Lauren stood and moved closer, looking upon him thoughtfully. “I don’t think you’re any less normal than anyone else I’ve met before.”
Neo smiled self-consciously at the remark, but it vanished quickly. “My mom understood me, but no matter what my mom told my dad, it didn’t matter. He’d hit me. And if he couldn’t reach me, he’d hit me with whatever he could. Pens, books, rulers, cell phones…I think he threw a briefcase at me once. When he didn’t get what he wanted in the time he wanted it, that was how he acted.” He glanced at Lauren again, suppressed discomfort from long ago evident in his eyes. “Abuse is bad. It’s one of the worst things. It’s damaging, and it shouldn’t be allowed. Those kids…are being abused, Lauren.” He paused for a long moment. “It needs to stop—the abuse needs to stop.”
Lauren began registering the look in Neo’s eyes, and she could feel the fire inside her soul rekindling again. She didn’t fully understand the situation, but it had become evident that something evil was going on—something directly related to the wickedness that had taken advantage of a country brought to its knees by a societal collapse.
Lauren reached for him, but Neo pulled away. “Neo, I—”
“Abuse is bad,” he said. “Even after it’s over, it’s not over. It’s never over. The memories remain, and try as one might to ignore them or flush them out, they never stop haunting you.” He glanced at her again, vacantly. “Is that why you decided to stay?”
Lauren shrugged. “I don’t know, Neo. I honestly don’t know. I just haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.”
“If you can’t stop thinking about it, there’s a reason why,” Neo said. “I think it’s both good and bad that you decided to stay. I think it’s good because you are a force multiplier, and we can use someone like you. But I think it’s bad because this is a war. And not everyone is ready to fight in a war.” Neo began packing his radio equipment into large mil-spec containers. “So what was the favor you needed?”
Lauren tried snapping herself to attention to match Neo’s tempo. “My dad left a set of ham radios in an EMP-shielded container. It’s sitting in the shed behind our cabin and—”
“Ham radios?” Neo rubbernecked, his interest piqued. “Are you sure? What kind? What brand names?”
“Easy there, killer. I don’t know much about them. I don’t even know if they work or not. I just know where they’re at and that he put them there.”
Neo half-smiled. “And you want someone to figure them out for you.”
“Not just anyone.”
“I’ll look into it the moment we arrive. No problem.”
“I knew I could count on you,” Lauren said. “There’s a lock on the case. The only two people in the world who knew the combination were my dad and me.” She handed him a folded napkin with a scribbled sequence of numbers. “Now there are three of us who know it.”
Neo took the napkin, read the numbers aloud, and handed it back to Lauren a few seconds later. “Got it.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to keep this?” Lauren asked, looking confused.
“No need. Radios might be my thing, but numbers are my everything.”
Chapter 13
Allegany County, Maryland
Saturday, December 4th. Present day
As Lauren explored the railyard grounds, a setting malformed into a post-collapse prison camp, she started to notice the human elements of Dave Graham’s unit were no longer paying her little to no mind. Instead of peeking at her and turning away, they were now looking upon her with kind regard and smiling at her. Several of them had even sent along informal salutes. Lauren took their gestures to indicate the cat was officially out of the bag, and her identity was no longer a question mark.
The unit had set fire to all of the remaining buildings and improvised structures, and the arid smell of burning wood and plastic cascaded through the air, mixed with the rotten-egg smell of sulphur and the occasional garlicy odor of phosphorus.
All weapons caches had been emptied of their contents and destroyed. Utilizable supplies were now in the process of being requisitioned. Fuel was retrieved, and vehicles were checked for their operational status. If their engines turned over, they were added to the slapdash collection of civilian and military vehicles already in the unit’s motor pool.
Amongst the thirty or so military vehicles Lauren had spotted parked in and around the camp, she recognized modern-day ones she’d seen before, such as Cougar MRAPs and even the new Joint Light Tactical Vehicle, or JLTV. Some were painted olive drab, others in beige or sand, and there were even a few appearing to have been spray-painted on the fly. However Dave and his men had managed to attain them, Lauren guessed there to be a colorful story attached.
As she continued her stroll amongst the river of vehicles, debris, piles of bodies, and talking heads, Lauren spotted Christian walking towards her, having emerged from the middle of a crowd of black-clothed troops, and he was eating something. Something half-exposed in a shiny, thin, foil wrapper, and it was sparkling in the early-morning sun like a ten-karat diamond ring.
As she got closer to him, Lauren pointed at it. “Christian, what is that? Is that what I think it is?” She paused, squinting. “Is that a Pop-Tart?”
Christian nodded, crumbs coating his smiling lips. “Yup,” he said, his speech garbled through a mouth full of half-chewed pastry. “Cherry Pop-Tart. Frosted, too.”
Lauren narrowed her eyes even further. “Are you seriously just going to stand there and eat it right in front of me?” She could feel her stomach begin to twinge at the sight of something so rare. It was practically a culinary delight.
Christian shrugged. “I don’t know, you want me to break off a piece of it for you?”
