by Arthur Butt
Annie's eyes widened and she dimpled. "You did? I'll have to find some way to thank you."
"Oh, it's not necessary. As I said, it was a joint –"
Kat's arm squeezed me tighter. She gazed at me and cooed, "Oh, he's being shy. Would you believe a few months ago we infiltrated an army to save his father?" She said in a confidential whisper to Annie, "We pretended to be married, you know, to stay together. We're a team."
"Really!" Annie flashed a smirk full of white teeth. "It must have been interesting. It's so nice he had a friend to help him."
John and Robert joined us. "Getting acquainted with the baby of the family?" John asked. "Be advised, she's a showoff and she always gets her way. Don't let her talk you into anything."
Kat giggled. "The baby? How sweet."
Annie glared at Kat and started to speak, changed her mind, and switched to her brothers. "I don't know if rescuing these two was a good idea or not." She nudged me with her hip. "I've been trying to get rid of both for ages." She added darkly in a whisper, "For some reason they keep coming back."
Robert ruffled her hair as we wandered back for supper. "She's the baby sister, we have to love her."
We were still eating when Mr. Whitehorse showed up. "We called an emergency meeting of the whole council," he said at once with a sigh. He flopped into a chair, grabbed a fried chicken leg and tore at it savagely. "Sometimes I wish I'd never taken this job – those numbskulls –"
"Remain calm," his wife advised, a hint of humor in her eyes. "You know how these things always go when there are more than three people involved." She poured him a glass of water. "Now tell us, what did they decide, if anything?"
"What do you think? Nothing." He took another bite of his chicken. "Half wanted to head back north, half wanted to keep traveling south, and half wanted to stay here." He paused, thinking. "This can't be right – three halves." He shook his head in despair. "They've really got me balled up."
"Now, honey –"
"—and you know who was the worse, don't you," he continued to no one, "Doctor Greyfeather! How a geologist has so many opinions about things he knows nothing about – I finally walked out and told the whole bunch to call me if they decided anything." He noticed Kat and me sitting there trying to remain inconspicuous. "You kids are welcome to stay here for the night if you want."
Annie let out a squeal of joy, reached across the table, and touched my arm. "Oh, yeah, it'll be fun. Stay tonight, please?"
John and Robert chimed in, "Yeah, come on, we'll have a blast. We have all sorts of board games; maybe dig out the croquet set." John said to his parents, "We haven't played wickets in a long time – what do you think?"
"Ah, I don't know –" I started.
Kat said, "We can't. We've already been gone too long as it is, we were expected back a couple of days ago." She added to me, "You know our dads will be worried sick."
"I guess you're right." I stood. "Mr. Whitehorse, ma'am, thanks for the food, but we gotta leave."
John and Annie let out loud "Boos!" but walked us back to Bev. I'd given Mr. Whitehorse directions to Paradise Cove in case they decided to keep traveling south. I recited them again to John in case he scouted our way.
John stuck out his hand. "It was nice meeting you guys, thanks again for the rescue."
"Yeah, it's a shame you have to leave so soon," Annie said. She stood on her toes and gave me a peck on the cheek. "No worries. I hope we see you again."
We reached Bev and her hatch dilated. Annie peered in. "Wow – this is neat! Someday you have to take me for a ride, Hunter."
Before I could answer Kat said, "Well, it was nice meeting you two and your family, John – Ann." She grabbed the back of my shirt and jerked me inside. "Sorry we couldn't stay longer." She yelled to Bev. "Okay, we're all finished here and ready to leave. Let's git for home."
"Hey, Kat, you were rude." She'd acted strange since we got here. Kat's lips bent down as we walked forward and I added. "What's up with you, anyway?"
"Nothing." She settled in her seat. "We don't have time to chat and play games with the neighbors, nothing personal. We're needed at town, you know. Besides," she was pink in the face and studied the instrument panel with unusual interest, "you shouldn't get too friendly with strangers, especially sneaky ones, take Ann for example. You can never tell what kind of people you'll meet out here."
