by Lee West
Snuff leaned into the window, steadying his weapon on the men. Even if he didn’t kill both men, the sound of the gunshots would alert every New Order thug in the area. The place would be crawling with them in no time at all. He needed to act fast. Grabbing a letter opener off a nearby desk, Brown moved to Snuff purposefully. In one swift movement, he jammed the opener into Snuff’s neck, ripping open the man’s carotid artery.
Snuff immediately dropped his rifle and grabbed his neck with one hand. His other hand pawed helplessly at the windowsill. With stunned eyes, he sank to the floor, staring up at him. Brown picked up Snuff’s rifle and waited until the man bled out completely, watching with no sense of remorse. When it was clear that Snuff had been snuffed, he dragged the body to the bathroom and locked it from the inside. He then locked the door to the office and moved down the hall to a second, nearly identical office. Setting up a chair by the window, he hoped no one noticed the change.
~ ~ ~
Marta saw Charlie and the other man coming to her yard long before they reached the patio. Brown must have managed to take care of the sniper at the warehouse.
“Charlie! Hurry up, get inside fast,” said Marta, opening the door quickly.
“Marta, you’re a sight for sore eyes. This is Mark; he lives in Evansville. How’re you holding up?”
“Surviving. Listen. The New Order has men stationed all over town. They’re waiting for the cops to come back. The Boss is convinced the cops are planning something and he’s getting ready. I have a map identifying each sniper location.”
“The Boss?” said Mark.
“That’s what they call the guy in charge of the New Order. Tall, super-muscled guy with tattoos all over. Shaved head.”
Charlie examined the map, shaking his head and smiling. “Holy shit. How did you get this?”
“Brown, a New Order guy, made it for me. He has been helping all along. He’s the one who told me about the raid on your house.”
“Are you sure this is accurate? According to the map, there should be a guy in the Miller warehouse. He would have had a clear shot at us in your backyard,” said Charlie.
“Maybe the intel is old, or they’re changing locations?” said Mark.
“No. Brown went there earlier this morning to neutralize that position. It must’ve worked.”
“Crap. Either it worked or we got lucky coming in. Hard to know,” said Charlie, turning to Mark.
“We need to lie low until it’s dark. It’ll be our safest bet. One wrong step and someone could spot us,” said Mark.
“Agreed. Can we crash here until then?”
“Absolutely. Not that you have many other choices,” she said.
They all laughed.
“I guess not,” said Charlie. “Have you been in contact with the veterans?”
“Yeah. They checked in a couple of days ago. Gayle is down there with them. They’re waiting for orders,” she said.
“When we leave here, we’re going to them—to help coordinate the attack to retake Porter.”
“How long until that happens?”
“If all goes right, within the next day or so,” said Charlie.
Marta once again considered her friend Brown, unsure of his fate. He would be expected to fight with the New Order. Refusing could get him killed.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Lea sat on a rock, watching the kids swim. She had been given the job of head babysitter, something she initially despised. She wasn’t really into kids, even on a good day. However, in their current circumstances, being around children who would likely never see their families again softened her heart toward them and kids in general. She began to feel very protective of them. Besides, the other jobs weren’t great either. Cleaning, cooking and tending the miniscule camp garden were all worse choices as far as she could tell. If she had the choice, she would have requested to stand watch, like her mom.
Her mom had made a point of making sure Lea had self-defense training, knew how to shoot a pistol and a rifle, and could use a knife well enough in close-quarters fighting. Lea felt like she would be able to protect the kids if anyone breached the camp.
Worry over Tank finding the camp consumed her. She could not help but replay images from her past confinement and beatings. Dread and worry over Tank’s next move distracted her from paying close attention to the kids at times. She replayed what she would do to Tank if he happened to stroll into the camp. There was no way she would allow him to hurt any of the kids.
She felt frustrated that the chief chose to first fight for Porter instead of Evansville. Even though Lea had not seen much of the New Order’s activities in Evansville, she believed that Tank was the only one in charge. She had no idea how many guys were there with him or how loyal they were to Tank. But she suspected that if they eliminated Tank, then his whole posse would fall apart.
When she heard of the chief’s decision to retake Porter first, her panic over Tank’s roaming freely in Evansville overtook her. She knew he would never stop looking for her. Especially after she’d escaped from him. He would view her escape as a personal affront, punishable in the harshest terms.
She fantasized about fighting Tank. At times she imagined herself winning a fistfight against him. Other times she dreamed of simply smashing the hood of his red Trans Am, his prize possession. She knew neither would ever come to pass, but even imagining a win over Tank made her feel less afraid and more in control. At times when her thoughts became particularly dark, she imagined killing him. However, she knew she needed to let those images go.
Her mom had given her a pistol, a holster and extra ammunition. Everyone was expected to be armed and ready in case of an attack on the HQ. She hoped her skills were enough to protect the kids and her parents. She strongly believed any problems arising from Tank were her fault. Her presence at the camp would be the only reason he would venture into the camp.
