Killswitch Chronicles- The Complete Anthology

by G. R. Carter

  Wasson didn't reply to the question. Instead he asked his own. “Why were they still here?” He shrugged towards the lifeless body behind them.

  “The Jiji fighters came first, killed whoever fought back, then moved on. Then the clerics came, giving survivors a chance to convert. Said they'd be given enough to eat and their kids would live. Some accepted the offer, and they were taken away. Then the last group came in.” She unconsciously looked at the body.

  “They were looking for food, supplies, that sort of thing. Had a long line of wagons taking things back to the river. Made all of us who wouldn't convert give up all our food…made us take it to their barges on the river. Worked us all night, even the old folks and little children.” She took a deep breath and rolled her watering eyes up towards the roof. “Some just died right there. If anyone fell and couldn't get back up the clerics would just come over and kill them. They took everything from us…”

  “The horde keeps all their food and supplies in barges on the river?” Wasson asked.

  “I guess. I'm not really sure.”

  Olmstead looked at Wasson. A plan came to them simultaneously, a way for the few to disable the many.

  “Sister, do you know of any other demons here? Any other survivors?”

  “I don't know. The two you…” she paused to catch her breath, “…those two tied me up and left me back here when the food was all loaded. Saved me for later, I guess. I'm not sure where they took the rest. Can we go look for them?”

  Wasson tried to keep his face blank, but his silence confirmed what she feared. She put her head in her hands and cried. “Why?” She sobbed for a moment, then said louder “Why did they do this? We weren’t hurting anyone!”

  Ridgway returned, holding two blood-spattered rifles in his hands. “Found two more demons down by the river. That's all of them. There is a boat still tied at the dock.”

  He nodded to his Brother. “The Creator gave us a plan.”

  “I know what you're going to do. I want to help,” the woman interrupted as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

  “I'm sorry, sister, but you'll slow us down.”

  “What are you going to do, leave me here? Everyone's dead! What if there's another group of Jijis is coming?” she asked sternly.

  “There's not. If they aimed to keep this territory, they would have just converted everyone and left them here with supplies and a cleric. But they took everything. Killed everyone. They're not coming back.”

  “Look, mister, you saved me, and I’m grateful. Please don't leave me behind to die now. I can handle a weapon, and I've killed before. Even before tonight. Give me a chance, I don't ever want to feel helpless again.”

  The three Trackers exchanged glances, discussing the matter without a sound.

  Wasson finally announced the consensus. “Until we find other survivors, you may come with us. After that, we will send you east, into the interior. The Red Hawks will help you.”

  Deciding that was probably the best deal she was going to get from these strange creatures, she agreed. She began to rise, but stopped, regaining awareness of her tattered clothing. Ridgway tossed her a set of women's clothes that she seemed to recognize.

  The tears began to well up again but Wasson grabbed her arm just firm enough not to hurt. “What is your name, sister?”

  “Chloe.”

  “Let the dead have their peace, Miss Chloe. Our worries concern them no more. They wait for us in Heaven while we toil here on earth.” He held her stare until she nodded back, strengthened more by his tone than his words.

  The Trackers left the barn to let her dress privately, crouching again in their council formation just a few yards outside. They scanned the wrecked village silently until Ridgway finally spoke.

  “Brother, this plan is sound. I believe we will cause the horde considerable harm if we destroy their supplies.”

  “Agreed. But I sense reservation in your voice?”

  “Bringing her along is a bad idea.”

  “What would you have me do?”

  “I don't have an answer for that,” Ridgway replied.

  Wasson sat in silence for a moment. Brother Cobden had been right. They couldn't save everyone every time. But he wasn't leaving this woman behind. She had lost everything, yet still showed strength in the face of destruction. No, I will not leave her to fate, he told himself.

  “Then we will do the right thing, Brothers. Trust the Creator to make his plan known. Until then, she stays with us.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Peoria Province

  Beardstown Outpost (on the banks of the Illinois River)

  “I can assure you, I’ve never heard anyone call Beardstown the ‘Promised Land.’ Not even the locals who’ve spent their whole lives here.”

