The Changing Earth Series (Book 3): The Walls of Freedom

by Hathaway, Sara F.

  “You stay here and cover me. I want to go talk to him,” Star instructed Dex.

  “Oh, I see how it is,” Dexter teased.

  “Whatever, Dex, I’m going to see about those antibiotics for Dad,” Star defended.

  “Okay, jeez. You don’t have to get your panties all in a ruffle,” Dexter replied.

  Dexter watched Star emerge from the forest line and approach Sean. He kept his scope focused on the man who seemed so sweet on his sister. Before long she was walking back, looking dejected.

  “He said no?” Dexter wondered.

  “He said no,” Star replied. “But on a good note, he didn’t tell the soldiers about us.”

  They returned to the shelter seeking the warmth of the fire. Erika was looking out from spotter holes she had made in the walls. She could keep an eye on the cabin and the surrounding area to make sure her children were not followed home. She had the guns cleaned and laid out with the supplies organized. It was obvious she had a much longer stay in mind.

  “Looks like we are staying awhile,” Dexter commented, looking at the setup of the shelter.

  “We have to. We can’t travel through this snow, especially not now,” she muttered, looking at Vince.

  Dexter ate and went to read a book with Daniel. He hated to see his mom this sad and knew if he was feeling that way, Daniel must be feeling worse. He would need his big brother right now.

  Star approached Erika. “I can get some antibiotics, Mom,” she whispered to Erika.

  “What? How?” Erika wondered loudly.

  “Shhhh... I don’t want Dexter to hear. I talked to Sean and he said there is a guy inside the fort who would give me some for...for...” Star stammered.

  “For what, Star?” Erika was eager to hear what the man wanted. She would trade anything for some of the precious meds.

  “For, you know, Mom,” Star still stammered. “For sex,” she whispered.

  “Oh hell no,” Erika replied, not having fully thought through the possibilities of what this man would request. “I won’t let you compromise yourself.”

  “Don’t worry. I told him no,” Star replied, carefully watching her father sweating profusely.

  “Good!” Erika affirmed. “We’ll figure something out,” she said nervously, following Star’s gaze to Vince.

  Erika had a blank look on her face, as she was overtaken with misery. She watched her beautiful babies eat and snuggle up on their sleeping pads for a long night’s rest. Soon they were breathing heavily as their bodies relaxed. Erika directed her gaze back to Vince’s face in the flickering light. He was pale and constantly sweating. She checked his arm again and to her dismay the infection had grown. He didn’t wake up while she cleaned it and re-wrapped it. Erika knew this couldn’t go on for long. He would lose his arm if the infection was allowed to go any further and that was if he didn’t die from the infection first.

  She held his head and sobbed in the darkness. She could not lose her soul mate, not now, not after they had made it so far. She would not want to live in this world without him.

  “Live together, die together, don’t you remember,” she whispered to the quiet spaces of the night while the tears streamed steadily down her face.

  Star lay in her bed watching her mother cry and pray for her father’s life.

  *****

  Before daylight broke, Star and Dexter had the wood pile stocked again. The snowfall had lessened but continued on. They headed out, telling Erika they were scouting again but they went directly to the fort.

  Star gave Dexter the same instructions to cover her while she went to talk with Sean. Dexter, unaware of Star’s dilemma, covered her carefully but was shocked to see her go inside the gates with Sean. His heart raced with uncertainty. How can I cover her in there? Should I go back and get Mom, he wondered. No, she has enough on her plate. He sat in the cold, waiting for her. His eyes focused through his scope. He watched the guards walk back and forth and felt the chill of the steel pressed to his cheek.

  “Oh no,” he muttered to the air as a snow-treaded troop transport came into view. He hopped to his feet as he heard a gun shot come from inside the fort.

  “Oh shit,” he said, pacing. “What do I do?”

  Before he could think the gates flew open and Star and Sean were running his way. The soldiers in the crawler had heard the shot and saw them running. They started firing at them. Dexter sighted in the shooters on the vehicle and two shots later they were slumped over the crawler. The machine continued its advance and soldiers started to pour out of it.

