by Stasia Black
Laughter then. A laugh he used to know as well as his own.
“Is that your girlfriend? Some MC bitch? Really, Eric? What would Connie say? And what sort of example is that for little Sophia?”
Eric swung around again.
The voice didn’t sound right. It was like it was a recording, coming over a speaker… or a phone.
Eric looked down and there it was, a sat phone. It was on the ground, several feet away from one of the fallen bikers who’d been killed from the blast of the grenade David had thrown out the door.
Eric strode toward it and snatched it off the ground as David got everyone moving to where they’d stashed the second van.
“Aw, look at you all scurrying away like little mice,” said the voice over the sat phone. Arnold Travis’s voice. “Isn’t that cute.”
So Jonathan hadn’t been able to turn the satellite away from viewing this area before they’d been forced to abort the mission after all. Wonderful.
“And any moment my men will be moving those satellites back into position and all of these people will have died for nothing. I look forward to seeing you face to face again. There’s so much unresolved conflict between us. It’s not healthy, you know. Isn’t that what they say? Or what they used to say, back when people used to sit around on couches all day and talk about their feelings.”
“Well you wouldn’t know anything about that,” Eric growled. “Feelings. Human emotion. Not your thing.”
Arnold tut tut tutted at him. “You’ve got it backwards. You were always the robot. Work, work, work. I’d try to get you to lighten up and have some fun, but nooooo, the great Eric Wolford always had to take everything so damn seriously.”
“I can’t believe I never saw what a fucking sociopath you were.”
“That hurts, friend. Does little Sophia know you’d say such a thing to the man you named her godfather?”
“Don’t you fucking say her name again.”
“Sophia?”
“I’m gonna—”
“Don’t you want to hear about Jacob’s Well? It really is a lovely little town. My first order as President was to secure that bastion of rebel sentiment. It’s now the headquarters for all my Central Texas operations. It’s quaint. I can see why it would appeal to your country sensibilities. You always did like to consider yourself one of the common folk, didn’t you?”
Eric bit his tongue. Literally bit it. He might want to hurl the phone as far as he could throw it, but Arnold was giving up valuable information without even realizing it. Even if he was overexaggerating, this was the most information they’d had about what was going on in Jacob’s Well since most of the men and women with families had evacuated.
“Of course,” Arnold went on, “the public floggings in the town square do dampen the festive spirit a bit, but they’ll learn to stay in line with the new laws soon enough. Some good citizens were even nice enough to offer up the location of several females their neighbors had attempted to hide from the authorities. That of course is an offense punishable by death, so we’ve had a few hangings as w—”
Travis cut off mid-sentence and Eric looked down at the phone. The light was still on but the connection had been lost.
“Let’s go,” David said, jerking the back doors of the van open and gesturing for everyone to get inside. Billy and another soldier helped Drea up and in.
Eric hurried the last few feet, pausing only for a few moments. “Is this sat phone glitchy? It just cut out—”
“We killed all the communication satellites. Sat phones won’t work now.”
Eric felt his eyebrows shoot up as he went to climb into the van but David stopped him with an arm across his chest.
“How long have you and Arnold Travis been so chummy?”
Eric looked down. “Long story. I’ll tell you later.”
When he looked up, it was to David’s fierce glare. “I’ll hold you to that.”
Eric nodded but only after giving the General a hard look of his own. “And you’ll explain what the hell you mean about those satellites? The Council never talked about doing anything with the communications satellites.”
David inclined his head and Eric climbed up into the back of the van.
David slammed the back door shut and went around to the driver’s seat. The next minute they were lurching forward, before Eric had even gotten a chance to clip his seatbelt into place.
He looked to Drea, belted in between Billy and Jonathan, but her eyes were closed, head back like she was sleeping. By the rapid heartbeat thrumming in her neck and the way she kept swallowing rapidly, he knew there was no way she was, though.
But if she needed to shut them all out right now, that was fine. Everyone dealt with the aftermath of battle differently. Some people, if you tried to crowd them and get them to talk about shit right away, it just made it worse. And what she’d just been through was already fucking traumatic enough.
Jesus, that bastard with the rifle had been aiming right for Drea. It wasn’t random. For them to target a woman like that instead of trying to capture her to sell, they’d had to know exactly who she was.
And it was clear from the phone call that it had been Arnold calling the shots on this live as it was happening.
The question was, did he target Drea because of how she’d taken over the Black Skulls compound in College Station or because of what she meant to Eric? No, Jesus, there was no way he could even know about his relationship with her.
You will see me again, brother. I promise you that.
Eric closed his eyes against the memories but they rushed in anyway.
Back on that terrible day, after Connie died, Arnie had dug a grave for Connie in the backyard while Eric stayed upstairs with Sophia. After a quick, unceremonial burial, Eric and Sophia had climbed into Arnie’s truck and all three of them sped away from the house where Eric and his family had created so many memories. Eric covered Sophia’s eyes as they went downstairs and they went out the back door so they wouldn’t pass by the living room but she was ten. Not a little kid. She knew why her mother wasn’t coming with them.
