by Dave Conifer
Before Mark had explained anything, Nick looked out the window and saw four or five more security men racing into the forest, each with a rifle in his hand. He suspected that the bulky masses under their shirts were some kind of protective vests. “There’s a few of those security guys tearing into the woods. What happened?”
“Sec Forces,” Mark said, a sneer on his face. “That’s what they want to be called now.”
“So who’s attacking us?” Nick asked. “Is this legit?”
“Seems like it,” Mark answered. “One of your blueberry boys from Hammonton said there are shooters coming through the woods from two different directions. Jesse sent him back here to get help. He says Jesse took one of them prisoner, if I understood it correctly.” They both went to the window. They could hear shots being fired for the first time now. Whatever was going on out there, it was getting closer.
“Should we be getting nervous now?” Nick asked, forcing a laugh. “We didn’t exactly send an army out there.”
“Yeah, I hear you,” Mark answered. “That doesn’t sound good. I’m not sure how many men we even have here. Sec Forces, I mean. I know we loaded a lot of guns into that armory, though.”
“They’re bringing out the prisoners!” somebody yelled.
“I gotta see this,” Nick said, heading for the door. Mark was right behind him. They weren’t the only ones who wanted to see who’d been captured. Dozens of camp workers were converging on the swath of woods where the Sec Forces had gone in only moments ago. Mark was tall enough to see over them, but not Nick, who shifted back and forth trying to catch a glimpse of what was happening.
“Here they come!” somebody shouted. Nick could see a few figures, including three Sec Forces, approaching through the trees. He moved to the side of the group where he could see better. Two bedraggled and bloody captives surrounded by Sec Forces emerged from the trees. Nick was so shocked and confused that he didn’t understand what he was looking at. But he was sure of what he saw. One of the prisoners was Sarah. She was back.
Nick pushed through the crowd and ran to her. One of the Sec Forces trained his weapon on him, but Nick didn’t care. Sarah didn’t look up until he was right on top of her, but when she did, her mouth dropped open and her battered face took on the same look of amazement that was already on his.
Whatever had happened after she left, he could see that it had been rough. Her face was swollen and bruised, her features sharp and gaunt with hunger. She looked like she was dying. The worst part was her sweatshirt, which was soaked with wet blood.
Next to her was a young girl, no older than five. She looked uninjured, but something didn’t seem right with her. No wonder, Nick thought. God knows what she’s been through, whoever she is.
“Sarah?” Nick asked. “Sarah? It’s you, right?”
“Are Jenny and Ashley here?” she asked weakly. She didn’t seem to understand what was happening. As she spoke, she walked toward Nick. Nobody stopped her. He realized when she embraced him that she wasn’t hugging him so much as holding herself up. “Are they okay?” she asked, her voice a whisper.
“They’re fine,” Nick said. “Jenny’s here somewhere. Ashley’s back at the school. Both are doing great.”
“Where am I?” she asked. “What is this place?”
“This is home now,” Nick said, before looking around. “These two need to get to Medical,” he shouted to anybody who was listening. “You’re in luck,” he told Sarah. “That’s where Jenny works.”
“I was so scared,” Sarah said. “Is it really you?”
“It’s me, all right.” He shook his head. “I just can’t believe you’re here. You didn’t even know this camp existed. It almost makes me want to believe in--”
“I need to sit,” Sarah said. Before anybody could move, some Medical personnel arrived with two stretchers. Nick was glad Jenny wasn’t among them. That reunion should be inside, where Sarah could be lying on her back when it happened.
“We can talk later,” Nick said, holding her hand and walking alongside as she was carried on the stretcher. “Two questions. Is Dewey okay? And who’s the little girl?”
“I don’t know, and I don’t know,” Sarah answered as she was taken into the Medical Center. “He wasn’t with me at the end.”
That didn’t sound good, Nick thought. “Who found her?” he asked one of the Sec Forces. “She didn’t even know where the camp was. How could she even get here?”
