by Robert Boren
“Okay,” Hendrix said, walking them out. “How many more locations are open?”
“Six on this side of town. More around the Capitol. Some in the medical district to the east, and up around Round Rock.”
“Where’s Nelson?” Hendrix asked. “He okay?”
“He’s safe,” Ramsey said. “He’s with Gallagher and Landry right now. Can’t say where.”
“Anything going on in the other large cities?”
“We don’t know,” Holly said. “We’ve lost communications with the leadership in San Antonio and Dallas. Houston appears to be okay, after we locked it down a few days ago.”
“This is an all-out war now,” Ramsey said. “This system buzzes you wherever you are down here, right?”
“Yes,” Hendrix said. “Even if I fall asleep, it’ll shock me awake. It’s loud.”
“Okay, we’re out of here,” Ramsey said. “If you get a call from another one of the secure locations, have Maria use the protocol. We don’t want the enemy knowing where the locations are.”
“Understood,” Maria said. “I’ll be ready.”
“Good,” Ramsey said. “Like I said, it’s good that you’re here. See you two later, hopefully.”
“Take care,” Hendrix said. He walked them to the back and let them out of the garage, then rushed to the console and watched as they approached the front gate, opening it, then shutting it as soon as they got through. He turned to Maria.
“I’m so scared,” she said, rushing over to him.
“We’ll be okay in here,” he said. He turned a key by the vault door and the big bolts around it moved out with a clunk. “We could have troops all over the compound and they won’t be getting in here.”
“What if they cut the power?”
“The generator will kick in, and it’s in here so they can’t get to it. Let’s go see what’s going on.”
She nodded and followed him into the living room, sitting with him on the couch. The commentators were struggling to have enough to say with no video feed.
“How long can we stay in here?” Maria asked.
“There’s enough food and water for several months,” Hendrix said. “Might get tired of some of the food.”
“I don’t have any clothes other than this,” she said.
“That’s the least of our worries,” Hendrix said, smiling, trying to lighten things. She smiled and shook her head.
“That’s naughty. Maybe you have some things I can wear.”
“Sure,” he said,” I’ve got some over-sized t-shirts that you could wear. Probably some gym shorts and sweats that you could wear in a pinch. It’ll be okay. We won’t be stuck down here forever.”
“There’s probably laundry machines too, I’ll bet.”
“Yes, as a matter of fact,” Hendrix said.
“Good,” she said. “I doubt if you have any bras laying around here.”
“Another thing that doesn’t bother me,” Hendrix said. “Sorry. I’ll knock it off.”
“Don’t be afraid,” she said. “I’m not going to be that way with you anymore.”
The system buzzed at them.
“Time to go to work,” Hendrix said. They got off the couch and rushed to the console.
“You take it,” Hendrix said.
She nodded and got on, navigating to the emergency communications window. “Go ahead, please.”
“Ramsey here, Maria. We need to send an unlock message to sector 25488, facility 65849.”
“What’s that?” Hendrix asked.
“Armory,” Ramsey said. “We’ve got about seven hundred civilians there who need something better than hunting rifles to fight with.”
“Good,” Hendrix said. “We’re going to need this kind of help.”
Ramsey chuckled. “Look at us, on the same side for once.”
“Yeah, Texas needs us to focus,” Hendrix said. “Maria just sent the message.”
“Excellent,” Ramsey said. “Thanks.”
“You someplace safe?”
“Not yet, Kip, but don’t worry about us. Thanks.”
The line went dead.
“Wow, seven hundred, eh,” Maria said, looking up at him.
“There will be more,” Hendrix said. “Hope there’s some leader types among them. Like those folks who were at the Austin attack when this was getting started.”
“Those rednecks?” Maria asked.
“Yeah, those rednecks,” Hendrix said. “Wonder where they are.”
“In hiding with the Austin cops who were involved with them at the Superstore, according to the news last week,” Maria said.
