by Schow, Ryan
Ryker got out of the vehicle, took a piss on the side of the road and let himself think. When he was finished and zipped back in, he said, “If they’re this far north, then they made it through the worst of it already.”
Skylar went a little farther out, dropped down in the brush and peed, too.
“That means they’re on their way to Oregon,” Noah said, “or farther up to Washington.”
“That makes no sense,” Logan said. “Who would do that? Who would drive through all of this just to wage war?”
“Not everyone’s going to lay down to defeat like you,” Noah asserted.
“When did I lay down for defeat?” he turned and snapped at Noah.
In the field, Skylar was pulling up her pants. Logan didn’t want to look, but he did. Ryker saw it. Logan felt his face get red.
“The question tells me you’ve quit before,” Noah said, ignoring Logan’s interest in Skylar.
He put her out of his mind, focused on Noah. “Most of my life I’ve been of the go-along-to-get-along nature, but since this EMP kicked off, I haven’t backed off an inch, so maybe you could shut that stink trap of a mouth of yours when you’re talking to me.”
“Now who’s not making sense?” Noah asked with a frown.
“Think it over in silence,” Logan replied. He walked up to Ryker and said, “If they’re coming our way, we have to warn the town, get set up for round two.”
“This isn’t round two,” Ryker said, less congenial. “This is round one with the SAA. They could be as bad as the Chicoms, or maybe a lot worse by the look of it.”
“But they could be easier, too,” Logan said.
“Not likely,” Noah replied.
“How’s that?” Logan asked, a question, not a challenge.
“The Chicoms got used to beating on the unarmed, defenseless masses,” Noah said. “The SAA came here to kill the Chicoms. They came here to wage a real war. These aren’t a bunch of soft bellied pansies, Logan. These are hardened men who are pissed off enough and determined enough to come up through hundreds of miles of ash and devastation to fight an entire coastline of communist assholes. Think about that. In silence. And while you’re thinking about that, you’d better unleash the warrior inside you, because if they’re headed our way, we’re going to have the tussle of a lifetime on our hands.”
“We did alright before,” Logan argued.
Looking at him, a sneer in his expression, Noah said, “Do you think the little one-cow town of Five Falls is going to hold back the might of this army? Give him the binoculars, Ryker. Let him take a look.”
Ryker handed Logan the binos. He took them. In the distance, he saw the massive collection of vehicles, and a helicopter departing south for reasons unknown.
“What do the radiation levels say?” Skylar asked Noah.
“Still clear,” Noah said.
Logan handed Ryker the binos and said, “Yeah, there’s definitely a lot of them.”
“I don’t think we need to know about radiation anymore,” Ryker told Noah as he took the binoculars from Logan. “If they came through all of California, then the state’s probably just bombed to hell, not radioactive.”
“That makes sense,” Skylar said. “If the Chicoms plan to take over the West Coast, they’d just level the state, let it grow back beautiful, then rebuild when the time is right, but without all the radioactive heat on it.”
“These roaches plan fifty years in advance,” Noah said. “Best we stamp them out here and now. At least we’ll have the element of surprise on our side.”
“You said it yourself, old timer,” Ryker said. “They’re the South American Army and by the look of it, they’re marching on Oregon, or as far north as they can get.”
“How much of California do you think is gone?” Skylar asked. “Maybe they didn’t bomb the entire state.”
“Unless we see it for ourselves,” Logan said, “we won’t know for sure.”
“I wouldn’t mind a trip down to SoCal,” Noah interrupted, “but my hemorrhoids are killing me, so I’m thinking we’ll have to postpone.”
“No one wants to hear about your butthole issues,” Logan grumbled.
“I’m just saying is all,” Noah said.
“Tactically,” Ryker turned and asked Noah, “what would you do?”
Noah seemed to appreciate Ryker asking for his advice. Then again, that’s what Noah was there for. That and measuring for radiation, which was no longer an issue. He took the binoculars from Ryker, gave the Weed Airport a long look, then said, “I’d wait until nightfall, reposition on the other side of that field, then snatch one of them up and torture the truth out of them.”
“I’m all for that,” Skylar said.
“Me, too,” Logan said.
“Well then it’s settled,” Noah announced, handing the binos back to Ryker. “Let’s boogey on over the hill, set up camp and wait until nightfall.”
“How do we know if they’re even staying the night?” Logan asked.
“They haven’t moved since we got here,” Ryker replied, taking one last look. “And another convoy is coming in from the south.”
Skylar said, “If they were coming through, they’d make room for the next convoy, right? I mean, if they were planning on moving.”
“But if they’re staying,” Noah said, “we could cut their ranks in half before sunrise and they’d never be the wiser.”
Ryker turned and looked at the old man and said, “You still got the juice to do that?”
“Does a duck fart in the water?” he retorted.
“Sure does,” Skylar grinned.
Noah looked at her and said, “Damn Skippy they do.”
“We need a weapons check,” Logan said. “Because there are more of them than we have bullets.”
“We’ll double our weapons and ammo when we start taking out their ranks,” Noah said. “But the only weapon you need or want at night are knives, and we’ve all got one of them.”