"I shouldn't get –" I sputtered, flabbergasted. "All of them were perfectly nice to us, Annie too. In fact I've never met people so –"
"Enough. Let's leave," she said annoyed, crossing her arms, and avoiding my eyes.
I clamped my mouth shut. Most of the time Kat was easy to get along with, but sometimes when she made her mind up about something. . . . I guess I didn't understand her as well as I thought I did.
We rode for a while in silence. Finally, Kat said in a meek voice, "Hunter? I'm sorry, only I'm worried. We've been away from town so long, those soldiers said they might be coming back this way, and I don't know what will happen."
"Yeah, I understand," I agreed. "Say, as long as we're out this way, do you want to swing east and see if we can locate Morgan's men? Our dads should know if they've moved and where to."
"We could," she agreed a little too quickly. "We can't get into any more trouble for being late than we already are."
We swung east toward the last place we'd seen Morgan's army. The soldiers had disappeared, burnt out campfires and garbage littered the valley. Even the wood for the stockade fence was missing. Bev made ever-widening circles to pick up their trail, but after an hour searching we found nothing. It was as if the earth swallowed them.
"It's no use," I said at last. "They're gone."
"Yeah," Kat replied, "but which way?"
"Now you've hit the problem," I said, frowning, "but we've wasted enough time, and at least we know where they're not."
"True," Kat admitted. "We can tell our dads the army's moved again, anyway."
We took a different route back to town from the last time Bev drove this way. It was hillier, but less wooded, and I figured we'd make better time. As we passed over a small mound, Bev halted.
"My sensors show four vehicles up ahead," she announced. "Do we have time to play? We never have time for games anymore."
"I don't think so, not with these guys, anyway." Four covered trucks drove away from us. Without even coming close, I could tell they were Morgan's by the black flags waving from their antennas. "They haven't seen us. Let's sit tight until they're out of sight."
"Do you think they're part of Morgan's main army?" Kat asked. "They're traveling west, maybe to join the rest of his troops? I bet the whole army headed west."
"Don't know." I watched the trucks move off. "Shoot, now I want to trail them to see where they're going, but it's already so late."
The first truck passed between two hills and disappeared from view. "I vote we go back to town," Kat said at last. "You're right it's –"
"Oh, hey, guys, we have more company!" Bev sounded as if she'd entered an amusement park. "If we can't play with the trucks, can we have fun with those men on the hill?"
"What men?" The rest of the trucks vanished into the pass. Explosions and lights followed.
"Bev – drive closer, I want to see. Do you know who's attacking who?"
Bev crept down the hill until we had a good view of the valley entrance. "I'm not sticking my nose in there," she said, as another blast sent smoke and dust skyward, "it might get shot off. They're not acting nice."
A firefight raged. Heavy fire erupted from the hillsides, while the soldiers from the trucks lashed back with rocket propelled grenades and lasers.
"Someone is fighting those soldiers," exclaimed Kat. "Who?"
"I bet it's those same people who fought at the prisoner compound at the road." I pointed to three figures on the hillside dressed in olive green laying prone shooting rifles. "Those are soldiers too."
"One got hit."
A laser bolt nicked a raider in his
arm. He rolled down the hill and wormed his way behind a rock. Another lay still, slumped over a tree trunk.
"We gotta get over there and help," I said. "If they're against Morgan they must be on our side. Bev, take those trucks out. What do you have?"
"No problemo amigo, I'll – wait, I detect more people in the back of those trucks. Do you want me to smear everyone?"
"Oh, geez. Yeah – no. Who are they, more soldiers?"
"They might be prisoners being sent back to Morgan City," Kat gasped. "Maybe we shouldn't –"
Heads poked from the canvas-covered rear of the trucks. Shackled men and women poured out, scattering in all directions.
"Bev – wait – don't shoot," Kat screamed.
"Shoot – hit the soldiers!" I yelled.
"Will you two make up your minds?"
One sniper flitted from cover to cover down the slope, trying to help his comrade scramble his way back up the hill. The soldiers from the trucks spread out, making a slow advance.
"Bev, drive in between those soldiers and the snipers, we have to protect them."
