Sachi was right about people getting angry at seeing the cars, throwing blame at the people driving, at Sachi for convincing them all to walk, and at Colonel Riviera for not standing up to Sachi on this. A few insults were hurled at the people passing by in their vehicles, someone even throwing a stone at a pickup truck, clanking off the polymer body. Others tried to hitch rides with them, a few people even succeeding in getting someone to let them squeeze into their vehicle with them. It took over an hour for the long chain of cars to pass by, traveling two by two down the two-lane road, not worrying about running into southbound traffic.
After they had passed, the crowd of people came back onto the road, people now talking loudly with each other about what just happened, trying to decide if this march was worthwhile anymore. Sachi and Savita walked among the people, trying to convince them to keep going and that driving wasn’t worth the risk, but morale had plummeted. It took almost another hour to get people walking again, losing another small group of people who decided to walk back to Cortez instead of continue north.
By midafternoon we were on the move again, but going slower than we had before.
“We’ve gone about ten miles,” Savita said.
“We should stop in Dolores,” Colonel Riviera said, “and let people rest for an hour or so.”
“No,” Savita said, “we should at least get into the woods by nightfall so we can take cover.”
“We’ll have some people gather provisions as we pass through Dolores,” Sachi said, “but I don’t want to stop until we can use the mountains for cover.”
“The more you push them today, the slower they’ll go tomorrow,” Riviera said.
“We’ve already lost a lot of time today,” Sachi said, “as far as I’m concerned, we can slow down a bit once we have cover, but I don’t like this open space.”
“I agree,” I said, “in fact, I think once we get past Dolores, we need to try and pick up the pace until nightfall.”
Riviera grumbled about this, but she gave in. I could tell that she understood the need to find cover, but that this felt like giving up power to Sachi.
And she probably doesn’t like that I sided with Sachi, either.
We continued the march unabated, coming into the small town of Dolores. There was no CSA presence in Dolores, but we found that all long-distance communication was cut off there, too. Sachi took one of the lead companies – as well as Colonel Riviera and a couple of her people – out of the march to gather provisions and found that the people there had no idea what was going on – all they knew was that they couldn’t access the internet and a huge convoy of vehicles had come through earlier in the day.
When Sachi explained it to them, a few decided to join with us, but most didn’t think it would become a threat to them and wanted to stay behind, despite Riviera’s best efforts. The people of Dolores were all subscribed to a tiny, local security firm that only had a handful of people, but they were telling the citizens that the threat was being overblown, and that even if it wasn’t, Dolores was small enough it had nothing to worry about.
With everyone looking to get their own food or use the bathroom – and some even deciding to stay in the small town – it took us another hour to get through. Sachi took her place in the lead again and tried to pick up the pace, but morale fell again after going through the town.
“This is going to happen every time we go through one of these fucking towns, isn’t it?” Manny said as we continued down the road.
“Probably,” Rocky shrugged.
“If people don’t want to keep up, why should we wait for them?” Victor asked.
“You’d just let them die on the side of the road?” a familiar voice asked.
“Who the fuck are you?” Victor said, glaring as she neared us.
“I’m Agent Beatrix Brie of LoC Security,” she said, a tone of pride in her voice. “We’re here to protect people, not just let them freeze to death in the streets.”
“And we’re going to do that by stopping for every fucking booboo and hurt feeling?” Victor asked.
“It’s not worth the argument, Beebee,” another LoC Security agent said, “ain’t nothin’ but thugs amongst those folks.”
“I’ve dealt with worse, Roman,” she said, turning back to the company, “I know you forty-eights are supposed to be scary or whatever, but you don’t frighten me.”
The other LoC Security people looked worried enough for her. Roman signaled for her to come back closer to their group. Brie gave one last glance at Victor before following the order.
“You hear that Victor?” Emma said, “You’re not scary anymore, even with all those face tattoos.”
“No, you are plenty scary,” César said, “The CSA no longer pursues us because they are scared of Victor.”
“Christ, I wish they would show up,” Benito said, looking up at the clear sky, “I’d rather die in a gun fight than from boredom.”
“I’m pretty sure we aren’t in the clear yet,” I said.
Everyone in the company except Álvarez looked to me.
“They specifically targeted my house,” I said, “Colonel Riviera’s house, and Doctor Taylor’s house with drone strikes. They want us dead. And the people of Cortez resisted.”
“What the hell’s so important about you, anyway?” Emma asked, furrowing her brows.
“He’s probably a part of that shit in Africa,” Victor said, “that’s where you from, isn’t it?”
“Nah, man,” Pedro said, “he’s cool. He was doing all that shit with them kids before we got here.”
“Yes,” I said, exchanging a glance with Rocky, “I’ve become a thorn in their side, so they want me out of the picture. My point is, though, it’s probably safest to say that if we aren’t already being pursued, then we will be in the near future. And we have to beat the storm or people are going to drop like flies.”
As the afternoon wore on, we got deeper into the hills and trees, entering the forest. At the same time, the temperature began to drop. The exoskeleton kept me warm enough, but the display said it was now hovering around zero Celsius. The terrain and weather caused us to slow down even more.
