The Collapse Trilogy (Book 2): Escape and Evade

by Rod Carstens

  Slowly she moved to their right, where a waist-high wall protected a sidewalk in front of a row of abandoned buildings. She stepped over the wall and crouched down behind it; the wall provided cover for at least twenty-five more yards down the street before it ended at an intersection. Still crouching, Blondie led them toward the intersection.

  As they moved Vin could hear voices across the street. The other side of the street was lined with buildings whose fronts were covered with vines and weeds that had managed to find a hold. Vin glanced down the sidewalk and saw that across the intersection there was a gate to a park that had a wall around it. That must have been the source of all the plant growth in the area.

  Blondie stopped and clicked her tongue twice, then pointed to the building directly across the street. Abandoned cars lined the street, but one of them in front of the building Blondie was pointing to looked as if someone had taken care of it. On the driver’s side, the door had a big D painted on it, and it had what looked like animal horns tied to the roof. Vin could clearly hear voices in the building now. Blondie motioned for him to lean closer. With her mouth almost touching his ear, she said, “That's a lookout for the rest of the gang. They’re in the park.”

  Tanner nodded. Blondie had done exactly what she’d said she would do. She had brought them to a target that Resource Control would be watching. They would be monitoring them for a raid or just keeping an eye on them for intel.

  Now, where would he set up his harbor site to watch the gang if it were his team? The buildings were all three or four stories high. He would want a little more height if he could get it. Tanner turned to Kat, Matos, and Mike and mouthed Lookouts and pointed to the building. He held up his fist then spread his fingers, which meant to spread out and search. Then he made a circle with one finger and pointed to where they were, which meant Meet here. Then he opened and closed his fist three times, which told them fifteen minutes. He pointed to Blondie and then himself. He wanted her to follow him. She might be good, but the others had years of experience in areas just like this one on their own. So as good as Blondie was, he wanted her close.

  They crawled through an open door into what had used to be some sort of shop. Everything had been scavenged in it, so it was hard to tell what it had once sold. Tanner stood in the darkness and looked around the room. He wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but he would know it when he saw it. The dust and dirt were undisturbed in the shop, but he had always used the roofs to move around because of that very reason. A Resource team could be above you, and you would never know it if you looked for signs on the ground.

  He moved to the back of the store and through another door into what looked like a storeroom, where he found a set of stairs leading to the second story, and probably more storage. Before he moved, he turned on his tiny flashlight and held his hand over the light, so only a small shaft showed through his fingers and he could examine the stairs carefully for trip wires. When he set up a hide, he always covered his back with booby traps at any entry points from the ground. He saw none to the first landing.

  When he turned to motion for Blondie to follow him, he was pleased to see that she was crouched in the doorway facing the other direction, watching their backs. He clicked his tongue once. She turned, and he motioned for her to follow him up the stairs. He moved slowly and carefully, placing his weight on each step until he was sure it would hold him and not creak. Blondie followed him up the stairs, always facing rearward. When they reached the top of the stairs, they found a small apartment that must have been where the owners lived. They searched it and found nothing in any of the rooms or any signs it had been used either by the gang or a Resource team. It provided a perfect view of the intersection and the park. He longed for his night vision gear, but the moonlight would have to do. He could see the orange glow of a fire deep in the park, near what appeared to be a building from what he could see through the trees.

  If he were in charge of the Resource team, he would want someone on all four sides of the park to make sure they were able to monitor the gang’s movements. That meant there was at least one team or single team member somewhere on this side of the park. He wasn’t high enough to determine the best monitoring position, so he needed to get to the roof.

  He clicked his tongue, and Blondie turned. He mouthed Find a way to the roof and moved into what looked like a bedroom in the tiny apartment. Blondie went into the kitchen. He found nothing, but Blondie crouched in front of what appeared to be a closet door that actually held a ladder with access to the roof. She pointed up, and Vin nodded. He slung his rifle and crawled to the bottom of the ladder. He looked up and saw the stars; there was no cover over the opening.

  He carefully climbed the ladder to the roof. Slowly, he raised his head until just his eyes were above the lip of the opening, and gradually he turned around until he had seen the whole roof. Nothing. No one. He motioned for Blondie to follow him and crawled onto the roof. From there they got a good view of the park and the surrounding neighborhood. The roof, like the buildings, sidewalks, and streets, was covered with bushes, weeds, and small trees from the park. They were able to move freely because all the undergrowth provided cover for them. Working together, they went to all four sides of the building and found nothing that would indicate where a Resource team might be.

  Then they heard someone scream, “No! No, please!”

  It had come from the direction of the park. Vin and Blondie crawled to the front of the building, so they could better see what was happening. Two men were dragging a naked girl out of the park toward the lookout position, followed by four others.

  “Hey, guys, your relief is here!” one yelled to the men in the lookout.

  “What are you guys doing? You’re supposed to be on watch. Not partying!” the team in the lookout replied.

  “We can have a little fun and still do our jobs. Now why don’t you guys just go get some sleep, and we’ll take care of this.”