Shifting on the rock, Lea stretched her face up to the afternoon sun warming her skin. Splashes of cool water from the lake touched her toes. The more she thought about Tank, the more she wished she could help prevent him from ever coming near the camp.
“Ms. Lea? I have to go to the bathroom,” whined a skinny little girl.
“And I’m hungry,” complained a blubbery boy.
“All right, let’s go up to the lodge. Maybe lunch is ready,” she shouted to the kids.
She walked the short distance from the water’s edge to the lodge with the six kids in tow. Lunch probably wasn’t ready, but sitting down by the water was getting old. She could tell when the kids were starting to get bored.
“Hey, honey!” yelled Jane, coming out of the lodge. “Where’re you off to?”
“We thought we’d sit up here and wait for lunch. You?”
“I’m relieving the watch on the south perimeter for the next four hours. I should be back before dinnertime,” said Jane.
“You want some help? I’m sure they’ll be fine here for a while,” said Lea, hopeful for the change in duty.
“We’ve been over this. The chief really needs you to keep the kids together and safe. I know it may not seem like it, but it’s an important job.”
“So I’ve heard. Come on, kids, let’s go around back and sit on the deck,” said Lea as she gathered the kids. “See ya, Mom.”
Lea walked with the little group the rest of the distance to the lodge. Sitting in the shade, they waited for lunch.
Chapter Thirty
Gayle sat at her post near the hunting cabin. The house was little more than a rustic, three-season cabin in the woods, used by one of the veterans for fall hunting trips. She suspected that Bill and his buddies used the cabin as a place to hang out, drink and be guys, away from their wives. It was crudely appointed, showing absolutely no evidence of a woman’s touch.
The property surrounding the cabin was mostly forest. A dirt road extended from the house to the small two-lane road that eventually snaked through the landscape, connecting with a main road into town
. They felt reasonably confident that the New Order would not be active in the area for a while. Once supplies started to run low, however, the New Order would journey outside Porter’s town limits. They might decide to drive down the road to the cabin, stumbling across their location. Hopefully, the town would be back in the citizens’ hands before that happened.
Marta had told them that the cops were moving some of their officers from HQ to the first safe house on the horse trail, to set up a staging area for the battle. She hadn’t heard how the relocation went, or if Charlie was with them. Saying goodbye to Charlie on the horse trail more than a week ago had broken her heart. She knew she needed to tell him a few white lies in order to stay and help the veterans, but it saddened her nonetheless. Charlie was truly the love of her life. Once they started dating, she knew he was the one.
She and Charlie were supposed to take a trip together right before the lights went out. He had been hinting about getting married. They chatted about where they would live, how many kids they would have, and where they would grow old. She knew it was just a matter of time before he popped the question. Thinking of him made her heart swell, an emotion that was just as quickly replaced by fear. She had no idea where he was or even if he was still alive. Marta had never mentioned him by name. Maybe when they called this evening, Marta would know more.
Checking her watch, she realized that her shift was almost over. She’d have some downtime until the midnight communications window. Josh Simmons whistled as he approached her location. The veterans had worked out a near silent communications system using whistles and bird sounds. If a person did not know what to listen for, the sounds of their communications would imperceptibly mix with the forest’s song. She returned the whistle, indicating all clear.
“You ready for a break?” asked Simmons.
“Sure could use one. I’m stiff from sitting here all morning. Nothing has moved, at all. When is your shift over?”
“About eight. Patty is relieving me.”
She stood and stretched her body, shaking her limbs loose. Gayle was anxious to leave her post. Sitting for hours alone in the forest sounded like a magical almost meditative retreat, until you actually did it. The boredom quickly moved in, playing tricks with the mind.
The cabin itself was far too small to house the twenty-two veterans who had moved to the location. Everyone had some sort of tent, tarp or garbage bag combination for sleeping accommodations. It was far from comfortable, especially when it rained, but they made it work. Everyone worked tirelessly to improve each resident’s situation, sharing supplies and constructing makeshift shelters. The veterans knew what they were doing.
On top of taking care of each other, they immediately formed a rank structure and a duty chart, which included a rotation for the perimeter sentries. They drew a map of the cabin and surrounding areas, making sure everyone understood where they needed to go in case they were attacked. They even started creating long javelin-like spears from sturdy branches cut from the forest. They had plenty of firearms among the cabin members, but taking the town back would require more than the able-bodied veterans assembled around the cabin. They needed to provide any citizens willing to fight with a weapon.
Although she had never been on active duty, her respect for the brave men and women in uniform grew every day she spent with them. Watching the group of relative strangers come together so quickly and efficiently really awed her. The chief thought she was needed to help get them mission capable. However, from what she could tell, they helped her. She had no doubt they would be able to make a huge dent in the New Order’s control of their town.
Lying down in her small two-person tent, she tried to drift off for a short late afternoon nap. It was only when she was alone that she allowed herself to relive memories of her and Charlie. Thinking of him always made her smile. Hopefully she would see him again.