“It was the old man,” the Sec Force said. “The guy running the fort gang. But he was miles away from camp. It wasn’t like she walked through the front gate. God knows what the old man was doing, wandering around like that. Kinda’ makes you wonder if he’s with us or against us.” He pulled his rifle from his back, where it was slung by its strap. “I have to get back. Getting busy out there.”
Nick understood why. If anything, the gunfire was getting louder and the shooting hadn’t tapered off. Something was happening.
“Nick! Come on, I need you!” It was Mark again. He and Crystal Monroe were waving him over. “Quick meeting of the subcommittee heads. You can sit in, too.”
“Why me?” Nick asked. He tried not to look at Crystal. She had to be wondering the same thing, based on her husband’s opinion of him.
Neither answered as he followed them into the armory. Nick recognized nearly everybody there. Why not? He’d built something for just about all of them over the past few weeks. There were no seats, so everybody leaned up against the walls. Two Sec Forces were there. Nick recognized Carlo. He always seemed to pop up when there was trouble. Was that a good thing or a bad thing, he wondered.
“I’ll make this quick,” Carlo said. “My name is Carlo Moriarty. I’m in charge of the Sec Forces here in camp right now because everybody who outranks me is out in the woods. We have a problem. We’re about to be overrun. There were only eight Sec Forces here to begin with. Two just got themselves killed out in the woods. So that leaves six. The rest of them are at the school packing up. We’ve already sent somebody back to bring a squad down.” An angry look crossed his face. “Somebody caught us with our pants down.”
“Who’s out there?” John Markle asked.
“There are twenty to thirty attackers, we think,” Carlo said. “They demanded food. They must have followed the woman and the girl here. Our guys told them they didn’t have any. That’s when they got shot.”
“And they still want food, I’m sure,” John said. “Killing two of our men don’t change that.”
“Right. And there are too many for six fighters. We have plenty of rifles, and everybody here has been trained on them. So we’re arming everybody and setting up a perimeter guard.”
“Are rifles all we’ve got?” Mark asked. “I’m no army man, but I saw some heavy duty stuff get stowed in here.”
“For fighting in the woods, yeah, that’s all we’ve got,” Carlo said. He waved at the man next to him. “Lanny, here, has all the assignments. We’ll cover the entire camp except for the lake. You’ve all been drafted. Every subcommittee head will have his members report here, pick up a weapon and ammo, and report to his or her station. Understood? This is all on the double. We ran out of time a half hour ago, so let’s get it done as fast as we can so we can deploy.”
~~~
After receiving his weapon, some ammunition, and an assignment, Nick slipped away and entered the Medical Center. It didn’t take long to find Sarah, given that she was the only patient. She was in a chair beneath an IV bag that was hanging from a coat hanger. Jenny was beside her, holding Sarah’s hand with tears in her eyes. “They say I’m dehydrated,” Sarah rasped.
“I think that’s a fair bet,” Nick replied. “Look, I only have a second,” he said, touching her shoulder. “I’m so glad to see you. You can’t even imagine. I never said anything like this to anybody while you were gone, but I didn’t see how you could make it out there on your own.” His voice hoarse with emotion, he stopped himself.
“I’m just g
lad that when I finally got caught, it was by the good guys,” she said. “Although the guy who grabbed me looked like he wanted to shoot me on the spot. Luckily, I knew his friend. He vouched for me.”
“What?” Nick asked, puzzled. “What friend?”
“Somebody called Luis,” Sarah explained. “I ran into him a few weeks ago and gave him some food. Him and his son. Is he here, too?”
Nick doubted it. Not many of the kids from that group made it. But Sarah didn’t need any more bad news right now. “I’m not sure,” he said. “I’m just glad you made it back. You look like you’ve been through a war.”
“It wasn’t that bad until the very end,” she told him. “The guys chasing us guessed right and cut us off when we tried to cross the road. It wasn’t a fair fight,” she said, trying to smile. “They had a truck and some motorcycles. I was lugging a little girl around.”