  Captain Oliver and Levi Marshall both laughed nervously, not just at Lori Hamilton’s words, but at the look of bewilderment on her face.

  “You’re sure you don’t have a problem with us being here?” Oliver asked her.

  “I promise I don’t. My brother sends me to places important enough to rebuild, that’s what I’ve been doing here: getting it ready for someone. I have no earthly idea why these places are important. Somehow that man can see things in ways different than anyone else.” She pushed back the broad-brimmed hat she wore and wiped her forehead with a handkerchief. “I quit asking him why a long time ago, and he never asks me how I get things done.”

  Oliver noticed the family resemblance immediately. The eyes, the sharp nose and high cheekbones. One part Nordic, one part Native American, plus plenty of others just for variety. A true American—no, wait, that wasn’t the right term anymore. Whatever anyone called themselves these days, though, you could spot family members a lot quicker. He tried not to look again, but he couldn’t help himself.

  Levi briefly broke his friend’s spell. “What will the locals think of all us Buckles a-movin’ in?” he asked.

  “I’d ask if y’all could fight, but I already know that’s truth.” Her accent was more Shawnee than Okaw, maybe from spending so much time away from the capital province. “That’ll be right important to the folks here. Guess we’ll spin it as reinforcements they’re always askin’ for.”

  Oliver finally found his voice. “I’m sorry, Miss Hamilton. Reinforcements? You make it sound as if the war is going on here. I wasn’t aware of any ARK activity this far east.”

  Lori looked at him oddly. “First off, Captain, don’t call me anything but Lori, please. Second, I’d guess no one gave you the entire lowdown of what goes on out here in these parts.” Oliver blushed and shook his head.

  She continued. “Naw, there’s no ARK hereabouts. They got bases up along the big river, but the Illinois River was all left to the Republic to deal with. Alex thinks this will be just as big a province as the Okaw itself someday. We got the river—fish are starting to come back—coal, timber, decent soil…but we also got ditchers. Wild men like no other you’ve dealt with.”

  “We’ve fought their type before,” Levi said defensively. “I worked on the Mississippi, there were nests of them all over.”

  “Not talkin’ about nests, Levi. Nests can be destroyed. There’s something a lot more dangerous out west of here, between us and the area ARK used to control. Lot’s changed since you patrolled up north, Captain. ARK’s been pulling out, I guess they need the men other places. The ditchers now got hundreds of miles to roam.”

  “You can’t hunt them down? Surely those Razorbacks of yours could crush them.”

  “Sure they could, if you could catch ‘em. Razorbacks are slow, and the Turtles we got here in town? Well, the roads get worse out there in the wild every year. Brother Sam brings out some Raptors for us every once in a while, but we don’t have the fuel or the pilots to waste now. Everything we got is on the borders, fighting off bad guys in uniforms. No, my Buckle friends, this is what we do out here. We fight for the Republic in our own ways. We study old cavalry tactics, not tank warfare. We fight with hor
ses and cold steel, not just lead.”

  Levi and Oliver stole a look at one another. Lori caught it and laughed, slapping Oliver on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, Captain. We got some boats around here too, ditchers don’t attack them much. Most times they’re kinda like snakes: you avoid them, they’ll avoid you.” She put her hand up to her chin in thought. “What you really gotta look out for are the lions and tigers. They don’t have any problem at all jumpin’ ya. Just don’t get too close to the other bank of the river.”

  Without acknowledging the look on the two men’s faces, Lori turned and walked towards the city gate. “Quit worryin’, the problems here are no different than what you’ve both faced before. Not like you didn’t have lions down in your parts, right? Those things are all over the place. Wish I could get our livestock to reproduce like the big kitties can. Least they don’t seem to like swimming much. Got ’em pretty well wiped out over here. Same with the Ditchers; as long as we don’t have to go over the bridge, we don’t see much of them.”

