The America Falls Series: Books 1-3 : America Falls Box Set 1

by Scott Medbury

  Tears welled in her eyes and her shoulders slumped in resignation. We didn’t talk as we took the long walk from the alley door to Sonny’s office at the other end of the building.

  How am I going to tell her? Was the question running through my head. I knew, of course, I was going to have to tell her the truth.

  How I was going to tell it to her, that was a different story altogether. What I was really asking myself was what form of the truth was I going to tell her? The question of exactly how much responsibility I should take for Arthur’s death was also lurking in the shadowed corners of my mind. When we got to Sonny’s office, I held the door for her and followed her in, closing it gently behind me.

  “What happened?” Her voice trembled slightly, and a solitary tear ran down her cheek. As used to losing people as we had become, the pain was never any less severe. There was a long silence as she wiped the tear away and looked at the floor, trying to contain her grief.

  “Karen, I’m sorry, so ... so sorry,” I said softly. “He had just saved my life and he was fighting to the very end. But one of the Tigers snuck up on us and shot him from a distance. It killed him instantly.”

  “What happened to the Tiger who shot him?” Her voice still trembled, but now I was having trouble distinguishing whether it was from grief or rage.

  “Dead,” I said. “I killed him.”

  “How?”

  “I don’t think…”

  “How!”

  “I shot him in the head.”

  “Good,” she said, simply and walked out.

  2

  The word spread about Arthur’s death and considering the tears and shock, especially of those in Sonny’s original group, everyone did an excellent job getting all the supplies stowed away. It took about two hours to get the truck loaded and we left plenty of room for those that would be riding back there.

  When we had finished loading the truck, I called everybody in for a meeting in the main practice room.

  Sonny was sleeping but seemed to be okay, so I asked Indigo to join us as well. I looked at each of them: John, Karen, Allie, Samara, Mark, Luke, Ben, Brooke, and Indigo. I thought of Arthur and wondered if we would lose any more of them on our trip north to the sanctuary promised by the coded message.

  I knew it was very likely.

  “I wanted to talk to you all about leadership,” I said. “As long as Sonny is down, I think it would be a good idea for us to elect a new leader. Someone who can make decisions for the entire group, especially if and when the shit hits the fan.”

  “Well, you seemed to have put yourself in charge, what with calling this meeting and all, and telling us what to do when we were loading the truck,” Mark said.

  It was said in a matter of fact way, not meanly, but I felt my face flush anyway. When he finished speaking, a confusing babble of voices rose, as everybody started talking all at once.

  “Guys, guys,” Luke said raising his hands. “One at a time.”

  “What’s wrong with democracy?” John asked. “I think we should all get a vote before we do anything as a group.”

  “Normally, I’d agree with you,” I replied. “But there may come a time, sooner or later, when we’ll have to make a decision fast and there won’t be time for a vote. That’s why I want to take a vote now, so when the time comes, we can all agree on whose lead to follow.”

  “Why don’t you be the leader, Isaac?” Brooke asked. “I mean, after all, you’re going to be the one doing the driving. It would be logical for you to be the one to make any quick decisions while we’re travelling.”

  “No, I won’t just take the lead. I’ll accept the responsibility if I’m voted leader, but I’m not going to just claim the position,” I said.

  In truth, the very thought of being leader scared me. I wasn’t certain I was the right man for the job, and being responsible for the well-being of a group of ten was not something I was totally comfortable with.

  “Why don’t we just wait until Sonny wakes up? If he’s too weak to lead us, maybe he has a preference for who should lead us in his place,” Allie said. “After all, before you guys showed up, Arthur was his second in command.”

  “Arthur’s not here,” Karen said, her voice retaining an edge of the cold rage I had heard earlier. “And for all we know, Sonny may never wake up either and even if he does, we have no idea how out of it he’s going to be. Isaac’s right, I say we vote on a new leader, now.”

  “Sonny’s going to be okay, right?” Samara asked, with a slight quaver in her voice. I realized she had not yet contemplated the possibility that our makeshift medical job might not prove up to the task of saving him.