She cried the whole way down to the outer reaches of northern San Antonio where Arnie’s militia buddies were shacked up.
Arnie found a safe place for Eric and Sophia, a cabin separate from the rest of the militia guys. But they were only there a few days when the lights went out and their computers and tablets died, even though they’d still had plenty of battery.
Cars wouldn’t start.
Backup generators were dead.
Everyone had heard rumors of government trials of EMP weapons after the discovery of inert electromagnetic pulse technology, but that’s all it had ever been. Rumor. Until it wasn’t.
They didn’t even hear about the nuclear attacks until a day later when refugees fleeing south Austin talked about seeing the mushroom cloud and running.
But by then, Eric and Arnie already had a plan.
Because the one group of people who take rumor and whispers of government conspiracy seriously?
Independent militia men in places like Texas. This was the exact sort of thing they’d been preparing decades for.
They’d stockpiled ancient antique vehicles that had entirely mechanical components and gotten them running again. There was barely an electric self-driving car in sight other than the one Eric and Arnie had arrived in.
And guns.
They had a lot of guns.
Plus men to shoot the guns.
Looking back, it was naïve of Eric not to see what Arnie had planned. But he was still so grief-stricken over Connie.
He did think it was odd that Arnie held so much sway over the militia men. He seemed to be their leader in fact. How exactly he’d managed that when he’d been stationed overseas just as often as Eric had, Eric didn’t know. And didn’t think to question.
After all, it was Arnie.
This was the same guy who’d been there for him when his dad died.
The same gu
y who he’d gotten drunk off his ass with and had a pizza-eating contest in college that saw them both eating so much they took turns hugging the dorm room toilet off and on all night.
And this was the same guy who’d risked everything to bust Eric out of going to military jail, for Christ’s sake.
They were closer than best friends.
They were brothers.
So when Arnie talked about heading down to San Antonio to see if they could recruit more soldiers to their cause right after the EMP attack, Eric was immediately enthusiastic. They could really build a safe community. A place where Sophia could grow up protected.
“For sure, man,” Arnie said. “And we could make the rules because we’d be the ones in charge.”
Eric nodded. Yes. He’d seen firsthand overseas what happened after war and disasters created power vacuums. Someone always stepped in to take power and whoever that person was shaped the future of the country or region, for good or bad. Mostly for bad, because the people who were thinking about swooping in to take advantage of power vacuums were the rich and the corrupt.
But if he and Arnie could get control, well, they could use their power for good. To protect people. To keep people safe.
“Let’s go,” Eric said. “Now.” The more he thought about it the more he was sure it was the right path. The only path, maybe, if he truly wanted to honor his promise to Connie and protect their daughter. How long could they really expect to stay safe in some flimsy cabin in the woods? Sophia would grow up and need more than just a house and four walls. He wanted her to have everything. Friends. School. Maybe even marriage some day.
But Jesus, even thinking such things after the world had just been destroyed, it seemed beyond impossible.
Unless he remade the world in his image.
So he climbed into the hundred year old trucks along with Arnie and his militia buddies, leaving Sophia with one of the few women at the militia encampment, kissing her and promising he’d make everything better soon.
And down they went to Lackland Airforce and Army Base.
Eric expected they’d meet some resistance at the gates. But the gates weren’t down. There were no military police at the guard station either.
San Antonio hadn’t been hit by any bombs but the usually bustling city was almost silent. Cars were stopped everywhere and occasionally they’d see people, usually darting here or there, but it was fucking creepy.
It hadn’t really sunk in until then. That they were witnessing the end of the world.
Eric and Arnie just looked at each other as they drove the truck down W. Military Dr. At every military base Eric had ever been on, there was a constant hive of activity. Troops running exercises, drills, heading to the mess hall, vehicles going this way and that.
But this… quiet?
Had all the troops been called out to help deal with the disasters around the state? They only knew about Austin being bombed, but there could be more cities. Both Houston and Dallas had larger populations than Austin.
Arnie held up his fist and the lead van they were in stopped. He pushed open the door and jumped out. “Come on,” he told Eric.
Eric followed him out.
“You,” he pointed to the driver of the second van. “Drive him wherever he wants to go.”
Then he turned to Eric and spoke more quietly. “You go one way and I’ll go another. Let’s see if we can find anyone left who wants to join us.”
Eric nodded. He was intimidated at the thought of trying to convince anyone of anything apart from Arnie, but then he remembered Sophia back at camp waiting for him. Counting on him.
“Here, take this.” Arnie pressed a gun into his hands and Eric looked up at him in shock.
“What? I’m not taking that!”
“Are you fucking kidding me? Did you or did you not see everything we passed on the way here? It’s a new fucking world, man. You gotta stay safe. Plus, we’re on a military base. These fuckers are gonna have guns.”
“Exactly,” Eric said, exasperated. “What would we do if someone walked into a base in Kandahar packing? We’d mow him down right where he stood. We’re just here to talk to these guys. To give them options.”
“Jesus Christ,” Arnie swore. “For once in your life stop being such a fucking boy scout. I’m just trying to look out for you.”