“Well, hopefully they won’t stay in hiding for too long. We’re gonna need people like them.”
“You look exhausted,” Maria said.
“Been a long night,” Hendrix said. “Glad I didn’t drink a third martini.”
“That seems like so long ago,” she said as they walked back into the living room. “Where do we sleep?”
“See that door over there?” he asked, pointing to the far left corner of the room.
“Yeah,” she said.
“There’s twelve bedrooms back there, with communications consoles and video monitor screens. The laundry and additional bathrooms are back there too.
“Where’s all the food?” she asked.
“The door at the far end of the kitchen,” Hendrix said. “There’s a walk-in freezer and fridge, a big pantry, and water tanks there. The generator is also in that area.”
“Wow, this is the hot doomsday spot then, isn’t it?”
Hendrix chuckled. “Yeah, like I said, I used to think it was overkill. Not so much now.” He yawned.
“The buzzers go off everywhere, though, right? Even in the bedrooms?”
“Yeah,” Hendrix said.
“Good,” she said. “Show me.”
“Sure,” he said, leading her to the door. They went through, into a long hallway with doors on either side and exposed plumbing running along the ceiling, fire sprinklers every four feet. “Not very glamorous.”
“Looks like something out of a sci-fi movie,” Maria said. “Where’s the laundry?”
“That first door on the right,” Hendrix said, opening it.
“Wow, there’s five sets of machines in there.”
“This is designed for about thirty people,” Hendrix said.
“Really?” she asked.
“Might get a little close in here with that many,” Hendrix said.
“Well, let’s see how the bedrooms are,” Maria said.
Hendrix led her to the first door on the other side of the hallway, opening it and standing aside for her. “This is the leader’s quarters. The rest are more like barracks, with bunk beds.”
“This isn’t bad,” she said, looking around the room as Hendrix went to the bedside table and switched on a lamp. There was a queen-sized bed in the middle of the room, along with dressers, a console, a TV, and a private bathroom.
“It’s pretty nice,” Hendrix said, looking around. “Gets a little cold down here at night.”
“You’ve slept in here before?”
“Only for drills,” Hendrix said. “Another thing I used to think was silly.”
She smiled at him, then went to the door and closed it. “I think we need a little quiet time. She turned to him, then pulled her sweater over her head, tossing it aside, showing her white lace bra.
“Oh, geez,” Hendrix said, staring at her. “What are you doing?”
“So many questions,” she said as her hands went behind her back, undoing the bra. She pulled it off, her full breasts bouncing into view. “Here’s what you wanted. She walked towards him, her arms going around him as they kissed passionately, Hendrix not sure how aggressive he should be, tentatively moving his hands on her bare back. She broke the kiss and put his hands on her breasts, moaning as he touched them.
“Oh, Maria,” he said. “I love you so.” It was like a dam bursting after that, both of them removing
the rest of their clothes frantically, falling on the bed together, their passion for each other white-hot. Maria was beside herself as he took her, trembling and bucking and crying out over and over.
They lay spent afterwards, next to each other on their backs, their breathing slowing. Maria looked at him. “Well, that worked.”
Hendrix chuckled. “What do you mean?”
“Us,” she said, turning on her side towards him. “We work. That doesn’t always happen, you know. Even if the affection is there.”
He pulled her close, kissing her deeply as she put her leg over his hip, his hands roving all over, melding with her, owning her. She pulled back and looked at him again, eyes tearing up, trembling.
“Second thoughts?” he asked.
“Will you stop with that?” she asked. “That’s not what I was thinking. Not even close.”
“What then?”
“Love,” she said. “Happiness. Life. Us together.”
“You really think you could love me?”
“I think I do love you,” she said, then paused. “No, I don’t think.”
“Oh, God yes,” he said, pulling her in for another kiss. She pulled back afterward.
“You’re ready again,” she said.
“Are you?” he asked. She rolled on top of him, taking him inside again, biting her lower lip, not able to speak, eyes locked on his.
