"Get away from there!" he yelled, all caution abandoned. They had to keep the Humvee, or they'd struggle to get back safely.
Four figures were gathered around the driver's door. One of them was trying to crowbar it open. Moron. They spun around as Solly ran at them.
The sight of three shotguns brought Solly to a halt.
"Three against one, man," said the one with the crowbar.
Solly felt Jaxon at his shoulder. "Count again."
The leader straightened up and drew a Ruger from down the back of his jeans. "Four against two. Now drop your pieces or we gonna mess you up."
Solly and Jaxon stood, each covering two of the car thieves.
"I said, drop your guns!"
With a sigh, Solly began lowering his weapon. Even the Humvee wasn't worth this risk to Jaxon's life.
Quite suddenly, one of the thugs looked beyond them and let out a cry. "Run!" he called before turning tail. Only the leader had the presence of mind to cover them with his sidearm as he followed them across the parking lot and away.
Solly turned slowly around as something floated into view, its rotors humming dangerously. Scott and Vivian were behind it.
"Quick, we need to get away before they realize it's broken."
Chapter 3
It was deep into the night when they finally made it back to the farmhouse. They parked the Humvee beside the barn where, months ago now, they'd had a gunfight with a group of bandits who were trying to steal their supplies. Much had changed since then. The barn was full, and the neighboring fields were being prepared for a spring sowing. To the other side of the Humvee, where the trees met the farther field, Solly could see the lights of the military camp swaying in the gentle breeze. Kuchinsky and his small squad of uniformed people—it was stretching a point to call them soldiers—had helped keep the place secure and there had been no raids since they’d arrived.
Along the lane, a second community had been set up at the Fordhams’ place. Becky Epstein, the feisty paramedic, had become the reluctant head of that group, and Vivian was going to return there tonight and update her in the morning.
For now, however, they focused on getting Scott Lee into the farmhouse and up the stairs without waking everyone. Solly and Vivian manhandled him into the bed Janice had slept in.
Vivian crinkled her nose, suppressing a sneeze. "He stinks. You'll have to change the sheets tomorrow, Sol."
"I'm not showering him tonight," Solly said. "He can sleep in his own stench until tomorrow."
Lee, who'd barely reacted as he was brought inside, let out a deep sigh and immediately fell asleep.
"I guess I'll be sleeping on the couch tonight," Solly said, as they crept into the living room. "I'm not sharing that room with him until he's been decontaminated. Ross can have the chair."
For now, the Reaper would wait in the back of the vehicle. They deserved one night of rest before they began to put the pieces they'd gathered into some sort of plan. It felt like a momentary calm before the storm.
Solly lay on the couch, the throw pulled up around his chin against the cold. He'd blown out the candle, and his eyes had yet to adjust to the darkness, so they looked blindly up at where he knew the ceiling to be. Directly above him was the former master bedroom which now served as the main dormitory. Around twenty children slept up there, under the care of Arnold's granddaughter and a couple of other teenagers. It had been one of the chief miracles of this place that they had settled down so well in the inexpert care of children only a little older than themselves.
Arnold and his belle, the peacock-like Miss Prism, had taken responsibility for educating them. Janice had been their main teacher for many weeks, but now…as with so many other aspects of life since the Long Night, they did the best they could.
Solly bitterly regretted having spent so little time here, though, in truth, he'd had no choice. There was nothing quite so healing as seeing children, with their incredible ability to put aside both past and future, enjoying the wide-open spaces of the fields and woods. Even in winter, the countryside echoed with the cries and laughter of happy kids.
He made a promise to himself that he would return here and enjoy the rewards he'd earned.
The following morning, Solly fell off the couch with a groan and rolled over as Ross chuckled from the armchair.
"Not funny," Solly moaned, rubbing his back as he got onto his knees. "What's the time?"
Before Ross could answer, the double doors to the living room were flung open and bright light flooded in from the hallway. He heard excited voices and the patter of running feet as he swung around and braced for impact.