“You inconsiderate ass. You didn’t really just find one solitary Pop-Tart and walk unswervingly over here to eat it in front of me, did you?”
Christian took another bite, then smiled deviously. “Come on, Lauren. I know we’ve been on the down and outs…but at least give me a little credit.” He reached into his jacket pocket and presented another, then handed it to her.
Lauren grabbed it and ripped it open in a rush. Within seconds, she had the entire pastry stuffed in her mouth and was chomping down on it merrily. “Holy crap. It’s insanely delicious. I can’t remember how long it’s been since I’ve had one of these.”
“You’re welcome,” Christian said, licking some crumbs from his fingers.
“I take back everything bad anyone’s ever said about you.”
“Cool beans.” Christian shot his thumb over his shoulder, gesturing to the railcars in the distance. “There’s an entire container of these things back there, in assorted flavors. But frosted cherry has always been my favorite.”
“Mine too, oddly enough.”
“We must’ve been separated at birth,” he joked. “This is nothing, though…just an appetizer. You’ll never guess what else I found over there.”
“I’ll believe anything you tell me right now,” Lauren said. “Breakfast junk food has always been my kryptonite, and this sugar high I’m feeling right now is ruthless. This filling might as well be sodium pentothal.”
“Hmm…Lauren Russell has a weakness. That’s good to know…I’ll file that one away,” Christian remarked, turning to gesture to his aft. “There’s another container back there…and it’s full, top to bottom, with…candy bars.”
Lauren’s eyes boggled. “You’re joking.”
Christian grinned and shook his head ever so slowly in the negative.
“Okay, you’re not joking.”
“Nope. Afraid not. Snickers, Three Musketeers, Milky Way, Twix, you name it.”
Lauren’s expression was covetous. “Enough said. I’ll be raiding that one in approximately thirty seconds, then.”
“Same. You know, a few hours ago, I thought we were screwed…like we had somehow fallen into some bottomless pit, right into the depths of a living hell. Now, after what I just saw, I’m pretty sure we migh
t’ve just died and gone to heaven.”
Lauren finished her Pop-Tart and stuffed the wrapper in her pocket. “Speaking of heaven…I have some news.”
“What kind? Good, bad, or meh?”
She thought a moment. “Somewhere in between, only, way better than what we’re used to. Have you seen Norman? It would be good for him to know what’s going on too.”
Christian nodded. “Last time I saw him, he was with Fred, over in that little MASH tent your buddies set up near the highway. You don’t seem distant or let down…did things work out?”
“And then some. Dave is going to provide transportation for us, the well-armed, not-to-be-messed-with kind.”
“Well, damn. That’s nice of him.”
“And Fred is coming around. He’s going to pull through. They have him on pain meds now, but he’s conscious, and he hasn’t stopped bitching about wanting to go home. They’re working to get him stable so he can go along for the ride.”
Christian’s eyes lit up. “That’s amazing. Way better than I expected. But what about the doctor thing? Is he sending a medic with us too?”
“Not exactly.”
“Not exactly?”
Lauren smiled at him. “You’re never going to believe this, but I found Dr. Vincent…just not the same Dr. Vincent we were looking for.”
“I’m not following you.”
“There are two, father and son, and I ran into his son here…or rather, he ran into me.” She paused, offering him a sheepish grin. “Remember the guy you kicked?”
Christian looked puzzled. “Yeah, the one who tried to grab you…the fanny tosser, right? I don’t know, Lauren. That’s bizarre. It’s fortuitous, ironic, and kind of irritating all at the same time. Why the hell didn’t he do something to help Fred while we were locked up?”
“Calm down, I already got to the bottom of it. He was keeping their identities a secret. Apparently, our captors haven’t been treating affiliates of the medical society very well.”
“Fine, whatever,” Christian said indifferently. “I guess it’s neither here nor there now. So what type of crew is your buddy Dave sending back home with us?”
Lauren turned her head away. “At least three squads. And I know two of the guys going along. I used to train with them.”
Christian sighed as his brows elevated. “Well, that solves a portion of one of our problems, I guess.” He shuffled up to Lauren’s side and folded his arms. “I take it, once Fred is ready to go, we’ll be taking our leave of this place, then. Shame. I was just starting to like it around here.”
Lauren hesitated, knowing what she was about to divulge wasn’t going to be nearly as easy for Christian to swallow as the Pop-Tart he had just inhaled. “There’s something else I need to tell you. And since I don’t exactly know how else to say it, I’m just going to spit it out.” She hesitated again, long enough for Christian to stare her down. “I won’t be going home with you.”
Christian’s arms fell to his sides as a look of disgust formed on his face. “Come again? You’re kidding, right?”
Lauren didn’t respond.
“Jesus. You’re not kidding.”
“No,” said Lauren, shaking her head slightly. “I’m sorry, but I’m not.”
“Okay, if you’re not going home with us, then where the hell are you going?” He paused, pointing to the group of men gathered in the distance. “With them?”
Lauren didn’t offer a response again, but Christian didn’t need her to fill in the blanks for him.