“Well, you’re safe now,” Nick said. “I’ll be back later to check on you. We can swap stories, okay?”
Twenty-five
Dewey and his group were sent to the cafeteria, where they devoured a meal of venison, cranberries and water under the watchful eyes of a squad of Sec Forces. Between bites Dewey tried to explain to his fellow travelers about the organization that occupied this building, but as he looked around at the strange faces and unknown surroundings, he realized again how little he knew. Like everything else since the EMP, he’d followed Nick blindly without fully understanding it all. Not that he regretted about any of that.
So far Roethke had left them alone, but now he and a black man entered the cafeteria and took a seat across from him. The black man had to be Grover, Dewey was sure, although he didn’t think he’d ever laid eyes on him before. Based on the expression on his and Roethke’s face, something had definitely come up.
“We have questions,” Roethke said. “You have answers. Are we clear?”
Dewey swallowed a clump of cranberries whole. “Uh, sure.” The military man in the rumply green uniform walked in without a word and took a seat next to Roethke. It bothered Dewey not to know who he was.
“Where have you been, and what have you been doing since you jumped off the bus that night?” Roethke asked.
“Uh, like, lots of places,” Dewey said. “The first night, like, we hiked for a while and then camped out in the woods along the road. When we got up the next morning —“
“I see where this is going. Too much inane detail here,” Roethke said. “Just give us the big picture, Henry. And by the way, what happened to Sarah?”
Dewey did his best to boil the story down to the most important parts, including the trip to Sarah’s house and the rescue of the kids who were now seated with him at the table. He finished by explaining the raid on the cabin which led to his separation from Sarah. “I’m, like, worried real bad about her,” he said in conclusion. “She was already in bad shape, even without all those dudes bearing down on her at the cabin.”
“Well, kid, I’ve got good news and bad news for you,” Roethke said. “The good news is that Sarah’s been found and she’s at the camp. The bad news is that those dudes,” he said, drawing out the word slowly with obvious contempt, “are there, too.” He leaned forward. “She led them right to us. Who are they and what do they want?”
Dewey shrugged. “They’re nobody special. Just, like, a bunch of dudes that got mad when we rescued these little kids from them.”
“What kind of resources do they have?” asked the unidentified man. “How well-armed are they?”
“When we attacked them, they weren’t armed at all,” Dewey responded. “That’s what made it so easy.”
“Well, it sounds like they’re armed now,” Roethke said dryly.
“What about vehicles?” the military man asked. “You said they followed you in a truck. Just one truck? What else do they have?”
“That’s all I saw,” Dewey replied. “We found some motorcycles in the town, but we, like, ripped out all the wires and stuff. I doubt they’re running anymore.”
“The truck could be a factor,” the military man said, looking at Roethke. “I suggest you give it a mention to them down at the camp. If they’re mobile, it changes things quite a bit.”
“Gotcha’, Colonel,” Roethke said, before turning back to Dewey. “You sure there’s not something you’re leaving out?” he asked.
“Wait a minute,” Robert said. “You all tellin’ me you know where they are now? Take me to ‘em. And give me a gun. Please.”
“None of you are going anywhere right now,” Grover said. “Not until some questions are answered and some decisions are made.” He glared at Dewey. “This is not a club where you get to come and go as you please. We’ll be doing a lot of talking about what to do with you when things calm down. In the meantime, we’ll get you all patched up.”
Roethke nodded at them. “Patching people up. He’s a doctor. It’s what he does. Be glad about that.”
“Where’s Sarah?” Dewey asked. “Can we see her? What’s the camp?” Grover and Roethke surely heard him, but neither could be bothered even to turn around as they walked out of the classroom.
~~~
Everything happened fast after the meeting in the armory. As soon as the subcommittee members who were on site could get there, they were issued a rifle and ammunition. Nick had always agreed that it was a good idea to train everybody to use these guns, but he had no idea how soon it was going to pay off. With any luck, whoever it was out there in the woods was going to get a big surprise.