Some people stopped walking, setting up camp while everyone else marched on. The tail end of our column passed by a family who had adopted one of the Masaristas, the three of them gathering wood for a fire, watching us walk by.
“Might not be a good idea,” Rocky said as we passed them.
The woman set her handful of twigs onto the pile and turned to him, “we’re cold. We need to warm up.”
“We ain’t gonna be goin’ that much longer tonight,” he said.
“We’re not going another step,” the man said, “and we’re heading back to Dolores in the morning.”
Rocky exhaled slowly, “you should at least go further off the road then.”
“They ain’t comin’ for us,” the man said, staring after me as we continued walking.
The sun set just before five o’clock and we continued marching for another hour before Sachi finally called for a halt. An argument broke out between Sachi, Colonel Riviera, and the other gang leaders about whether or not we should make fires. The pro-fire side eventually won and by seven o’clock the woods around the road was lit up with campfires.
I spotted Akira and Aveena sitting near a fire and approached them. Before even talking to them I could tell they were relieved that the pro-fire side had won the argument. Akira sat on a blanket a foot from the fire, Yukiko on her lap. Aveena sat to her side. Several other people were gathered around the fire with them. All of them wore thick winter coats, gloves and hats, blankets pulled up around them, attempting to keep the frigid temperature at bay.
“We made it about twenty-one miles today,” I said, standing outside the huddled circle, “and we’re now down to nine hundred forty-three people.”
Everyone stayed quiet, too exhausted to say anything. I bent the legs of the exo suit and sat down on the ground behind them. Looking up, I sca
nned across the cloudless sky with my bionic eye for UAVs, but it appeared clear. When I looked forward again, I found Yukiko peering out from her thick hood, looking around her mother at me. Her expression looked almost as exhausted as Laura’s always looked.
This is only the beginning.
“Well, what do we got here?” a familiar voice said.
I looked up, seeing a group of people approach our fire. It was Terrance “Big Terry” Biggs, a baseball cap pulled over his buzzed hair and an M4 slung over his shoulder. The taller man, Sean Rodham, still wore his cowboy boots and Stetson hat, an AR15 on his back and a revolver at his side. The short, stocky Isaac Cooper had a stern, but slightly uncomfortable look on his face, his usually well-groomed hair messed up. Behind the three of them were ten other Crusaders members.
“Ain’t these who they been after this whole time?” one of the Crusaders asked, eyes locked on Akira and Aveena.
The other people around the fire turned their heads to look at who he was talking to, accusing glares overtaking their exhaustion.
“She doesn’t understand you,” I said, “she doesn’t have her tech in.”
“Why’s she even here if she can’t speak the language?” another asked, others grunting in agreement.
“I’d take her over your useless asses,” I said.
“Hey, don’t I know you, kid?” Big Terry asked, squinting at me. “Yeah…yeah. You and that German girl came by our bar and didn’t pay.” He looked back at his people for support. “Way I see it, you still owe me for that little stunt.”
“Little tranny was probably involved in that bombing, too,” Sean added, “maybe if we give ‘em up to the CSA they’ll leave us be.”
“Are you stupid?” I said, “they’re invading east of the mountains. They want to incorporate you.”
“Hell,” Big Terry said, “far as I’m concerned, I’m fine payin’ some taxes if they’ll throw scum like you outta here.”
“They won’t just throw us out,” Aveena spoke up, keeping her eyes on the fire, “they’ll throw out everyone who doesn’t agree with them. Or worse.”
“Maybe ya’ll shoulda left your bodies the way God made ‘em,” Isaac said.
“The damn anarchists are just as bad as the trannies,” Sean said, glowering at Aveena, “to hell with them, too.”
“You could have moved to the CSA,” Aveena said, slowly meeting his gaze.
“We lived here since before the devolution,” Big Terry said, “why should we have to move cuz some stupid children got notions of dissolvin’ the government?”
“This is our judgment for allowin’ you trannies to run around cursin’ the name of the Lord for so long,” Isaac said, “buncha God-hating queers and half animals tryin’ to play God. It’s disgusting.”
Aveena got to her feet, looking angrily at our assailants and said, “Well I’m a queer and a tranny and an anarchist and whatever else you wanna call me. I hope I did bring all of this on you, because fucking you over would make this all worthwhile.”
Aveena stormed off, walking past me. The Crusaders men murmured to each other for a moment and then started chuckling to themselves. Akira looked back to me, eyes wide. I got to my feet and signaled for her to follow. The Crusaders called a few more insults and accusations at us a we started moving away.
Akira and I walked further from the road in the direction Aveena had gone, Yukiko cradled in Akira’s arms. We found Aveena about a hundred feet further up the hill, sitting with her back up against a tree. She had her blanket pulled up over her mouth, only her eyes exposed, wet with tears. Akira hadn’t understood the words being exchanged, but she understood the conversation. She put her back up to the tree and slid down, sitting next to Aveena with Yukiko in her lap.
None of us said anything for some time. I scanned across the horizon, seeing the narrow road at the bottom of the hill, the woods around it dotted with flickering campfires. Most people were curled up in as much insulation as they could, lying near fires, trying to sleep.