  “Sure he will,” Mark said, putting a comforting arm around her shoulders, casting a wicked glare in Karen’s direction.

  “We’ll have to wait and see,” I said. “But I’m almost sure he will be fine. Right Luke?”

  “Yeah,” said Luke. “I don’t know how the bullet managed to go through him without hitting anything vital, but I’m pretty sure it did. There was no major bleeding, and if it had hit bone I’m pretty sure he would have been in a lot more pain than he was. I’d say he has a decent shot of recovering.”

  “Right, so the main reason I don’t want to wait for him is because I’m worried one of these situations might pop up before he wakes up or is thinking straight enough to decide for us.”

  “Let’s vote then,” Ben said. “How are we going to do it? By secret ballot, raise of hand, ayes or nays?”

  “How about this,” Luke said. “I nominate Isaac. Anybody who wants him to be interim leader, raise your hand.”

  Luke put his own hand up, followed quickly by Ben and Brooke; the rest looked around at each other for a moment before Karen’s hand went up to join in. Indigo was watching me.

  “I see you haven’t voted for yourself,” she said. “Is that because of modesty or fear?”

  “A bit of both,” I answered truthfully. “But I guess if people are willing to follow me, I should be willing to lead.”

  I raised my hand.

  “I think you’ll make an excellent leader,” Indigo said, raising her hand as well. That was a majority, six out of 10.

  “Fine, Isaac can be the temporary leader until Sonny is up and healthy again,” John said, shaking his head and putting up his hand.

  “I still think this is bogus,” Allie muttered, but raised her hand anyway.

  “Looks like it’s official. You’re the boss, Boss,” Luke said, giving me a broad smile. I caught myself wondering if he had nominated me so quick to make sure nobody would put him in the mix as well. Luke was universally well-liked by the people of the academy, as well as by the twins and myself.

  “Fair enough. Thanks guys. Well my first suggestion is that we try to get some rest,” I said. “Sonny was planning on leaving about noon tomorrow, but I think we should get started earlier than that.”

  “I’m going to go back and check on Sonny,” Indigo said. “Now that the leadership issue is settled, I think the meeting is pretty much over, right?”

  “Yep,” I said. “I’ll go with you.”

  I ignored Luke’s knowing snigger as I ran to catch up with Indigo as she headed for the exit.

  I did want to check on Sonny, but I was also eager to spend more time with Indigo. I figured our wounded leader would sleep most of the night after his trauma and the vodka, so we would probably get the chance to talk a lot more.

  I was embarrassed later, when Luke told me the only person who thought I was doing a good job of hiding the crush I had on Indigo was me. If Indigo knew, she did a good job of playing it cool. She was perfectly nice to me, which only made me like her more, and never gave any indication I was bothering her. I didn’t know if the feelings I had for her would grow into anything more than a crush, but at that time, I was kind of infatuated, and the very fact that she was giving me the time of day made me feel on top of the world, despite all that had happened in the last few hours.

  Sonny
was still asleep, as I figured he would be, and we spent the next couple of hours in the hall making small talk while we watched over him. We learned more about each other’s lives prior to the Flu and it wasn’t long before she knew more about me than Luke, Brooke, and Ben combined did.

  Thankfully, she seemed okay with what she heard. I really don’t know how I would have handled being rebuffed at that point. Eventually, we decided Sonny was just going to keep sleeping. Indigo said she wanted to go to her room to get some sleep so I went off to get some as well.

  “Hey, wake up, man.” Somebody shook me, and I opened my eyes to see Luke looking down at me. “Sonny’s awake and he wants to talk to you.”

  “What time is it?” I asked, sitting up and glancing around. It was still dark outside.

  “Just after six or so.”

  “Okay,” I pulled myself out of the sleeping bag, and quickly rolled it up so it would be easier to move to the truck when we left. “Did Sonny say what he wants?”

  “Not to me,” Luke replied with a shrug. “Maybe he found out you’re in charge now and wants to give you some advice.”