Once they were armed, the members were distributed around the fortress ring cleared by Jesse’s men, but only in the area where gunshots were reported. Carlo’s original plan called for a wider belt of protection, but he was overruled by his superiors after they returned to the armory. This seemed unwise to Nick, who had silently agreed with Carlo that they shouldn’t assume the invaders would stay where they were. But he’d been lectured several times about following the chain of command. This time he kept his mouth shut and followed orders.
He and Dwayne could hear occasional gunfire from where they were posted between the village and the camp entrance. But not much of it. That bothered Nick. Either the invaders had changed their mind and departed, or their plan of attack was less obvious than once believed. He thought it was the latter; in the new world, desperate, hungry, armed men didn’t voluntarily leave a place like Tabernacle once they’d discovered it.
“We have a lot to lose here, Dwayne,” he said once they’d set up their own guard post. “I don’t think we’re doing this right. Three quarters of the camp is unprotected.”
“It is?” Dwayne asked. “Says who?”
“I was there when they gave the orders,” Nick explained. “We’re only going where the bad guys already were. Who’s to say they’ll stay there? They have trucks and motorcycles. Why would they stay put? Why would they move through the woods when they can drive right into the camp on roads?”
“Whoever’s in charge has to know all that, right?” Dwayne asked.
“I heard it from Sarah,” Nick said. “I’m assuming they talked to her before I did.” He paused. “But I don’t know when that could have been. And she didn’t mention it.”
“She was the prisoner, right?” Dwayne asked. “What’s up with you and her, man? Everybody said it looked like you knew her pretty good.”
Nick nodded. “Yeah, I guess you could say that. Not for very long, but I knew her pretty good. She was part of all this at first, but she split. Long story.”
“Sounds like it.”
“You know, I think you’re right,” Nick said. “I should go back and tell somebody what I found out from Sarah, since I might be the only one who knows about it.”
Dwayne laughed. “I said all that?”
“Sort of,” Nick answered, smiling. “Can you hold down the fort here while I run back? I’ll be as quick as I can.”
~~~
He hadn’t actually intended to run, as he’d said to Dwayne, but somethi
ng took hold of him after he’d left. That something was fear. Once he’d worked his way through the woods back to the ring road around the camp he broke into a trot. When he reached the “T” intersection with the main road out of the camp, something didn’t sound right. Winded from the running, he stood there trying to hear over his own breathing. It was the sound of an idling motor, and it was coming from the camp entrance. Whoever it was, he guessed they were under the “Welcome to Camp Tabernacle” archway.
Guessing that this wasn’t a routine delivery coming in, Nicked looked around. Fifty yards away was a pickup truck. It looked long enough to block the road, he decided as he heard the first shots fired. He sprinted to it and mouthed a silent “thank you” when he found keys in the ignition. As he slid behind the wheel and dropped his rifle on the seat he realized that he’d forgotten to bring his extra ammo. One mag would have to be enough, if it came to that. After the engine roared to life he sped forward to the entrance road, where it narrowed between two walls of pines, and maneuvered it into position. It wouldn’t stop the motorcycles, if they still had them, but it was the best he could do.
The vehicles were advancing on his position by the time he’d climbed down from the truck with his rifle in hand. The rumble of the motorcycles was even louder than the truck as they approached. He’d just ducked into the trees when he saw them, still seventy five yards away. Best to back them down as far away as he could, he decided. He pulled the stock of the rifle, a Sig-Sauer something or other, into his shoulder and aimed it in the general direction of the onrushing attackers and pulled on the trigger.
Nothing happened. Then he remembered the safety. After flicking it off he repeated the process, unleashing about five or six of the thirty rounds he’d been told each magazine held. One of the motorcycles veered off the dirt road into a tree. Another stopped cold, as did the truck. Now at least they knew they had a battle on their hands.