by Justin Sloan
“Val?” The woman’s voice came through clearly. “About time. Is Diego okay?”
Snickers came from the back as Diego said, “I’m right here, dear. All my bullet holes will have healed by the time we see each other. Don’t worry, I’ll be as handsome as ever.”
“That’s not funny,” Sandra snapped.
“He’s fine.” Valerie shot Diego a glare. “In fact, we’re on our way back, but not for long. We’re dropping off the people who want to lay low and then some of us are going back out there.”
“What? What for?”
“I’ll fill you in when we see you. Where will you be?”
“The western wall.” There was a silence before she added, “And Diego’s plan?”
“Wow, she’s actually asking instead of just commanding you?” Micky whispered to Diego, earning him an elbow in the ribs.
“Dear,” Diego leaned forward to talk into the comm, “I’ll go where I’m most needed. You want me at your side, say the word.”
“But we could use him out here,” Valerie interjected. “I get your position, Sandra. It’s your call. Just know he’d be valuable on the outside.”
“Forget me and my pregnancy, huh?” Sandra sighed. “Fine. Take him.”
“Don’t get all dramatic,” Valerie countered. “You know I’ve got his six, so what’s the big deal?”
“Maybe we could chat about this when you don’t have a Pod full of people listening in?”
“Fine.” Valerie glared at the others as if it were their fault she had to cut this short. She was starting to see the outline of the city, so she finished the call. For a moment she debated whether she was being greedy or not, but the point was that they needed to do whatever they could to put an end to this war as quickly as possible…even if that meant keeping two lovebirds apart for another day or two.
Especially when doing so meant fewer lives lost, preferably on both sides.
“When we go out there we need to know that we’re with real fighters, real warriors,” Valerie stated, glancing back at Micky. “Can we count on your people for that?”
“You think we’ve survived in the Badlands as long as we have and don’t know how to fight?”
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
“You should,” Diego chimed in. “They held their own when we retreated to the city. These guys and gals are badass.”
“Aw, thanks, little guy.” Micky laughed.
“They’re not very bright, but badass,” Diego corrected.
“Not very bright?” Cammie asked.
“He just proved that by calling me ‘little guy,’” Diego explained.
Micky laughed at this too. “Hey, I’m not denying that you could take me in a fight. I’ve seen you at work. That doesn’t change your stature.”
“It’s all relative, right? Take, for example, your belly. I think you’re right—relative to you, I’m tiny. At least three of me could fit in that gut of yours.”
“Now you’re just being mean,” Micky grumbled, leading to the others chuckling.
“When we get there,” Valerie started, changing the subject back to the mission, “I want to touch down, let them off, and get moving again.”
“Might not be as easy as that,” Cammie replied. She touched Valerie’s shoulder and pointed out the window.
Her words made sense instantly as Valerie saw shapes moving on the ground. Then there was a burst of light and…
PING! PING!
“Shots fired!” Valerie announced, swerving the Pod to evade the gunfire and get a better view of what was below them.
Only now it was an explosion of bursts of light—shots were being fired by hundreds of guns. She pulled up and to the left, getting out of there, and then circled back toward the blimp.
“Open fire!” she shouted, and a moment later the windows were down and she and Royland were shooting into the night, trying to take out as many as they could. There were just too many, though, and it became clear the airship wasn’t going to make it with all those holes in it.
It was also clear that their attackers were moving toward New York, but Valerie preferred to deal with one problem at a time.
“Keep their focus away from the airship!” Valerie commanded and pulled the Pod around, making circles around the airship and unleashing a fury of shots as her companions fired downward.
Bursts were coming from the airship too as Garcia and others returned fire on the attackers below, but somehow the enemy had managed to hit all sides of the airship.
“Dammit!” Cammie shouted. “The city’s too far. They won’t make it.”
Valerie was about to argue, but she observed that the balloon on the airship was already deflating, the ship losing altitude.
She glanced at the ground below them and saw a spot where old buildings formed a bit of a wall with an old train yard beyond it. They would land there.
Pulling hard on the controls, Valerie steered the Pod directly toward the front of the airship.
“You’re going to crash!” Micky shouted, bracing himself while the others continued to shoot.
“Have faith,” Valerie replied. “I’m only going to crash a little.”
“WHAT?”
“Just to nudge them in the right direction. Brace yourselves for impact!”
Half the Pod was screaming, Cammie was laughing, and the explosions and gunshots continued.
They hit with a thud and pushed the airship toward the railyard.
“Come on, girl!” Valerie shouted as they fell more and more, the ship close to hitting the top of a half-collapsed building.
It scraped across and then they were clear. The gunfire couldn’t reach them anymore as they dropped behind the rest of the ruins and moved toward the old trains.
“Check your ammo,” Valerie said as she aimed for a clear spot to land. “Now it gets dangerous.”
CHAPTER NINE
New York
Sandra had just put away her comm device when the shooting started in the distance. At first she thought it might be a random skirmish, but her heart froze at what she saw—the airship and Pod in the sky taking bright bursts of gunfire from below. Both ships started to return fire, but then, to her horror, the airship went down.