  Star and Sean had reached him. They rapidly retreated through the forest as the soldiers advanced their position. Gun shots blasted off trees around them as they ran from cover to cover returning fire. Erika approached her children from behind.

  “Mom!” Dexter yelled, relieved by her presence.

  “I heard gunfire. What’s going on?” Erika asked quickly, assessing the situation.

  “Soldiers, at least twelve. They found us,” Dexter yelled.

  “We have to make a stand here, Dex. We can’t move Daddy. Either we kill them or they are going to kill us,” Erika exclaimed with a sadistic look that Dexter had never seen in her eyes before.

  Her fear of death had left her. If Vince is going to die, I might as well too, she thought, but my children are not dying here, not today! She flew out from the cover, blasting her rifle at the soldiers. She fired wildly in a thick splatter, rapidly depleting her supply of ammo. The soldiers fell one by one as she advanced them, determined to destroy these people to save her family. She launched belly first into the snow, rolling and dodging a flurry of bullets, all with her name on them. She fired, boom, boom, boom. The world became a slow motion blur of gunfire and dead soldiers falling into the white snow around her. As she killed the last one, she fell to her knees sobbing, still holding down the trigger of her empty gun.

  “It’s over, Mom,” she heard Dex say. “It’s over, let go of the trigger, Mom.”

  Dexter hugged her tightly and gently took the rifle from her hand.

  “Why didn’t they kill me, Dex?” Erika moaned, disappointed she would not be joining Vince on her deathbed.

  “Because you are a badass, mom!” Dexter cheered, elating in their successful defense against the soldiers.

  “Don’t worry, I got the meds, Mom,” Star said, approaching her mother and holding out a bottle of antibiotics.

  “Is that what this is all about?” Erika wondered. “I told you not to compromise yourself, Star. Not for your dad and not for me. There’s no coming back from that,” Erika fumed, empowered with a healthy supply of adrenaline.

  “It was my choice to make, Mom,” Star defended.

  “No, Star, I am your mother,” Erika was raw with emotion.

  “Yeah, you are. You are my mother because you saved me. You protected my life when no one else would. You can’t live without Dad. You would find a way to join him. Do you think I can stand by and watch that happen? Do you think I can watch another mother die?” Star shouted at her.

  Erika was at her wit’s end. “I killed her, Star.”

  “What?” Star asked, surprised.

  “I killed your mother while you were sleeping. I did it,” Erika sobbed. “I am so sorry and I am so sorry I didn’t tell you sooner,”

  Star came and hugged her tightly. “Don’t you think I know,” Star replied. “Dad told me. You did it for me because I’m just as stubborn as him. I would have never left her alive. You did it for me. I love you. You have protected me since the day you found me, and I will never hold that against you,” Star admitted.

  “Oh, Star,” Erika mumbled, hugging her daughter.

  “Besides, Sean killed the man before anything happened,” Star reassured her.

  Erika stepped back, noticing the man that had accompanied her children, “Really?”

  “Yeah,” Star replied.

  “Thank you, Sean,” Erika said, looking at the young man. “Sorry you have to see me like th
is.”

  “It’s okay, ma’am,” Sean replied. “Stressful times.”

  They headed back toward the cabin and then veered off towards the snow shelter. Erika was elated to have antibiotics to treat Vince.

  Chapter 23

  “Aren’t you guys staying in the cabin?” Sean wondered.

  “Nope, Mom doesn’t trust anyone,” Dex said, eyeballing the older man.

  As they approached the shelter a man came out from behind a tree.

  “Hello,” he said.

  It caught the group by complete surprise and they could hardly hear another voice declaring, “Don’t shoot!” as Dexter shot the man with his 9mm. He fell and Erika swung her rifle around to take out the other man visible through the tree line. She pulled the trigger: click, click, the gun was empty.

  Star was one step behind her. Rifle drawn, she was just about to squeeze the trigger when Erika stopped her. Erika recognized the man. It was Cole and he appeared to be alone. Erika’s nerves were frayed. Their shelter was found and if she didn’t get these meds to Vince, she would no longer have a soul mate.