  Vin saw Blondie tense and begin to raise her shotgun. He grabbed her shoulder and whispered, “No. We’re not here for this. Now get downstairs.”

  Blondie hesitated then did as she was told, climbing down the ladder and moving into the store below the apartment. By the time they reached the ground floor, the girl’s cries filled the night.

  “Shut up, you little bitch!” one of the men yelled.

  There was the sound of a hard slap, and the girl whimpered. They silently exited the building and crossed the street to where they were to meet the others. Tanner crouched watching the building across the street. Blondie was curled up in the fetal position with her hands over her ears. Cat, Matos, and Mike all returned. They had found nothing either. The sounds from across the street filled the night. Vin was trying to ignore them, but he felt like doing what Blondie was doing. Then a particularly chilling cry split the night, followed by men laughing.

  One of the many reasons Vin had walked from the force were these kinds of scenes and being ordered to stand by or stand down for too many years. Now when he was free to do something, his first thought had been sticking to his mission. No. This was the reason he had walked. This would not stand. He took out his pistol. He still had a clip and a silencer. He slammed the clip into the pistol and screwed on the silencer. When the others saw what he was doing, they also slung their rifles and took out pistols or knives. Cat put her hand on Blondie’s head so she looked up. She nodded toward Vin and the others. Blondie sat up and wiped the tears from her eyes, slung her shotgun and pulled her big kitchen knife. Vin signaled for Matos and Mike to go around back, and he motioned for Cat and Blondie to follow him to a side door.

  Crouching and using the shadows, they moved very slowly across the street. Vin had learned a long time ago that quick movements at night drew attention while slow and careful ones were almost impossible to see even if you were paying attention. And these guys weren’t paying attention to anything but what they were doing to the girl.

  When they reached the building, Vin went to on
e side of the door, and Cat and Blondie stacked on the other. He pointed to himself and held up one finger; he would be the first in the door. He looked over Blondie’s head and saw Matos signaling they were ready, then giving a thumbs-down and putting up two fingers. That meant they had two bad guys at the rear of the structure. So that left Vin, Blondie, and Cat with four. This could get dicey.

  Vin nodded to Matos and clicked his tongue so Cat and Blondie looked at him. He held up his hand, fingers spread, and began to drop one finger at a time. They would go when the last one went down. Vin entered the building into a small hallway. It led to a room lit by a few candles, and in the low light he could see a girl spread-eagled facedown on the floor. One man was on top of her and the other three were standing and watching in a half circle with their backs to the hallway. There were a couple of chairs and a table on the far wall. The floor was filthy and littered with cans and scraps of uneaten food. There was nothing between them and the four guys.

  Vin stood and moved into the room. He fired a single shot into the back of the head of the nearest man, who dropped in a heap to the floor. The others began to turn. Blondie sprang like a cat at the man on top of the girl, catching him by the head and rolling with him off the girl. She cut his throat, producing a fountain of blood that covered the girl and her. Cat took the man standing at the girl’s head. She put her hand over his mouth as she drove her knife into his kidneys, immediately rendering him helpless as the poisons in his kidneys flooded his system. Then she cut his throat. This all happened simultaneously, so the man leaning on the table across the room was just starting to move when Vin put a round in the center of his forehead. He dropped like a stone.

  Blondie shoved the man’s body off her and went to the girl. She was naked and covered with blood and bruises. She couldn’t have been more than sixteen. It was evident that they had been raping and beating her for some time. Her eyes moved from one of them to another as Blondie went to her, but as she got near, the girl screamed and crab-crawled backward, away from Blondie.

  “Baby girl, it’s all right. I know. I know, they had me too. Please.”

  The girl’s eyes widened and she scrambled over the man Cat had killed. When she did she grabbed a knife off his belt and began swinging it wildly.

  “Jesus, what did they do to her?” Matos whispered.

  “You can’t imagine,” Blondie said. “Please, baby girl, let me help you. I know.”

  “She’s not there anymore, Blondie,” Cat said.

  Vin knew she was right. Her eyes were beyond fright. She was looking out at the world through some nightmare that she could not escape. They were all standing there, trying to figure out what they were going to do with the girl, when someone said, “Don’t move and no one gets hurt.”

  Vin turned to see a woman in full Resource team field kit standing in the hallway. She had her .47 up and covering all of them. From the size of the magazine, it was loaded with explosive rounds. She had them. Vin couldn’t move, nor could the others before she would cut them down.

  She glanced at the girl and said, “Fuck me.” She touched her comm mic and said, “I’ve got a situation. At the south-side lookout. I need everybody.”

  She motioned with her weapon for Vin and the others to move across the room. As they did, Cat was slowly sliding her hand to her pistol.

  “Tell her if she moves another inch she’s not going to have a head.”

  Vin couldn’t believe that they had just been captured by the Resource team they were trying to ambush.

  “Now, everyone stays cool until the rest of my team gets here.”

  Vin and the others did as she said.

