by Chris Bostic
Spotted Owl gestured to the river below. It looked no different than what we had hiked along behind the Visitor Center, other than a few giant boulders as big as Volkswagens out in the middle.
Rather than dawdle, we slid right down the slope, and marched off into the water. The cold assaulted me again.
“We’re going straight across,” Spotted Owl said. “You’re gonna get really wet this time.”
“More like you might get hypothermia,” I told Katelyn, and I wasn’t joking.
“Too late,” Mouse said, and skipped on ahead. She sunk in to her shoulders before the rest of us were up to their knees.
The frigid water was a major wake up call for the weaker members of the group. Rather than sapping their strength, I was pleased to see that they almost woke up a little. However, it did no favors for my aching chest.
Though only waist deep, the cold still took what little breath I had away. I struggled to push air into my lungs, which didn’t help as I tried to hurry to get across. With great effort, I made it to the boulders, and rested for the briefest of moments in the freezing, torturous river.
And then I heard the helicopters.
CHAPTER 37
The others started to bolt, but I had a different idea. Mustering all the air I could, I screamed, “Stay in the river! Get under the water!”
“Are you crazy?” Mouse yelled back. “We’ve gotta split. I’m runnin’.”
“Then do it,” I said. “We’re staying here.” I looked to Katelyn, who agreed with me. She encouraged her parents to do the same. I turned to find Austin.
“Sorry, kid,” he told Mouse. “I’m not running anymore.”
I put the line of boulders between the helicopters and us, and crouched down in the water until I was nearly flat. Once submerged to the neck, it took only milliseconds for the cold to clamp around my chest. It sapped my ability to speak. My heart seized up like the motor on my dad’s favorite old Buick.
The roaring sound of helicopters built from the way we had come. The choppers would be on us any second, possibly scanning with the thermal imaging. I had no idea if the water was deep enough to mask our heat signatures, but thought we might have a chance coupled with the boulders. Besides, I’d tried running before. Austin had been correct. We’d had our big battle and won. It was time to hide and live to fight another day.
“We’ll need to dunk under before they pass,” I told the others, finding my voice.
“Awesome,” John said with chattering teeth. He didn’t have to wait for long.
The others cowered behind the other boulders and cursed as they sank themselves lower, though I still wasn’t sure if Mouse was among them. Fortunately, the rocks were perched on a drop off, right at the deepest part of the river. With a shiver, everyone bobbed until only our heads were showing.
Out of the long valley, helicopters streaked to the north.
“Now!” I yelled.
I sucked in the biggest breath I could, gave a thumbs up to Katelyn, and sank under the water surface.
My chest burned even worse than before. I tried to ignore it, but the pressure built up until I could take it no more. The choppers roared overhead, beating waves on the surface.
Rockets flew and impacted somewhere up on land. The muffled blasts shook the river, making it hum with angry energy.
I forced myself to stay underwater. Stars danced behind my eyelids, almost as bright as the rocket blasts.
Finally, right when I thought I might pass out, the helicopters flew on.
I popped to the surface, gasping for air with lungs that thoroughly resisted the effort. It took a moment, but I eventually managed to suck in a decent breath. It reeked of high-explosives and acrid smoke, and drew my attention to the bank we’d left behind.
The Humvees spewed dark clouds of smoke as their rubber tires burned.
“Thank God for the river. Guess the engines were throwing off a heat signature,” I mumbled. Looking around, I raised my voice. “Everyone okay?”
“Fine,” Katelyn answered. “Even Mouse.”
I smiled to see the shivering girl climbing out on the far bank. I wouldn’t be smiling for long when the cool night air hit my wet skin, but I would soon be hiking a little heat back into my tired body.
“I think we’re in the clear.” A soaking Spotted Owl clapped me on the shoulder with a meaty paw. “Good work…again.”
Once I regained my strength, I said, “We make a good team when we stick together.”
“Except for that punk James.” Austin scowled. “Think he can rat us out?”
“We’ll be okay,” Spotted Owl said quickly. “He doesn’t have a clue where our camp is at. But we’ll need to steer clear of Tow String. He knows about that.” Spotted Owl pointed off to the far bank. “We’ll cut over to the highway real quick, and get back to my camp up the Mingus Trail. He won’t have a clue about any of that.”
John growled, “And if I ever see that punk again…”
I tuned him out to reflect on the night. With John talking about revenge, I immediately thought about my own situation. I’d killed a man.
“Zach, you okay?” Katelyn whispered.
I erased the frown. “Just thinking about tonight and everything that went down.”
“It went pretty darn well, I think.” She paused as if collecting her thoughts, but rambled anyway. “I mean a lot of you guys got hurt, some really bad. But it was kind of a successful mission…and at least we got Spotty’s people back. We’re in the clear now.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“It sounds like we’re home free,” she said. “Did I hear something wrong?”
“Not that, babe.” I sighed. “I just can’t get that guy outta my head. One second he’s wrestling with John, and the next I blow a hole the size of Texas through him.”
“Oh.” She quieted, but for only a couple seconds. “You know you did the right thing.”