  “Or maybe he wants to tell me to put someone else in charge,” I said.

  “Too late for that, man. We already voted.”

  “I could abdicate,” I said.

  “You won’t,” he said. “We both know having you as leader is for the best.”

  “Do we? What about you? You seem to know how to handle this stuff pretty well.”

  “I’m not as smart as you are,” Luke said. “I don’t get the gut instinct you do, which has done us okay so far. Plus, in any given situation, I tend to latch onto the first option my mind hits and follow it without thinking it through all the way. In short, I’d be a pretty decisive leader, but probably not the best. I’d probably get a rush of blood and lead us into a disaster.”

  “Wow, sounds like you’ve thought this through.”

  “Yep,” he nodded. “Now go see what Sonny wants.”

  I grunted while I stretched my muscles, and then headed toward the hall where we had left Sonny the night before. I thought about stopping to check on Indigo on my way, but decided letting her sleep a bit longer would probably be appreciated (not to mention less stalker-like).

  I found Sonny sitting up and alert, although clearly weak, with Allie by his side.

  “Isaac, good job last night,” Sonny said, as I walked up. “I know it’s not ideal, but you’ll have to drive when we leave. I’m not up to it.”

  “Yeah, I figured as much. Are you feeling better?”

  “To be honest, it hurts like hell, but I may be up to driving the second half of the trip to New Hampshire. Listen, I have a plan to help prevent this,” he pointed to his bandaged wound, “from happening to you.”

  I nodded and squatted next to him.

  “What is it?”

  “The reams of printer paper I had them get from the office building across the street,” he said. “Take the interior panels of the doors off, stack the reams of paper inside, and then put the panels back on.”

  “I think I saw a TV show where they did that, but with phone books ... will it really work?”

  “If we only have to face small arms fire, it should work well enough, but if we get hit with anything like anti-armor weapons...” he glanced at Allie, who was listening attentively. “Well, let’s just hope we don’t have to face anything heavier. You won’t be able to roll the windows down once you get the paper in there, but it’s so cold I don’t suppose that’s a problem.”

  “Yeah, I don’t think it’ll be a problem for anyone,” I said. “I’ll get right on it. By the way, I’ve been wondering about the toner cartridges, as well. Why did you have them collect so many?”

  “Up in the attic, in the base of the samurai sword stand, you’ll find 15 or 16 old blasting caps, the kind with the fuses that can be lit with a match or lighter. By themselves, they can’t do much damage, but I figured if we taped each one to a toner cartridge, we could make some fairly effective ink bombs. Detonate one of them on a pursuing vehicle’s windshield and the driver would be in trouble.”

  “Where did you get blasting caps…? Never mind, it doesn’t really matter. I’ll have Luke grab some tape and the toners and begin making the bombs while I see to the truck doors. By the way, I know you planned on leaving around noon, but I’m thinking we might want to be out of here a bit earlier than that.”

  “Any time you’re ready to go,” Sonny said. “Allie told me about the vote, and I approve. You’re leader now for as long as necessary.”

  “Just until you get back up and on your feet.”

  “We’ll see,” he said, patting me on the shoulder. “Maybe you’ll turn out to have a natural talent for leadership.”

  Surprisingly, a fog had blanketed the city while I was sleeping and the alley and streets around it were cloaked in a thick, white mist, so heavy even the far end of the alley where it opened into the street was difficult to make out.

  This could be handy, I thought, the fog could help cover our escape.

  It took me about an hour, maybe a little longer, to finish armoring the doors of the truck. By then, Luke and John were nearly finished making the ink bombs. I began to think that we might be out of there as early as 9:00 AM.

  As I was headed back in the side door to grab my sleeping bag and the rest of my stuff, I heard a loud banging. It came from the front of the building and with adrenalin racing through my system, I dumped the gear and ran into the hallway as Ben came hustling in from the reception area.

  “Isaac, it’s the Tigers,” he said, breathlessly. “I peeked through the window and there are four of them at the door, all armed. What should we do?”

