by Eric Walters
“It’s time for us to move,” Willow said.
“Okay, sure.”
Every fifteen minutes we rotated from one post to another, changing places with other guards who were already stationed.
“This is going to be a very long couple of days,” Willow commented.
“I hope it seems incredibly long because that means nothing interesting will be happening.”
“Something seems to be happening up there,” Willow said.
At the next post the two guards were out, standing by the fence, and they were talking to two people on the other side of the fence.
“You go wide,” I said, “through the forest. Be in a position to radio for help if it’s needed.”
He angled off to the side and disappeared into the trees. I pulled the rifle off my shoulder and held it out in front of me as I started forward. Were they being held by force? But then I heard the sound of laughter. If they had been taken prisoner, they really seemed to be finding it amusing. I closed in, but they didn’t seem to notice me at all. I recognized the guards. They were both part of the teenage guard brigade—Sarah and Rachel—and they’d come with us from the Ward’s community. Due to the angle and the mesh of the fence I couldn’t tell who was on the other side. I just knew the tone of the conversation was friendly, even flirtatious.
A twig snapped under my feet, the conversation stopped, and they both looked in my direction. Sarah waved. I didn’t wave back and I kept my gun up and slightly angled toward the unseen people on the other side of the fence. As I closed in the angle changed and I saw who it was—Johnny and Jimmie. I stopped in my tracks.
“Hey, how are you doing?” Johnny called out.
“Yeah, you’re Emma, right?” Jimmie said. “Your mother is that Marine lady.”
I didn’t even want to talk to either of them. I knew what they might have tried to do with that tainted fuel.
I turned directly to the two girls. “Why aren’t you two at your post?” I asked.
They looked a little bit startled, and then Rachel spoke. “We are at our post.”
“Your post is in the guard station, not talking to these two.”
“Look who thinks she’s in charge!” Johnny said and started laughing.
“I am in charge. I’m the captain of the teen guards. You two need to get back to your post, and you two have to leave, now.”
Rachel opened her mouth to say something as Sarah grabbed her by the arm and pulled her toward the guard station.
“Wait, where are you going?” Jimmie called out after them.
“Come on, girls!” Johnny added. “Come on back!”
The girls looked over their shoulders but kept walking away.
“You have to leave.”
“You think you can give us orders too?” Johnny asked.
“Leave now before I call for Sam to come and deal with you.”
They suddenly didn’t look so pleased or so confident. I knew they were afraid of Sam, but this was, of course, a complete bluff as Sam was in the air flying to Eden Mills. They didn’t know that.
“I think he’d welcome the chance to shoot you two for being a threat.” I pulled out my radio.
“We’ll go, we’ll go. We didn’t mean no harm,” Johnny said. “We just wanted to talk to a couple of girls we like.”
Both girls were three years older than me but Johnny and Jimmie were in their mid-twenties or older.
“I don’t care who you like or don’t like. You don’t interfere with our guards or trespass on our property. Just leave and do it now.” I pulled my rifle up and aimed at them.
“Are you planning on shooting us?” Jimmie asked.
“You should leave before we find out.”
They didn’t move. In fact they both smirked.
“I’ve killed before. With a crossbow and with a rifle. I’ve heard it’s like everything else, the more you do it, the easier it gets. So, you want to help me find out?”
They hesitated, and then started to walk away—slowly at first and then more quickly, disappearing into the trees. I felt a sense of self-satisfaction. They were unnerved by the idea of me calling Sam. They were even more afraid of me than that. I’d been bluffing when I said what I did, but really, I wondered, did it get easier each time?
I walked over to the two girls and got there just as Willow arrived from the other direction.
“What did you tell them?” I asked.
“What we talk to boyfriends about is none of your business,” Rachel snapped.
“Boyfriends?” I asked.
“We used to date them,” Sarah said.
“Well, at least we went out with them to a movie, you know, before all this happened.”
“That’s disgusting,” Willow said. “They’re so old.”
“They’re not that old,” Sarah said defensively.
“I don’t care whether you want to marry them. I just want to know what you talked about right now,” I said.
They didn’t answer.
“Look, you can tell me what you talked about or you can tell Colonel Wayne when he gets back.”
I saw that neither wanted that any more than Johnny and Jimmie wanted to have to deal with Sam.
“We were just talking, about nothing, really,” Sarah said.
“Were you talking about the plane?”
“We saw it leave,” Sarah said.
“It was hard to miss. It roared almost right over our heads,” Rachel replied.
“And what about the plane did you say?”
“Nothing…they just asked about it…you know, where it was going.”
“And did you tell them?”
They both sheepishly looked down. Obviously more was said.
“And what?”
“We didn’t tell them anything they couldn’t see with their own eyes,” Rachel said.
They were lying. It was obvious. It was equally obvious they weren’t going to tell me the truth.
“Willow, I want you to stay here with Sarah at this station. Rachel, you’re coming on patrol with me.”
