by Sam Sisavath
“What should I tell Lara?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he walked quietly next to her, eyes squinting at the sun.
“She’ll ask,” Gaby said.
“Tell her I said hey.”
“It would be better if you did it in person.”
“Maybe one day.”
“Why did you leave, Keo?”
“I thought we already covered this?”
“You dodged the question.”
“Did I?”
“Mostly.”
He went silent again as they walked past the charred wreckage of the first Bucky technical. Gaby turned away from the remains of the poor souls that had been caught in the Warthog’s path. Or what was left of them…
“How’s the leg?” Keo asked.
“You’re changing the subject again.”
“I guess I am.”
“It’s fine.”
“Really?”
“No. But this crutch helps. I’d bitch about it more, but since you’re not whining about that side of yours, I’m going to do the decent thing and keep my mouth shut about my leg, too.”
“What a saint,” Keo said.
Gaby took one, then two more steps, when she stopped suddenly and spun around, drawing her sidearm as she did. It wasn’t the easiest move to pull off with the crutch under one arm, but she managed it and pointed the gun across the road at—
A brown horse, moving alongside them on the other side of the state highway.
Keo’s Horse.
It was walking casually, and when they both stopped and looked over, the animal did likewise, big brown eyes staring at her as if to say, Why did you stop?
“Jesus,” Gaby said. “Where the hell did it come from?”
Keo chuckled. “Yeah, he does that a lot, too.”
Twenty-Four
Axton wasn’t much to look at from far away, and up close it was even less aesthetically pleasing. The somewhat hidden Texas town was about six hundred acres of land separated into a dozen or so small streets, with State Highway 359 within binocular distance a mile away. That distance from the main thoroughfare had made Axton the perfect place for Black Tide’s recon team to insert before making their way up to Fenton fifteen miles farther north.
A thick country of flat and dry land separated Axton from the highway, but it was different on the other side, where a large wall of trees sprouted out of the ground. The town was small enough that it wouldn’t have taken more than thirty minutes to walk from one side to the other, and that was with her gimping along on a crutch.
The recon team was currently somewhere on the outskirts of Fenton doing their job, which meant Gaby didn’t have anything to do except wait for them to finish. Danny would have already informed them about rendezvousing with her when they checked in with him around noon, but until then, she had to stay put until they made contact.
She and Keo rode Horse to Axton, keeping the highway a faraway speck to their left just in case more of Buck’s people showed up while they were in transit. The town was five miles from the ranch where they had barely survived, but it wasn’t nearly far enough for Gaby’s liking. After all, Keo had put twenty miles between them and Fenton, and the Buckies still found them anyway.
Once they reached their destination, they chose the Axton First Baptist Church as their base of operations. The structure had a tall white steeple with a bell tower underneath, and the height allowed her to keep an eye on the highway. She didn’t have binoculars on her (Should have asked Mayfield for hers), but there was so little between them and 359 that anything traveling along the road would be instantly visible. In the daytime, anyway.
The church was already fortified, which made it ideal in case they had to spend more time in Axton than originally planned. (Just in case…) The twin front doors were intact, and the previous owners had reinforced them with two large pieces of lumber—much like the ranchers had with the barn—that lay on the floor when they entered, ready to be reused.
The interior had a layer of dust and that abandoned smell, but the place didn’t look as if it had ever been breached by man or monster, so the extra security had done its job six years ago—or however long it had been since they were installed. Gaby climbed up to the bell tower while Keo inventoried the place, even though she didn’t think there would be very much to find. The church was small by comparison to many she’d run across over the years. Quaint was the appropriate word for it.
As with the RV park outside Fenton, Axton had seen plenty of looters since The Purge. Abandoned vehicles that probably wouldn’t work even if they had gas for them could be found along the streets and driveways of homes. Many of those same homes still sported barricades across the windows and doors, but there were no telltale signs of ghoul occupation, which was the first thing they made sure of.
Climbing the ladder to the tower proved easier after helping herself to some of the painkillers that had come along with Mayfield’s first-aid kit. Gaby was able to give Keo back his dwindling stash and reminded herself to supplement it with Mayfield’s before they said their good-byes. She had a feeling he was going to need everything he could get his hands on for what lay ahead of him.
The wind brushed at her face as she poked her head over the brick wall that surrounded the bottom half of the bell tower. She scanned the town before lingering on the highway nearly a mile away. The large bronze bell was directly above her, but there was no danger of it crashing down on top of her head. There were old cans of SPAM around the floor and underneath a dirty blanket, so someone had made use of the structure before she showed up, though not very recently—
Car engines.
She ducked slightly, even though she realized there was no real danger of being spotted. Still, it was better to be safe than sorry, and she moved toward the closest foundation pole for some cover as she watched them moving down the road.
Tearing down the road, actually. Two vehicles, but they were too far for her to make out what kind, or if there were men in the back manning machine guns. They were moving south, in the direction of Sandy-something and the ranch.