  “I guess we should see what they want,” I replied, a cold dread gripping my belly. “Do me a favor and go get Luke and John. Tell them what’s happening and to meet me by the front door.”

  As Ben hurried off, I pulled out my revolver and made sure it was fully loaded before slipping it back into my belt. I then picked up the Chinese assault rifle standing against the wall and began walking to the academy’s front door. I stayed out of view from the street by ducking down as I passed by windows.

  The building’s front door was much like those of many schools I had been to, solid double doors with windows of obscured, reinforced glass taking up the top half. The doors had push bars on the inside, and handles for pulling on the outside, but were currently locked and chained. It was quiet now and I couldn’t make out anybody through the door’s windows.

  I approached silently with the rifle’s safety off and flattened myself against the wall to the right of the doors, straining to hear anything to tell me they were still there.

  I jumped as five loud raps shook the door on its hinges.

  “I know you’re in there, Sonny, you and your gang of little virus-proof kids. Come on out, we just want to talk. I’ve got some questions for you.”

  I recognized Chen’s voice immediately. It had the same arrogant, almost sing-song quality to it that I’d witnessed in the car park.

  “My brother Jack got shot... you remember Jack, don’t you, Sonny? My little brother! And then when I tracked down the murdering bastards who killed him, a couple more of my boys got wasted, and those murdering dogs got away in a truck. And guess what? That fucking truck is right in the alley next to your building!”

  Sonny knows these guys better than I thought. Or they know him. Chen continued before I could ruminate on this realization any further.

  “One of the guys we killed was wearing your colors, Sonny! I know you have the laowai who killed Jack in there. Just hand him over and we can put all this behind us!”

  I waited for him to finish and then addressed the door calmly.

  “Sonny isn’t available right now,” I said. “I’ll be happy to relay your message and concerns.”

  “What? You think this is some kind of fucking joke? You tell Sonny to get out here now! I don’t care if he walked away from us
four years ago. Once you’re a Red Tiger, you’re a Tiger for life!”

  So that was how Sonny knew so much about them.

  “Again, I’ll pass it along.”

  More swearing and then the voices quietened.

  I saw Luke and John come into the hallway and waved them back out of sight. Leaving my position by the door, I hugged the wall and stealthily made my way to them.

  “We could have a problem here, guys,” I said quietly. “Go check the truck in the alley, very carefully, to see if they’re watching it. If it’s clear, get everybody loaded up as quickly as possible. Grab my stuff if you can. Are all the bombs done?”

  “We still got, like, three to do,” Luke said.

  “Alright, make sure some of them are packed up in the cab. Luke, you’ll be riding up front with me,” I said. “We can finish making the last few on the road.”

  “What are you going to do?” John asked.

  “Stay and watch the door, of course,” I replied. “Come right back if the truck’s being watched. Otherwise, get everybody loaded ASAP then send someone back to get me.”

  “Okay, we’re on it,” John said.

  I watched as he and Luke turned and hurried back down the hall. Turning back to the door, I knelt and brought the assault rifle up to my shoulder and waited.

  A couple of minutes passed before he rapped on the door again.

  “Last chance, Sonny!”

  This time I didn’t answer. I heard their voices, but couldn’t make out any of the actual words, although I got the impression that Chen was quickly running out of patience.

  Another loud bang and the door’s safety glass shattered, spraying the floor in front of me with glass. The wire reinforcement bowed inwards and held for two more hard blows from an aluminum baseball bat, before falling through on the fourth blow.

  The end of the bat was thrust through the window and ran around the edges to knock off any remaining shards of glass. An arm came through, reaching down for the push bar to open the door. I squeezed the trigger.

  My selector was set correctly this time, and my aim was better. The assault rifle fired three successive shots, all hitting the wall beside the door as a warning. The arm disappeared immediately and, a second later, a barrage of small arms fire began peppering the door. I ducked behind a wall as the bullets pinged off the walls of the hallway.