Without Law 18

by Eric Vall

  “Tara!” Paige chastised.

  “What?” The platinum-blonde shrugged. “I’m not naming names or anything, but there are a few… unfortunate-looking girls in our group.”

  “You’re talking about the chick from the women’s compound who refuses to shave her legs, aren’t you?” Anna asked.

  “Oh, my god!” Tara exclaimed. “She has to have been growing them out for, like, yeaaarrsss at this point. Yeeeaaarrrss!”

  “It’s not that bad,” Bailey laughed.

  “It’s terrible,” Tara declared. “And it’s worse because she always wears shorts and skirts. It’s like she wants me to look at it.”

  “I don’t think she cares if you look at it,” Anna giggled.

  “You should be nicer about it,” Paige chastised. “Pretty soon you’re not going to be able to reach your legs to shave them.”

  “Okay, one,” Tara said, and she held up a finger. “That’s not for months and months.”

  “Ehhhh, I’d take off one of those months,” Anna said.

  “Ah, ah, ah, ah,” Tara said, and she wagged her finger in Anna’s face, then turned it back to Paige. “Two, when that happens Bailey will help me.”

  “Me?” Bailey laughed. “Why do I have to help you shave your legs?”

  “Because you’re the nicest one here, and I know you won’t be able to resist helping a pregnant lady,” Tara said with a half shrug, as if it were completely obvious. “Especially if I cry.”

  “I mean… yeah, you’re right,” Bailey chuckled.

  “See?” Tara asked Paige, and she lifted her chin to the side. “I’ll get my legs shaved when I’m too fat to reach them. That chick has no excuse.”

  “Okay, one, her name is Melissa,” I laughed. “And two, you’re not going to be fat, you’re going to be pregnant.”

  “Eh, same difference.” Tara shrugged. “I’m okay with it.”

  “You’re okay with us calling you fat?” Anna asked.

  “I said I’m okay with being fat,” Tara corrected. “Not with you calling me fat.”

  “Can I call you fat?” Bailey asked. “It only seems fair since I’m going to have to shave your legs.”

  “Fine,” Tara said. “But only because I know you won’t.”

  “How do you know me so well?” Bailey guffawed.

  “I spend like every day with you, duh,” Tara replied.

  I shook my head at the girls’ conversation and focused back on the road. Their silly talk had made the trip go by a lot faster since I had something else to focus on. We were nearly to the bridge that led to Yorktown, and after we crossed it, then we’d only be about ten minutes from our destination.

  The sun was still high in the sky, but it had floated west, so I knew it was at least mid-afternoon. We still had a few hours until sunset, but the NK troops were supposed to arrive right around that time, so we had to make those hours count.

  Lately, the shorter days of fall either worked against us, or in our favor. Luckily, today it was in our favor. If the NK troops showed up around sunset, that would give our group more cover.

  I doubted they would show up after it got dark, but late evening was definitely on the table, and I always found twilight to be more difficult to see in than the actual darkness of night. Once my eyes adjusted to the lack of light, I could see in the dark just fine, but during twilight the light was changing by the second, so the eyes had to constantly adjust. It was that adjustment that made it so incredibly difficult to see during that time of day.

  If it was difficult for us to see, though, then it would be even more difficult for the NK troops. We didn’t have to block an enemy attack, they did, and we could use that lack of clear sight against them.

  Once we crossed the bridge into Yorktown, I quickly made it up to Colonial Parkway, and soon enough, I could see our group out by the road working.

  There were some sandbag covers set up for people to hide behind, and while I could see them at the moment, it was only because there were people still making them. The places the group had chosen to set the cover up would be well hidden by trees and bushes once everything was in place.

  The area around the attack point was mostly grass and foliage with some trees scattered here and there. It was an ideal area to attack from since there was just enough natural cover to hide us in plain sight.

  “Hey,” I called as I pulled the jeep up and parked it.

  “Hey!” Johnny, the leader of the doomsday prepper guys, called out. “I see you guys brought back something good.”