  “Why won’t we have to go across the bridge?” Levi asked.

  “There’s so much land here, it’ll be generations before it gets too crowded again. By that time the tick and mosquito diseases will probably have thinned the ditchers enough we can move over without too much problem.”

  “Founder Hamilton said he’d like for us to build river bases and ports along the bank. At least on our side, I guess,” Levi told her.

  She thought for a moment. “Oh, right. He’s fortified the Illinois River up north to defend against the Caliphate. Figures the river is a natural barrier to them invading. Like a ‘liquid wall,’ I think he called it.”

  “We’re far away from the Caliphate.”

  She stopped and tapped a finger to her head. “Remember what I said. My brother thinks five, ten steps ahead of everyone else. Swear sometimes he doesn’t even know why, he just knows. God Himself has granted Alex a gift. I’m confident he’ll use that to keep us safe.” She looked over towards where the river slowly rolled past. “Naw, fellas, if Brother Alex says build forts along the river, it’s ‘cause he’s seen something. Feels something coming.”

  She seemed to be building a checklist in her head of things that needed accomplished. A different urgency was in her voice. “How many of your folks are moving here?” she asked.

  “About a thousand,” Levi replied. “Some chose to stay in Shawnee.”

  She nodded, still in thought. “Good, good. They’ll be here soon? We’ve got some things need doing right away. My team here has identified enough individual housing for about five hundred. Alex said each family will get land to build Fortress Farms, but that’ll take a while. Right now, we need to get’em settled inside the walls. Otherwise they’ll be defenseless for a bit.”

  She started walking towards the city gates again. They began to creak and groan at the strain of heavy metal scraping concrete. The soaring concrete grain towers of the town’s heart had been the only structures visible above the twenty-foot rammed earth and stone walls, but now they could see the brick and wood buildings inside. Oliver swallowed hard; the town bore a striking resemblance to his adopted home.

  “Looks like Mt. Horab a little,” Levi confirmed.

  Oliver muttered agreement while walking along a brick pathway. Out loud he said, “How many people live here?”

  “About five hundred permanently inside the walls. Another five hundred or so on farm,” Lori answered.

  “That’s a pretty big number.”

  Lori agreed. “Yeah, and we do a lot of trading and cooperating with Havana, just up the river. Either one of you speak Spanish?”

  Both shook their heads.

  “Too bad. Their English isn’t very good either. But we get by. They mind their business, we don’t bother them. Good neighbors. Not exactly Republic loyalists, but not everyone out here on the frontier is,” she said.

  Oliver sensed a question. “Lori, we’re firmly on the Republic’s side. We’ll be eternally grateful for what they’ve—you’ve done for us.”

  She stopped again and turned to stare him in the eyes. They locked tight for a moment. He felt her scanning him—his mind, then his heart, then his soul. Those same piercing Hamilton eyes he’d faced with Sam, then Alex, now Lori. Eyes tuned to detect deception, to crush dishonesty.

  Having made her assessment, she gave him the results. “Listen, Captain Oliver. My brothers both vouch for you, and they’re not easily fooled. Neither am I. I believe you’re an honest man, a good man. But understand this…we don’t expect you to be grateful. We don’t expect you to be on our side. We expect you to be one of us.”

  She waved her hand towards the town. “If you’re one of us, really one of us, this place will stand forever. That’s what people don’t understand about the Republic, why everyone keeps underestimating us. They think we’re just individuals trying to survive. Scared survivors huddling together out of convenience.” Her voice escalated. “We’re building something, Captain Oliver. Our Republic will last long after we’re gone. You and I might make the history books, but the important thing is that the young children today become great-grandparents. The cycle has to continue, until the last day of the last days. We’re all willing to sacrifice ourselves for that common goal.”

  “You just told us not all of the people living out here on the river are 100% loyal to the Republic,” Levi interjected.