  “I can’t do this anymore, Cole,” Erika yelled at him, while her children looked on, shocked by her response.

  “Then don’t,” a familiar voice said from behind her.

  She spun around again, praying she was not just hearing things.

  “Sergeant Bennet!” she yelled, lunging at the burly man. She hugged him tightly. “I never thought I would see you again! What are you doing here?”

  “Hey, cupcake,” he said affectionately. “Major Virgis has been doing his best to find you and thought you needed a familiar face to calm you down.”

  She stepped back a little, confused.

  “You got me out, why would you come to take us back?” Erika’s nerves couldn’t handle this right now. Her hand instinctually started to slide towards her sidearm.

  “Calm down, hopscotch,” Sergeant Bennet replied, placing his hand on hers that was moving towards her gun. “Major Virgis was sent to find you and take you to Vince’s parents. He tried to inform the resistance locals before you got there but you guys are machines and seemed to be one step ahead of him every time. Not everyone supports the resistance so we couldn’t broadcast the message too far and the Federal Forces are still actively hunting you all as escapees because Mathew put out the hit on you,” he was trying to explain as fast as possible as he watched his comrade bleeding in the snow. “Major Virgis, come check on Johnny,” he yelled.

  Major Virgis loped into the group. “Hello again, Mrs. Moore,” he said as he passed by Erika to check on the guy Dexter had shot.

  He turned him over to find a wound on his shoulder.

  “He’ll live,” Cole announced. “Good thing too,” he muttered.

  “Hey, that’s the guy we saw in Reno,” Star commented, recognizing the boy.

  “And the General’s son,” Cole added with concern. “General Dwayne McClintock commands the Mercenary Forces, but is also deeply involved with the resistance movement.”

  “Why are you telling us this?” Erika wondered what their angle was.

  “Because, Erika, I took a liking to you and your family when we met in Colorado. You have a legend behind you, being the lone survivor of Sacramento. You have a legacy of rebellion behind you by defeating bigger forces and organizing revolts. Now you have an escape story and a conspiracy against a landowner family supporting you. The people will identify with you and maybe we can make this country into the free place it once was,” Cole finished.

  Erika chuckled at him. “I’m just one woman trying to survive. I’m just a mother trying to keep her children alive. I’m just an American who remembers a country ruled by the people, not a tyrannical government. The only thing I have to show for my efforts are a lot of scars.”

  Sergeant Bennet stepped up. Towering above her, he stared directly into her eyes, “A scar is a sign you survived the battle. Scars say I made it through hell and I know the path to take. Scars say I made mistakes I will never make again. Scars teach us how to win and scars make us stronger. I, for one, would follow a leader riddled with scars much more readily than I would ever trust a man without any. The day you let those scars harden your heart and stop the fight for all that is good and right in this world is the day you have truly lost.”

  “Why are you doing this to me now?” Erika wondered, full of indecision.

  “Because, Erika, you made me see something better inside myself and you are the first real friend I’ve had in a very long time,” he admitted. “Oh and by the way, I left a very cushy job, privy to top government information, to come all the way out here and save you, cupcake, so a thank-you would be nice.”

  “Thank you,” Erika replied.

  “We’ll have plenty of time to discuss this later. We need to treat Johnny or his dad is going to kill me,” Cole commented.

  “We aren’t all going to fit in the shelter,” Dexter added.

  “Then how about that cabin?” Cole asked.

  “We don’t want the soldiers to find us,” Star retorted out of habit.

  “Looks like the soldiers found you, Star,” Cole chuckled. “Don’t worry about all that anymore. I’ll work it out. Let’s move.”

  Erika stood in a daze watching Sergeant Bennet and Major Virgis take Johnny into the cabin. Then she directed them to the entrance of their snow shelter and they carefully removed Vince and laid him on a cot in the cabin. The cabin itself was in deplorable condition, but it had a roof and a wood-burning stove. Erika watched the two soldiers talking calmly outside the kitchen window. It appeared to Erika that these two men knew each other exceptionally well. They laughed heartily and seemed happy to have a quiet moment to talk.