  “We try to always bring back something good,” I laughed as I stepped out of the jeep. “But this time, we got something really good.”

  “This thing’s a beast,” he chuckled as he patted the Skysweeper.

  “It took the girls and I a good bit of strength to get it attached to the trailer hitch,” I admitted. “It’ll be smoother to take it off if we can get everybody to try at once.”

  “Alright.” Johnny nodded. “Let’s get this baby off, then.”

  “Wait,” I said, and I looked around at the people still setting up the cover for us. “We need to figure out where exactly it needs to be. It’ll be a lot easier to deal with if we only have to move it once, then I can back the jeep up to where it needs to be.”

  “You’re right,” Johnny said, and he looked around. “Where are you thinking?”

  I surveyed the area. There was the foliage and trees in front of me where we were setting up our cover, then behind me was the road. There was one bridge on the left, and one on the right. The bridge on my right would be taken out before the NK troops arrived, but the one on the left would remain intact.

  If the NK troops had the MiGs out with them, they could fly around anywhere overhead. The aircrafts weren’t limited the way the vehicles would be, which meant it didn’t necessarily matter where the M51 got put, it just needed to be concealed well enough that the MiGs couldn’t spot it easily from the air, and the ground troops couldn’t spot it from the road.

  I pursed my lips as I looked around at our hideout area once more. The civilians had set up six sandbag covers already, so the easiest thing to do would be to use one of them.

  One of the covers was placed near a small group of tall trees, and I decided that would be the area we’d go with. The trees would be tall enough that the M51 wouldn’t be extremely visible from the sky unless someone was looking for it. There should be enough cover from the sandbags and branches that the ground troops wouldn’t be able to spot it easily, either.

  “Let’s set it up over there,” I said with a point.

  “I was thinking that, too.” Johnny nodded. “Pull her over, and we’ll help you offload. Hey, everybody, meet me over here!”

  “Thanks,” I told the man with a clap on the shoulder, then I hopped back in the jeep and fired it up.

  “Thank god we have so many people now,” Tara said as I pulled the jeep over to the treed area.

  “I know.” Anna nodded. “I mean, I like to think I’m pretty strong, but that shit was heeeaaaavvvyyy.”

  “If I was any older I would’ve thrown my back out,” the platinum-blonde said.

  “Isn’t Tav older than us?” Paige asked.

  “I am,” I chuckled. “And I assure you, my back is just fine.”

  “Yeah, but that’s Tav,” Tara said with a wave of her hand.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.

  “You’re different.” Tara shrugged.

  “That explains nothing,” Paige said.

  “I don’t know,” Tara scoffed and rolled her eyes. “He’s Tav, he’s, like, not human or something.”

  “Are you saying Tav is an alien?” Paige laughed.

  “No, he’s like that super man from the movies,” Tara said, and she squinted as she thought. “What’s his name?”

  “Do you mean Superman?” Anna asked.

  “Yeah, him,” Tara said with a grin. “Tav’s like that guy. He’s just super good at everything.”
<
br />   “Except disguises,” Paige muttered.

  “Hey, Paige, can I borrow your glasses?” I asked with a laugh. “I want to turn into somebody else.”

  Bailey, Anna, and Paige cracked up at my joke, but Tara just stared at me blankly in the rearview mirror as I backed the jeep into place.

  “I don’t get it,” the platinum-blonde said.

  “We know,” Anna sighed and shook her head.

  “Did Superman wear glasses?” Tara asked. “I don’t remember ever seeing him in glasses.”

  “Well, I guess his disguise wasn’t that terrible,” Anna snickered. “It fooled Tara.”

  “Whatev,” Tara said as Bailey, Paige, Anna, and I all shared a laugh.

  I followed Johnny’s prompts as I backed up the trailer, and once it was in place, I turned off the jeep, and the girls and I hopped out to help.

  All of the civilians had come over to assist as well, and between the two dozen or so of us, moving the M51 became a much easier task than it had been with just the girls and I.