Morgan's men saw Bev coming and concentrated their fire on her. She kept inching forward until she obscured the view of the hillside from the soldiers.
"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! – Hey, tell those guys to cut it out – they hurt," Bev complained as laser fire bounced off her hull.
"Bev, shoot back without hitting the prisoners," I ordered. "Kill the ones shooting at you."
"You're darn tootin' I will." Her lasers returned pinpoint bolts at each beam as they hit her, and soldiers dropped. After a few minutes of exchanging fire, the remaining soldiers scrambled back into their trucks and bolted.
"Uh-huh, uh-huh. Run you guys, take your Cracker Jack fannies out of here!" Bev chanted to the retreating vehicles. She painted each with a few more parting shots and fell silent.
Most of the prisoners raced well away from the battle and paused to see who the winner would be. As the trucks left, they wandered back, halted a hundred yards away, and gawked at us.
From the other side of Bev, one of the snipers crept his cautious way down the hill.
"Hey, friend or foe?" He stood, waved his arm at us, trying his best to appear at ease. "I hope you're friend anyway, otherwise I'm a dead man."
"Bev, open up," I said. "Kat stay here in case this guy isn't as nice as he acts."
I clambered out the hatch and limped toward the other. "If you're against Morgan and his men, then we're friends, or at least on the same side," I replied. Up close, the sniper had short-cropped black hair and a three-day growth of stubble. His army fatigues were dirty and wrinkled but he wore them with jaunty pride.
"I want to thank you for saving our rumps back there, my name's Captain Smith," he said. He gestured to the trucks, which had vanished. "Morgan's men usually don't fight this hard."
"Why did you attack them in the first place?" I asked. "Are you the same people who raided the work crews on Morgan's road?"
He pointed past Bev to the prisoners who stopped and watched us. "Them, they're the reason." He shouted up the hillside, "It's okay, come on down." Smith said to me. "We've been confronting Morgan every chance we get to release his captives – just our little way of bugging him."
The rest of his men emerged from hiding and slid down the hill. Most wore green fatigues; some had work shirts with a white lightning bolt sown on the sleeve.
"Let's release these people from those chains and start moving," Smith shouted to the others as they passed us, fanning out toward the former prisoners. "We don't want to take the chance of Morgan's men counter-attacking."
The soldiers mingled with the captives, shouting and waving them over, short laser bursts cutting through their chains.
Kat peeked out the hatch watching us. I yelled, "Hey, you can come out. It's safe."
Kat bolted from Bev and hurried to us. The first words out of her mouth were, "Who are you people?"
The captain took a step backward with his lips twitching up. "Well, the rest of the crew, huh? And they get prettier all the time." His mouth bent back down when Kat frowned.
"We were originally part of Morgan's men," Smith said, his eyes flickering from Kat to me. "When he started to set himself up as a pocket-sized Hitler and people disappeared, so did we."
Smith rubbed sweat and dirt from his face. "We've been hitting his camps up and down the line ever since. He's been unloading a lot of prisoners back to Morgan City lately. His eastern army is falling back this way, too."
"Oh, no," Kat whispered. I caught her glance at me out of the corner of her eye.
Captain Smith checked over Bev. He said, "You're driving some machine. Mind if I take a closer gander?"
"Uh, I guess not." I crossed my fingers and hoped Bev wouldn't say anything.
The captain strolled around her and peered into the hatch. "New type of battle tank?" he commented. "I've heard rumors a long time ago about something in development, but I thought it halted after the Greys attacked." He cocked his head and studied us speculatively. "I couldn't talk you two into letting us borrow her for a while, could I?"
I didn't enjoy the word "borrow." People had a way of not returning things. I replied, "Sorry, but she's hand-printed and voice-coded to us, and only us. She won't work for anyone else. Besides," I took a glance at the sun, "we gotta go home. If Morgan's army is marching this way, he may be preparing to attack our town, Paradise Cove. We have to warn our families."
When I said Paradise Cove, the captain became alert. "I've heard the name before. Morgan's men talked about it, and we've picked up watch traffic. Maybe you're right, he could be planning an attack there."