Chapter Thirty-One
Tank opened his third warm soda of the day. He guzzled half the can before pausing to let out a long, deep burp. They had moved their headquarters from Lea’s house to a restaurant in a fancy, old-as-shit-style house, which had been left empty by its owners. He couldn’t remember the term for the style. Old as shit was good enough.
His anger roiled as he thought about how close they must have been to capturing Lea, her cop momma and that simpering father of hers. They’d finally cracked open all of the lockers, finding nothing but a bunch of junk, which was kind of a mystery. Maybe 23C had been their unit after all, and they’d just used it to hide out while they came up with a better hiding place. He’d tried to retrace their steps, but hiking through the forest didn’t seem to be getting them anywhere, and it was annoying as all shit. So he decided to take a different approach. Regrouping at the restaurant, he took time to study a map of the area and think through where they could have gone.
The map of Evansville and its surrounding areas lay on the table in front of him. Lake Sparrow sat to the northeast and Lake Juniper was due north of their location. He had never been to Lake Sparrow, but he had been to Lake Juniper. All the kids from Evansville would go up there in the summers to swim, smoke weed and fool around. There was just a bunch of cottages around the lake, a few supply stores and restaurants but nothing more.
Looking at the map, there wasn’t much around Lake Sparrow. Looked like a bunch of undeveloped land with rolling hills, a lake and not much more. From what he could tell, there might not even be many houses or other signs of life in that area. Going up there could be a colossal waste of time. Then again, Lea and her family were always going on hiking trips. Her parents were real idiotic nature people. Why anyone would choose to leave the comforts of their home for the great outdoors always perplexed him. Might be worth checking out.
“Hey, Tank, we’re all done looking for supplies,” said Mac Bower, his second man in charge.
“You get anything?”
“Just some more cans of food, spices and pasta. It’s getting harder to get food.”
“No shit. And the knuckleheads just keep eating like it was Thanksgiving.”
The other men brought several boxes of nonperishable food through the restaurant into the dark kitchen. The light from the wide windows barely penetrated the back room. They would need to open the back door to do any food preparations. Not that opening cold cans of food required much culinary intervention. They’d have to start ranging further to find food. Turning back to the map, he considered their options.
“You still looking at that map?” asked Bower.
Bower and Tank had been friends since grade school. He was the only man Tank would allow to speak freely.
“You ever been up to Lake Sparrow?”
“Just a bunch of nothing up there.”
“I’m thinking Lea and her family could be hiding up there.”
“How, man? Sleeping under trees?”
“Yeah, sleeping under the fucking trees. I think we should check it out.”
“Alright, I’m with you. But let’s get supplies first. The guys won’t be much use to us if we can’t feed them. Some have already started to break off to find their own. Sooner than later, they’ll quit coming back.”
Glancing at the map again, he made a decision. They would go up to the lake to see what they could grab from the cottages, stores and restaurants in that area. Who knows? Maybe they would get lucky and find Lea and her family hiding out up there like a bunch of frightened squirrels huddling from a fox. Once he found them, he would be absolutely certain they never got away again. Just the thought of having Lea in his clutches again gave Tank a perverted sense of power and control.
“Tomorrow we’ll make a run to Lake Juniper. We’ll turn the whole place over, grabbing what we can, and then get back.”
Satisfied at his decision-making prowess, Tank again leaned back in his chair and guzzled the remaining warm soda straight from the can.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Bruce Sleeper flipped on the switch to the CB radio one of the guys had bro
ught with him to the cabin. The radio was in fine shape, but it was slowly losing battery power, no matter how much they conserved. They needed a charge or it would not last the next few days.
Sleeper had served for eight years as a naval officer; his first assignment was a frigate in Japan, followed by an aircraft carrier out of Norfolk, Virginia. He had decided to transition to the reserves when his second child was born. The long deployments had started taking their toll on his wife, Mary. He was scheduled to do his two weeks of active time in Pensacola when the lights went out. Unsure of what to do, he linked up with the other veterans in town to start figuring out how they could help the rest of the citizens if the power failure was permanent. Given the striking resemblance to an EMP, he guessed the lights would not come on anytime soon. The first thing they did was establish a rank structure. Since Reynolds outranked all of them, as a reserve Navy captain, he naturally assumed control of the group.
When the New Order rolled into town, killing the police and murdering civilians, they knew the time would come when they’d have no choice but to fight alongside the police—to save the town. They just couldn’t figure out how to coordinate their efforts with the police. The veterans had no way to contact them directly.
Shortly after they organized themselves at the cabin and started to run out of things to do, Gayle had arrived with two veterans she’d helped escape from town. She filled them in on the status of the police force, or what was left of it. Communications were finally established with the police through Marta. Now he knew they would be involved with the police in fighting the New Order. It was just a matter of time. Until then, he would continue to keep his wife and girls safe at the cabin.
“Sir, are you ready to contact Marta?” asked Simmons, their radioman.
A small group of them stood around him and Simmons inside the rustic camp. Candlelight flickered on the unadorned walls as they all waited to hear from the outside world. Reynolds and Gayle remained in the cabin during their brief calls to Marta.