He'd never felt such an overwhelming outpouring of love. A dozen young children fought to get close to him, putting their arms around him and showering his face with kisses. "Uncle Solly! Will you play with me? Why are you crying?"
When he emerged from the pile and sat up, conscious that he hadn't brushed his teeth or showered in a couple of days, it was to see Bella standing in the doorway with a wide smile on her face.
"Come on children, that's enough. Let's leave Mr. Masters to get dressed and showered in peace."
Miss Prism had appeared behind Bella and, to a chorus of disappointed noises, the children, one by one, let him go and followed her into the hallway.
Bella came in and swept open the curtains. "You've slept in, Solly. It's after ten—I can't believe the children managed to stay so quiet for so long."
Solly had pulled himself back onto the sofa, draping the throw over his legs. "I'd better go up for a shower," he said. "How's Scott?"
"Vivian brought the paramedic over from the Fordhams’. Becky? Is that her name? She's a bit of a firebrand. Anyway, she looked at him. Nothing seriously wrong physically. A few day's eating and drinking’ll fix him. As for his mind, she reckons he's as crazy as a box of frogs."
Maddie came in, gave Solly a hug as he got up and then went to sit beside Ross.
"Well, I reckon I'll be able to handle his mental state better once I've cleaned up and got a fresh set of clothes on." He was heading for the door when Bella spoke again.
"You've created a magical place here, Solly," she said. "Somewhere worth protecting. I'm proud of you."
Solly looked back at her for a moment. "Everyone's contributed, Bella. But some of them will never be able to enjoy it. I wish we could all just settle down here and enjoy the spring, but if we do that, I don't think summer will ever come for us."
"I know, Sol," Bella said, her eyes filling with sadness. "I know."
It was a fragrant and freshly groomed Solly Masters who called in on Scott Lee and then, satisfied that he was resting peacefully, strode across the farmyard to find Kuchinsky.
The sergeant was in the field beyond his camp, watching two soldiers who were lying on their bellies in the cropped grass. As soon as he saw Solly approaching, he dismissed them and held out his hand, his mouth spread in a wide smile.
"Solly! Welcome home, my friend," he said. Then his smile disappeared. "Look, I'm sorry. I should've come with you to get Lee."
Solly shrugged. "You were following orders."
"That's been an excuse for not doing the right thing for too darned long, I reckon," Kuchinsky responded.
"It worked out okay; we all got back. And we've got something in the trunk. A pair of Reapers attacked Doctor Harper's community and one was shot down. We've brought it back with us."
Kuchinsky's easy grin returned. "So, now we've got two broken drones?"
"I'd forgotten about that!" Solly cried. Of course, they had the prototype that Alison had disabled, frying its circuits. The one that had killed Bobby. If they cannibalized it, could they fix up the new one? Was there any way they could assemble a Reaper that would fight for them? Don't get too excited, Solly, there's a dozen reasons that won't work. But he couldn't stifle the hope growing in his heart.
"Hey, Solly! Earth calling!” Kuchinsky said, waving his hand in front of Solly’s eyes. “Come on, let's take a seat.
I got a good place for talking in private."
Kuchinsky led Solly up the slope of the field until they were just under the canopy of trees that overhung the wire fence. Beneath the leaves was a wooden bench and Kuchinsky guided Solly onto it.
"Wow! I've never been up here."
"Beautiful, ain't it? I come as often as I can, just to remind myself what the point is."
Solly leaned back, feeling the cold and slightly damp wood on his back and the seat of his pants. From up here, the whole of the farm and the countryside beyond it could be seen. Whoever had placed this here obviously knew the land intimately, as he couldn't imagine a better vantage point.
Behind his left knee he could see the slate gray roof of the house and, beneath it, red brick walls and wide windows. Children had poured out of the front door, which he couldn't see from here, and were running around in the play area created from reused fencing, watched by taller figures and the unmistakable double act of Arnold in his wheelchair and the tall Miss Prism.
