Living for War: The Collin War Chronicles

by W. C. Hoffman

  “Like I said, it’s gone.”

  “So, like, no research? No serum? No antibiotics, pain meds, gauze ...?”

  “It’s all gone!” Julie shouted. She sat rigid, white knuckled fists on her knees, eyes ablaze with fury.

  Koby flinched and started to inch away from her on the couch.

  “They destroyed it all! My equipment, the blood supply, serum, even the goddamned paperwork was in a burn bin still smoldering,” she growled.

  “Even the paperwork?” Koby said in awe. “Fuck a duck. It’s open season on these bitches.”

  We lost it all. Everything, he thought. One step forward, two steps back.

  “How much of the town has been treated so far?” Collin asked.

  Julie huffed and clenched her teeth. Then, she let out a slow breath. “Everyone in the town is inoculated. But the Vipers ... when they get back they will be expecting ...”

  “A cure,” Collin said. “A cure we no longer have.”

  “There’s one more thing,” Dr. Horner said, staring at the floor.

  He leaned forward. “God, what now?”

  “We had two Eagles on patrol at the hospital.”

  “And?”

  “They are dead. Shot dead,” she said.

  “How come no one heard – oh.” It dawned on him. This would play perfectly into the hands of whoever wrote the note. Destroy their hope and frame the Vipers. Done and done. “Shit.”

  “Yeah, arrows. Both of them.” She nodded sadly.

  “Who did we lose?”

  Julie sighed. “Davies and Patterson.”

  “Jesus, Davies?" Collin asked, his stomach sank. "And where are the bodies now?” Collin rubbed his eyes. Sharp tendrils had wrapped around his head, trying to squeeze his eyes from their sockets.

  “I helped her move the bodies to the morgue,” Koby said.

  “Have you notified the families?”

  “No,” Julie said.

  “Please notify them. They need to hear it from us, before word spreads from these ... what do we call them? Traitors? Rebels?” Collin sighed. “Whatever. Let the families know their lives were not given in vain and we are actively investigating their murders.”

  Koby cleared his throat and look sternly at Collin. “Shouldn’t you tell them?”

  “I’m not in any official leadership role. I haven’t been elected or appointed. I’ve stepped up to help, for sure, but I think the message should come from the Council members Goshen is most familiar with. Which means it’s one of you two,” Collin said. “I only had standing in town because Pendell deemed it a good idea.” He grunted. “Maybe we should hold elections?”

  “That’s a terrible idea right now, given what we’re dealing with,” Julie said, shaking her head. “No one is questioning us, so let’s keep moving forward.”

  “Very well,” Collin said, nodding willing to accept her advice on the issue.

  “If it’s not the Vipers, who do you think did this?” Koby asked, gesturing at the note. “HAGS?”

  “Possibly. It wouldn’t surprise me if they had another insider. But I think this may be the work of someone much closer to home.” Collin rubbed his chin in thought as he leaned forward, elbows propped on his knees. “This might be worse than HAGS.”

  “What could be worse than HAGS?” Koby held his hands out in question. “They out man us, out gun us, and clearly have a way of finding out all of our secrets. Oh, and let’s not forget they destroyed the world.”

  Collin looked at both of them. “An enemy within.”

  Koby and Julie glanced at each other, then back at Collin.

  “I had a run in with a drunk named Mac. Know anything about him?” Collin asked.

  Koby rolled his eyes, groaned, and leaned back on the couch.

  “He’s kind of the town drunk, but I’ve always thought he was more than that. Even before the fever outbreak he supplied eager drinkers his own line of “rot gut.” Mac even had an agreement to supply alcohol to the Eagle’s Bar. He used to be a hunter, but since the wall project started, he’s been on the construction crew,” Julie said. She thought for a moment, then made a “that’s it” face and shrugged. “Not much else.”