  “And they’re not full-fledged citizens yet,” Lori replied. “We protect them, we’re working to integrate them, but it’s not a contract or an oath that makes you one us. You have to decide it in your gut. Then your actions will reflect your commitment. Every day, every way.”

  Orientation complete, she continued up to a large brick building overlooking the street closest to the river. “This is the VIP residence, if we ever had VIP visitors. So frankly, no one has ever stayed here since we got it completed,” she said with some disgust. “We’ve got our most advanced freshwater plumbing here; you’ll have showers, even. Get settled in and we’ll meet just down the street at the Great Hall. I’ll introduce you to some of the town leaders. You’ll have to forgive us, we don’t have quite the same level of formality as they do in the capital.”

  “That’s better for us anyway. We’re not exactly the formal types,” Levi replied.

  Lori nodded at them both, then quickly disappeared down the street, shouting orders at someone close enough to get her attention.

  Levi opened the VIP residence’s door and offered Oliver the way inside. “Cozy,” he said with a smile.

  “Musty, more like. Throw open those windows, will you?”

  “Impressive, isn’t she?” Levi grinned. “That whole family…man, I’d like to meet the parents, must have been superheroes.”

  Oliver shook his head. “Dad was a farmer and mother was a nurse. No high-grade education, no great accomplishments.”

  “Yet somehow they created an empire from the ashes.”

  Oliver stopped him. “One thing you’ll learn, don’t call the Republic an empire. Not in front of any of the Hamiltons, at least. They really believe what they preach.”

  They both cleaned up as best they could and were back downstairs in fifteen minutes. The walk down to the restaurant took another five, giving them a chance to admire the craftsmanship that seemed to be going into each rebuilt building.

  Their leisurely stroll was interrupted by shouting and the sight of men running towards the bridge gates. They started to trot, then run toward the restaurant where Lori was standing and shouting orders.

  “The Boar King,” she said to their questioning looks. “I was going to tell you about him at dinner. He’s the most powerful chief of the ditchers across the river. He’s never attacked here before, but our lookouts say the western gates of both bridges are surrounded.”

  “What can we do to help?” Levi asked.

  “I’m supposed to keep you two safe,” she said. “But I’m gonna need every hand I got if he’s massed against us.”
>
  She shouted over her shoulder. “Malone! Get these two each a ST-76.” She turned back to them. “Those are the best rifles we got, guys. Make good use of them for me. I’ll take leadership of the highway bridge. Will you take lead on the railway bridge?”

  “We’ll do whatever you need,” Oliver said. “But we don’t even know your people. Shouldn’t one of them be in charge?”

  “None’s ever led in a battle. At least not a big one…and it sounds like we might be in for just that. So please, quick-time over there and take charge. Malone will show you the post and introduce you.”

  Lori took off at a run towards the other end of town, followed by several dozen men and women in various uniforms and street clothes. Malone sprinted in the other direction, Levi and Oliver close behind.

  “It’s a distraction,” Oliver panted. He was a hard worker, and strong enough to work all day. But running wasn’t his strong point.

  “What is?” Levi asked.

  “The attack on the bridges. Whoever is leading this attack is trying to draw all of our attention and manpower to the bridges. What if he attacks…somewhere…else…next.” Oliver was having trouble keeping up.

  “You’re givin’ those savages too much credit, Captain,” Malone shouted back. “Their idea of organization is deciding which tribe to eat next. Don’t worry too much about strategy.”

  “Why’s he called the Boar King?” Levi asked as they approached the first gate.

  “That’s his symbol, a boar’s head on a pike. There’s thousands of wild boar out there in the sticks. Ditchers live off of them, when they’re not eatin’ each other,” Malone said with palpable hatred.

  They passed through the first gate, then started climbing a metal ladder to the top of the observation deck built into the bridge’s vertical support towers. Finally, they reached a steel deck with serrated tread.

  “About fifty feet up,” Levi answered to Oliver’s raised eyebrow.