Logan knew he was right.
This would only be a gunfight if they were on the losing end of the knife fight. Fighting like this in the midst of an army…they’d only survive if they could operate in stealth.
The opportunity was solid though. That’s what he liked. If they could cut their way through some of these men, if they could massacre dozens in silence and get out clean and with intel, then perhaps they’d make them think twice about going to Oregon.
“Let’s stay eyes-on for another half hour,” Skylar said. “If they don’t move, we’ll get into position in one of those nearby farm houses. And come nightfall, we can gut some of these mother effers then high-tail it north.”
Chapter Fifteen
By the time Felicity rolled into town, it was hard for her to follow Clay’s directions. He’d written them in haste, and now she was paying the price for his sloppy handwriting.
Twice she was sure she was lost.
It was a ghost town.
But night had yet to fall upon her, so she had the benefit of a few more hours of light. Eventually she found the house and the address Clay had given to her.
Getting off her bike, praying to God she had the right place, she knocked on the front door, then considered her appearance. She must look like a nightmare.
A pretty woman with a stern expression answered the door, gave her a slightly startled look, then opened her mouth to speak.
Felicity quickly said, “I’m looking for Mr. Nichols.”
She wanted to be extra polite on account of the stranger she was talking to being a woman several years her elder. But there she was, a scrappy looking stranger covered in dried blood.
“And who are you?” the woman asked, looking her over.
“A friend,” Felicity said.
“If you weren’t covered in gore, I’d say you have the pretty look of a woman who’s been banging a married man on the side,” the woman said. “So maybe you could indulge me with specifics.”
The woman couldn’t be more than five or ten years h
er senior, but as weary and intimidated as Felicity was feeling, she might as well have been her mother’s age and reprimanding her just for showing up unkempt and unannounced.
Not sure what to do, she opened up the directions Clay had given her and handed them over. She had blood on her hand and on the paper, but it was all she had.
“Who’s blood have you got all over you?” the woman asked.
“Wild boar blood, and some of my own.”
“Jesus.”
“I’m sorry for showing up without notice, but Clay said, I mean, Mr. Nichols said that if I was ever in trouble, I should come see him.”
The woman visibly relaxed.
“I’m in trouble.”
“You’re Felicity?” she asked. Felicity nodded, that tight ball in her chest loosening. “I’m Stephani Madigan.”
“You know my name,” Felicity said, still taken aback.
Stephani gave her a thumb’s up that made her laugh and simultaneously wipe her eyes. The thumb’s up sign was an inside joke between her and Clay that had apparently gotten around.
“Only Boone is here, his brother, and he’s asleep with the baby. Clay is probably at the Sheriff’s station right now. The new one, not the old one.”
“Is he in trouble?” she asked.
“No, he’s the Sheriff.”
She started laughing and couldn’t stop herself, even when she was embarrassed and unable to control it. Finally she tapered off, causing Stephani to ask, “What’s so funny?”
“It’s just that no one ever taught me that it was right to kill certain people until I met Clay.” She expected a certain reaction on Stephani’s face, but no obvious expression appeared. “It’s just funny, him being the law after what we went through.”
“Yeah, well, there’s a lot of dead people in this town. Some of the Chicoms got some of us, but we got a lot of them. It’s still not even. Dead is dead though, and all these Chicom pukes deserved it.”
Felicity didn’t say that she and Clay hurt more than just the Chicoms. Some of the things they’d done on the road from Salem weren’t necessary, or perhaps they were. She still hadn’t sorted all of that out yet.
“What if they weren’t all Chicoms we did things to?” she asked, unable to help herself.
“Were they bad people?” Stephani asked.
“They were.”
“Well then I’m sure God knows the score and you’re good around here. Certainly with me. Why don’t you come in and take a load off?”
She opened the door wide, but Felicity didn’t go in. She said, “I really need to see Clay.”
“Is your ass on fire or something?” Stephani asked. “Surely you’d like to clean yourself up a little.”
“The Chicoms converged on Roseburg,” she said, stiffening her upper lip against a crush of emotion. “They have my parents in a detention facility. It used to be the airport, but now it has a huge chain link fence all around it and they’re burning bodies. I think it’s to make room for the entire city of Roseburg. At least the ones they haven’t shot yet.”
“Well, if you can leave your tenement on wheels around back,” she said, nodding to Felicity’s bike, “I’ll take you to see him now.”
“That would be great, Stephani. Thank you.”
Inside, her new friend got what she needed, then Felicity followed her around back where she saw the Blazer and stopped like she’d just been gut punched.
“What?” Stephani asked, confused.
“That’s the truck,” she said, breathless, her head struggling to make connections.
“You talking about the kids Clay killed?” Stephani asked. Slowly her head moved up and down on its own. “Looks like he saved your bacon more than you think.”
It would seem so.
They drove over to the Sheriff’s station in minutes.
Felicity climbed out of the Blazer, still marveling at being inside the vehicle when so much had happened with it before. She then followed Stephani into the Sheriff’s office where Clay was sitting. He looked healthy, his facial scar not so pronounced, a little more weight on him.
