by Ricky Sides
The captain paused for a moment and then he said, “Ladies and gentlemen I have just completed my inspection of the ship and the escorts. As usual, I am impressed by your discipline. Thank you for the effort that you all put forth to keep this small fleet of vessels in top form.” Pausing a moment he added, “Phoenix, lead on.”
Typically, Namid’s fighter was the first plane in the air followed by the Peacekeeper and then the battleship drone. Today was no exception. “Roger, Captain,” Jim heard Namid respond.
The Phoenix lifted effortlessly off the ground. Namid felt the same thrill of exhilaration she always felt as she took her fighter straight up to its ceiling cap of four hundred feet. To her right she saw the small airbase that housed the Base 1 fighter squadron. Several of those fighters were taking off for their daily patrol flight.
Behind the Phoenix, the Peacekeeper rose straight up into the morning sky to its ceiling cap of two hundred feet. The battleship drone followed, stopping at three hundred feet. The three peacekeeper vessels headed out at a leisurely speed of fifty miles per hour until they were clear of the airspace near the base. Namid’s fighter took the lead acting as scout.
Chapter 1
Namid was enjoying the flight to Saginaw, Michigan. She had never been to this part of the country before, so she was seeing everything for the first time. Behind her in the Peacekeeper, Tim would occasionally radio Namid to point out things of interest. He gave her enough advance notice so that she had time to see the object, which he was directing her attention to, before she flew past it at two hundred eighty miles per hour. They crossed the state line leaving Kentucky behind and entered Indiana. Namid remembered Pete’s warning that at one time Marauders held the power in regions of Indiana and that she was to maintain a sharp-eyed vigil.
Namid was flying at four hundred feet. One hundred feet below her flew the battleship drone, which they brought along in the hopes that they would find a supply of the special alloy needed to create more of the fighters, drones, and other ships. If they located some of the alloy, it would be loaded aboard the drone, provided it was possible to get the pieces through the access doors. Jim had also instructed the peacekeeper trucking fleet to clear up their schedules because if all went well they would be transporting large quantities of the alloy.
Inside the Peacekeeper cargo bay, the two strike force teams were preparing for the search of the address Pol had located by deciphering an encrypted message left by Patricia’s father. The message had been brief. It was a name and partial address; Brentworth Steel, Johnston Street, Saginaw, Michigan. Brief, but if that was the location where the government had commissioned the manufacture of the alloy, that simple message could well alter the future of America.
Namid knew that it was unlikely that the manufacturer would have created large quantities of the alloy. Pol estimated that it would be a horribly expensive metal to manufacture. Nevertheless, even small quantities of the alloy would make a trip to Saginaw worth their time and effort. In addition, maybe, just maybe, they would get lucky. That had happened when they had gone to Millbrae, California. They had gone there hoping for a few pounds of scrap and had been shocked to discover a large supply of the alloy in that facility. Utilizing that supply of alloy, they had created the fighters, dozens of drones and the battleship. If they could find a similar amount of the alloy at the mill they were flying to investigate, then the peacekeepers could reopen the Carwell Industries facility. They could really use more fighters since the Alabama flight wing stationed at Base 1 had lost three during the battle with the would-be king in Salina, Kansas.
Namid remembered the battle she had observed as Jim had fought Tom barehanded. That had been a fight worth seeing. She had seen techniques employed in that fight that she had never seen before, and Jim’s fighting prowess had impressed her. Jim had dominated the fight from start to finish, but still Tom had almost killed the captain of the Peacekeeper when he had pulled a knife and slashed Jim’s wrist cutting a vein in the process. Jim had quickly finished off Tom after suffering that wound, but he had collapsed as Pete and Lieutenant Wilcox had exited the ship. They had noted the alarmingly high rate of blood loss and exited the ship with medics in tow to provide emergency treatment. Maggie credited the medics with saving Jim’s life, while the crew awaited her return to the ship. Namid shuddered at the memory of how close it had been. Maggie had been blunt in her assessment when she said that those who believed in prayer should pray because it would take a miracle to save the captain.