They woke later, the buzzer going off again.
Chapter 20 – Resistance
Kelly sat in front of the TV set in the clubhouse, eyes wide and staring at the screen, next to Nate, Junior, Gray, Moe, Clancy, and Fritz. Rachel and Brenda walked in out of the darkness.
“Can you believe this?” Rachel asked. “They’re strong enough to hit a city like Austin?”
“The look on your face scares me,” Brenda said, getting next to Kelly.
“I want to go hit them so bad I can taste it,” Kelly said.
“Me too,” Junior said. “Wonder what’s the best way for us to approach?”
“Hold it,” Brenda said. “No. You’ll just get killed.”
“We need to be part of a bigger force if we’re going in there,” Kelly said to Junior. “Brenda’s right about that. We’ll just get ourselves killed if we go in there on our own.”
“What about Curt’s toys?” Fritz asked.
“And our tanks?” Gray asked.
“Won’t be enough,” Kelly said. “We need to go hit the henhouse while the roosters are away.”
“What do you mean, exactly?” Fritz asked.
“I know what he means,” Junior said. “These guys have limited resources. We need to do what all resistance fighters do. Find their stockpiles and destroy them. Take away their safe havens. Figure out how to expose their locations and supply chains to the forces who can do something about them.”
“We can also organize others to build a force,” Nate said.
“Damn straight we can, and we will,” Junior said, “but that will take time. Meanwhile we need to survive. Chip away at them. Create havoc. Throw monkey wrenches.”
“Exactly,” Kelly said. “Look, I’m plenty pissed off at these guys. My initial reaction is to go kick some ass. That’s not always the best play. Last I looked we didn’t have a hundred thousand men, all with military equipment. We have a rag-tag force of irregulars with an odd assortment of weapons. Yeah, we have a genius in our midst who can give us an edge – and that will work for some things, but it won’t hold back a flood of well-equipped enemy fighters.”
“Great, now I’m slightly less scared than I was a minute ago,” Brenda said.
“I get what he’s saying,” Rachel said. “We need to be using our noggins. I heard Curt talking about the phones. Maybe we ought to talk to him. Maybe he can figure out where the enemy bases are. Then we hit them and escape like a thief in the night.”
“I like the way you’re thinking,” Junior said, smiling at her. “Knew you were a smarty-pants.”
“I think he likes you,” Brenda whispered to Rachel. She giggled.
“Stop it,” she whispered back.
“I’m gonna go talk to Curt right now,” Junior said.
“I’ll go with you,” Kelly said.
“Think I’ll stay here for a while if you don’t mind,” Brenda said.
“Me too,” Rachel said.
Kelly and Junior headed out the door.
“You getting sweet on Rachel, Junior?” Kelly asked.
“I just love her to death, but I know that’s not gonna happen,” he said. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to get myself hurt, and I’m not going to make her feel bad either.”
“Glad to hear it,” Kelly said. “We’ll be lucky if we survive this war. You know that, right?”
“We’re smarter than you think,” Junior said, flashing him a silly grin. “Who’s worried about a couple old codgers like us? We can use that.”
Kelly laughed. “We’re not that old.”
“Don’t tell them that,” Junior said. “What the hell is Curt doing up there?”
Curt was on the roof of his toy-hauler garage with a big drill, wearing safety glasses and a head-mounted LED light.
“Curt!” Kelly shouted, trying to get above the drilling noise.
He looked down and then shut off the drill, taking off the safety glasses and removing his ear plugs. “What’s up, guys?”
“What the hell are you doing?” Kelly asked.
“I’m putting that other remote-control machine gun up here,” he said. “To guard my rear.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Junior said, laughing. “That gonna work?”
“You doubt me?” he asked as he climbed down on the ladder.
“I don’t,” Kelly said. “Got a question. You think you can still tune in on enemy phones? We want to find the base for the ones who just attacked Austin.”
