“Kita!” she screamed, trying to break into a painful trot. “Run!”
Kita however, watching as the man picked up speed and raised his horrific club, simply waited for him with a disdainful expression on her face. As the huge man reached her he screamed and swung his awful weapon at the diminutive teacher but his club met only empty air. Kita took what looked like a tiny step to the man’s left, pulled the sword she wore from its wooden scabbard and cut, seemingly with her entire body.
The result was instantaneous. Her opponent went down without any other conscious movement, his head flopping loosely. Half a second later, a jet of blood erupted from his half severed neck and Kita stepped back to avoid the spray. She then pulled a piece of paper from her pocket and folding the paper to each side of the blade cleaned it in one sliding movement. She released the bloody paper to flutter down on her dead enemy like a falling cherry blossom.
A few more shots rang out and the remaining biker went down under the bullets of Roger and Mort. As Kita looked down at the man she had killed, the mine she had planted finally blew, showering steel shards all over the empty road. Axyl and most of his men disappeared over a rise in the road, too far to reach.
They had failed.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Honey, I'm Home
****
The bodies had been dragged from the road and their fusion cycles and been hidden inside the old recharging station. Ghost Wind had resolutely kept her mouth shut, though she had wanted to yell at Kita for not training her warriors to shoot better in respect to moving targets. There was no need of course, the lack in their education was readily apparent, and Kita and all her students were well aware of their shortcomings.
“We’d better get after them.” Kita said, “Maybe we can thin them down a little if we can catch them. I don’t relish the idea of pursuing men who live on their motorcycles with people who only ride occasionally, but we need to do something.”
“No,” Ghost Wind replied, “That would be a huge mistake, and probably cost many, if not all of your people here.”
“Explain yourself,” Kita said harshly, stung by the bluntness of the words.
“Axyl’s group just blew through our ambush with minimal losses. He knows someone is trying to take them down and that someone failed. The same someone is now behind him, and if they are determined, what is the first thing his ambushers are likely to do?”
The older woman thought for a moment. “Either give up, or more likely, to pursue the kilabykers and try to do a more thorough job the second time around.”
“And we’re just about to do the latter. Axyl may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but he’s got a lot of time ’til the attack tonight, so I’d guess he’s going to pull over a little way up the road and see if he can turn the tables on us. My guess is that within the next five to ten miles you’d run into a firestorm from both sides of the road and it would look like Custer’s last stand.”
The whole group looked at her, horrified at the thought.
“What do you suggest?”
“I was a scout of the Clan of the Hawk. The way of the scout is to always do the unexpected. Always. I suggest we take one of these back roads that lead to New Hope, and make contact with Eli. If we can find the explosive they’re going to use to blow the wall of the compound, we’ll know where most of them are going to attack and can concentrate defense in that area.”
“How will we be able to reach Eli, if he’s in the compound, much less move about the outside of the wall looking for explosives?”
“That,” Ghost Wind said, looking over the broken grassy concrete, “is my personal specialty.”
****
“Maybe we could have done more,” Roger, one of Kita’s more experienced students said.
They had parked almost five miles from the compound, not wanting to have any unexpected encounters with the Sharks. Ghost Wind looked over the small crew of would-be warriors and realized there was little that they could do until they had more information.
The group stashed their cycles and gear in the low-lying juniper forest and came together to discuss what they were going to do.
“Maybe we should have tried to get ahead of the Axe Man and set up another ambush just before they reached the compound,” Roger said, his long brown beard drooping in the chill of the February day. “Maybe we could have got another shot at those turds and done some real damage this time.”
“We would have been too close to the Road Sharks that are here already,” Kita told him, “We were outnumbered in the original ambush, and if we were caught between the two groups, it’s unlikely we’d last long.”
“So what do we do? Just go home?” The question was asked by Tara, a short muscular girl with flawless skin the color of onyx. “I want to do something to help the people of New Hope! I know people there! I have friends there!”
“You will have your chance,” Ghost Wind said, looking into the faces of the entire group, one by one, “but for now, I have to go alone to warn Eli about our earlier failure and to see if I can find where they’ve got the explosives planted.”
“How in the name of God do you plan to get to Eli, if he’s in that compound and get past all the Road Sharks that must be around the place?”
“When I was there, I noticed small gaps in a few places in the metal wall they’ve put up, gaps at the base where gullies were. They’ve tried to fill them in, but I could see it was mostly loose dirt and rock in a few of them.” She touched the big rough knife at her belt. “With a little digging, I think I can wiggle through. The people of New Hope have also not been as diligent as they should be about keeping the weeds and brush trimmed at the base of their walls. It gives me a little cover to work, and a little cover is all a warrior scout needs.”
She moved toward a small spring, the reason she had signaled them to stop and park their motorcycles. Ghost Wind sat on her knees Japanese style, and started digging up grayish mud and algae from the water. She applied the gooey mess to her face, making a base layer of grays and greens, then took a piece of campfire charcoal she had retrieved on the way and began to work shadows and highlights into the mix.