It wasn’t a miracle that saved him, but then again, perhaps it was. By some stroke of luck, about half the crew had the same blood type as the captain and Maggie briefly earned the nickname vampire lady as she took blood from all of the volunteers. Namid was proud of her contribution to save the captain’s life. It was the least she could do for the captain who had liberated her from slavery at the slave farm in Texas. For two days, he lay at the brink of death and most of the crew had kept an uneasy vigil. However, by the end of the second day he woke up and started asking questions. They’d felt sure he’d live then, and for the first time in days the crew who’d been standing vigil got a good night’s sleep.
Ahead of her on the road, Namid saw the remnants of the vehicles destroyed over the years. Many had fallen victim to vandalism where their owners had abandoned them when they ran out of gas. Auto accidents had damaged many of the other vehicles as panicked people sought to get out of the way of the numerous storms and other natural disasters in the final weeks of the world during the pre-quake days. Now in America, time was divided by the night of the quakes. People referred to everything as happening in their pre-quake lives or the post-quake lives as survivors of those quakes. Namid knew things about that night that most Americans didn’t know. She knew that the quakes had averted a global nuclear war because Jim, Tim, and Pete had all shared their stories with her. She knew that the worst of the earthquakes seemed to be centered around the military bases. However, not all military bases had been severely affected, though all had suffered damage. At least all of the bases that she had personally seen had suffered damage, and the others told her that their experiences had been similar.
The presence of the automobiles cluttering the highway in Indiana was evidence that there was not much organization happening. Had someone been organizing the people to attempt to rebuild their society, one of the top priorities would be to clear the roadways. Namid hoped that if the peacekeepers found the alloy they would actually be able to transport it out of the area to their base. However, as Pete had speculated, if no one was organizing, then maybe no one had located the materials needed. If anyone had found the materials, then perhaps in their ignorance of the valuable potential of the alloy, they would ignore it.
Smoke spiraling upward behind some trees to the right of the road caught her attention and Namid radioed the Peacekeeper saying, “Peacekeeper, I see smoke rising to the right of the roadway. I’m going to do a flyby to see what’s going on over that way.”
“Roger, Phoenix, but be advised that we don’t know anything about this area. Be careful and don’t land, no matter what you see,” Jim ordered.
“Roger that, Captain,” Namid replied. “Just riding for the view,” she added, smiling as she vectored her fighter further to the northeast to do a quick flyby. She slowed her airspeed to a crawl for the pass and soon she was flying over the last of the trees and approaching a clearing. Namid radioed the Peacekeeper immediately, requesting permission to target hostiles. Jim’s voice came back asking what was going on and he suggested that she activate her video feed. “Sorry, Captain,” Namid said and switched on her camera panning it on the scene below. As she brought her fighter to a hover, Namid was thankful that the aircraft was so quiet in operation that the men in the clearing couldn’t hear it hovering a hundred yards to their south. In the clearing below, she saw a dozen men standing beside a small cabin. A woman and two children huddled in fear beside the cabin, while the men hacked away at the body of a man whom the
y had stripped before carving him up. As Namid filmed the scene below, the men speared chunks of the meat they had carved from the body on long sticks and placed them over the campfire they had built to cook their meal. Namid gagged and almost vomited. She turned away from the butchering and concentrated on the woman and two children.
“Phoenix, we are on our way. Do not fire unless the cannibals approach the other victims. It’s too dangerous. They’re too close. We’ll land the strike force teams behind the cabin. They have the best chance of rescuing the victims,” Jim explained.
“Roger, Peacekeeper. Understood,” Namid replied and waited. The woman on the ground was crying and so were the two little girls with her. They were dressed in old, worn appearing clothing, but the clothes were clean. So far, the cannibals seemed to be completely ignoring the woman and her children, and concentrated solely on their meat that was cooking over the smoky fire.