  Chapter Ten

  Steiger woke and stretched, then sat up on the couch. He had been assigned living quarters, but he’d found over the last days he worked later and got more done by sleeping in his office. It was better than his old quarters, anyway. He went into the small bathroom, took a shower, and put on a new uniform. He had one delivered every day. He ordered his breakfast so he could eat in his office, and then he went over to his desk and checked the reports from the night before. He glanced at the videos the drone pilots had sent to him because they thought they might contain information that would be helpful. He spent an hour going through them and found nothing. Absolutely nothing.

  He was still confident in his choice of the area of operations, but he was getting nowhere fast. He continued to study the reports, looking for something—anything—that might give him a hint. By the time he finished his meal, he had finished the reports.

  Steiger stood and walked over to the window to study the map again. He went through his assumptions again as he looked at the settlements, gang activity, and patrol positions. The area he was monitoring was several square miles wide. It was too large. He needed to narrow his search somehow, but what could he use?

  He stepped back from the window, so he wasn’t getting lost in the numbers, and just looked for a pattern. He thought he saw something…actually, it was nothing. There was a large hole that covered several zones, with no settlements or gangs. That was strange. The distribution of the other settlements and gangs was fairly regular. The law of survival out there dictated that if you were a settlement you had to have enough space to scrounge and land to grow crops. If you were a gang, you lived off those settlements and needed a territory that you could call your own without always fighting other gangs. Eventually it settled out into a pattern that repeated itself. So why was there a hole in the picture?

  Steiger walked up to the window and touched its surface to zoom in on the hole. There was nothing unusual about the neighborhoods. There had even been light industry in the area, always a prized scavenging target. No gangs. Was that a function of no settlements, or was somebody keeping them away?

  He started to go block by block. A cemetery was always a prize for settlement’s area because there was already open ground and usually a wall surrounding it. Ideal for growing crops. An old high school was also in the area. He could tell by the old sports fields that surrounded it. A small stream, almost a river, meandered through the zone, another prized feature. There was an old mall almost in the dead center of the hole, but it was too big for any normal settlement. It would take too much organization and too many people to make it functional. Yet families had been known to live in the old stores, and this one did have a skylight. He even found an abandoned car dealership, another prized feature because of what could be scrounged.

  No. Something was there somewhere. He could almost feel them. The door to his office opened, and Ashton Rand walked in.

  “Well, Steiger. I haven’t heard a word from you in close to forty-eight hours. I need something to give Geoff before he’s on my ass because Madelyn is on his.”

  “Yes, sir. I can brief you now, if you have the time.”

  Rand walked over to the couch and sat down. “Go ahead.”

  “Well, as you know I’ve narrowed it down to a several-square-mile area, and the drones have been overhead constantly, as well as the teams.”

  “And?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Could you be wrong about the area? We don’t have time to waste if you’ve wrong about the area to move along. Don’t get stuck trying to prove yourself right.”

  “I was almost to that point when I just now noticed something about the area in question. In the middle of those zones, there is a hole with no gang activity and no settlements. It's full of all the features gangs and settlers look for. So why the hole?”

  “Show me?”

  Rand walked over to the window and Steiger showed him what he had found. After he briefed him, Rand said, “Okay, you’ve convinced me something is going on. But what?”

  “When Tanner found Rule, his reports described the settlement as being very well organized and secure. As you know, Tanner and his team ran with them when they fled. If you add to an already well-organized settlement a Resource team as experienced as Tanner’s, you’ve suddenly got a very formidable.”r />
  “Okay, so far it sounds like you may be on to something. What do you want to do?”

  “I want to put three teams in there for surveillance purposes only. One on the high school, one at the car dealership, and one at the cemetery. I’m not going to ask for a Spec Act Team yet, but I think I will find out enough with those three teams to be able to target something in that area.”

  Rand stood, walked over to the window, and stared at the map again. Steiger noticed just how expensive his suit was and the rings on his fingers. The suit alone cost more than he made in a year. Rand reached up, touched the window, and copied the map. He slid the screen under his arm and said, “You better hope you’re right. I’m going to Geoff with this now.”

  Steiger walked back to his desk to request the teams.

  Rand stopped at the door. “You’d better be right," he repeated. "Or we’ll have to find somebody else to find Doctor Rule.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Chapter Eleven

  It didn’t take long for the other three members of the team to arrive. In the meantime, the girl had crawled into a corner and curled up into a ball, her face a mask of fear as she held the knife out in front of her. Vin kept looking for an angle to get at the woman who had captured them, but she was good. She had her back to the wall, and her eyes were always moving, never letting any one of them begin to make a move. They heard footsteps and two other Resource troops came in. Both were men, and from the look of their equipment, they were old hands like the woman.

  One looked familiar to Vin. He said, “Tanner, is that you?”

  “Yeah, I didn’t recognize you under all that equipment. It’s Ross, right?”

  “The Tanner that walked?” the other man said.

  “Yeah.”

  “What the fuck is going on here?” Ross asked.