The Orphans (Book 4): White Lie

by Evans, Mike

  “So are you going to mention the idea to Aslin?”

  Clary shook his head no, he said, “Nah I'm going to let today finish itself out. Maybe this week we can have a big meeting and discuss the future. I have a feeling today has taken its toll on people. I was honestly thinking that if we are able to find this many survivors still we need to set up a weekly or even daily run to try and find others. But if we are going to have things like what just happened to Phillip and Andy, then I can’t think that it would be a good idea to keep doing it. I think for taking out the Turned en masse, we need to do it when the weather is on our side and we have all the sunlight that we are going to need and no snow. We are handicapped by the elements, not that they aren’t, but they sure as hell still move better than we do in this shit from what I can tell.”

  Scott knew this to be truth for sure. “So then from here on out, we just do what, hide until winter is over?” he asked.

  Clary nodded, “We keep training, and we keep under lock and key and pray that they don’t come for the base until we are ready. I’d be happy to have a second location set up full of food and gear, but it all takes time and the luck of being able to succeed in doing it. This is worse than many of the war zones that I've had to jump into because there wasn’t anywhere safe enough to land and drop our asses off.”

  “So you’ve been seeing horrible places long before this, did that make it easier for you?”

  “It never gets easier kid. It doesn’t matter if you’ve seen it once or a thousand times. Human life is human life and it’s a waste having to put it down because of some other leader’s plans. When we go over to other countries, people don’t really understand the thinking process behind any of it. We are Americans and while we are the greatest nation in the world, don’t get me wrong our vision is quite tunneled.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “Well think of it this way, the soldiers we are going over to kill are our enemy right? Why are they our enemy, because they are following some asshole’s directions and causing a lot of pain? What would happen if they questioned the guy in charge? That’s right; they’d probably get a bullet in the back of their head. So Americans jump into their land armed to the teeth, blowing up buildings, making people lose jobs, businesses shut down, making men and women try to kill us in the streets, and in the end we come home to a hero’s welcome and leave those countries under our ruling, and on top of that, ruin their economy all because we were trying to take out those in power usually."

  Scott sat back in his seat looking up at the ceiling and then out the window at the snow passing by. "Jesus Clary, how the hell do you do a job like that and not go freaking insane?"

  “Honestly? It isn’t that hard to tell you the truth. Some times are harder than others, but most of the time it is just trying to remember that our leaders are typically better educated and more informed than their leaders. I don’t see taking a sadistic leader over in Iran out as a bad thing when he is wining and dining and giving himself and his family every amenity that he can and leaving those starving in the streets. There are many third world countries who laugh at our system of helping those in need. Do I think that we needed to take care of everyone that doesn’t actually need our help? Hell no, but those that do need it should get it, and in a world like that they would be long dead and so would their loved ones. The other part about it is regardless of what anyone says, I'm still God damned proud to be serving my country, at least until my country told me that they no longer needed or wanted my service.”

  Scott said, “You mean that didn’t leave you the least bit bitter towards the government?”

  “No, not towards the government, there was so much shit that they were having to deal with at that time that they didn’t know what in the hell was going on. It was on one man’s shoulders for sending us here and then leaving us. They could have made attempts at trying to get us out of here, they could have flown someone in, but they didn’t want to try because they didn’t think that the risk was worth the fucking gain. One precious pilot for two SEALs with guns apparently isn’t much of a trade. But I can and will promise that if by some lucky damn miracle I run into the son of a bitch who left us here and said thanks for your help, that I'm going to make what a Turned does to them look peaceful and kind. I am not kidding, I can promise you this much!”

  Scott nodded his head slowly, the bit of crazy that was pouring out of Clary’s eyes kind of gave him the creeps. He only had to worry for a moment because as they passed he saw the Humvee that Greg had been cruising in. He pointed to it as if Clary could miss the army truck crashed into the barrier of the bridge and spun around in the street. Clary slowed down looking at it, seeing there was no sign of blood or carnage in or around the truck. Scott asked, “So that’s a good sign right, that there isn’t anyone at the truck or any signs of pain?”

  Clary said, “Really I was thinking that it was a good sign the truck had windows and tires all still intact, as well as doors. I’ve seen those sons of bitches rip them clear off of their hinges before and I tell you what, I'm pretty sure that they are capable of quite a bit more if they really wanted to or had reason to do so. They don’t know what they are capable of and I thank God for that.” When he got to the other side of the bridge he saw the gas station and the large truck that Aslin had said they would be in. He pulled into it, circling the station and getting a bit nervous about the bus getting stuck in the thick snow.

  When they came to a stop, Aslin got out babying his arm and Clary could see instantly there was something wrong. Aslin said, “Hey, thanks for coming brother. I thought that you were going to bring someone with you? Did you decide that the people could just leave their shit at home and we’d come back for it?”

  Clary, who was thinking he was the only one that had bad news to spread said, “No, not really. We lost the other bus on the way here. Phillip must have given it too much gas and it started to fishtail. He didn’t correct it right and the fucker flipped over on its side. When it came to a rest, the Turned came out of nowhere and they were on it like flies on shit. Andy did his best to try and persuade them to keep some distance from them but what they did to the two of them made me want to get sick.”