  “Have you heard from Hammer?” I asked Johnny once the Skysweeper was in place.

  “Not yet.” He shook his head.

  “Alright,” I said. “And Ben and Jeff?”

  Those two were in charge of setting up the howitzer at the Navy Supply Center, and I wanted to make sure they hadn’t come across any issues.

  “I’ve mostly been focused on everything going on here,” Johnny said.

  “Of course,” I told him. “I’ll get in touch with them. Thanks.”

  “Let me know if you need anything else,” Johnny told me.

  “Sounds good,” I called as I hopped back in the jeep.

  “Where are we going?” Anna asked as she climbed in the passenger’s side.

  “We still need to blow the bridge,” Paige reminded me.

  “I know.” I nodded. “We’re going to do that now, then we’ll check on Jeff and Ben and see how the howitzer setup is going.”

  “I hope using the plasma fluid works,” Paige said, and she bit her lip.

  “I don’t think it working is going to be the issue,” Anna said. “If anything, I’m afraid it will work too well.”

  “You’re right,” the brunette agreed. “We’ll need to be extra careful with how much of the liquid we use.”

  “It’ll be a good test of the cover everyone’s made,” Anna chuckled.

  “That’s for sure,” Tara laughed. “Speaking of which, where are we going to be when we blow this puppy up? I am carrying life after all, and Anna and Paige aren’t exactly making me feel confident about this.”

  “You’ll be alright,” I assured her. “I won’t let anything happen to you. We’ll be behind the jeep.”

  “Alright,” the platinum-blonde agreed.

  “Why don’t you stay here,” I told her. “Actually, all you girls can stay here. I’ll drop the fluid myself.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want help?” Paige asked.

  “It’ll go faster with more people,” Anna pointed out.

  “You’re right,” I told the redhead. “You come with me. Bailey, Tara, Paige, get everyone ready for the explosion.”

  “Alright.” Paige nodded.

  I parked the jeep, then Anna and I walked over to the bridge and looked around.

  “So, how are we doing this?” the redhead asked.

  “Let’s start from the other side,” I said. “That way we won’t have to walk over any of the fluid on the way back.”

  “Good idea,” she said as we started walking. “You and Paige were thinking about ten feet apart, right?”

  “Right.” I nodded. “This is two lanes, so I think if you stay on one side, and I stay on the other, and we each put one drop every ten feet, that should be more than enough.”

  “By more than enough, you mean…?” Anna raised an eyebrow at me.

  “I think it will get the job done without blowing everyone to smithereens,” I chuckled. “Good enough?”

  “Good enough.” She grinned.

  We reached the far side of the bridge, and we each pulled out the pods from our plasma weapons, and l used my tanto blade to poke a small hole in the rubber piece at the end. I made sure to make the hole just barely large enough for a drop of liquid to get through, and once I made the hole, I tilted the small pods to test them out. A single drop escaped them after a second, so I figured that was good enough to get the job done. We didn’t want the liquid to come out too quickly since we needed such a small amount.

  Anna walked over to the right side while I took the left, then we started to walk back down the bridge toward the small peninsula we were setting up as our attack point.

  “So, what are the odds that Tara’s dad actually does run the military?” Anna asked with a playful smile as we walked.

  We took careful steps and stopped at the same time to tilt the pod and allow a single drop to fall out onto the pavement. It was a tedious task, and I was grateful the redhead had decided to make it a little easier with her casual attitude.

  “Pretty good, I’d say,” I laughed.

  “Right?” Anna chuckled. “He definitely doesn’t fix phone lines, that’s for sure.”

  “She seems incredibly confident that she’ll find him at some point,” I said with a small smile. “And part of me hopes she does.”

  “Even though his first impression of you will be as the guy who knocked up his daughter?” Anna asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “Even still,” I laughed. “If it will make Tara happy, then I’m willing to be the bad guy.”

  “I don’t think you’d be the bad guy,” Anna said, and she looked down and shook her head. “Tara was right, I’m sure her dad will love you. I’m pretty sure anybody’s dad would love you.”