“Did you want to make a new fire?” I asked in English.
Aveena stayed quiet for a minute before answering, “No. Sachi said it’s a bad idea, anyway.”
“Are you warm enough?” I asked.
“I’m fine,” she said, lying down on her side on the forest floor.
Akira looked up at me. “We should all probably get some sleep if we’re supposed to march like that again tomorrow.”
“I’ll see if I can get you two some more blankets or something,” I said.
Akira forced a smile, but said nothing as she lay down on her side, curling around her daughter. I turned back around and started down the hill, spotting Rocky about fifty feet down, crouching and looking up at the sky.
“Oh, shit,” he said as I approached, standing up quickly.
“Something wrong?” I asked, quickening my pace, “is someone coming?”
“Uh, no,” Rocky said, “I’m trying to take a shit, but it’s fuckin’ hard to do in these damn suits.”
I stopped, seeing him crouch back down, struggling to accomplish the feat without taking the exoskeleton completely off. I turned away, giving him privacy. It took a few minutes of him grunting and cursing before he said, “Christ, next time I’m just takin’ the whole damn thing off.”
I turned back, seeing him approaching me, helmet off, a sheepish grin on his face.
“You wouldn’t happen to know if there are any more blankets around, would you?” I asked, both of us turning back down the hill to where his company setup camp.
“You cold?” he asked, “Fuck, man, I’m sweatin’. Of course, that might be cuz of that epic struggle there, but these suits do a good job of-”
“Not for me,” I said, “for Akira and Aveena,” I signaled back up the hill.
“They decide not to stick around the fire?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I said as we neared the bottom of the hill, “and they’re going to get cold up there.”
“Everything come out alright?” Manny asked when we arrived back with the company.
“He was probably up there masturbating,” Olivia said, lying on the ground with her helmet on, visor open.
“Wouldn’t take me so long if you’d come join me,” Rocky said to her as he sat down on the ground, tossing the toilet paper roll at her.
“We don’t need to add crimes against humanity to this invasion,” Olivia said.
“Quiet,” I said.
“Fuck you, kid,” Olivia said.
“No. Something’s coming.”
“What is it?” Rocky asked, getting back to his feet.
“IA UAV,” I said, “to the southwest. Probably back at Dolores.”
Rocky had his helmet on by then, everyone else following suit.
“Sachi,” he said over the radio, “come in.”
A moment later she replied, “What is it?”
“Eshe sees a UAV to the southwest,” he said.
“Confirmed,” Manny said, looking in the same direction.
“Copy,” Sachi said, “we need to get these fires out.”
Without missing a beat, the entire company took off into the woods, spreading out amongst the people. Shouts rang up as Sachi’s people stamped out people’s fires. I made my way back up the hill to where Aveena and Akira were. Akira was already sitting back up, looking down the hill through the trees at the commotion, but Aveena still lay on her side on the ground, the blanket curled around her.
“UAV spotted,” I whispered first in Japanese and then in English.
Neither of them gave much response. I exhaled slowly, turning around and sitting on the ground near them, looking to the southwest, watching the distant UAV make circles in the air. I couldn’t hear if there was anything happening, but I could only imagine that Dolores was now occupied by CSA forces.
That means they won’t be far behind us when we start walking again.
As another migraine came on, the seed of doubt about not driving this distance sprouted into
delirious dreams of a conspiracy to get everyone here killed or captured. It made the night’s sleep more exhausting than the day’s march.
Chapter 53
Getting people up the next day took a lot longer than Sachi’s people were comfortable with, which put them in a bad mood. It almost came to blows between Sachi and the leader of Cortez Crucible when she insisted that we march in the woods, off the road, in order to avoid satellite and UAV reconnaissance. Sachi’s argument ultimately prevailed, but it left a bitter taste in a lot of people’s mouths.
“This tranny Jap shows up and starts givin’ orders,” Big Terry complained over his breakfast as I started back up the hill. His group of Crusaders looked up at us. “I was in the Marines,” he said, “what the fuck does she know about combat?”
“I hear ya, Big Terry,” Sean said, “no way I’m walkin’ through these damn woods in the cold like this. That stupid bitch gonna get us killed.”
“Nobody’s forcing you to,” I said, allowing myself to fall into their trap.
“Maybe not,” Big Terry said, “but she’s fooling all these other folks. My people ain’t about to die for the tranny Jap’s lies.”
“A false prophet,” Isaac said, nodding slowly.
“You people think because you toppled the Mexican cartels that you’re saviors now,” Big Terry continued, “being more violent than the cartels don’t make you the good guys.”
I shrugged, signaling down to the road, “Feel free to take whatever way you want to go wherever you want.”
He squinted at me, “you gettin’ uppity with me, boy?”
“We all know that this is miserable,” I said, “we don’t need your bitching to accompany it.”
Big Terry and a few of his followers got up from the ground.
“Why don’t you come on out of that exo and talk to me like that,” he said.
I exhaled slowly, shaking my head, and started walking back up the hill toward where Aveena and Akira had slept, taking food to them.
“Yeah, just keep goin’ up to yer faggot friends,” one of the Crusaders said.
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