His gaze moved beyond them to find Conococheague Creek beyond the tree-lined lane that ran at right angles to the farmhouse. A hundred yards along the track he could see the barrier protecting the community from that direction and the two sentries that guarded it. The Fordhams' farmhouse was to the north of the lane in a loop created as the creek meandered.
The calls of the children were drowned out by the hiss of the wind through leafless branches that swayed above their heads and the only other sounds were those of the birds in the bushes. A fresh breeze ran up the hill, tinged with the oncoming spring and just a hint of cattle. It was idyllic, and Solly had no desire to move from there.
As he looked back at the farmhouse, he spotted the corrugated iron roof of the main barn, and beside it sat the Humvee with, in its trunk, the remains of the Reaper. That brought him back to reality.
"The colonel will expect me to file a report now you've returned. I can hold it off for today, if you like, but you're gonna have to move quickly unless you want him to make up your mind for you."
Solly glanced across at the man sitting next to him who was gazing out at the scene with as much love for it as Solly had himself. "Thanks, I'd appreciate a delay. I have to try to get some sense out of Scott."
"Are you gonna try to get that Reaper working? It'd sure be nice to have one of them on our side."
"I am. But it is only one. We must have slowed them down with the attack on the factory, but that's all."
Kuchinsky grunted. "Well, I'm just a grunt, but it seems to me that if you got your enemy pinned down, you don't give him time to get up. This ain't a boxin' match. We need to finish them off and quick."
"You're right," Solly said. "Except that they're not pinned down—we struck a blow to their plans, sure, but they're everywhere, Joe, undermining all attempts to organize. What's the latest from Wright-Patterson?"
"Well, Colonel McBride was in a mighty bad mood after what happened at Cincinnati, but I reckon he knows more than I do about how things stand out there. I've heard rumors that DC is about to fall, and the commies have landed on the West Coast. We're surrounded, Sol. That's why I come up here and try to shut it all out, just for a few minutes." He got to his feet and sighed. "Come on then, we'd better get back. Things are moving fast now. But don't forget to just stop and smell the roses every now and again, okay?"
Solly chuckled. "You've become quite the philosopher, Joe."
"It's being here, Sol. It's a magical place."
"Scott wants to see you," Ross said, as Solly marched back into the farmhouse. "I went up there to have a shower and sort out some clothes, and he was sitting up. He asked where you were and told me to go find you."
"What did you say to that?"
"I told him where to stick it," Ross said. "But I sat down here to wait for you anyway. Just in case."
Solly slapped him on the arm. "Well done. Do you want to come with me?"
"Really? He asked for you."
"And I'm asking for you."
Solly helped Ross on the stairs and they found Scott Lee snoozing with the remains of a substantial lunch on a tray across his legs. Solly gave him a gentle push and watched as consciousness returned.
"Oh, it's you," he said. "You can go now," he added, looking at Ross.
"He stays," Solly said.
Scott Lee scowled. "What I have to say is not for children."
"That 'child' has saved my life, Scott. And the lives of many others. He's the bravest person I know, and he's earned my complete trust. He stays." Solly didn't need to look at his adoptive son to sense him flush with pride and embarrassment. "And you wouldn't be here now if I hadn't taken two children with me to find you."
Lee glanced at Ross and nodded almost imperceptibly. "Very well. Thank you, by the way, for coming for me."
"Honestly, Scott, I didn't do it out of friendship."
"Oh, you thought I could be useful, did you?"
Solly shrugged. "Yes. But once I knew where you were, I would have tried to rescue you anyway. This is about more than personalities; this is about the future."
"Future? There is no future, you fool. She has won! I knew she was working with the Chinese, but I never wanted to believe just how deep the conspiracy went. Now, they and the North Koreans invade from the west and south, while the Lee Corporation are within an ace of taking DC and the focal point of resistance. And they're shipping Reapers in from China, did you know that? We thought we'd given them a bloody nose by destroying the fabrication plant, but we were fools. Multiple redundancy, that's the Lee way."