  “Would yours?” I asked. This seemed to be a subject Anna had thought about, and I was curious about the conclusions she’d drawn.

  “For sure.” The redhead smiled. “My dad was a pretty determined guy, I think he’d appreciate that about you.”

  “Well, I hope I get to meet him one day, too,” I told her.

  “Me, too,” Anna replied, and she stopped when I did to drop another dot of plasma fluid on the asphalt.

  It didn’t take too much longer for us to reach the other side of the bridge, and once we were back on solid ground, we replaced the pods into our plasma guns and walked back over to the jeep.

  The bustling group who’d been there when we arrived was gone, now everybody was hidden behind the sandbag covers in preparation for the blowing of the bridge.

  “Alright,” I said as Anna and I met Tara, Paige, and Bailey on the far side of the jeep. “Is everyone ready?”

  “All the civilians are behind cover,” Paige informed me.

  “Right.” I nodded. “You guys might want to get down as well. This blast could shake the ground a little bit, and I don’t want anybody falling.”

  Paige nodded, and the girls all crouched down onto the ground and situated themselves behind the jeep.

  I grabbed my plasma gun and held it across the hood of the jeep as I took aim at the bridge. Anna and I had put enough fluid that it shouldn’t matter too much where my blast landed. As long as it hit one of the drops, then it should ignite.

  I took a deep breath and pulled the trigger.

  The familiar blue light flashed from the end of my gun, but nothing happened.

  “What’s going on?” Tara asked.

  “Did you shoot?” Paige pushed.

  “I did.” I nodded. “I don’t think I hit the plasma.”

  Apparently, it needed to hit one of the drops exactly in order for it to ignite. This might be a little more difficult than I had originally thought.

  I took aim at the side of the bridge where the drops should be, and I pulled the trigger of the plasma gun, but once again, nothing happened, so I adjusted my gun slightly to the right and pulled the trigger again.

  Nothing.

  I sighed, adjusted, then pulled it again, and this
time my blast caught one of the drops of fluid.

  I dropped down behind the front tire as quickly as I could, but the sound of the blast filled my ears, and I felt the ground tremble beneath me as tiny bits of concrete landed all around us.

  My hands instinctively covered the top of my head, and I squeezed my eyes shut against the dust that filled the air. My ears were ringing from the explosion, but after a moment I could hear the sounds of the last bits of debris hitting the top of the jeep.

  “Is it over?” Paige asked, but her voice was muffled since my ears were shot for the moment.

  I carefully peered over the top of the jeep and saw the destruction we’d caused. The bridge was no longer standing, in fact, there was barely any of it left at all. I’d expected some of the concrete to still be intact and hanging over the edge, but that wasn’t the case. The bridge was reduced to complete rubble, and if I hadn’t known it was there beforehand, I might’ve thought the road was just never finished.

  “Tav?” I heard Minji’s voice come through the walkie talkie on my hip.

  “Minji,” I answered.

  “Are you okay?” the Korean woman asked, and her voice was panicked.

  “I’m fine,” I said. “What’s going on?”

  “We saw a huge blast,” she explained. “We were worried one of the MiGs came back, or maybe the Boston troops were early.”

  “No.” I shook my head even though she couldn’t see it. “We were blowing the bridge.”

  “Oh, okay,” she replied, and I could hear her sigh of relief even through the small speaker.

  “What’s your current position?” I asked. “ETA?”

  “We’re nearly to King’s Creek,” Minji said. “Maybe half a mile away.”

  “Good,” I said. “We’ll see you soon. Be careful.”

  “You, too,” she said, and I hung the walkie back on my hip.

  If Minji was able to see the explosion from that distance, then it was a good thing we’d blown the bridge when we did. If the NK troops were within a few miles, it was possible they would have seen it as well.

  Granted, they most likely would have assumed it was something to do with their buddies’ battle against the American resistance, but I still didn’t want to give them any reason to try and hurry over here. The longer we had to get things ready, the better.