“You gals always gotta get made up ‘fore you go out on a date, don’t cha?” Mort chuckled. Ghost Wind’s face at this point would have made any Beforetime special forces operative proud.
“We always like to look our best for the men-folk. Besides, I’d like to cover up this black eye anyway.” Ghost Wind said, smiling white teeth standing out in the stone-mud texture of her face. Her face obscured, she started to work on the wool coat when she noticed Roger’s old gray-tone camouflage military jacket. “Roger, will you switch coats with me? I’ll be getting yours a bit dirty…”
“Hell yeah!” Roger exclaimed as he took the field jacket off. “Not a problem.”
As Ghost Wind pulled off Shell’s overlarge wool coat, the group went silent. It was not the sight of a half-naked muscular woman that shocked them; it was the battered condition of her body. The scout’s skin was covered in purple bruises, scrapes, and scratches. The women’s faces were stony, and the men’s faces showed straight up outrage.
“Damn, girl, what did they do to you?” Tara asked. “What did those bastards do?”
“Not as much as they had planned or threatened,” Ghost Wind growled, feeling her own blush under the mud. “And they paid for what they did do with their leader’s spine. Kita? Can you wrap my ankle? It’s been giving me trouble all day.”
“Er… um…” Roger reached into his pack and pulled out a pair of baggy old jeans. He blushed as he said, “It might be easier for you if you wore these too. The brush here is notoriously stickery.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that. Can you hand me my haversack, Mort?”
“Sure, here you go. I sure would like to give those fucks some payback. Harm our friends, get treated like the rats you are,” Mort said, voice thick with emotion. “Whatever happens here, I’m glad and proud of anything we can do to
monkey wrench these… these…”
“Yes,” Kita said quietly as she tightly wrapped Ghost Wind’s ankle. ‘We all feel this, Mort. They have hurt one of our own.” She looked up into Ghost Wind’s eyes.
Ghost Wind stared at the older woman, confused. “Wha.. what?”
“You heard me, young lady. And I mean it. So try not to get killed so that perhaps I can…” she sighed as she said it, “..make amends.”
The group wasn’t quite certain what had just happened, but they saw the young scout doing her best to not let her tears show.
“Here now, honey,” Mort said quietly, “you’re gonna make your makeup run.”
The white smile on the muddy face flashed for a second again. Then Ghost Wind went to work on her clothes.
****
As she ghosted between the junipers, Ghost Wind chuckled to herself at the amazement of the group when she had finished her camouflage. She had moved into cover as she left, and she could tell they lost sight of her quickly.
She had covered two miles before signs of her enemies began to show. The Road Sharks had people all around near New Hope to keep an eye on their objective, but the majority of their troops were farther back, to avoid any of the stupider members of the gang letting themselves be seen. As she moved forwards, it wasn’t that hard to detect them before she ever saw them. Aside from the stink, most of the more idiotic members couldn’t seem to realize talking to each other wasn’t the best way to remain hidden. Whoever had moved these boneheads to the rear had known what they were doing.
“Gaw’damn I am tired o’ sittin’ on my ass out here in the dust, George.” A particularly piquant gentleman opined. “Not sure that fuckin’ Axe Man knows what the hell he’s doin’.”
“Well Norv, he’s over there in the vicinity of the front gate with all them Indies he brung. Whyn’t ya just go on over an’ ask ‘im?”
Another voice interrupted, “I heard someone tried to jack Axyl and his bunch on the way up here. I wonder if them sodbusters know we’re plannin’ somethin’?”
“Not unless they’s somehow resurrected the cell phones them Beforetimers used to use. Someone might know, but I don’t see how they could tell the folks inside. We got the area sealed up tight. A lizard couldn’t get through if we didn’t want it to.”
Ghost Wind smiled wryly as she crawled past their position.
A hundred yards farther, she started encountering the more alert members of the gang and started moving lower to the ground. There were points where she had to move forward by doing a push-up and rocking forward, careful to lower herself back to the ground noiselessly. To try and crawl in spots like this would have made too much noise in the dry juniper needles and dried grass. Mud and dirt stuck to her clothing, but Scouts felt safest when they were covered in muck.
A half hour later, she saw one of New Hope’s walls before her as she lay at the base of a large patch of sagebrush. She shook her head. As well as brush and dried grass at the base of the walls, the previous year’s growth of weeds had not been removed almost the whole distance between the wall and the low-lying juniper forest.
It’s good for me, but if we live through this, I’m going to have a talk and demonstration for Horace and his people about sloppiness.
So much had happened this day that it was hard to believe it was still early afternoon. This was a good thing. She still had to find where the Sharks had placed their breaching explosives, make her way into the compound, and convince Horace and Eli the plan that was forming in her head was a good one.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
You're Kidding, Right?
****
Eli was getting worried.