  Aslin leaned against the truck shaking his head. He asked, “So we lost Philip, Andy, and the bus to take the majority of the people back in? What the hell is going on today? Hell I was actually a bit worried about having to break the news to him when he got here.”

  “News? What news are you talking about?”

  “The fact that we lost Shelman when we went to Ankeny. We can talk about it later, but it is over, he didn’t go by the Turned though, there was a firearm problem, and no, he didn’t shoot himself in the head.”

  Clary said, “Well at least that makes one of them.”

  “Phillip just gave up, he didn’t try to escape?” Aslin asked.

  Clary shook his head no. “You don’t really know what you are talking about just yet. When they came out of the woods it was almost already too late for them. When I was watching Phillip through my scope I saw that he had lost his foot, and I don’t mean broken, I mean his foot was elsewhere and on the highway. What he did next made me feel bad for his existence and hope God would have serious mercy on his damn soul.”

  “What did he do?”

  “He put the pistol to his skull and squeezed the trigger. After that it was a matter of time before the Turned were down in the bus and literally ripped the poor son of a bitch apart. He didn’t know what hit him, not that it mattered after the bullet to the head.”

  Aslin didn’t know what to say, the two had been the reason for the onslaught of death at Andy's and even though he probably knew that the group would be safer and better off without them, he still couldn’t help but feel a bit of guilt about the loss.

  Clary said, “Are they all in place? We can drive over there if they are.”

  Aslin said, ‘Well when we had two buses we sure as hell were ready to go, but as of now, we h
ave half of the room that we did have. Did we want to make second trips back for their gear and supplies or do we want to try and just get everything knocked out at one time?”

  “We could still have a few months left of shit weather from what the kids say, so I think that the more we get now, that if we don’t need to come back, the better off we are going to be. Don’t you think?” asked Clary.

  Aslin said, “I don’t know what to say, are you kidding me? There’s no use in denying the fact that there are more people out there and that they more than likely will want taken to the base. If we are going to come back looking around, I’d prefer it’s for survivors and not worry that the new people have all of their favorite belongings. If we can’t fit everyone in the bus though, someone is going to have to worry about going on a second trip or they can drive.”

  “So they drive, put the kids in the cars that need to, we go back to the original plan where we have cars and we put guns in as many of them as possible.”

  Aslin looked at the apartment complex and hit the radio. He said, “Greg, there’s a change of plans here.”

  “Let me guess things didn’t go as planned?” asked Greg.

  Clary stole the radio from him, where Aslin had hours to deal with Shelman being lost; Phillip had only had time to process it for less than twenty minutes. Clary said, “Greg we wouldn’t fucking be here if you would have done what we told you to earlier. God forbid you think you are just one of them, that you aren’t a god that can handle anything he wants to. We were going to promote you up to one of the shooters, something that probably didn’t have time to sit in your head for more than an hour before you talked everyone into taking a joyride and getting a shit ton of people killed. Am I happy that you found people? Hell yes I am, but we can do things like this smarter, it’s called planning.’

  Greg cut him off, feeling more pissed by the minute about how his day had turned out and yelled, “Look, I know that this wasn’t the way that you wanted me to go about this. I know that I lied to my friends, it wasn’t because they wanted to leave to break the rules, it’s because they thought that it was what you asked them to do. I flat out lied, but waiting forever just means that there are going to be so many less of the living to find. I don’t know what you expect from us, but hiding is only going to last for so long until they come to our door and knock the fucking thing down.”

  “Watch your mouth Greg, you are borrowing from points that you do absolutely not have!”

  “Just get us out of here. These people need to live, they are going to bring hope to kids that think everyone in the world is either dead or Turned. It will do them good to see some fresh faces in the base. What do you want me to do? If you want to yell at me, you are more than free to do it later, after we get back to the damn base.”

  Clary looked at Aslin and said, “Do we need to actually take him back? I mean we got Shaun, he’s a pain in the ass the way it is, do we really need to add to it? This could be our one chance to get rid of him.”

  Patrick walked from behind the truck and threw in his two cents, “He might be a pain in the ass, and yes he sure as hell gets into too much trouble, but at the exact same time, he has done a lot. Even though you hadn’t promoted him yet, there are a lot of kids who have learned a lot from him and there are even more that look up to him, which is the way it should be. There’s nothing that you will ever be able to do to be the same age as us, so that is one thing that Greg has on you, they respect him. You need to get over the fact that he left. I know that you are pissed, and I sure as hell aren’t happy about it either, but think about this, you aren’t our fathers, you aren’t our relatives, and you aren’t our keepers. We do as much for you as you do for us. You wouldn’t be able to sleep at night without us on that base, and you probably would have never found the base had we not brought you to it. Think about that for a few minutes before you let a God complex take you over.”

  Aslin said, “Christ, did someone just sprout a chest full of hair?”

  “You know, its speeches like that, that make me wonder if I like you or not Patrick. We might not be your keepers but we can’t have people leaving and coming as they want,” Clary said.