Eric took a deep breath. “I know.” He put an arm on Arnie’s shoulder. “I know, okay. Same back at ya. Having you end up full of holes wouldn’t exactly be my idea of a good day, ya know? You’re the only brother I’ve ever had.”
For a second, Eric saw that comment hit. Arnie nodded and swallowed, but then he rolled his eyes and shrugged Eric’s hand off his shoulder. “All right, enough with the mushy shit. Let’s go get this done.”
“You,” Arnie snapped at a militia guy who’d been sitting in the passenger side of the second van, “move outta the way. My boy here’s got shotgun.”
The guy hurried to climb in the back to make room for Eric. If they objected to Arnie ordering them around or Eric suddenly being his right hand man, it didn’t show on their faces. Then again, they seemed to follow Arnie with a sort of blind loyalty Eric didn’t understand.
Arnie’s van went left so Eric ordered his right. And it wasn’t much further before he finally came upon some life.
In the Community Center, he saw a bunch of people milling around so he ordered the van to a stop.
Shit. He actually had to do something now. He had to say something. He wasn’t good at speaking. He was good at repairing bridges and roads.
But it only took one blink of his eyes for the image of Connie’s battered and broken body to flash through his head.
He shoved open the door of the van and jumped to the ground. Soldiers and Airmen lounged on couches or at tables, some playing cards and Ping-Pong, others talking, some just sleeping. Alcohol was openly being chugged all around.
What the—
It was ten in the morning. Had the whole world gone fucking crazy?
“A-ten-hut!” Eric called at the top of his voice.
He might as well have shot a Taser into the ass of every man there, they all got to their feet so fast.
Even the ones on the floor sleeping. To a man. They were all on their feet, hands at their sides, staring straight forward. And they were all men. There were no female cadets in sight—they’d no doubt been taken by Xterminate or the frenzy that followed, or maybe, if they were lucky, they’d gone into hiding.
“Parade rest,” Eric called, and all eyes came his way.
Which was when he realized that he was wearing fatigues. All the militia guys did. But he didn’t want to pretend he was something he wasn’t.
“I am First Lieutenant Eric Wolford. I served ten years overseas, one tour in Syria, another in Central Africa, and was most recently in Northern Pakistan. I’ve come back home to find the country I love in tatters, my wife…” He paused, swallowing back emotion before continuing on in a voice that nonetheless shook, “my wife dead, not of the virus, but of men’s base and monstrous violence.”
He took another step further into the community center. “This is not the America I fought and put my life on the line for. But it still can be.”
“What the fuck you talkin’ about?” one guy called out. “You take a look outside? Fuckin’ apocalypse out there.”
“Houston and Austin have been blown off the fucking map,” called another man.
“Shit’s like the rapture, ‘cept Jesus forgot my ass.”
Laughter at that.
“Enough,” Eric said. “It’s not the end of the world. I’ve got a ten-year-old little girl at home that proves it’s not.”
That got their attention.
“And I intend to make a life for her that’s not about hiding in a hole moaning about the end of the world.”
He took several more steps forward, walking back and forth now so he could get a better look at everyone in the room. So he could look each of them in the eye. Really
take their measure and give them the opportunity to do the same with him.
“I’m going to be creating a community where it’s safe for her to grow up. A community where the laws reflect the values that each of us signed up to the armed forces to protect. Maybe America’s gone to hell. We’ll remake her. We’ll make a better country. One without corruption.”
“Man, you’re talkin’ bullshit dreams.”
But Eric just stubbornly shook his head. “I’m not. We’ll start with a town. A small town in the Hill Country. One that has a good source of water. From what I’ve seen, I can’t imagine any of these communities not welcoming a force that would come in and restore law and order. Obviously the government isn’t doing shit for them. So we will.”
The more he talked, the more heads around the room started nodding.
“Our CO just fucking flipped out,” said one of the guys in the middle of the crowd. “When all the electrical shit cut out and Command stopped getting orders from the higher ups. They just started stealing shit and running.”
“’Especially when we heard ‘bout the bombs. Everyone was sure San Antonio’d be next.”
Nodding from all around the room.
“But you stayed,” Eric said.
“Got nowhere else to go.”
More nodding.
“My wife and sister died,” said a nearby soldier. “I figured if I stayed on base, maybe I could do some good somewhere if they ever got their thumbs out of their asses. Fat fucking chance.”
Eric jumped in. “I’m giving you that opportunity. Our government failed us. Where’s the national guard? The police? Who protected my wife from the mobs? No one.”
He walked back to the other side of the room. “It has to start with someone. The rebuilding. Bringing order and sanity back in the midst of this madness. Let’s start with us. It’s not the end of the world. Or fuck, maybe it is. But it’s also the beginning of a new one.”
The nodding was becoming even more emphatic now and one man, a soldier, moved forward to stand beside Eric. “This bastard makes a lot of sense. And what else are we gonna do? Stay around here twiddling our dicks? Even if our CO comes back, any of you wanna take orders again from a dipshit coward like that?”