There had been no indication that Axe Man’s group had arrived intact, but there had also been no indication that his group had been waylaid either. The suspense of not knowing if his plan was responsible for the deaths of Ghost Wind, Kita, and all the dojo warriors was driving him crazy. Part of him wanted to jump the walls with a machete and a rifle and take out as many of the Road Sharks as he could before they managed to kill him.
“You’re gettin’ mighty jumpy there, son,” Horace said, climbing the ladder to the walkway. “You’re starting to worry everyone that we’re in big-ass trouble.”
“We ARE in big-ass trouble! I thought I made that quite plain,” Eli said, glaring toward the low afternoon sun.
Horace’s eyes widened for a moment, and he signaled Eli to walk down the wall away from the others at the gate with them.
“Eli, these people are terrified. They’re farmers, not fighters. I’d appreciate it if’n you could try to put on a good face, even if it’s hopeless. We can’t have them just givin’ up before a shot’s fired.”
“Sorry, Horace,” Eli said, looking down at his boots, “I’m just worried my little plan may have backfired and gotten her killed.”
“Ghost Wind?”
“Her, and Kita, and how many other of Kita’s students went along with them. Most of those people had only ever fought in a dojo, and they were trying to take out people who spent most of their lives doin’ violence to others. It was an ill-conceived plan and if it failed, their deaths are my doing.”
They were silent a moment before Horace spoke again. “You don’t know that anyone is dead. Right now, you’ve taken on the responsibility, God help ya, of tryin’ to get our group outta the shitstorm we find ourselves in. It could very well be that the ambush was a success, or that they didn’t get there in time to set it or that Frankenstein’s monster came and killed everyone involved. Ya don’t know and coming up with wild scenarios and freakin’ out about ‘em will probably only wind up getting the people HERE killed. Pull it together, Eli.”
Eli couldn’t help the slight grin that appeared on his face, “Frankenstein’s monster? Really?”
“Just as possible a scenario as that Miss Ghost Wind was killed by Axle.”
“I suppose so.”
“Damn straight! That gal will probably outlive us both.”
“I need to get out. If I can remember some of my old sneakin’ skills, I can find where on the wall those boys have planted the C-4. Do you have a priest hole kind of escape tunnel out of this place?”
“Kinda sorta. We could have it clear of dirt in about ten minutes.”
****
The day was starting to cool as they grew close to clearing the hidden tunnel under the southeast wall of the compound. Eli had rummaged through his gear on the Terror, and come up with an antique camouflage kit, military surplus from the Beforetime that he had found in a derelict surplus store. He currently sported several shades of green, dark brown, ochre and gray and had changed into an old Marine Corp battle dress uniform that he kept for just such occasions.
“We about there, Horace?” he asked, carefully stowing his pistol in his waistband, under his untucked shirt. “Day’s not getting any younger.”
“We’re there. Time for you to start crawlin’.”
Eli dropped down and started to wiggle carefully face first into the hole when he realized the way was blocked.
“Dammit, Horace, there’s still a big ol’ rock in the way! How the hell am I supposed to—”
“Oh, you are going to pay for that, Eli,” the rock said.
****
“Ghost Wind! I’m glad ta see you alive, sweetie!” Horace crowed as she climbed out of the tunnel Eli had just vacated.
“Glad to see you too, Horace,” she said, looking over at Eli.
“I… uh…” The tall man stammered. “You’re okay!”
“Yes. Yes, I am. Thank you for noticing Eli.”
“I was so worried… I thought I had sent you and the others to your deaths. I couldn’t…” Choking up, Eli was unable to finish the sentence.
“We took no losses,” she said, looking at him with concern. “However, Kita’s people were… they… all right, let me be blunt. They were piss poor ambushers. Axyl and twenty of his people got through. We only took down six.”
El
i had gained control of himself as he answered. “I had assumed about forty, so if there’s only half that many, it’s a good thing.”
“Yes, it IS a good thing, because if Kita’s group had been trying to ambush forty kilabykers, I’m pretty sure we would have been slaughtered. Had the twenty turned around and charged us, and Axyl not been such a chickenshit, we might all be dead too. Your plan vastly over-rated Kita’s students ability in actual combat.”
Eli was silent for a moment.
“Don’t worry, Eli, perhaps Kita and I can strengthen their abilities later on. She and her people are about five miles out in the junipers, ready to help if they can, but I have a plan that might make the need to use them moot.”
“Do tell,” Horace said, “we could really use a plan right about now.”
“I noticed last time I was here you have lots of building materials stockpiled, specifically, more of the sheet metal you used to build these walls, right?”
“You never know when you’re going to need to replace or expand the walls, so we snapped up every piece we could find in a twenty mile radius. Whatcha got in mind, miss?”
“Let’s look at them and I’ll tell you, but first, you might want to store these someplace cool.” Ghost Wind opened the canvas haversack she’d been carrying.
Inside were several charges of C-4 explosive and several detonator spikes.
“Nice work!” Eli said, admiring the contents of the canvas bag. “I was about to try to do the same thing. I doubt I’d have done it with the ease that you accomplished it though.”
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