“What’s going on?”
Mace spun to face me. “We’re about to brief the group. But it’s not what we hoped for.”
Sadie and I followed the tech team to the largest passageway where the almost sixty of us gathered. River hopped onto a ledge. Scanning the crowd, he cleared his throat. We’d heard from the Kentucky scouting team. They’d contacted the group, but all were non-military, non-law enforcement protestors. Only eight of them agreed to join us in our mission to take the capitol. We’d hoped for a total of one hundred for the mission, and this left us over thirty short. River instructed one of the vehicles in Kentucky to head to West Virginia in case they had a larger contingency than the two other vehicles could carry.
Over the next few hours, we laid out all the weapons and ammunition, counting each type. The capitol was a big building, and Cmdr. Butler had been smart to make that the only headquarters. It localized all his troops in one place and made his government better defended against attack. We’d need to hit the right targets all at once.
The only thing that would solidify a win, beyond having a hundred soldiers on the ground, would be an air strike team. Many of the aircraft that the UNS relied on sat within Port Orford’s borders, and Butler didn’t have access to them. If we could get planes, pilots, and ammo, then success would almost be a given. I watched the lead team as they made the calculations and listened as they discussed options. Everyone had hand-to-hand weapons, so stealth would be our friend.
Deciding that I couldn’t think about the operation anymore, I snagged Amelie, Sadie, and two more volunteers. We made our way to the kitchen to finish preparing the deer meat and ducks for jerky. After instructing our helpers, Amelie, Sadie, and I trekked back into the forest. I’d already calculated six days minimum food supply for one hundred people for the mission, which amounted to three pounds of jerky a day per person to achieve the calorie count we needed. This totaled eighteen hundred pounds of meat, which equaled forty-five deer or at least four deer per day for eleven days. That number didn’t account for food for those eleven days. I made a mental note to talk to Mace about addressing the issue with the lead team.
I set my goal at four deer a day but planned on getting as many as I could before the additional soldiers arrived and we’d be training for the capitol mission. I hated what that might entail. Thinking of firing on someone at point blank range made my stomach turn. But I’d already justified that the bigger picture outweighed the small losses. We had some tranquilizers and stun guns, as well as tear-gas cans. I prayed those weapons would be enough to limit casualties.
The one thing I knew was that Butler’s men would not hesitate to use lethal force. This was a dangerous mission, and some of us would not make it back. I hoped to convince Amelie, Mace, and Sadie to join Turner on the tactical team that would stay far outside the boundaries of the UNS. But that day’s mission consisted of getting as many deer as possible. Hunting was another job I’d never expected to have no matter how many rabbits, geese, or antelope I’d shot with my dad and Owen on our camping trips. Just like your uncle, that girl is gone.
Pushing ourselves, we brought in six more deer by sunset. As we stowed the last two animals in the kitchen, we learned that the first two transports reached the West Virginia camp. Filing into the back of the crowd, I held my breath. Would there be enough soldiers? We barely had sixty if you took out the tech crew, who would manage the operation from a remote location. I considered the vehicles we sent and realized the forty we needed would be an impossible goal. Even ten in each vehicle would be a tight crowd and they only had three trucks.
Fewer bodies meant reduced food needs, which just then seemed good. I needed a break from hunting, and at that point, even mission training sounded better than dealing with a deer. But who was I kidding, what I really craved was a vacation from my life. You don’t get those. I refocused on River’s words. Twenty-one soldiers from West Virginia would be joining us in twelve hours. My eyes cut to Turner. His visit to my tree stand would be my five minutes of intermission from reality.
Sadie spun to face me. “You think we can pull this off with twenty percent less men?”
“I have no idea. Grab Amelie and let’s run.”
“Run? We’ve been hiking all night.”
“Run, eat, sleep. We have to be in top condition. This mission is happening.”
Weaving through the crowd, we found Amelie and recruited two new volunteers for meat duty. After leaving them directions, we wound around the clearing into the forest for a jog. It felt good to be moving fast, pushing my muscles rather than enduring the slow calculated steps required for hunting.