These words tumbled out in a maniacal flood, as if Scott had been mulling over them for days. Solly remembered Paulie Ramos telling him that Scott Lee had brought her town under his influence by the sheer weight of his charisma, but it was impossible to reconcile that with this shell of a man.
But if the Chinese were shipping Reapers in big numbers, any hope he might have had that they could overcome the Lee forces and those of their allies by weight of arms had evaporated. Each Reaper was worth at least a hundred trained soldiers, and the forces of freedom had precious few of them.
Solly sat on the bed and looked at Scott who, having said his piece, seemed to have relaxed. "Scott, we have a choice. We can either accept the inevitable and enjoy our last few days of freedom. Or we can fight back. And, d'you know what? I'm going to leave the decision to you. Because we need Scott Lee, the real Scott Lee. The one who walked across the continent and charmed a town. The creator of Alison. The only person who truly understands what we're facing.
"If you choose to sit here and wait for the end, then I'll do the same because without you we have no hope."
"You'll have precious little even with my help," Scott mumbled, though Solly had no doubt that his words had affected the man.
"Well, do we fight back?"
Scott held his gaze. With his straggly beard and sunken eyes, he looked like the sort of hobo the old Solly might have walked past on the streets without a second glance, but some rest and food had already restored him a little. And that had been the old Solly—a man he hardly recognized now.
Lee shook his head. "I can't make that decision. I cannot bear the weight of such a responsibility."
Solly wiped his hand across his brow. "Then I guess we wait here and do our best to prepare the children."
There was a moment's silence as the two men buried themselves in dark thoughts.
It was Ross who spoke.
"No," he said. "If you won't decide, then I will. As one of the 'children'. I won't wait here for the Reapers to take us all. I won't go quietly. Solly, Scott, we're gonna fight."
Chapter 4
Paulie watched as the Chinese trucks rolled into Arbroath. It turned her stomach to see them occupy her town, but there was no hope of resisting. She'd taken the lion's share of the watch since they'd evacuated the residents of the Aldays department store fifty miles west to an isolated farming community near Elma, enjoying the peace and quiet. Marvin and Luna had
wanted to come, but Paulie had only accepted the dumb offer of help from Dany, their Alsatian cross.
How many times had she spied on Arbroath from up here? Three? Four? She remembered watching Scott Lee face off against the militia back when the town was still independent. And she'd surveyed the burning wreckage after the invasion. Now the invaders were back and in much greater strength than before.
She'd counted twenty trucks before she gave up keeping track. By the time they'd all rolled in, there would be hundreds of soldiers based here. Arbroath, with its position near the coast, was an ideal staging post for an occupying force looking to spread eastwards and there was nothing she could do about it.
When she'd radioed Colonel McBride at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, he hadn't expressed any surprise at the news. The country was being attacked from all directions, from outside and within. He'd had reports of multiple incursions along the West Coast and he suspected they'd landed in many places he didn't know about yet. Soon, they would head inland and there was no domestic force big enough to oppose them. As she watched the figures below scurrying back and forth like soldier ants, she wondered whether she was seeing the bridgehead that would lead to the Chinese States of America.
Paulie rolled over and crawled back from the ledge until she was able to stand up safely. Dany was tied to a stake beside the Suzuki Jimny she'd commandeered to bring her here. "Time to go," she said, ruffling the dog's head as Dany bounded over to the limit of her rope.
Focusing her efforts on rolling up the two-man tent and gathering together her possessions helped keep her mind from what was going on in the town below her. It had been her home for over five years—the first true home she'd known since her father had walked out, leaving her mamma a single parent. Paulie tried to close down that line of thought, but it sucked her in, and she fought back the resentment. Her mother had tried—Paulie couldn't deny that—but she hadn't been equipped emotionally or intellectually to bring up two kids on her own while juggling minimum wage jobs and paying rent in LA. She just wasn't the sort of person who could cope without a partner, so boyfriend followed boyfriend, plunging Paulie's teenage years into chaos.
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