“Austin?” Curt asked, shocked look on his face.
“Shit, he don’t know,” Junior said, looking at Kelly.
“Well, it did just happen, and he’s been busy,” Kelly said. He looked at Curt. “The enemy took a bunch of tanks and about twenty thousand men into Austin tonight, from the south. They’re working their way towards the city center.”
“Oh, shit,” Curt said, sitting down. “You want to go join the fight?”
“Nah, there’s too many of them,” Kelly said. “We want to know where they’ve got their supplies.”
Curt got a grin on his face. “Now there’s a good idea. They’ve probably got a bunch of tank fuel and ammo. Imagine what I could do to it with the Barracuda.”
“That’s the direction we were thinking in,” Junior said.
“I’ll start working on that,” Curt said, taking off the LED light off of his head. “I’ve got three different phones with numbers loaded. I’ll start looking at them with my program. Maybe I can find a cluster of them south of Austin.”
“That would be great,” Kelly said. “Thanks.”
“I’ll get back with you,” he said, climbing into his garage. He opened a cabinet and took out a covered pan. “I’ll have to charge these up a little bit. Batteries on all of them are dead now. Take me a little while to do that and search. I’ll get back to what I was working on while they charge. Okay?”
“Okay, fair enough,” Junior said. “Thanks!”
“Yeah, thanks,” Kelly said. “We’ll go back to the girls and keep tabs of the news. Call me if you need me.”
Curt nodded, and they walked away.
“He’s our ace in the hole,” Kelly said. “Could you imagine if we can pull this off?”
“It’ll renew the target on our backs.”
“True,” Kelly said. “The enemy will get wise, too. They’ll dump their phones.”
“So the trick is to do enough damage before they figure it out.”
“You got it,” Kelly said as they walked back into the clubhouse. Everybody turned to them. “Anything happen?”
“Jets took out some of the tanks,
but there’s a lot more enemy fighters flooding in,” Fritz said. “Citizens are starting to fight back, at least.”
“Good,” Junior said.
“You okay?” Kelly asked, looking at Brenda’s terrified face.
“No, I’m not okay,” she said. “They had video up again for a few minutes. It’s gone again, but you should have seen all the enemy fighters rushing around. They move fast, and they were killing everybody they ran up against.”
“I’m scared,” Rachel said, hugging Junior. She sobbed onto his shoulder.
“Lucky Junior,” Fritz said.
“Shut up,” Rachel said. “He’s my friend.”
“Yes, you are, sweet pea,” Junior said, patting her back. “I’m always here for you.”
“What are we going to do if a force that size rushes in here?” Brenda asked.
“Die,” Kelly said. “That’s why Kyle, Jason, and I were talking about it earlier. This park isn’t very defensible. The only advantage we have is the long sightline we have with the tanks.”
“They have tanks,” Brenda said.
“I know,” Kelly said. “We’ll have to head for someplace a little more remote.”
“Hey, turn up the sound,” Fritz said, looking at the TV. “Something’s happening.”
Moe picked up the remote and raised the volume.
“Citizens gained access to the National Guard Armory earlier and weapons have been distributed to a growing number of Texas Patriots,” the commentator said, barely able to hold back her smile. “The group started seven-hundred strong, but several hundred more have arrived since then, and more are streaming in as we speak. They are lining South Congress Avenue, on roof tops and in windows, pouring fire down on the approaching fighters. Mortars have been set up along 11th Street, and have begun firing white phosphorus anti-personnel rounds. It’s estimated that several thousand enemy fighters have died from the counter-attack so far. There was a brief outcry by some of the people milling around the Capitol building about the use of white phosphorus, but angry citizens beat them and chased them away.”
“Some idiots never learn,” Fritz said.
“You’ve been awful quiet, Moe,” Kelly said.
“I’ll have to leave my place,” he said. “The handwriting’s on the wall. Kinda like the place. I’m not happy about it.”