Her first instinct was to scream. Diego was out there, and she saw the Pod following the airship. It wasn’t clear if the Pod had been hit. Her second instinct, which she acted on, was to pull the comm device back out and start calling Valerie frantically, but there was no response.
Of course, she realized as she put it away. They were likely fighting for their lives right now. There was no time to answer the comm.
As she watched she saw movement in the distance and more shots moving toward the downed airship, and then it hit her. This army was coming here! They were en route to New York already, but had been distracted by the airship and Pod.
“Soldier!” she shouted to the night guard who had just come on shift. “Sound the alarm. They’re here.”
He had been watching the action too, so he didn’t need to ask what she meant before taking off.
It was go-time, and that meant she didn’t belong up here. A stray bullet or shrapnel to the belly and she would never forgive herself.
As she turned, she saw Davies moving along the wall her direction.
“I didn’t know you were out here,” she stated.
“Making the rounds, checking on the soldiers. You saw what happened?”
She nodded. “Better than saw, I was on the comm device with Valerie and Diego, saw the shooters take them down. They have reinforcements out there.”
“You’re wondering if we can send a team out?” He considered this, then shook his head. “We have Val, Diego, Cammie, Royland, and Garcia out there already. They’re the best team there is. Anyone else would just be at risk.”
“My thoughts as well,” she replied. “I’m going to check on the people underground. Ensure they’re secure, at ease.”
“Someone has to, and ho
nestly…I’m glad it’s you.”
“Oh?”
He shrugged. “In my mind, dealing with people like that in times like these, well, that takes more courage than standing on this wall any day.”
Nodding, she moved to the steps, but paused to glance back and say, “If you see an opportunity, take it. If Diego’s harmed, I’ll go out there on my own and kill every last one of them.”
More shots sounded in the distance, but she forced her way down the steps one foot at a time. Every instinct in her said to grab a rifle and run to her man, but the reality of the situation was that she wasn’t Valerie. She was Sandra, and knew her strengths and weaknesses. Right now it was about ensuring the safety of New York’s people.
But she had one stop to make on the way.
The city was restless, faces appearing at windows and men stepping out through their doors with various weapons. As she walked, she noticed some of them following. No, not following—going in the same direction. When she reached Capital Square, she understood.
She had come to find Jackson, but so had they.
“We have our little army,” Jackson said, seeing her.
The others were gathering behind him in a half-circle, preparing to defend the city, and Sandra had to admit it was a sight worth seeing. Still, it raised a question or two in her mind.
“Something tells me you didn’t just cobble these fighters together at the last minute.”
His expression gave nothing away, but a twinkle in his eyes told her all she needed to know.
“Uh huh,” she said, continuing. “I came here to see if you were doing your part, and I rest assured you are.” She paused. “But when it’s over?”
“I have my followers. They’re ready to fight if I see injustice. It’s nothing more than that.”
“Good,” she replied. “In a world like this we couldn’t expect anything less. But…promise to at least discuss what you see as injustice before taking matters into your own hands?”
“Agreed.”
With that she made for the underground tunnels. She had once spent time there with Valerie and Diego preparing a siege on Enforcer HQ, but now she would be joining others to lay low as New York was attacked.
She would have to trust the city’s defense to Valerie, Cammie, Royland, Diego, Davies, Jackson, and the rest.
When she moved aside a piece of plywood at an old subway station, she had to ignore the smell of the place. It reminded her of rotten potatoes, her pregnancy adding to the level of nausea.
It wasn’t so bad once she had gone down the steps, and she was relieved to see Clara there waiting. This girl had quickly grown to be one of Sandra’s favorites, especially since she was always willing to bring her a treat or check in on her when everyone else was off worrying about city defenses.
“I was hoping you’d be down soon,” Clara said. “When I heard the shooting, I figured it was time.”
“Let’s check on the others,” Sandra replied, wrapping an arm around the younger woman and walking with her through the dim tunnel. “How are the children?”
“More have been streaming in, especially in the last few minutes.”
“And I imagine Platea’s off worrying about Garcia. He’ll be fine, he always is.”
“She’s been mostly helping to organize,” Clara replied. “But, yes, to keep her mind off it all.”
“We’ll need to close off the entrances when the fighting really starts, be ready to set up our own defenses if they breach the walls.”
“Hey, former pirate here! If they get down here, they’ll be in for a rude awakening.”
Sandra laughed. “Don’t discount me yet either. I pack a mean punch.”
“You can fight?”
“I was trained by militaristic vampires. Meaning, yes.” She noticed the glance down at the protruding belly. “Right… I’ll try to avoid it as much as possible.”
“Probably smart,” Clara replied.
They turned into a hallway that Sandra recognized from the last time she had been down there. Artificial lighting gave it a yellow hue, and the hum of frightened talk created an eerie feeling. Glancing around at the eyes of the children there, she saw she wasn’t alone in feeling this.