  What am I doing? Erika thought. Can I really trust them? She looked towards Vince lying quietly on the cot. What choice do I have? she answered herself. Her attention was stolen as the door to the cabin slammed shut.

  “Where’s that boy at?” Sergeant Bennet asked as if he didn’t know.

  “Same place you left him,” Erika replied.

  “Well, I better have a look at him,” Sergeant Bennet commented as he walked across the floor with a medical bag in his hand.

  “What’s Cole going to do with all those soldiers we killed?” Erika wondered.

  “Do you really want to know, Erika?” Sergeant Bennet countered, while tending to Johnny’s shoulder.

  “Yes, I mean, no...I don’t know, do I?” Erika stammered.

  “Well, cupcake, the plan is to track down a group of guys that have been behaving badly and make it look like they killed those soldiers. We have just the group in mind too,” he declared honestly.

  “I don’t want anyone dying on my accord...” Erika began to say.

  Sergeant Bennet was done treating Johnny, and the kids were shuttling more gear from the shelter. He spun around quickly and stared her in the eyes again. “Why? So you can die? How do you think we covered up the Tahoe incident?” he demanded.

  Her eyes lit up with realization, remembering the casualties at the line they had to cross in the mountains.

  “Yeah, honey, let it sink in. The Tahoe crossing, the soldiers a little ways back and these men today, we’ve been cleaning up your messes the whole time. If you would have just talked with Mac, we could have avoided the deaths today, but what’s done is done. Bad people still exist and it’s just one more excuse to eliminate them,” he said coolly.

  “Why?” Erika muttered.

  “What, cupcake? You are gonna need to speak up,” he barked at her.

  “Why are you doing this?” Erika was still in a state of shock.

  “It’s like I told you outside, Erika. Damn, girl, open up your ears. Come back to reality! Your legend has spread like a wildfire through the camps and farms. The people think you are a hero, Cole took a shine to you and so did I. I’m doing this because you’re my friend, but more importantly because the resistance needs you...alive!” he concluded.

  “The resist
ance?” Erika questioned. “Cole mentioned it before, but, Sergeant Bennet, I’m just a wife, a mother, a woman trying to get my family to a free life. I don’t know if I’m what you think I am,” she stammered.

  “A magical life that you are not going to find anywhere anymore, Erika! There’s a lot to learn about the world you are headed into, and it looks like we’ll have plenty of time to do it. I don’t think this storm is ever going to end.” His explanation was over and he changed the subject completely as the children entered with the rest of the supplies from the shelter. “And, Erika?” he drew her attention back.

  “What?” Erika replied.

  “It’s Master Sergeant now,” he commented on his new position.

  “Well, congratulations, but you’ll always be Sergeant Bennet to me.” She winked at him.

  “Oh, that fire feels good,” Star announced, breaking up their banter.

  She plopped the kitchen supplies down on the small counter. Sergeant Bennet had moved over to check on Vince’s arm.

  “How is he, Sergeant?” Dexter wondered, putting the rest of the bedding in order.

  “Looks like I should have made your mom attend more medical training classes,” Sergeant Bennet teased. “We’ll get him back on his feet in no time.”

  Erika watched him clean the wound and apply fresh dressings to Vince’s arm. Afterwards he pounded a small nail into the wall by Vince’s cot, cleaned Vince’s other arm with a swab, and inserted an IV into his arm that he hung on the wall. When Erika was satisfied with the care Vince was receiving, she helped Star ready the kitchen for use again. Dexter, Sean and Daniel did their best to straighten the rest of the cabin, clean the floors and stock a good pile of wood inside for the night.

  “Full weapons and supply check in one hour,” Master Sergeant Bennet commanded as he finished up with Vince’s arm.

  “Excuse me...sir, but we’re not in the Rescue Squad anymore,” Erika poked fun at him.

  The Master Sergeant stopped for a moment and looked at her with a puzzled look. Erika couldn’t tell if he was going to thrash her or laugh.