"I hope not," I answered, "but we can't take the chance. We gotta hurry." I took Kat's hand. "Let's make tracks, the town needs to know all this information."
"Hey, wait," Smith said. "Give me directions to Paradise Cove. I'm not promising much, there aren't many of us." He glanced at the prisoners. "Maybe we'll pick up a few recruits. I don't know how many will sign up, and how many want to go home, but with luck we can bushwhack some of Morgan's men on the way."
"Gee, thanks, it'd be great," I replied.
As we drove away, the soldiers were busy giving first aid to those prisoners who needed it. Kat said, "Do you think they'll be all right? What's going to happen to those people?"
"Who, the prisoners?" I said. "They'll be fine. At least they're better off now than what would have happened if they'd gone to Morgan City. As for Captain Smith and his men?" Bev left the valley and the people disappeared from our sight. "I guess they'll keep on fighting and running. What choice do they have? If Morgan captures the bunch they're dead meat, right?"
"The nice Captain Smith is running away?" Bev asked. "Shame, I kinda thought he was sexy. If he's running tell him to run my way, he's cute."
****
When we arrived at town, the people had vanished. The gate was unmanned, the town deserted, the refugees clogging the outside of the wall, gone.
"Where did they disappear to?" Kat said in a hushed voice. "Do you think Morgan attacked again while we weren't here?"
"No, we'd see tents and dead people lying around, wouldn't we?" I answered, trying to decide if this was a trap set by the town for some reason, or maybe a ruse by Morgan's men. Whatever happened, I didn't see any sign a battle took place. It was more as if everyone picked up and left.
I figured we'd go in and explore. We had Bev, and if anyone attacked us, we would bail mighty fast.
We drove through the deserted streets to the other side of town and encountered no one.
"This is eerie," Kat said, bewildered, as we passed the remains of the bonfire where we'd sat with everyone a few days ago. "It's as if none of this ever happened."
We hit the road leading to the river, and the high school loomed into view. We learned where everyone was.
A crowd of people milled around in disarray. Families screamed and rushed to secure room on boats, which pulled up at the dock or beach. Mothe
rs carried babies, and fathers shoed frightened children in front of them. We didn't see Pop or Mr. Brennan anywhere. More people hurried in and out of the high school.
We drove up the hill and parked outside the cafeteria. I spotted Pop through the windows inside with lots of other folks, arguing. When he saw Bev he rushed out, aggravated.
"Where have you two been!" he shouted. He was totally angry. "We've been expecting you for days."
Kat and I sputtered out an explanation, talking over each other in a rush to calm him down. Once he'd listened to our stories he acted more uncertain than angry.
"Amerijuns?" he snorted. "Well, we cannot save those folks now. If they have scouts out they'll know what is happening; and as for these guerillas you ran across, it's too late for any help." Pop's face grew red again and his eyes swung to the school. "We are evacuating the town. By the time they arrive, if they do, we will be long gone."
"Everyone is leaving?" I asked, watching the people running down to the beach with bags hanging over their shoulders. "Why, what's going on?"
"What you heard was right," Pop replied with a sigh. He ran his hand through his hair, messing it up more than it was. "Right after you two left, we caught a skel. He told us an army was marching our way from the west. It must be Morgan. If what those soldiers told you was true, and his eastern army is regrouping to reinforce them, our situation's even worse."
"I knew it!" exclaimed Kat in a high-pitched voice.
Pop's gaze fell on Kat. "They could be planning an attack, and we're the only town left worth their while. We are loading everyone in boats and sending them downriver as fast as we can so they will be safer. I hope he does not follow."
"Where's my dad?" Kat asked. Her eyes squinted toward the fleeing townsfolk and her voice shook. "He didn't leave already, did he?"
"Of course not," Pop replied. "He's inside helping organize the people. When word leaked out Morgan was coming, everyone rushed to evacuate, a couple boats sunk from over-filling with too many people."
"Oh, god," breathed Kat.
"Yes, so the council appointed him and me, and a few others, to bring some order. We are loading in alphabetical order and trying not to breakup families if possible."