  “How about he’s an asshole,” Koby said, bolting up into a seated position on the couch. “Think of the biggest cocksucker in high school. The guy who pushes people out of his way when he walks down the hallway. He played football; even got a scholarship, but his alcoholic tendencies cut that short. Rumor was he got arrested after killing a family when he was out drunk driving.”

  Collin’s eyes widened.

  “One time, I overheard a guy ask him about it. You know ... to see if the rumor was true. Mac flipped out like a desperate hooker looking for a score and just started pounding the guy. It took like five people to pull Mac off him. That’s what the fuck we’re dealing with if Mac is the one causing trouble.” Koby glanced at Julie and grunted. “Rot gut. I wish that’s all it was.”

  “So, what you’re saying is he has influence with a lot of people?”

  “Yeah, pretty much. And they generally like him, thanks again to his booze,” Koby said. “You must have noticed he’s a fan of drinking too, huh?” He knocked back an imaginary drink.

  “I could smell him from twenty feet away,” Collin said as he stood up and began to pace the room. When he woke up that night in the hospital, his only thoughts were survival and escape. Had he been too passive, getting involved in town politics, and neglecting the search for his family? His heart told him he was doing the right thing by helping other people, while his brain told him to cut his losses, get Brady, and search for his wife. She was out there somewhere.

  Wasn’t she?

  Collin’s brow furrowed as he thought. Two choices stood before him. Stay on course and help Goshen survive, which he hoped would help his family in the long run. If his wife – what was her name, damn it? – had survived this long, she could go on for a little longer. Or, he could leave Goshen to its own devices and put family first.

  Leadership wasn’t foreign to Collin; his dream bore that out. He recognized the truth in the dream; he had served the President as the Secretary of Defense. What bearing would that have on his situation now? Did Goshen still consider him a General, or had his decision to absorb the Vipers into their ranks shattered their trust in him? Now he had two dead Eagles and a trashed medical facility.

  “You two really think Mac is behind this?” he asked.

  Koby nodded right away. Julie hesitated a moment, but said, “Yes, I think he’s a likely candidate.”

  “But ...” Collin waited for her to elaborate.

  “But I don’t think we should have blinders on. The note, the vandalism, all of it could have been almost anyone. Without looking into it more, it’s difficult to be certain. That said, I think Mac is at the top of our list.”

  “Very well.” Collin rubbed the back of his neck as he thought about what to do next. He sighed. And paced.

  “Collin? What are we going to do?” Dr. Horner asked. She gazed up at him with concern in her eyes, but her posture had changed. Gone was the tension in her hands and shoulders. Julie now leaned back on the couch with her legs crossed, looking the part of the out of uniform doctor.

  Collin paused and looked at his friends. After a few moments, it became clear.

  “It’s time to channel my past life and lead a raid.” He smiled. “Time to hunt. We have to hit Mac where it hurts. We’ll put a stop to his distillery. But first, I’m going to check in at the school and have a casual chat with him.”

  “What should we do about the lab? The treatment?” Dr. Horner asked, a small crease forming between her eyes.

  She looks cute when she scowls, he thought.

  “I’m still here with veins full of blood. You just find a way to use it,” Collin said, pointing at both of them. “Time to get to work.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  The gymnasium door protested as Collin pushed it open. Inside he was surprised to see at le
ast two dozen volunteers waiting to help prepare the school for the Vipers. A smile sprung to his lips as he considered how grateful he was to have woken up in Goshen.

  Two Eagles approached him with a thick stack of papers as he walked toward the volunteers. It was Specialist Del Toro and Private Hogan.

  “Good morning, sir,” Specialist Del Toro said as the two of them stopped and stood at attention.

  “Good morning, Eagles. What do you have there?” Collin asked, pointing at the papers.

  “Sir, on our way over, we noticed these fliers everywhere.” Specialist Del Toro glanced at Private Hogan. “We didn’t think you’d want them left out. So Hogan and I grabbed our bikes and raced around picking them up, sir.”

  “General, have you seen the terrible things it says?” Private Hogan asked in a low voice, handing him a flier.

  Again with the titles, he thought. At least it sounds better than Secretary does.