If they were going to move on after the fighting was done, this state of terror would have to be long gone.
“Everyone, if I can have your attention?” She waved a hand and motioned them over, and soon people were packed into the tunnel. “Who here remembers what it was like before? Under Commander Strake?”
A few nods form the crowd.
“And who here has any idea what it’s like outside of these walls? In the Badlands?”
“It’s a shithole,” a man replied.
“Yes, but…language,” she replied with a nod at a group of children nearby. “The point is, none of you want to go back to that. None of you want this city to fall into the hole of feces this man so eloquently described. We are not the Badlands, and never will be. We are the people of New York, and we will survive this.”
Several people mumbled in agreement.
“Be strong for your children, parents. And children, be strong for your parents. There’s nothing more encouraging than when a mother looks down and sees her little one being braver than she feels. Likewise, if the warriors of this city see us holding our heads high, they’ll know we’re not afraid. They’ll know we have faith in them, and that no matter what, we won’t let this city fall. Am I right?”
“Yeah!” Bronson called, his kids laughing around him.
“I’d rather be out there fighting,” one of his sons said, the one she had been told was a Were.
She chuckled and shook her head. “Many of us would be, but we have a front line. Let them do their jobs, and we’ll stay here to protect those who need us.”
The boy nodded.
“Why’s this happening?” a woman asked, her thick eyebrows amplifying the glare she was giving Sandra. “I thought this was your job—to keep the city under control. Safe.”
“And we are,” Sandra replied. “We have forces beyond the walls working to take out our enemies as we speak. I’ve put a call out to a certain colonel out west, Colonel Walton, and he’s promised to send some soldiers to help us out. To form an alliance—and that’s what this is. This is the formation of the greatest alliance any of us have seen in our lifetimes. We’re going to be able to sit back and enjoy peace after this—I’m certain of it—but before any period of peace comes strife. The land will be our Eden, but not until we rid it of the serpent who is Lady Woo.”
“Fine,” the woman replied. “But that doesn’t explain why you talk like one of those old-school recruiting posters.”
The others laughed and Sandra found herself smiling.
“Blame that on Valerie.”
“The dead lady?” the woman asked. “The one they say was…” she glanced around, debating whether she should say it in front of the children, and then lowered her voice, “a vampire?”
Nervous glances followed.
“A vampire…” Sandra considered the question. There was so much to it, after all. The idea that the UnknownWorld should be kept secret, for one. The fact that Valerie had faked her own death. That was her secret to deal with, but it had been to trick the CEOs, their enemy at the time, so that they wouldn’t lead any more attacks on the city in an attempt to find her.
Still, it wasn’t Sandra’s place to reveal the truth—not yet.
“Valerie was like a sister to me, and I was raised across the ocean with her, trained in a militaristic fashion. She was always talking like this, inspiring others. As I hope I have done tonight, at least to a small degree.”
“You’ve got my vote,” Clara called from the back of the room.
“Vote of confidence?” Sandra asked.
“Whatever vote you want,” the girl replied. “When this is over the people of New York will need a representative, after all.”
Sandra had been a follower so much of her life before
coming here, the idea of being a voice for the people in any way took her a second to come to grips with. When more people chimed in with agreement, she smiled and said, “One step at a time.”
“At least say you won’t dismiss the idea,” Bronson requested.
She nodded, an action that was met by several cheers.
“Okay, okay. I came here to ensure we were all ready for what’s about to come our way, not pitch myself for a leadership position.”
“Which is exactly what makes you perfect for it,” Bronson countered. “Plus, you’re already on the council. No reason to shy away from what’s clearly your destiny.”
She laughed, but saw he was serious. They were all serious.
“I’ll think about it,” she promised. “After this war is over.”
The others agreed and went back to whatever they had been doing before the impromptu meeting. Some were checking on food supplies as more boxes of fruits and crackers were delivered. Others would be taking up guard positions and blockading doors.
“That was some speech,” Bronson said, working his way through the crowd with his three children. Even the Were boy had looked a bit scared, but didn’t now. “We just wanted to remind you that we’re here if you need us.”
One hand went to the pistol at his side and the other rested on the Were boy’s shoulder.
“Stay close,” Sandra replied. “It’s going to be an interesting night.”
Sandra was about to move on and check on another section of the underground hideout, when her comm device went off. Her hands shook with excitement as she pulled it out, thinking it must be Valerie and Diego, but it was an unrecognized name. Someone called Espinoza.
“This is Sandra,” she said after moving into a side tunnel that wasn’t as crowded. First the sound of gunshots came through, then, finally a reply.
“Espinoza here,” the voice said. “Sent with a fire team by Colonel Walton. Where do you need us?”
“Perfect timing,” Sandra replied. “There’s a train station northwest of the city and some of our people are cut off there. Think you can make it over?”
“A rescue mission?” Espinoza paused, likely telling his team, then came back. “We see the spot and aren’t too far off.”