by Marcus Sloss
“I have reviewed the other bases in the area. No sightings reported. I think they found those people out in the open as they were reconning the area. My guess is they were wanting an easy target and to avoid a fight,” Nancy said from her truck seat. I heard a few rounds being fired from the video as Nancy paused. The sound of gunfire in the far distance reached my ears that matched the sounds in the video. “We got the rest of them; I think. They were consolidating on the dirt road. Want us to loot?”
“Come home now. I need to look at the drone and want your team safe.”
The little girl finally freed herself of my grasp when I shifted to sit up. A dozen troops were running out to our dead vehicle. They ran to the backside to push us in the last fifty meters or so. I dialed up the drone feed with infrared on.
The view showed the cooling bodies of the dead flapions. Whatever natural armor exoskeleton they had dissipated heat rapidly. It also was shit for stopping high caliber rounds. I saw a few stragglers rushing away deep in the woods. There would be no stopping their retreat with a spy drone. When I saw the area was clear, I hopped out of the truck. The mother was screaming for her husband Elon. Over and over she gave a tormented scream that was frightening her children.
I dialed up Slister while walking to inspect the dead bodies. A flapion jerked alive with its weapon diverting for Becca. A bolt of electricity zinged forward. The discharge slammed into her dragon armor. The impact spot sizzled, she twitched, and then slammed into the ground with a spasm. The little flapion was swiftly killed in retribution.
“This is Slister go,” Slister said, racing for Becca. The woman went to her knees while trembling. She vomited but maintained staying on all fours. “Cap!”
“Sedate the woman in the bed of the truck. Then tend to Becca.”
“Wilco.”
Additional medics rushed to Becca, while the tormented mother was finally silenced.
I walked into the piles of bodies waiting for another wounded flapion to react. When none did, I bent over and retrieved their stick weapons. I grunted in surprise to realize I was holding an actual stick. A smooth straight piece of wood that had been hollowed out. There was a single indent button for fire out one end. The other end had a charging port. The first body I inspected had a pouch around its odd neck. Now that I was up closer to the head, it reminded me of a smush-faced dog. The mouth was filled with rows of jagged triangle teeth. The eyes were pitch black and the stinger leaked a red ooze. I kicked the body over. The wings were bound to the body with a long seam. I grabbed a wing, pinned the body with my boot and yanked hard. I went stumbling without the wing. Well, they were on there good. I lifted the pouch off the neck.
There was a leather string binding the small bag; it continued in length to form the necklace. I opened the container and spilled the contents into my cybernetic palm. Little chunks of metal cascaded into my hand. Specks of gold, silver, and other nuggets reflected when Nancy’s convoy illuminated the area brightly. I waved as they passed by with filled vehicles. The truck beds packed high with items and trailers were weighed down almost to a broken axle point. My eyes returned to the little bits of metal in my palm. With an intrigued nod, I shimmied the nuggets back into their pouch. There would be a lot of these when added up across the bodies.
I went to find Elon. He was mostly bone. Their feasting on his corpse had given us the time to build up speed. I wanted to close his eyes to let him finally rest, but they were gone. With a sad exhale, I walked the dirt road back to our wall. I saw the ground was starting to become loose from the heavy travel. My Gpad leveled in front of me while I typed in to add river stones to the road on the ‘to be completed’ tasks. The majority of the troops were still providing over watch as I passed through the break in the defenses. I saw Jevon talking to Becca who grimaced in pain. My feet detoured for them when Perci came running for me. When Willow stepped out, I was abandoned by her. I smirked at seeing the two embrace while rapidly chatting.
I tossed the bag to Jevon when he shifted his attention to my approach. The man went to inspect the contents. I handed the stick weapon to Becca who cursed at the evil thing. She was still a tad shaky but her color was returning. Slister came over to brief me about her patient.
“Becca received a stun. Obviously electric. The difference is it applied a fever to her body. She has been given fever reducers, and a lot of them. I told her bed rest, I need to IV drip her, and monitor her temp for the rest of the night,” Slister said, and I glanced up at the cool night sky that shone brightly from the moon and the stars. “What about the mom?”