  Collin took the flier, frowned, and nodded his head. “Yes, I’ve been briefed on this.” He looked at both Eagles. Appreciation gleamed in his eyes. “That was some high speed thinking. I’m grateful for your initiative.”

  Both Eagles stood a little straighter.

  “For your quick thinking and prompt action, I think you two deserve a day off,” Collin said. “Fire up a barbecue with this rubbish, kick back, and relax.”

  “Yes, sir!”

  “Carry on.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Private Hogan said, beaming.

  Collin smiled and nodded. Whatever the town faced, he was thankful to have good people around him. Hope was in the air.

  Turning his attention to the group of volunteers, he quickly ran through the plan in his mind before calling for their attention.

  “Good morning, everyone. It’s great to see so many of you here. Our goal today is to clear out enough space so each classroom can hold a family or group of people. My hope is that we can keep each room to four or six inhabitants. Chairs, desks, tables, and all the other furniture not suitable for living quarters needs to be moved,” Collin said. “We’ll take a quick tour through the school to take stock of what we face, and then we’ll get started. If you have any questions, don’t be shy.”

  “Are we going to help them build homes?” a woman asked. “It seems...cruel to pack them all in here like cattle.”

  “That is a great question,” Collin said. “Eventually we can do that, but for now this will have to suffice. Brady and Tiny both seemed content with this solution. They’re used to living communally.”

  “Thank you,” she said.

  “Sure thing. Any other questions before we get started?” Collin asked, looking around. No one spoke up. “Right then. Let’s go look around, shall we?”

  They spent the next thirty minutes walking around the surprisingly large school determining what adjustments to make. A knowledgeable gentleman explained the size, telling Collin that back in the day, the kids who lived out on farms would be bused in to this school from all around the area.

  From the looks of it, the Vipers would fit in nicely. With the few remaining houses taking up the neediest families, it wouldn’t be too overcrowded. Collin was concerned about the plumbing. Would it be able to stand up to the strain of hundreds of people living there full time?

  Concerns for another day.

  He divided the assignments, set everyone to work, and made his way to the principal’s office. It was a virtual clone of the principal’s office in the high school, which now served as the Eagles’ headquarters. Collin began rummaging through the desk drawers and later moved on to the file cabinets.

  Then an idea struck him like an uppercut. His head snapped up and he eyed the waist tall, drab olive filing cabinets.

  A few minutes after beginning his search, Collin found the cabinet with student records. He flipped through the alphabetical tabs, looking for Mac’s student file. Koby and Julie never mentioned what Mac’s last name actually was. Finally, with great relief, he found it under M for McTavish. Calvin McTavish had a thick folder.

  Collin pulled it out and set it on the principal’s desk. He dusted off the thick, cracked leather chair and sat down. What Collin found when he flipped the folder open was a plethora of background information. From disciplinary notes and suspension notices, to copies of athletic awards and report cards.

  The report cards were the most telling. Mac wasn’t some dumb, moonshine brewing hillbilly from the mountains of Montana. The guy had straight A’s, at least throughout elementary school.

  Collin made a mental note to check the high school’s records before going to speak with Mac. People can change quite a bit between elementary school and high school.

  Collin shut the file, returned it to the file cabinet, and left for his office at the high school.

  Then it would be time to pay ‘ole Mac a visit.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Mac’s house looked like many of the homes in Goshen. It was a ranch style home with a large front porch. A short wood fence separated the yard from the sidewalk, and the house was blue with white trim. A porch swing looked inviting as it gently swayed in the early morning breeze.

  Set off to the side of the house, Collin saw a barn in the backyard probably large enough for a few horses, a tractor, and other farm equipment. It probably held the distillery too.

  Four Eagles accompanied Collin, which felt excessive, but he ran into Koby at the high school and he’d insisted on the escort. He seemed to think Mac was the kind of guy who would relish a sucker punch scenario, and gauging from his disciplinary record, Collin agreed. Having trustworthy people watch his back wasn’t unpalatable, so he agreed to take them along.