  “Why is that?”

  “Because if one of you leaves and makes it back not thinking and you got taken by one of the Turned, that is all that we need is for you to wake up in the middle of the night ripping a chunk of your skin off and then moving onto your bunkmate and ripping them apart.”

  Aslin said, “It isn’t that big of a request really that you want to leave, but if we are going to set up rules on this it’s going to have to be certain days of the week and it’s going to have to have a checkpoint that people go out and come back. If they want that freedom they have to show us that they didn’t get bit and that they aren’t going to be a liability coming back to the base. If that is something that you can live with then when this shit thaws, maybe we can start talking about it. It isn’t going to be overnight but it can be talked about.”

  Patrick nodded and said, “So what do we want to do about getting these people out of here? Do you want to get the teenagers out first or do you want to get Ellie out and then you guys get somewhere safe where we can lay down cover fire if it is going to be needed?”

  Aslin looked at the balconies covered with snow and ice and figured they’d be useless. As much as he wanted to make sure that they brought everyone back, he knew that Ellie was passed out and she didn’t deserve to have to be taken in her sleep. He hit the radio and said, “Greg, I want you guys to start carrying Ellie down, you can get her to the truck then get a handful of cars. Explain to them that there is only so much room and if they want to bring their things that is fine but it isn’t necessary. We can try and get them clothes once they are here, but the important thing is getting out of here before those on the second floor try and bust through and ….well you don’t need a further explanation of what is going to happen if we have to worry about that.”

  Greg was already yelling towards Joey and Lou to get her on the sled and within seconds Greg was writing down garage numbers and the keys that went with each. He hoped that they weren’t frozen shut but knew that there wasn’t anything he could do if they were. They could pack everyone into the buses if they needed to and comfort didn’t have to be the most important thing. If they fit, they lived. They would have another day to live and hopefully be going to somewhere safer. Greg hit his radio and said, “We are on our way down now, get crossing the road. I have keys we need to get the garages open. I have keys for locks and the cars. We will see you in a minute.”

  Aslin didn’t say anything, he simply climbed into the pickup truck and went back across the street trying to let the truck coast as much as possible and being sure not to rev up the large, heavy duty engine. Greg went down the stairs slowly and when they passed the second set of stairs, the door was bouncing almost off of its hinges. They stopped moving when they went past the door, there was a clawing and pounding that would not stop. Greg said, “Once we start having all of these people come down here they are going to do anything they can to take the door off of its hinges.”

  Lou asked, “Well what if we are just real tired, you think we will be able to move past them?”

  Greg said, “I guess we don’t have much choice but to try and do that, huh?”

  Joey said, “We can do it, they can be quiet, it’s ok.”

  They made it to the front door and saw Aslin idling in the drive. They came out slowly, kicking at the snow so that they could push the door open. When Joey put his weight into it there was no problem, it opened just fine, but when it slid close behind them, there was nothing but a screeching sound from the door that echoed on the now still day and filled the dead air. Greg cringed when he looked back, seeing the door and wanting to grab it to keep it from closing but there wasn’t anything at that point which they could do. Patrick moved out of the truck with his rifle up while Maryann stood up in the rear bed leaning on the cab’s roof, ready for anythi
ng from anywhere. Greg held his rifle carefully and took the rear position letting Joey and Lou ahead of him. When they opened the rear door and Lou saw Shaun and his bluish lips that were finally beginning to get some color back in them he asked, “What have you done for this boy?”

  Aslin said, “We covered him up, McQuaig is helping with some extra body heat and we have the heater blazing in this thing, hence the sweat. What else should we be doing?”

  Lou lifted the coats off of Shaun seeing they had been smart enough to strip off the wet ones that were keeping him frozen and said, “Ok, you are doing just fine, but you need to make sure this kid doesn’t get cold again, he’d be best at the base under a shit ton of blankets. You did right by him having the girl lay with him. I got a girl right here that is passed out that can do the same job if you need her to do something for you.”

  Aslin said, “Sorry McQuaig, looks like Ellie is going to take over your job for a while. There’s a slim chance of her waking up anytime soon.”

  Lou said, “Hey you don’t know, comas are weird, it could be a short term, it could be long, but the quicker that she comes out of it of course the better. All we need to do is keep them comfortable for now. Shaun there looks like he is a pretty fit kid, that’s going to help. His heart can take a beating and keep ticking. She just needs to rest and we can pray for good luck on her side. Smells and comfort can be really important in helping them come out of it.”

  Patrick looked at her, shaking his head in disgust that it got to this point and gave Greg a look that he’d not before received from the teen. Greg started to say something as they were closing the door to the truck after getting Ellie good and secured next to Shaun, but that was when hell broke loose, literally. The windows from the second floor began to rattle in unison. The white window treatments that kept the light out of the living rooms turned red and within minutes had turned a true red. Seconds later the windows shattered and everyone knew what was coming. Greg screamed to Lou, “Get back inside and tell them to be ready, we are taking the bus and nothing else, leave your cars behind, go, go, go!”