The man’s eyes fluttered more as Kent shoved pillows behind him, then gave him a bottle of water.
“I’ve already told you guys everything I know. I’ve got nothing to lose now. Don’t you get that?”
“You might still have some information that will help us.”
“Where the hell are we going?” he finally said, realizing he was traveling in a vehicle. “The last thing I remember, I was in a comfortable bed in your infirmary, not moving in a vehicle, after you guys shattered my leg.”
“Yeah, something happened. Keep drinking water. Your mind will clear up in a few minutes.”
Marvin guzzled the water and noticed Boyd driving. “Hey, who are you?”
“He’s just Boyd. You don’t need to worry about him. Listen, where exactly is Tale located? Where does he operate from in town?”
“His office.”
Kent sat back on his haunches and tilted his head to the side.
“If you don’t have anything to lose, then you can help us.”
“What’s happened? Our conversation earlier, or whenever it was because time is screwed up right now, you guys seemed pretty stable in your commitment to remain where you were. Did they find us? Are we fleeing…that’s what happened, isn’t it? I told you to run before. You should have listened to me then. It’s too late now. You’ll never survive.” His eyes glassed over as he shook his head. “Not even your wives or children. None of them.”
Kent held back his own emotional reaction and studied Marvin while he guzzled down more water.
Reaching for the bottle with a hand shaking from the bumps in the road, Kent said, “Take it easy on that. I can’t have you choking on your own vomit.”
Marvin laughed. “Yeah, what an inconvenience that would be.”
“It would, Marvin. We need your help.”
Marvin shook his head. “What? What the hell can I do?”
Kent cleared his throat. “If you look around, you’ll notice we’re on the road to Astoria. Not away from.”
“I’m not even from here; it all looks the same to me. Why the hell are we heading there? You’d better have some big-ass army with you, and a couple of nukes. As far as I can tell, it’s only us bumbling around out here on this road.”
“We’re not exactly going there. We let one of your guys go so that we could track him back to your camp. The problem is, one of our teenage girls ran away to track the tracker, if that makes any sense to you.”
Marvin held his hand up. “Wait a minute, wait a minute. This is all due to teenage drama? You guys have your priorities out of whack, my friend. I’d call that cleansing the gene pool. She’s not going to survive if they get hold of her. Count on that.”
“It’s not up to you to decide what we do.”
Marvin stifled a painful groan as the vehicle veered too hard to the left.
“Hey, take it easy Boyd,” Kent said.
“Yeah, Boyd,” Marvin added with gritted teeth and a sharp eye.
Kent thought perhaps Boyd took that bump on purpose; he’d managed to avoid the worst of them so far. With the unknown fate of his little sister on his mind, Kent couldn’t blame him.
“There was a tree… This isn’t as easy as it looks and it’s getting worse up ahead. I doubt we’ll be able to keep going like this for much longer,” Boyd said but stared straight ahead.
“Look, there’s not a lot of sunlight left. We need to get as far as we can in the vehicle and find her if at all possible,” Kent said, but when he looked at Marvin, he found the man studying him.
“It’s not that you need information from me. That’s not what all this is about, is it? You’re hoping if they capture her, you can ransom me for her. That’s why I’m here, isn’t it? I have bad news for you. I can tell you, it won’t work.”
“What if she found Jason and they’re perfectly fine?” Boyd said.
That scenario hadn’t crossed Kent’s mind. It was a possibility.
“Yeah kid, and the power’s going to come back on at any moment. Keep living the dream. Let me keep it simple for you. My team didn’t return on time. Which pissed them off. They killed our families and they’re sending someone to kill you. That’s the reality. I’m as good as dead and so is the guy you’re tracking. Which one was it, anyway? Jerry? I bet it was Jerry. He can run like a weasel, little bastard.”
Kent just kept shaking his head. “We don’t…we don’t know his name.”
“You killed the rest of ‘em, though?”
Nodding now, he replied, “Yes, we did.”
It took him a minute, but Marvin replied, “They got off easy.”
“Kent.”
It was Boyd calling him. “You need to see this.”
26
Davis
She shot him.
He’d been shot with a 9mm before. It felt like a bee sting, a slight tug on his left shoulder, but he kept going. Not once did he consider slowing down. The more adrenaline he had in his system, the better.
She aimed again.
He plowed right into her, throwing her to the hard ground. The gun went sprawling feet away, clattering against a discarded, rusted fender.
She struggled immediately and when he got a good look at her face, inside, he died a little. She was just a kid. Pushing that aside, he pinned her down easily. She’d landed on her backpack and looked like a toppled turtle.
The screams. She clawed at his face with her hands and then when she realized he didn’t have shoes on, she landed her boot heels hard against his feet.
“Stop. Stop it now,” he yelled.
She didn’t. Her dark brown hair slung wildly around against the asphalt as she fought him.
He had hold of her jacket, just below the lapels. She lunged for the gun, too far away, and because he thought she might get lucky, he yanked her up to a standing position.
“Stop! I mean it. I’ll punch you in the face if you don’t. Last warning!”
The girl used the strength in her legs to spring up and jump onto his bare feet with her boots. He guessed her goal was to free his grasp on her. But that wasn’t going to happen. She was the ticket to his family’s life. Searing white pain went through him on impact but he kept hold of her despite the now very painful wound in his shoulder.
He screamed and growled and then tried to catch his breath. In the meantime, he grabbed her by the hair to keep hold of her, turned her around and thrust his right arm under her neck, squeezing tightly. She didn’t weigh much more than a ham sandwich, and he hated her damn large lugged boots, but she was springy. He’d give her that. As he tried to calm his breath, so he could see straight, she tried to bite his arm. Tighter then. He squ
eezed. Then she was doing her best to pull his arm away to make room to suck in some air. When all else fails, give them something to do…like gasp for breath. He knew she was fading. He’d have to be careful there. He didn’t know his own strength at times, especially now.
Pulling her forward, he let her suck some air into her lungs. She choked on the freedom he allowed as he yanked the backpack off her. “Slow breaths or you’ll pass out.”
Slinging the pack over his other arm, he held her in a choke hold again, lighter this time, and pushed her the way he’d come.
Even though she was wearing down, she tried to kick him, bite him, do anything to get away from him. He thought, Good…you’re going to need to fight where you’re going.
27
Jason
Stunned, he could not believe his eyes.
She screamed in terror, her mouth wide, her face blood red. The man hauled her past his position. The terror on her face suddenly matched the anger within him. He should have hidden away but he was too stunned to see Wren…let alone in the man’s arms, kicking and fighting back. What is she doing here?
Each time she gained pay dirt, the man squeezed a little tighter around her neck. The man never noticed him standing there, in the tree line, as he passed by with his prey.
Please move away from him, Wren. Jason automatically pulled the handgun he carried and aimed. I might hit her. The bullet could pass through him or I could miss. He couldn’t take the chance of hitting her, too. Instead, his hand shook with the anger rising within him.
Stop…
Think…
Away, away, he’s hauling Wren away.
Jason crouched low, out of sight, watching, looking for an opening. The beast’s hands were full of her, his left arm around her throat and his right underneath her breasts. With each step he increased the distance, shoving her legs forward with his own, stealing her away. He was going to hurt her. Jason couldn’t let that happen. Not again. Without taking his eyes from them, Jason fished around in his pack for the radio and quickly sent a message.