For a second, he looked up and their eyes met, and then something happened. It was in that moment where he saw her, but could not place her. She smiled and then it hit him like a thunderbolt.
“Felicity?” he said, getting out of his chair way too fast.
She nodded, then apologized for all the blood. He walked over, swept her up in a hug and held on longer than she expected.
When he set her down, she said, “Who are you and what have you done with Clay Nichols?”
“Everything heals with time,” he grinned. “What happened to you? And are you limping?”
She nodded, then said, “I think I need some stitches in my leg, but the rest of this is pig blood.”
“You fought a pig?” he asked with raised eyebrows.
“And won,” she said with a victorious smile. She patted her stomach and said, “He’s in my belly, I’m not in his. Hashtag victory dance.”
“Ferocious to the last bite,” he laughed. “Why are you here?”
She felt the moment flatten. “The Chicoms took my parents. They overran Roseburg and they’re setting up some sort of concentration camp at the airport, just off I5. I think they’re planning something big. And not just because they’re cleaning out the town, but because they’re not killing everyone right away.”
Stephani looked at Clay who looked at Felicity and said, “We need to get you cleaned up, and fed, then we can talk about what you think is happening.”
“She needs her leg looked at, too,” Stephani said.
“I have a suture kit you can use at the house,” Clay told Stephani.
“I appreciate this and all, but can we maybe talk about this on the way there?” she asked. “We need to do something fast, or I’m afraid that whatever’s happening is going to involve the Chicoms making Roseburg their home. Or worse, some kind of staging ground.”
Stephani looked at Clay and said, “When does Quan leave? We can hitch a ride.”
“He left early,” Clay said. “A few hours back. You know Quan. He can never sit still for a minute.”
“What?” she said.
“They wanted to get on the road,” Clay responded. “He said it would be better to travel through the night anyway.”
“If he left a few hours ago,” Stephani said, “then he should be getting close to Roseburg.”
“There’s no way to reach him,” Clay said, deeply concerned, almost like he was thinking out loud. To Felicity, his eyes clearing, he said, “It seems as though our little town here has fallen into the crosshairs of the Chicom President.”
“President Hu?” Felicity asked.
He nodded.
“We’re preparing for the possibility of us having to weather another attack,” he said, “while working with a skeleton crew and people who need protecting.”
“Well I will tell you this,” Felicity said, stretching for a way to convince him to leave now, “if anything is going to happen to you, it’s not from Ashland, Medford or Grant’s Pass. They’ll be coming from Roseburg.”
“Meaning we can stop them from taking over your town,” he said, “and in turn we’ll be protecting this one.”
She nodded. That’s exactly what she was thinking.
“It’s a compelling idea,” he said.
“One that bears serious consideration,” Felicity added. “Don’t sit on your skirt on this one, Sheriff.”
“I’ll have an answer for you by the time you get into fresh clothes and swallow your last bite of food,” he said.
“Can you be ready to leave tonight?” she asked, gauging him.
“I can,” he said without hesitation. “In fact, I think we’ll need to anyway. I only need to think about who we can take with us.”
“Thank you,” she said.
“Stephani,” Clay said, “will you take her to my house and get her set up?”
Stephani drew a deep breath,
flaring her nostrils but forcing a smile. Then she said, “Sure, no problem.”
“Look at her leg, too,” he said. “You’re good with stitches, right?”
She nodded.
“We came over in the Blazer,” Felicity said.
Clay leaned back and smiled big, then to Felicity he said, “I wasn’t going to say you owe me, but you kind of owe me.”
He wore a sly grin she didn’t recognize.
Before she could say something, he added, “Seeing you today is the best thing that’s happened to me in weeks.”
She felt Stephani glance at her from the corner of her eye, and it wasn’t a pleasant look. But to Felicity, it was exactly how she hoped he’d feel.
Chapter Sixteen
When night fell upon them, a third SAA convoy had arrived at the Weed Airport. Two more SAA helicopters not only dropped supplies, a pair of refueling trucks arrived to top everyone off. Generator powered flood lights lit the airport and the vehicles made a huge circle around tents, tables, barbecues, chairs and mobile fire pits.
That’s when the music started.
For a second, Logan closed his eyes and listened to the tunes with a sort of longing, like a pain in your chest when you thought something you’d never hear again started to play.
The four of them spread out, Noah and Logan going one way, Skylar and Ryker the other way, both groups keeping an eye on the other, just in case. As they snuck up on the camp, a man stepped out of the circle of vehicles, unzipped his fly and started to whistle low as he watered the backside of the interstate shoulder.
Logan pulled out his knife and closed in on the man. He was about to strike when a figure in black rushed past him. The SAA pisser barely got his hand off his pecker when Ryker clobbered him with a fist to the side of his head. The guy went limp instantly, Ryker catching him and easing him to the ground.
Logan rushed in, grabbed the downed soldier by the ankles and he and Ryker carried him out into the field, dropping him because there was a problem they decided they didn’t want to deal with any longer.
“Skylar will you please come and put his business away?” Ryker asked. “Logan and I shouldn’t have to look at his willy for the next five hundred yards.”