“Phoenix, we are swinging wide around your position to approach from the rear. ETA is two minutes. The strike force leader says they are ready,” Jim said.
Namid sighed thinking that this was going to be a long two minutes and then she corrected herself. It would be more like six or seven minutes before the men could get into position to intercept the bad guys. “Roger, Peacekeeper. I’m keeping an eye on them,” she responded.
Six minutes later, Namid saw the strike force teams begin to circle around behind the woman and her children. One peacekeeper’s shadow fell over one of the little girls. The mother saw the shadow and turned to face the new threat. The man held his finger to his lips gesturing for silence and motioned for her to follow him. The woman didn’t know who these men were but she didn’t think that they were cannibals. Any fate would be better than what the cannibals would do to them once they finished eating her brother. She gathered the children up and followed the man behind the cabin. They had just disappeared from view when one of the cannibals saw the armed men near them and shouted a warning. The peacekeepers opened fire immediately. Three of the cannibals tried to run away. The strike force team shot two, but the other dodged behind some brush and sought to escape in a dried up streambed. Namid nudged her fighter in the man’s direction. Activating her external speaker she said, “Stop or I’ll shoot.”
The man in the streambed stopped and turned to face her with his hands in the air. Remnants of his ghoulish meal were still on his chin. “You can’t shoot me! I know my rights,” he screamed with a satisfied expression on his face.
Namid shot him in the head with her laser. “You have the right to remain silent,” she quipped and flew back toward the other peacekeepers.
“My God, Captain. This man is still alive!” Lieutenant Wilcox said incredulously on the radio. “The bastards cut out his tongue so he couldn’t scream, and they hamstrung him. They’ve been carving off sections. Oh my God, Jim, send Maggie. My Medics can’t even begin to handle this. They don’t even know where to start,” he said desperately.
“How bad is it?” Pete asked.
Lieutenant Wilcox retched loudly and then he answered, “One hind quarter is almost stripped, sir. Damn I hate that reference but…,”
“I know, Lieutenant.” There was a moment of silence. “Give the poor man mercy. It’s what I’d want in that situation,” Pete ordered.
A moment later a shot rang out and then Namid saw Lieutenant Wilcox walk away and vomit. The Medics walked away too. One medic stripped a cannibal of his long trench coat and draped that over the body of their victim. Two of the strike team made the rounds checking the bodies. Three more shots rang out as they made their rounds.
***
“The woman’s name is Amy Landry,” Lieutenant Wilcox reported. “The man was her brother. The two little girls are her children. Her brother was a survivalist of sorts. He brought her out here with the children to escape the madness in the cities a year ago. Apparently, not many people around these parts do much farming. Most of the available food dried up ages ago. Now the people around here pretty much fend for themselves living off the land as best they can. She says cannibals are common now. She’s requesting that we burn her brother’s body because if we don’t, other cannibals will dig him up, and more will be attracted. These were attached to a larger group five or six miles from here. They roam a lot.”
“Does she have somewhere to go? Relatives who can help her?” Jim asked.
“Her brother was her last remaining relative. She wants to go with us. She says she is strong and will work for food for herself and the children,” the lieutenant responded.
Nodding in understanding Jim said, “All right, Lieutenant. Reassure the woman that we won’t abandon her with two children, but let her know that we are on a mission and it will be a while before we return to our base. Tell her that they will be taken to our base in due time, but for now she will live aboard ship in one of the cabins with her children until we return to the base. Tell her that the infirmary needs to check her out. That goes for the children, too,” Jim ordered.
“Yes, sir, right away. And I’ll tell my roommates that we are vacating our cabin for the woman and her children,” the lieutenant responded.
“Find out if they are hungry. They look malnourished to me. Feed them, but have Maggie check them out first. She may order a special diet for medical reasons,” Pete ordered.
“Yes, sir,” the lieutenant said and turned to walk away.