“It doesn’t quite seem that way. I mean I didn’t want John to get hurt, but there’s no pride or joy or whatever in killing a man.”
“There’s not supposed to be,” she said. “He was a thug anyway, you know? Someone who sat there and beat the heck outta Spotty’s guys…and tried to kill my brother.”
“I totally get that.” I looked to the sky and noticed a faint glow over the eastern mountains far behind us. Daybreak. The smoking remains of the Visitor Center were farther south in the valley of death. “I just can’t look at it as revenge. I won’t…ever. I pretty much wanted to puke right after I saw the dude fall.”
Katelyn squeezed my hand as we stood at the edge of the river waiting for the others to catch up. “It’s okay, babe. Let it out.”
“Seeing his blood pooling on the floor was the worst.” I took a deep breath and focused in on the hint of sunrise. “You’re right, though. If getting involved in this rebellion or whatever meant I had to kill someone, then I guess it’s best that it was some useless piece of crap like that guy.”
“It’s necessary sometimes. And it won’t change you. Not in a bad way.” She smiled at me. “Not the guy I love. It won’t change you at all.”
“I wouldn’t change you either.”
“Well, thanks.” She hopped up on the bank and offered me a hand to pull me up.
“And thank you, you know…for everything.”
I looked down the river and picked out the smoke rising into the lightening sky. Thinking back to all I’d been through, I decided Mom’s devotion to prepping hadn’t done much to get me prepared to free hostages, much less lose my father. Nor had it helped me deal with the aftermath of killing another human being. But on second thought, there may have been an unexpected benefit.
The prepper lifestyle had laid the foundation for self-reliance. I hadn’t seen that back in my cozy suburban house, but it had all been some kind of strengthening, spiritual journey of self-deprivation. Whatever fortitude that had grown inside me seemed to make the burden the slightest bit easier to bear, particularly wheneve
r coupled with my mom’s well-timed words. And Katelyn’s.
Those two women continued to play giant-sized roles in my life. We still needed to go back and deliver the dreadful news to the third. Maddie. She’d need to lean on all of us, the same way we had leaned on each other.
Katelyn bumped me with her shoulder. “Let’s go home. We’ve got some healing to do.”
“Home, huh? Yeah.” I bobbed my head, realizing the mountains were going to be our home for a while longer. But maybe not as long as it had seemed a few days before. “The whole world has some healing to do.”
Katelyn nodded. “Yeah, it does.”
With everyone regrouped and Spotted Owl ready to lead, we set off in a slow, steady hike toward the waiting, shadowy hills. The darkness welcomed me like it hadn’t before. My feet fell into a tired rhythm, and before I knew it we’d reached the highway.
Spotted Owl didn’t waste any time. After a quick look both ways, we hurried across and into the dense vegetation. In no time, we worked our way out of the valley and kept on climbing.
The early morning sun grew in brightness and warmth as we hiked, painting the purple clouds with a soft, pinkish underbelly.
“It’s a new dawn,” I whispered to Katelyn, feeling more than just relief at the daylight. Despite the horrific loss of my father, something inside me had definitely changed over the last couple days. A mission had clarified, and a fire had been lit.
“Yep. Take it as a sign,” she said. “It’s daybreak for a whole new world.”
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A huge Thank You for taking the time to read Shadow Warriors, which happens to be part of my favorite series. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed playing in this world.
If you are looking for something with a deeper dive into SciFi, but also with dystopian underpinnings, then I certainly encourage you to take a look at The Savage Horde Series. If Scifi isn’t so much your thing, then you can’t go wrong with another nation collapse series set in an entirely different, thousand lakes, dark atmosphere. That one is The Northwoods Trilogy.
Should dystopian oddly not be your favorite genre, then I can offer up a trio of standalone adventure novels. While not a big departure from my other books, wilderness survival stories such as Game Changer, Murder Cove, and Creeper Falls offer up teenage outdoor suspense adventure with new characters, exciting storylines, and unique settings.
But first, before you cast this book aside, I would be grateful if you would take just a quick minute out of your busy life to leave a review. Good or bad, I greatly appreciate any reviews left on Amazon, Goodreads, and anywhere else you please. Reviews help other readers decide whether or not to check out a story, so they can really help get this book noticed by others. I hope you agree with me that this book deserves all the notice it can get. In an oversaturated market, I hope you found its redeeming qualities.
Lastly, a big Thank You to all my returning readers! This book is my eleventh published novel. I’m past ten and pushing into double digits! I finally made it, only six years after starting this writing adventure. Huge thanks to everyone for all your support and kind words!
To connect with Chris Bostic
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Other books by Chris Bostic
The Bushwhackers Series:
Book 1, Prepper Mountain
The Savage Horde Series:
Book 1, Savage Hills
Book 2, Cold Valley
Book 3, Complex Three
The Northwoods Trilogy:
Book 1, Fugitives from Northwoods
Book 2, Rebellion in Northwoods
Book 3, Return to Northwoods
Standalone Novels:
Game Changer
Murder Cove
Creeper Falls