I expected some argument but there was none.
I started walking and Rachel silently fell in beside me. I wanted the two of them separated in case Johnny and Jimmie came back the minute we were out of sight. I wasn’t sure what they could have said to them, or what harm it might do even if they told them everything. Still…I couldn’t help wondering.
39
“It’s impressive to watch the planes take off,” Chris said as we stood in the control tower.
“Even more impressive from up here,” I said. What I didn’t say was that what impressed me most was that we’d made it through the first night without incident.
The two Mustangs were at the end of the runway. Off to the side, parked, was the Stratoliner. I’d been more than a little surprised to see it there this morning. Apparently it had been brought back during the night, and then Adam’s father, along with Adam, had flown their Cessna back home. There was no room for the Stratoliner at their location, and the colonel wanted it back here, safe and secure and under his control.
“I’m glad to be here,” I said, “but I wish I was there instead.”
“At Eden Mills?” Chris asked.
“That’s where the action is going to happen.”
“I think I’ve had enough action for a lifetime.”
The Mustangs taxied out onto the runway and came to a stop, awaiting instructions. There was chatter between the air traffic controller and the two planes. It hardly seemed necessary to have an air traffic controller when there were so few planes to control.
I recognized Colonel Wayne’s voice over the radio. He was in the lead plane. He had insisted on going on this mission because he needed to be there for “his people.” I think that was a big part of the reason, but I think he also didn’t want to be left out of the action. I understood that. The action was addictive.
“Mustangs Alpha and Bravo, you are clear for departure,” the air
traffic controller said.
“Roger that,” Colonel Wayne replied.
“Affirmative,” the second pilot answered.
Even through the glass on the control tower I heard the roar of their engines as they opened the throttles and the planes started moving along the runway side by side.
If all went as planned, the Mustangs would be back in less than four hours—about an hour there and the same back, and a couple of hours patrolling in the middle. It couldn’t be much longer since they only had enough fuel capacity to be in the air just over five hours. Then, if everything went as anticipated, the first planeload of our people would be back, possibly even before dark or early the next morning. And hopefully my mother would on that flight. I wanted her back. I needed her back. Even more important, Ethan needed her back.
He never did all that well when Mom wasn’t around. He had trouble getting to sleep, and he’d wake up a few times during the night. That’s why Mom wanted me there with him. Of course, her not being with us wasn’t so different from her being out all night on duty, or being pulled out of bed to go to the clinic to deal with somebody who wasn’t well. But this time she wasn’t even at the compound, and I could feel myself getting more anxious too; it wasn’t just Ethan who missed her.
The compound did feel strangely empty with Sam and Garth also away and Colonel Wayne about to be. Lieutenant Wilson was a good person and I trusted him, but it wasn’t the same. At least I still had Willow. He wasn’t protection but he was good company. He was my friend, somebody I trusted, somebody I cared about. And the more I was around him, the more he meant to me. I knew he felt the same way about me. At least, I thought he did. It wasn’t like something I could ask him…or could I? Maybe I could, but today wasn’t going to be the day.
The planes picked up speed as they created distance from us. They were taking off over the trees and over Main Island. They both lifted off and soared over the forest and into the air.
I looked at my watch. It was now three hours and fifty-nine minutes until they returned.
“I guess there’s nothing to do now except have some lunch,” Chris said.
“If it’s a fast lunch. I’m due out on perimeter duty soon.”
—
We’d hardly sat down with our meals when the walkie-talkie cackled to life. “Chris.” It was Lieutenant Wilson.
She fumbled with the buttons. “I’m here.”
“Can you come to Colonel Wayne’s office?”
“I’m just having a quick bite with Emma. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
“There isn’t time for lunch, and bring Emma along. We have some guests who are being brought in and need to speak to us,” he radioed.
“Guests?”
“Yes, and please come quickly. They should be here within a few minutes.”
I followed Chris to the colonel’s office and we met Lieutenant Wilson there.
“So, who are the guests?” Chris asked.
The lieutenant gestured to the door, and we turned in time to see Johnny and Jimmie being led in.
“What are they doing here?” I demanded.
“They said they have something they need to say, but they wanted Chris here when they said it.”
They both nodded.
Chris gestured for them both to sit beside her. “It’s good to see you boys.”
They both looked down at their feet.
“Um…look…we need to tell you something,” Jimmie said.
“We were hoping to get here before the planes took off,” Johnny said.
“But we were late and we were nervous, like, actually scared to tell you. We don’t want nobody being mad at us.”
“We don’t want nobody to shoot us,” Johnny said.
“My goodness, boys, of course nobody is going to shoot you—wait, what did you two do?” Chris asked.
“We didn’t mean for things to go the way they’re going to go. It’s just that, well, I don’t know how to say this,” Jimmie added.
“The best way is to just spit it out,” Chris said.
Jimmie and Johnny exchanged a look, and then Jimmie spoke. “There’s going to be an attack.”