“For the mom, if she wakes up sane, we help get her the support she needs. As for Becca, set up a bed in the house outside. The cool air might help. Or maybe this load of loot has a good command type tent we can use as a hospital. Becca, you follow Slister’s orders tonight or so help me. Is that understood?” I asked sternly. Becca nodded with a shiver as Slister led her away. I turned to Jevon and said, “Nice work.”
Jevon continued to inspect the chunks of metal as his face twisted in contemplation. He opened his mouth only to close it. Nunez came running into the stronghold with a dozen pouches he handed off to me. I bounced them in my palm. Yup more of the same.
“I think we found a source of currency,” Jevon said, while eyeing the mountains illuminated by the moon in the distance. “How do we get more of it?”
“That was one of my thoughts too. Along with that, I do not think these flapions wanted a fight.”
“No, most tried to flee when they realized they ran into deadly resistance. They brought no siege weapons or used formations,” Jevon said with a grunt. He opened a few more pouches to verify they indeed had more metal nuggets. A fifth pouch had a ruby in it. “Nancy mentioned she thought they were seeking targets of opportunity. I would have to agree.”
“I bet the jewelry stores in Aspen have been hit already. We have not made it a priority in our looting because most people fleeing grab the small, expensive stuff. You still good to run the night shift?”
“Of course, I want to ensure Becca ends up alright anyway. Even though it was still new, I wouldn’t be able to sleep with her in that condition.”
“Oh and bring our only drone in. I want it for tomorrow. You have command.”
“I have command,” Jevon replied, and I left him standing there with his thoughts.
Nancy was helping Slister with Becca. Both ladies were medics. I saw some meek smiles and hopefully some bridges being repaired. I ran to Willow and swooped her into my arm. I scrunched my face when her body odor assaulted my nose. She laughed hysterically.
“Perci had the same nose tightening reaction. I sweat when I am nervous. I killed three giant cockroach things and one of the flying scorpion dogs. I think my report card will return with the ‘apprentice soldier approved’,” Willow said confidently. Her eyes lit up with excitement as she eagerly said, “Words cannot describe how eager I am to get into a shower! Thank you for making that a priority.”
I patted her shoulders proudly. “Always believed you would do just fine. Was merely hoping you received adequate training first. Now Willow… I desperately want to see you naked. However, my blood is still pumping and we have all this loot to sort through, and nowhere to put it. Hit the shower, get clean, and return to me.”
Willow leaped into my arms, almost knocking me over. I was given a lustful kiss. When I set her down, both hands of hers were clamped to my ass cheeks. Jacky gave a throat clear. Mother and daughter fled to the house while joyfully talking. Perci waved for me to follow her. I went to the bed of the first truck and saw tools. The majority of the tools were small corded drills or never miss hammers. I grabbed a few at a time and saw the only place not stacked with items was the playground. That was simply not an option. Even though it was late, the kids were playing in the pit since the chaos had calmed.
I looked around, trying to find a storage spot. I huffed when I came back without any success. The RVs were too low to the ground to stuff ite
ms under. Even if Gary and the woodworking team built three new homes, we would be short on storage. I needed these trucks and trailers empty to keep looting for when we did get more homes. My shoulders deflated knowing there was only one option. We had to clear a path to the caves.
My Gpad indicated most of the trucks had enough charge to work through the night. Braxton, our electrician, was running solar panels above the barn when I looked over. We were starting to almost out consume the hydropower. The battery reserves were still maxed, but if we added a few more electric big rigs, we would be negative without the solar.
I caught sight of Clive sitting on the playground bench watching a mini Clive play in the sand. I set the tool down back in the storage bin to talk with him. Perci grabbed my arm in confusion.
“We have to convert the caves into storage. I am going to talk to Clive about putting a second pump in the cavern for waste removal. If people are -”
“Gross. That is enough detail. I will put out the word you want a road built to the cave starting tonight.” Perci paused, tapping her foot. “Priority over more clearance in front of the wall?”