“Eat, play, sleep,” came Sadie’s voice from behind me. “Isn’t it weird that I would remember that? That’s the schedule my daughter used to be on when she was a baby.”
Her voice cracked at the end of the sentence, and I imagined a tear forming in her eye. What would it feel like if your child died? I knew my fear of losing Nave and would never wish that grief on my worst enemy. I stopped that thought, realizing I hated Owen that much. He started all of this. But I couldn’t go down that rabbit hole again. It didn’t serve any purpose.
I forced myself to think about my surroundings, my feet hitting the ground. Our small pack reminded me of what Turner said the prior night. Amelie, Sadie, and I had to be wary of the new soldiers. I mentioned it to them, and they agreed to carry bear spray and a knife at all times. After our three-mile loop, we washed in the pond, checked on the kitchen, and headed to our bunks.
Six hours later when our alarm sounded, Amelie and I hiked to the tree stands. The moon didn’t offer much more light than the prior two nights, but we took our positions and waited. Hearing rustling in the brush, I leaned over the platform to see Mace. I watched him weave through the bushes towards Amelie’s post. I hadn’t been sure of their relationship and still wasn’t. I’d never seen them kiss, she never talked about him, but they had a bond, some connection from their experience of crossing the desert, surviving California, maybe even from before that, their training at Port Orford perhaps, a period I’d missed.
I was glad she had him. I might not come back from the capitol. The only thing that matters is ousting Butler and getting Nave out. Anything beyond that is butter, or gravy, whatever my dad used to say. It didn’t matter what happened to me. You can’t think like that. Envision what you want to achieve. I pictured us taking out Butler’s security man by man, taking him and his team hostage, and searching the building till I found Nave and Mom. I would play this scenario over and over in my head.
A crackle of twigs caught my attention, and I focused on the flora below. About ten feet out, the bushes swayed back and forth. Not a human. A black furry nose poked through a bush. A bear? Could I take out a bear? Another black head and two beady eyes appeared. Two bears. They would be a good source of protein. I waited and watched, trying to get a clear shot, hoping Turner didn’t decide to make an appearance just then.
One of the bears reared up on his hind legs, munching on leaves from the top of a bush. A bay bush, I recalled. Sadie picked some to season the meat. His front legs reached perhaps six feet up, and I pulled back my arrow and let it loose. It hit him in the chest between his front legs. He let out a horrendous moan and slumped to the ground. The other bear, it appeared to be smaller, perhaps the female of the pair, sniffed and pawed at the downed friend. Waving its head from side to side, perhaps searching for danger, she aimed her beady eyes in my direction. Could she smell me?
Dropping her head, she continued to paw at the other animal. She batted him with her arms, pushing on his torso harder and harder. Lifting her head, she let out a long howl and launched herself over her friend. Drawing back my arrow, I released it. It hit her neck and she shrieked. Growling, she lumbered forward. I shot another arrow into her lower belly. Letting out another scream, she fell to the ground. Her belly heaved, and she lay motionless.
“Holy bad ass. You saved me from a fight with a bear.” Turner jump
ed into the clearing below my stand.
My heart issued a thud, and I pressed my back to the tree trunk. “What are you doing? You scared me to death.”
Backing down the ladder, I berated him, questioning whether he would really scrapple with a bear.
“Well, if I put buck shot in her, the meat would be worthless.”
Pulse racing, I tried to seem nonchalant. “Well, I’m glad someone else besides me is thinking of feeding all these people.”
He grabbed my wrist. “You just killed two bears.”
“Yeah.” Fighting a wave of dizziness, I leaned over. The killing needed to stop. But it wouldn’t, not until this was over. I just had to get through the next sixty days.
As I stood, he wrapped his arms around me, pinning me to his chest.
“It is bears. I was right.” Mace appeared in the clearing followed by Amelie.
Turner released me, and I spun to face my friends. “Yeah.” I motioned to the animals, wondering if I had any other words in my vocabulary. “There are bears in these woods too.”