“Wait,” Jim said and when Lieutenant Wilcox turned to face him, he said. “Find out if there is anything in the cabin she wants to take, but remind her we can’t take the whole cabin, if you please.”
The lieutenant said with a chuckle, “Understood, sir,”
Jim turned to Tim and said, “Get us over the body and we’ll incinerate it, but try to maneuver gently. We have little ones aboard.”
Going to his command chair, he requested a link to Namid and said, “Phoenix, be advised that the hostiles we put down here are part of a larger group that roams about. We’ll leave as soon as we can, but for now we’re counting on you to be our eyes in the sky.”
“Understood, Peacekeeper,” Namid replied.
Amy had nothing but clothes for herself and the children, a few toys for the children, and an old photo album in the cabin that she wanted to take with her. Loading her things had taken ten minutes.
Lieutenant Wilcox had all of the cannibals searched and collected the few papers found on them for study to see what could be learned, but the lieutenant had already glanced through the small stack, but nothing caught his eye that was noteworthy. His men had left the cannibals where they had fallen but they had stripped them of all weapons and ammunition.
A few minutes into their resumed journey, Namid once more spotted smoke off to the right. This time she discovered the cannibal encampment, which was evident due to the piles of bones and human heads. She saw no sign of captives present. Namid reported what she observed and Jim had Pol to fly the battleship over the tent village. “They have to be stopped, Pol, but there are women among them and there may be children as well, so be careful during the targeting. The women are as guilty as the men are, but we’ll spare the children. If you can’t do it, I’ll take over,” Jim said.
“Thank you my friend, but I will do the deed. I know it must be done, but it is difficult knowing that there are women among them, and probably children who will be at risk,” Pol said.
“There won’t be any children,” Lieutenant Wilcox stated.
“How can you be so certain, Lieutenant?” Jim asked.
“Amy told me, sir. She said that these cannibals eat their own young when food is in short supply,” he explained, and then he added, “Her brother found the skeletal remains of several children at a spot where the cannibals spent last winter as he was scavenging for anything of use they may have left behind. He trailed them for hours that day, observing them from a distance to ensure that they weren’t going to turn in the direction of the cabin. Not once did he see a child.”
“Kill them all, Pol,�
� Jim ordered without reservations.
On the ground, in the tent village below, approximately forty cannibals looked up in the sky when a shadow loomed over them. They saw a giant flying machine in the sky above and then they saw the pretty lights emanating from one section of the ship. Some tried to flee only to be picked off by Namid who was hovering in her fighter a hundred feet above the battleship and three hundred feet to the east.
The Peacekeeper landed and the strike force teams exited to search for weapons and ammunition. They would leave nothing here for other cannibals to use and for all they knew there were other parties of cannibals out hunting. Pol’s laser had destroyed many of the weapons, but they took all the undamaged firearms. They found cannibals hiding in three of the tents that Pol had not hit with his laser. They quickly exterminated them. One of the lieutenant’s men gagged and threw up after killing the occupants of one tent. Looking inside, Lieutenant Wilcox saw the bodies of two women. One was an older woman of about sixty but the other was an attractive woman in her early twenties. “Sorry, sir,” the man apologized. “I’ve never had to kill a woman before,” he explained.
The lieutenant nodded his understanding. Sometimes it was hard to be a peacekeeper. If the man had found her eating the corpse of a child, then the execution would have been much easier to accept. However, she hadn’t been committing such an atrocity at the time and under those circumstances, the need to do what he had done could get fuzzy. The lieutenant walked inside the large tent and squatted beside the women’s possessions. Picking up an item, he turned and walked outside the tent to the sergeant who had killed the two women inside. “This belonged to one of the women,” the lieutenant said. He handed the sergeant a child’s skull that someone had cleaned thoroughly, and then covered with intricate artwork. “Note the canvas one of the women was using, Sergeant, and let that bring you comfort when you reflect back on this day,” the lieutenant said and walked over to another group of men.