“Oh, come on! You’ve got to be kidding me! After everything we’ve been through so far? Lauren, I’m sorry, but I don’t agree with this at all. Jesus…talk about selfish and careless.”
“You’re free to think what you want, but it’s my decision. And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry, Christian.”
“Yeah. Yeah, I bet you are. You know, forget me for a second…but you might want to consider how the people who care about you the most are going to take the news.”
“I already have,” Lauren said. “I haven’t stopped thinking about it since I made the decision.”
“Can you at least tell me why? Can you explain to me why you’re doing this? I mean, seriously, Lauren, your behavior lately has been off the charts, and this…is just absurd. Read my lips—we’ve already divided ourselves to the point of risking everything, and now you want to split us up and add yet another fragment and make the rift even bigger than it already is?”
“That’s not what this is about. And that’s not what I’m trying to do. There’s something keeping me here, and I have to figure it out.”
“Your mom is going to go apeshit when we pull up and you don’t get out of the truck,” said Christian. “And that’s nothing. Grace will do worse…she’ll probably skin me alive or cut out one of my kidneys in my sleep over this.”
Lauren closed her eyes and turned away.
“And what about John? How’s he going to react? Have you given any thought to how devastated he’s going to be?”
“Of course I have.”
“And? Christ, Lauren! All that man does all day, every day is think about you…like you’re the center of his universe, the only thing he lives for. You can see it in his eyes. He worships the ground you walk on, and all you do is shit on him every chance you get.”
Lauren shot Christian a torrid look, forewarning him not to expound. “All right. You can bring this lecture to a standstill, right there,” she hissed, her tone blistering. “I mean it, don’t tread further along that course with me. Listen, Dave told me some things…about some of the camps they’ve found. Then I talked to Neo, and what he said more than corroborated what Dave told me. It’s been weighing on me ever since, and I can’t explain it. I just—”
“Lauren, you’re babbling,” Christian interrupted. “What exactly is going on?”
Lauren hesitated, sliding her hands into her front pockets. “There’s children out there involved in this mess. Kids. Little fucking kids…being held in cages like the one we were just in, or worse.”
“Kids? Lauren, they’re not your responsibility. You don’t even know who they are. They’re not your family or your friends…they’re virtually nothing to you. It’s not up to you to save them, and it’s not up to us to save this country or the entire world, either. We have to stay focused on what directly affects us.”
Lauren bristled. “Those are probably the most selfish words I’ve ever heard you say. How can you possibly think for one second that the future of this country and the entire world doesn’t somehow directly affect people like you and me? The children are the future, Christian. Newer generations fade in and bloom while older ones wither away and die off eventually…that’s the way of the world. No one can escape that. And whatever these people are doing, whatever diabolical plan they have, it has Dave’s full attention, and it merits mine.” Lauren paused. “And that’s why I have to go. I’m needed here, and for the time being, my place is here with them.”
“No,” Christian barked. “Your place is at home with us. With your family. That’s where you’re needed, Lauren. I seriously cannot believe I’m having this conversation with you right now.” He paused. “You know, your sister put me up to this charade. She told me to go on this expedition to protect you, because you supposedly needed me. Looking back, I don’t think that’s the case at all. Maybe you did at one time, but certainly not now. I don’t have the foggiest idea what you need, other than some sedatives, a decent psychiatrist, and a boot in the ass.”
“I’ve made my decision,” Lauren said resolutely. “And amazingly enough, I’ve somehow managed to cover all the other bases too. So no need to thank me. Everyone gets a ride back home—safely, I might add—along with a doctor and medical supplies and some much-needed food, seeing as how every railcar in this place is practically chock-full of it. You’ll all be back soon with everything we left home for. And I’ll be home in a few weeks or so. I won’t be gone forever.”
“Stop making ligh
t of this. You know this is wrong—dead wrong. You know this is going to hurt people, Lauren. People you and I both care about.”
“Please!” Lauren snapped. “Don’t you even dare go there with me! Don’t you fucking dare start in on me about hurting people. Let us not overlook my grandparents and their current whereabouts, and who among us was integral in having them placed there, because I pledge to you, Christian Hartman, former FPS officer, former DHS security agent, I won’t forget any of it.” Lauren paused, giving him time to consider her arguments while her demeanor allayed. “I swear to you, if I could do this any other way, I would. But this has to happen, just like you and the others getting back home has to happen. We left the valley practically defenseless, and for all we know, DHS is still stalking us, just waiting for the right moment to strike. Unless you’ve somehow managed to overlook that too.”
“I haven’t forgotten,” replied Christian. “I’ll never forget that. And I know when we get back, there’s still plenty to do. It would just be preferable to have your…skills along for the ride instead of leaving them behind.”
“I promise you, the skills of the men Dave is sending along with you will be more than adequate.”
“I’d still rather have you with us than them—regardless.”
Lauren shook her head in refusal. “And I’ve already told you that’s not going to happen.”
“Fine,” Christian spat. “I give. I mean, truly…I give up. There’s no point to this. There’s just no resolving this…no matter what, no matter what I try, I can’t fix this. And I sure as hell can’t fix you.”
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