Testing to make sure the animals were dead, I retrieved my pack, bow, and quiver from the stand, and we left Amelie and Mace to stand watch. Turner and I hunted for branches strong enough to carry our haul out of the woods. Finding and hacking a thin tree down with my hatchet, we located another low hanging branch and dragged them back to our friends. My five minutes in heaven with Turner would not happen that night.
We tied the bears’ front and back paws together and secured them to the logs. Mace and Turner chatted on about bears and how the meat might taste. I rolled my eyes as my pulse evened out. Besides the two hours of training runs, the guys sat inside all day, hashing out strategies and staring at computer screens. We were probably in better shape than they were. I needed a new gig, but I predicted my next job would not be the break I longed for.
Back at base camp, we laid our prizes on the prep tables. Turner wrapped his arms around my middle, urging me to leave the bears and join him in the woods. Somehow these animals were different from the glassy-eyed deer I’d grown immune to. They deserved better.
Who would I be once all this was over? Would I grow numb to taking a life, even a human one?
Sliding from Turner’s embrace, I rubbed my hand down the male’s soft black coat. “No, I have to take care of these animals.”
I asked Amelie to help me skin the pair. We treated their hides with salt and stretched them over the picnic tables outside. Starting the cookers, we made steaks for breakfast, and sliced the rest for jerky. By the time the whole camp woke, the entire area smelled of cooked meat. I waved off a hot steak and pocketed some deer jerky.
Leaving Sadie on cooking duty, Amelie and I retrieved a change of clothes from our living quarters. At the point where the stream flowed into the pond, we stripped, waded in, and washed from head to toe. After dressing, we soaped and rinsed out the dirty outfits and left them hanging on limbs to dry.
I squatted on the grass. “Can we talk about the bears?”
“I was trying not to think of them. They were beautiful.”
“It made me sad to kill them.”
Sitting beside me, she pressed her lips to my cheek. “We’re doing a lot of things that make me sad. We’ve endured things no one should have to. I’m still glad we’re letting ourselves feel something. Part of me wants to shut it out, make it not bother me.”
“I get that. I’d love to be able to do that. I don’t think it’s possible. Not for a sane person at least. We could squish the feelings down, pretend they’re not there. But they’ll get out somehow. We’ve got to keep talking about them or they’ll eat us alive.”
“We’re survivors. That’s what we have to do right now.”
“Yes. We’ll oust Butler and this will all be over.”
“That’s right, Walker.” She stood and offered me her hand.
“Shh.” I grabbed her palm and pulled myself to my feet. “But yes, Butler is going down.”
At camp we found someone to relieve Sadie and started the day’s physical training. Running—drawing air into my lungs and pushing it out, pumping my legs and arms at a calculated pace—helped clear my head. There was no way out but through. This idea spurred a memory of the bear hunt song we sang as kids, and I rebuked myself for putting the two together. No, I wouldn’t be the same person at the end of this. I didn’t know if I wanted to be the girl I was becoming. But there was no choice. Too many lives, those of my friends and family included, depended on this mission. Perhaps just like the bears we’d stumbled into this fate. Unlike the bears, I became the hunter.
We spent the rest of the day in the woods, bringing in ducks and four more deer for dinner. With the addition of the bears and twenty percent fewer mouths to feed, we only needed about twenty more deer for jerky stores, and I felt more hopeful about our food supply. After refueling, we took an evening run. Looping back, we heard the rumblings of vehicles. Amelie and I broke from the group and walked to the pond. I rinsed off, reapplied my face mask, and fitted my black cap over my hair. We joined the back of the pack as the vehicles slowed to a stop.
Everyone formed a large circle for introductions. I liked that we’d become aligned with the Utah team as it made us the largest contingency, followed by Lovelock, then West Virginia, and Kentucky. This shouldn’t have mattered, but it did. I deduced that the groups might have somewhat different agendas, and I wanted to be with the majority vote. Majority vote. I wondered why Cmdr. Butler didn’t end all the protests and riots with an official poll. Perhaps that could be tainted. How could you know if voters weren’t coerced or threatened to vote one way or the other? The issue was too hot.