“Definitely. We have a nice kill zone. We can make it bigger, sure, but I do not want to have valuable items spoil. I think the flapions will be very hesitant to approach our wall now,” I said while crossing my arms. I kicked the debris of wood chippings under my feet. “The buxen are a different story, but the short clearing means less room to maneuver their gravity-defying sled.”
“Okay, come find me when you are done chatting with Clive.”
The red bricks were silent under my boots while I walked to the park. Clive noticed my approach and patted the seat beside him. We watched his son chase around what looked like a daughter of his. I kept glancing from her to him.
“Niece. My brother went on a cruise in the Bahamas. First vacation in twenty years. You know, I wonder what the hell the cruise ships are doing?” Clive said painfully into the air. I saw him holding back tears. He clamped his emotions down when his son ran to tell him about how awesome the steel tractor was. When the child went back to playing, he continued. “Dorothy is the woman being attended to by your medic. Her little girl that you saved loves to flush half a Barbie doll down the toilet. Plops it in half, drops it in, and then runs to tell mommy she is trapped after flushing the toilet. I would tell her to just get a wet vacuum every visit. Nope. She happily paid me to do the dirty work. Right princess, both her and the little one. Husband was a fancy Aspen lawyer, I think. Or maybe it was a mortgage broker. Not that it matters now.
“She left when the others promised fake scenarios. I laughed when they mentioned that Fort Carson has to be taking people in now. She probably convinced him to leave this place. I worry she will not be strong enough to handle both. The end of the world, and the man who created the world in which she was a princess. Where are the kids?”
“Mrs. Moore has them in the other suite watching cartoons. I think we have a few wet nurse moms who can help with the newborn. So. I had some work related questions,” I said with a pause. He clenched his jaw with a stern nod. “You can ask any of my men and women I brought home from Saudi Arabia. I will listen if you need someone to talk to... Sorry to shift this to work. We have a cave that lets in water. It has a natural drain inside. I want you to follow the water and see if we can add a toilet system or prevent flooding. The other is, can you build a list of items needed to build a flushing outhouse for the barn that drains to the pump? I was thinking we could strip toilets out of built homes, and plumbing out of half-built or built homes.”
Clive bobbed his head in thought while I talked. He waved over a plain looking woman with a warm smile and brown eyes. He scooted over so she could fit on the bench. We watched the children run around the sandpit, playing tag.
“Hadley, this is King Eric, Eric this is Hadley. The boss man wants to know if I would be willing to build a toilet house for the barn,” Clive said, patting his wife’s knee.
I was not tracking where he was going with this at the moment.
“That is fantastic and I fully support more toilets. If you are asking if you can leave the stronghold, the answer is no dear; we talked about this. Send your apprentice out,” Hadley said. I watched her pat his cheek lovingly until her gaze went stern and she leveled a finger at her husband. “You are not a soldier, Clive.”
When she went to sit in the sand, I chuckled. “Okay, generate the list and sign up your apprentice for item removal. Send Perci your reports please, I will be helping clear trees to get to the cave.”
We shook hands. I was about to enter Jevon’s truck when Torrez called out, “Eric!”
I spun to his voice to see a man and woman being prodded forward. Torrez and Felix were walking with weapons pointed at the two, while Dalila used a stick on them. I sighed knowing that, whatever this situation was, it was not good. Bonnet had caught sight of the display making the ordeal even worse.
“Report,” I said with my commander’s tone.
Torrez sighed, lowering his weapon. “We should go to the meeting room.”
My finger pointed to the barn. The man tried to flee. Torrez had cybernetic legs; you were not outrunning him. He lunged in a long leap. His boot crashed into the man’s back sending him sprawling. Eddy showed up to pick the guy off the ground as he moaned.
“Should we just ace him?” Bonnet said and Eddy gave her a look of disgust.