Gaby glanced at her watch. 12:11 p.m.
Almost three hours since the Warthog saved her and Keo’s life. There wouldn’t be very much for the trucks to find down there. Well, that wasn’t true; there just wouldn’t be very much to find that were still useful.
The vehicles grew smaller quickly, the sound of their engines fading along with their appearances. She thought again, Where are they getting all that fuel? when more movement flickered at the corner of her eye.
Horses, with men on top of them, galloping across the arid land after the trucks. About four or five, and they were staying off the hardtop. Clouds of dust rose behind them as they chased after the vehicles.
Gaby unslung her rifle and leaned it against the wall next to her, and watched the horses slowly get small. Movement from behind her, but Gaby didn’t glance back as Keo climbed up the ladder and pulled himself through the trapdoor.
“I heard car engines,” Keo said.
“Looked like trucks.”
“Buckies.”
“I don’t know. Too far to be sure, but what are the chances they’re just innocent travelers that just happened to be heading toward the same spot where we had that firefight with the Buckies?”
“Not likely.” Keo walked over and squinted at the tiny figures on horses moving down the road. “Four?”
“Maybe five.”
“Either/or.”
He opened a bag of jerky and offered it to her. She took a big stick and chewed on it while he leaned against the wall and looked around the empty town.
“No word from the recon team yet?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Radio’s quiet.”
“Danny says they won’t be in contact until they’re done. And they just inserted this morning, so it might take a while. Maybe the entire afternoon.” She looked over at him. “You don’t have to stay. I’ll be fine.”
“You tired of me already?”
“Eventually, sure, but not yet. I’m just saying, you’re under no obligations to stay. You got me here in one piece.”
“Well, Horse did most of the leg work…”
“You know what I mean.”
He didn’t say anything, and instead glanced north, in the direction where Fenton would be—not that either one of them could see any evidence of it from Axton.
“Go,” Gaby said. “I’ll be fine.”
“Nah,” he said. “I’ll hang around until the team shows up.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“I don’t doubt that. You did pretty good back at the barn.”
“You mean after walking out there like an idiot and getting myself shot?”
“Besides that, yeah.”
“I’d be dead right now if they weren’t trying to take me alive. I screwed up this morning. I should have been more careful.”
“Shoulda, woulda, coulda,” Keo said.
She gave him a wry look. “You say that a lot. It’s kind of annoying.”
He smiled. “I’m just a guy running around with a submachine gun. You want inspiring speeches, go watch Rudy.”
“Who’s Rudy?”
“Rudy. The movie?”
She shook her head. “Never saw it. Was it made before I was born?”
“Pretty much everything good was made before you were born.”
“I didn’t know you were such a cinefile.”
“I’m not, but even I know Rudy.”
“I’ll get Danny to show it to me when I get back. He’s always looking for an excuse to impress me with his movie knowledge, anyway.”
“What exactly happens after you return to Black Tide?”
“It’ll be up to Lara on how we proceed. Like you said back at that ranch, when Mayfield lit up those technicals, we sent Buck a message, whether we intended to or not. That’s why I think you should come back with us.”
He sighed. “Didn’t we just talk about this?”
“It deserves a second talk.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
“Keo, Lara’s not going to just stand by while Fenton raids towns at will. Not in a million years. Not if she has the power to do something about it.”
Keo shook his head. “I can’t go back with you and wait for the brain trust to make a decision, Gaby. As much faith as I have in you and Lara and Danny, I’m just not that patient. Besides, I’m already here. Might as well do something about it.”
Gaby watched him closely, trying to decide if there was any point in pursuing the conversation. Keo looked like he had made up his mind, but she’d been able to change minds before. The problem was that she didn’t have very much leverage on Keo. Lara, on the other hand, did. If she were here right now…
She let it go and leaned over the wall, looking down at the ground below instead. “Where’s your horse, by the way? I haven’t seen him around since we got here.”
“He snuck off.”
“Where to?”
“I have no idea.”
“He does that a lot, too, huh?”
“Yup.”
“What if they spot him?”
“They won’t.”
“What if?”
“They’re not going to spot him unless he wants them to. It’s not just a horse. It’s a horse ninja. Or ninja horse. Either/or.” When she gave him a doubtful look, Keo chuckled. “Trust me. You won’t see that horse coming unless he wants you to.”
“You know it’s just a horse, right?”
Keo grinned back at her. “You know that and I know that, but don’t tell him that.”
Men who were probably Buckies traveled up and down the highway throughout the afternoon, and the only reason she was certain they weren’t the same ones each time was the different colors of their vehicles. They came in groups, sometimes with motorcycles flanking them. While the cars kept to the roads, the ones on horseback sometimes broke off from the asphalt, and once, two of them rode through Axton.