Beside me, Amelie stated her position with the electrical team, supporting mechanical, and medical. Someone across the group cleared their throat. Excusing the sound as random, I stepped forward. Still, I straightened my back, and lifted my chin, making sure to project my voice. “Jewel, marksmen—”
A person opposite us coughed, and I heard a chuckle from the same direction. Anger consumed me and I slid an arrow from my back, cocked the bow string and let it fly, hitting dead center in a tree trunk opposite me.
“Jewel.” Amelie tugged my sleeve. “You are supposed to be lying low.”
I snatched my arm from her grip. “Jewel, marksmen,” I repeated. “Hunter.”
Ben inserted himself between me and Sadie. “Mace, Turner, Amelie, and Jewel joined us from Port Orford. They were trained there and are a big part of this mission. Although they seem young, they are highly skilled and will serve key roles in this operation. You have Jewel and her hunting team to thank for your dinner tonight.”
Ben introduced himself and then Carl as leaders of the Utah group.
Sadie scanned the group, her gaze landing on me. “Sadie, human resources, mom, cook, runner.”
Ooh rah. I winked at her. Everyone milled about, for the most part keeping to their groups. Leaders from each contingency met near the cave entrance and disappeared inside. I watched as Mace and Turner followed, glad they were a part of the inner circle. My body begged for sleep, but I told Amelie I would take first watch. Two hours later, Mace and Turner found me sharpening arrows. Mace climbed into his sleeping bag, and Turner reclined on the cave wall beside me, reviewing their meeting. The eastern groups aligned with our strategies, and we were ready to start training. It would begin at 0700 the next day. They figured drills would take at least twelve days. I thought about Nave and the potential that they were taking her blood or harvesting her bone marrow. Every day we waited could be one more day of torture for her. But failure wasn’t an option. This had to succeed.
The next morning, at day T minus fifty-eight days, I rose to my alarm at 0600, woke Sadie, and we wound through the tunnel to the tech room to find Amelie. Making our way outside, we greeted others as they stretched. Starting our run, I found myself feeling excited. I loathed and celebrated the sentiment in equal parts. I shouldn’t look forward to participating in a military coup, but t
he waiting was over. We were in the final stretch.
Running our normal circle, we ended at the pond. Perhaps there were too many of us in the woods as no ducks swam over its surface. I made a mental note to rise earlier to hunt. Rounding back to base, we joined everyone in the main cavern for breakfast. The leaders announced training plans, explaining that after an overview we’d be broken into groups. These would rotate through different training modules: marksmanship, hand-to-hand combat, weapons, technology, and drills. Nervous about group assignments, I shifted my weight between my feet.
Amelie gripped my arm. “You have to chill. You’re going to draw more attention. Easy going, quiet, head down, do your job type, remember.”
The opposite of who I’d been at Lovelock. Had it only been five months ago when I stomped through their camp, demanding everyone do what I wanted? Then again, my sister was dying, and my uncle was letting it happen. My actions were justified. I just had no clue how high the stakes were, what the snowball effect my deeds would cause. This isn’t your fault. But wasn’t it?
River read the roster, and my heart race quickened, realizing they were separating Amelie, Sadie, and me. It made sense. They needed to assess our skills. There would be no crutches, physical or emotional, in this mission, no room for needing anyone but yourself. But it left me with no one to hide behind, and that made me nervous. Plus, I got assigned to Garrison’s group, which made me even more anxious. We’d worked together at Lovelock. Could I hide my identity while training with him twelve hours a day for two weeks?
When River called Turner’s name, I stole a glance at him. Blinking was the only communication I got from him. I’d been living in a bubble. I knew this time would come, and I had to play my role. My strategy was to keep my head down and be quiet. I crossed the cavern to stand behind Garrison, and our group filed out. As we walked, he explained we would train two days on each module. After that we’d be assigned to mission teams for operation specific training drills.
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