“An attack where?” Lieutenant Wilson asked.
“Here,” Jimmie said. “You’re going to be attacked.”
“And how do you know this?” Wilson asked.
“We, um, just sort of know things.”
Wilson got to his feet and came around the desk until he was standing directly in front of them. It was then that I noticed he’d taken his pistol out of the holster and it was in his hand by his side.
“You said you hoped you wouldn’t be shot,” Lieutenant Wilson said.
“Please, boys, we’re not going to shoot you,” Chris said. “Just tell us what you know and how you know it.”
“We were there when they planned it,” Jimmie said.
“When who planned it?” Chris asked.
“They’re from the city. They’re powerful,” Johnny said.
“And there are still lots of them left,” Jimmie added.
“Still?” Chris asked. “What does that mean?”
I wondered the same thing, and then the answer came to me. “You’ve been talking to the same people who attacked Ward’s before, haven’t you?”
They didn’t answer—which meant I was right.
“Why would you cooperate with those people?” Chris demanded. “You saw what they did to people you’ve known your whole lives.”
“We didn’t have any choice,” Johnny said.
“There’s always a choice,” Chris said.
“Not if we wanted to stay alive. It was work with them or be killed,” Jimmie said.
“You could have come to stay with us in the community. No matter what bad opinions people might have of you, you were still part of our Ward’s family. There was a place for you.”
“We knew you couldn’t last, that you didn’t have the weapons. Sooner or later you were going to be destroyed. If it wasn’t them, it was going to be somebody else.”
“So you sold us out,” I said.
“We were just doing what we needed to survive. They told us they’d just chase you away, not that they’d try to kill everybody.”
“I can’t believe you did that,” Chris said. “I feel so…so…disappointed, so betrayed.”
Jimmie shrugged and Johnny looked down.
“But now, after seeing what they did, what they’re capable of, you’re still helping them. How could you meet with them again?” I asked.
“We’re just trying to live,” Johnny said.
Lieutenant Wilson raised his gun and pointed it directly at them. “I guess you’re going to find out what happens next. Traitors can only be dealt with in one way. Both of you, get to your feet and—”
“Stop!” Chris said as she stepped between them. “Let’s just sit down and let’s take our time and—”
“There isn’t much time,” Jimmie blurted out. “We thought it wasn’t going to happen for a few hours, maybe even tonight, but we saw them coming ashore and gathering in the trees. It’s going to be soon. I guess they were waiting for the planes to leave.”
I felt like I’d been kicked in the stomach.
“This couldn’t have happened at a worse time,” Chris said.
We had to do something and do it fast.
“Can we radio Colonel Wayne and get the planes back here to defend us?” I asked.
“Negative. They’re flying at low altitude to avoid detection and that puts them out of radio range,” Wilson said.
Our timing, our luck, couldn’t have been any worse. And then I realized that luck and timing had nothing to do with it. It all made sense.
“They’re attacking now because you two told them all about what was happening here,” I said. “You two knew how weak we are right now with everybody gone, with the planes gone. You didn’t just hear about them making plans to attack, you went and told them this was the perfect time. That’s the only wa
y they’d know to attack right now.”
They didn’t deny it.
“I really should put a bullet in both of you,” Lieutenant Wilson said as he raised his gun.
“Please!” Johnny said. “We did come to warn you! Doesn’t that count for something?”
“Doesn’t matter. We wouldn’t have needed a warning if you hadn’t told them,” Lieutenant Wilson said.
“Chris, please, you can’t let him do this!” Jimmie looked terrified.
“I’m not sure I want to stop him.”
“We have more to say, please, let us tell you!” Jimmie pleaded.
“It’s important, really, just hear us out!” Johnny said.
Chris and the lieutenant looked at each other, and he nodded and lowered his gun. Had he really been getting ready to shoot them, or had it all been a bluff?
“Thank you, thank you,” Jimmie said. “We know their plan and we’re here to tell you.”
“They’re going to attack from Main Island!” Jimmie jumped in.
“But there’s more,” Johnny added. “They’re going to radio you, tell you that if you just have everybody go into the terminal they won’t hurt you, that they just want to take your stores and then they’ll leave!”
“But they won’t leave,” Jimmie said. “They’re going to capture the passenger plane so that you can’t use it to get your guards back. They’re going to block off the runway so the Mustangs can’t land when they get back and they’ll run out of fuel and crash into the lake.”
There was silence. Finally they’d run out of things to say.
“Why should we believe anything either of you has said?” I asked.
“Because we’re telling the truth, honestly,” Johnny said.
“Honesty isn’t something I expect from either of you anymore,” Chris said. “But I can’t imagine you coming here for any other reason. I believe you.”
“Then you’re not going to kill us?” Jimmie asked.
“We don’t work that way,” Chris said.
“So we can go?” Johnny asked.
“We also don’t work that way,” Lieutenant Wilson said. “You will be put in our security room until the colonel returns.”