When that happened, she hid in the bell tower, while Keo kept out of view somewhere below her. The Buckies passed the church by without bothering to dismount for a closer look. It wasn’t just their building, either; they gave the houses and other buildings in town the same level of attention, which wasn’t very much at all.
You need to train your people better, Buck, but I’m not complaining.
Once the Buckies left again, Gaby remained in the tower, where she could keep an eye on their surrounding area. She spent a few minutes pulling down her pants and redressing her wound, thankful for the privacy. Gaby also helped herself to two more of Mayfield’s painkillers as the afternoon cooled down, despite telling herself to go easy on the pills.
It took a while, but eventually she heard voices coming from below her through the open trapdoor. She hobbled over and peered down into the church just as Keo appeared below, the radio pack slung over his back and the microphone in his hand.
“Stay on the line,” Keo said before glancing up to her. “It’s for you. Something about a Nigerian prince with millions in the bank, and can you do him a favor.”
“Tell him I’m on my way,” Gaby said, and climbed down.
She took the radio from him, then sat down on one of the pews.
The church was really one big room, with two rows of pews—ten on each side—in the center and a plain stage in the back flanked by two small rooms, both offices from the looks of them. The bell tower was directly above the front doors, and the only way to access it was the ladder five feet to the right of the entrance. The place was as basic as they came, but when your town consisted of five hundred or so residents, maybe basic was all you really needed.
Gaby keyed the mic. “Go for Gaby.”
“Hey, kid, glad to see you’re not dead,” Peters said through the receiver. “We had a pool going, you know.”
“So I’ve heard. The question is, did you bet on the right horse?”
“Of course. I never doubted you for a second.”
“Good man. I want half of everything.”
“Dammit,” Peters said.
She smiled. “How’s the mission going?”
“We’re wrapping it up now. Danny said you’re hunkered down in Axton?”
“That’s right. The church on the south side.”
“I know the place. We’ll rendezvous with you in three hours, give or take.”
Gaby glanced at her watch. Three hours would make it almost four thirty. That didn’t exactly give them a lot of time before nightfall.
Cutting it a little close…
But she kept that to herself and said into the mic, “I’ll see you when I see you,” and put it back into the bag before zipping it up.
Keo had wandered off while she was talking with Peters but returned to sit down on the pew next to her. “When’s the pickup?”
“When they get here, which should be in three hours, give or take.”
“How long is give or take?”
She shrugged. “Maybe three hours, maybe more. Or less.”
“Give or take?”
“You got it.”
“Cutting it a little close.”
Tell me about it, Gaby thought, but said, “Peters knows what he’s doing. He already trekked the distance to Fenton, so he’d know how to get back and how long it would take.”
“That was Peters?”
“You didn’t know?”
Keo shrugged. “I didn’t recognize the voice. It’s been a while…or so people keep reminding me.”
She smiled. “That was Peters.”
“What’s he doing out here, anyway? I thought he was strictly a shooter.”
“He was—he still is—but he got bored teaching people how to shoot. He’s been in the field for a while now.”
“Good for him. So what’s the exfil strategy?”
“A chopper’s picking us up about a hundred meters from the edge of town, in that same patch of field we walked
through earlier. That’s the plan, anyway. With so many Buckies going back and forth, who knows, we might have to deviate slightly.”
“Does Danny know about the kind of firepower they have in Fenton?”
“He knows what happened to Lightning Two outside of Kohl’s Port. Other than that, Peters should be able to fill in the rest.”
“We know they have technicals.”
“They have a lot of technicals. And plenty of horses. They were keeping me in a stable when I was in Fenton. I got the feeling it wasn’t their only one.”
“They’re definitely not lacking for horsepower.”
“That’s where your horse came from.”
“Uh huh.”
Keo didn’t say anything else, but he was looking at her curiously.
“What?” she said.
“You think Peters figured out what’s going on in Fenton? I mean, what’s really going on in that place?”
“What exactly are we talking about here, Keo?”
“You know what I’m talking about, Gaby,” Keo said.
He was right. She did know, because she had been thinking about it—and still did whenever she had the free time—ever since Reese told her.
“The women and children,” Gaby said. “What are they doing with the women and children in Fenton.”
“Yeah,” Keo nodded. “What the hell is going on in that place?”
Peters had said “three hours, give or take,” but by four thirty, the recon team still hadn’t arrived. Gaby wasn’t too worried; there could be any number of reasons why they were delayed. That was the problem with making plans in the field—things always changed.
“No plan survives first contact with the enemy,” Will used to tell her.
Even so, she got a little worried when five o’clock came and went and there were still no signs of the team. The radio remained quiet, and Gaby resisted the urge to squawk Peters to find out what had happened. The last thing she wanted to do was try contacting them while they were in a precarious situation, like hiding from one of Buck’s many teams that were currently roaming around the area.
At five thirty, she was really worried, and another thing Will used to say to her came to mind: “Hurry up and wait.”