  “You two stay here,” Collin said. He motioned for the others to follow him. The gate squeaked lightly as he pushed it open.

  Mac’s front yard was expansive, with rows of apple trees that would bear fruit when autumn came. The trees were not densely spaced, but they’d be enough cover to allow for an ambush. Halfway to the house, Collin motioned for the Eagles to stop there. He continued alone.

  At the base of the stairs were several strawberries that must have fallen from a harvesting basket. Collin crouched down to see if any of them were salvageable. Two were clearly squished. He rolled over the biggest one and saw two honeybees savoring the rotting fruit’s sweetness.

  “Well, hello friends,” Collin said, smiling. They were a welcome discovery and the first bees he’d seen since the one that died in his yard.

  He heard a rustle of bushes, then a voice said, “Since when did we become friends?”

  Collin looked up in the direction of the voice. Mac emerged from the side of the house, from behind a cedar bush large enough to conceal him. The man only stepped halfway out from the bush.

  “Good morning,” Collin said, standing up slow and casual.

  “Huh. It’s morning, but no one said it was good,” Mac shot back, stepping into full view.

  Collin smiled and pointed at the compound bow that Mac gripped tightly in one hand. “Nice bow. You doing some target practice?”

  “Sure am. I’ve got a deer target setup out back. Spending all that time on the worthless wall, I couldn’t practice. Now, I figure I better get back into form,” he said.

  “Oh?”

  “Ya’ll are letting them assholes move in here, so we’re gonna have more mouths to feed. So ...” He held the bow up, pride gleaming in his eyes. “Figured I’d get her out, dust her off, and give the old girl a tune up.”

  Collin nodded. He felt the same affection toward his own weapons. Although these days it was primarily the M9 pistol he carried in a thigh holster. Care of a weapon was serious business because lives depended on it operating properly.

  “It’s a fine weapon,” Collin agreed, noting the type of arrows Mac had in the attached side quiver. The fletching was red plastic blazer vanes on camo shafts, probably carbon fiber. Decidedly not the same type the Vipers used. Collin had not seen these types of arrow shafts prior to his fever-induced
coma.

  Mac watched Collin with a smirk on his face, but he didn’t say anything. He just stood there.

  Collin wanted to do things right. He needed evidence and justification for arresting Mac. And this time, he wouldn’t let it go sideways like it had with Pastor Pendell. Goshen needed to see that law and order still stood intact. After law and order came justice.

  “So, I suppose we both know what I’m here to talk about.”

  “Save your breath,” Mac said with a wave of his free hand. “I can’t stand the smell of bullshit.”

  Collin grunted and clenched his jaw. They stared evenly at each other. “I’m not sure you’ve taken everything into consideration,” he said after a moment.

  “Consideration? Here is what I consider,” Mac said, shifting his stance as a scowl creased his brow. “I consider it rude as fuck that you wake up and think you own this town. I consider it a shame people here have died right before your eyes, yet you’re letting a group of savage Neanderthals walk right into our house. We’ve been fighting them for more than fifteen years. I grew up here, this is MY home,” he shouted, pointing at the ground. “You care about Goshen? I call bullshit.”

  Collin glared at him steadily.

  “So, trust me, I’ve taken a whole hell of a lot into consideration. Now get the fuck off my property.”

  “What about the little enterprise you’ve got running here?” Collin asked.

  “I told you to leave.”

  “You don’t think the Vipers will want some hooch once they’re living here?”

  “Funny thing is there’s only so much to go around and my supply is spoken for,” Mac said with a sneer. Right then he reminded Collin of a cartoon fox about to feast on an unsuspecting chicken. “And I’m low on sugar right now anyway.”

  “Sugar ... ah, from the beets. That makes sense,” Collin said, thoughtfully. “Well you know, we could always make arrangements to provide you with the corn you’d need to continue production. Of course, if the Council decided to do that, we’d need to come to an agreement on certain terms.”