The man was on his feet again and willingly walking with us. The woman was crying while dragging her feet. I knew that would trigger Bonnet. She grabbed the woman’s hair pulled back and then whispered into her ear with a smirk. That was never a good sign for the recipient. While most Saudi’s ignored her broken Arabic. This woman collapsed in tears. Okay something was off. We were far enough away from the crowds.
“Bonnet, interrogate the man, please. If you kiss him, do so in the woods, some things even adults find rude,” I said in half code. Torrez went with them while I knelt down to talk to the sob story. “I will give you a minute to collect yourself. After, you will face the most important conversation of your life. Answer honestly. Where is your Gpad?”
Mclain grunted for attention and handed me an unattached Gpad. I slapped it on her wrist and it errored out. I unbound it and swapped it with the other one Mclain held out. When Felix had them sorted, he ran to Bonnet to give the man his Gpad. A Gpad had vitals. This woman was crying but her pulse was steady, and she stopped the moment I saw she was faking. Her brown eyes stared daggers at me when I dug into her files.
“Huh, interesting. A con couple. You were renting a massive home pretending to be big shot investors. You conned. Jesus,” I said when I found dozens of people had fallen for their scams. “Wow, you love to steal I bet -”
“Follow me, boss,” Felix said while walking to the woods. I semi-threw the woman from her butt to a walk with an empowered toss. “We noticed a battery was missing. Okay, no biggie, right? Probably went to charging a backhoe, or a truck, or the caves. Hell, Braxton has had his electrical lackey grabbing stuff all day. For supply people with no real inventory checks, I only noticed it because I had moved it there not ten minutes ago. So, there I am, scratching my head about where this battery walked off to when Torrez points at these two idiots. Why are they idiots, you might ask? Well, they are walking with a stick over their shoulder with toilet paper on the end of it. Well she is. He is walking awkwardly. Carrying a heavy ass battery for a long distance will do that to you. So I ask myself. Who is willingly shitting in the woods when we have running toilets again?
“Torrez gets admin overrides from Perci. Which is fantastic to see those in action, by the way. We ping the area looking to find out who these two are. Spoiler, they did not have their Gpads on to avoid the tracking of the constant back and forth from the supply section to the woods. Honestly, I am at fault here. I have been daydreaming about Dalila not expecting to be robbed. The rest is on you, King Eric. You have been taking Torrez to meetings and battle.”
I smacked him upside the head with my real hand, and gently. Dalila chuckled at my banter.
“I know I deserve worse. Anyway, things are starting to add up in my mind. We have missing items. Two people without Gpads using an old cover. When they return, Torrez races in a big arc and finds the mother lode. It is right over here,” Felix said while shining a flashlight through the woods. We walked for only three minutes or so into the trees before arriving at a clearing. “Imagine our surprise when we find this.”
“Why did you bring Dalila?” I asked with a raised brow.
Felix opened his mouth, then closed it, opened it, looked at Dalila, smiled fakely and closed it again. Eventually, he shrugged with his hands up.
“That is two in one day. Do you see Willow or Perci here?”
“No, Cap. Uh… Dalila, sorry I got you involved,” Felix said, rubbing the back of his neck.
“It is okay. I am not dumb. These are vital supplies. I am a big girl, Cap.”
The con artist’s name was Jacklyn, but I doubted it was her real name. She was fidgeting while I looked over the supplies. MREs, sanitizer, medicine, weapons, and all the toilet paper. I gave a tsk-tsk to the woman.
“What was your plan, Jacklyn?”
“We were going to help, I swear -”
Her Gpad indicated she was lying. I clutched her neck with my metal hand. When her feet flicked off the ground unable to find traction her eyes bulged. I saw Felix go to comfort Dalila. She swatted him away while crossing her arm. I returned my gaze to Jacklyn. Bonnet arrived with Eddy, Torrez, and the other half of the con in tow.
“Hey boss, she can’t breathe,” Eddy said while gasping at the sight of the stolen goods. I set the woman down. “This is bad.”