Kate looked up at the sky, looked for her Tim and begged his forgiveness for failing his children. She had tried, given everything she had, but it just hadn’t been enough.
She looked back towards the Base. It was in view, she had to at least try. Maybe some of them would make it.
“Kids, ride as fast as you can, or as fast as your horse will take you! Don’t stay together, just go!”
She clucked at her horse and was surprised at the burst of speed that was her reward. She was less surprised when a sound wave hit her, explaining the sudden burst of speed. The massive sound of an explosion sent their horses into a frenzy and fortunately in a forward direction.
***
“What if I drop a bomb exactly where our men stopped to take a shot? They’ll just assume they rigged a charge?”
The civilian looked around and lost his voice again and almost his ability to move his head, but Scott noted the tiny nod. It was as much as a ‘go for it’ as he was going to get.
Scott hit the release button, having already set the laser guidance and sent the bomb on its way. It was going to be close. Not being able to use missiles had limited his capabilities and it was going to be down to blind luck as to when the bomb hit the target and how long the militia took to reach the same target.
He didn’t have long to wait. The bomb hit just ahead of the first militia rider and filled his screen with plumes of red billowing smoke, dust, and fire.
Chapter 63
Kate had stopped looking behind and kept her eyes on the prize, the Base ahead. Danny and Sophie, the lightest riders were just clearing the perimeter whilst she still had a few hundred yards to go, but so far so good. Zach was alongside her. They were going to make it. She knew exactly where the small hospital was, and with the belief that she was actually going to make it there, changed her direction towards it. She even plucked up the courage to look back.
Nobody. The coast was clear. No riders were bearing down on her. Nobody was about to snatch her away from Ava, just as she was nearing the hospital. She knew there were people still out there. One explosion couldn’t have killed them all. But all she needed was the time to get the meds and they could move on. Or if the Base were able and willing to protect them, stay. Whatever the case, she needed the meds before deciding what they’d do next.
Kate hadn’t even noticed the lack of people as she rushed towards the medical facility. Her only thought was getting antibiotics into Ava’s system as quickly as physically possible. She almost leapt from her horse with Ava in her arms as she reached the door. It was unlocked, she pushed on it, it flapped wildly on one hinge. Her heart sank. That was most definitely not normal. She entered. The facility was bare, nothing. She dropped to the floor and wept. Ava, despite all of the motion, remained unconscious.
She laid her down gently, and needlessly checked every cupboard and crevice of the building. What had been a ward with various rooms and storage areas, was nothing more than an empty shell. She slumped against the wall and slid to the floor, Ava laying before her. Sophie, Danny, Zach, and Hank rushed in to help and stopped in their tracks when they saw the empty shell.
“What now?” asked Sophie.
Kate shrugged her shoulders. She was out of ideas and time, as Ava’s breathing began to labor. She had failed.
Chapter 64
Nick shook his head to clear his thoughts. Nothing really made sense. One second he’d been riding as fast as his horse would carry him and the next, he was lying on the ground with his horse nowhere to be seen. He looked around. Alex was looking as bewildered as he was, while Neil was nowhere to be seen.
“What the hell happened?”
“Best guess, they just dropped a five-hundred-pound bomb on our asses!”
Nick suddenly remembered the militia that had been chasing them down. He looked back. Carnage, lumps of meat littered the plain behind them. Further back he could see some movement, but it was not coordinated. Whoever had survived was as shaky, if not more than they were.
“Where’s Neil?”
“He probably managed to stay on his horse.”
Nick spotted the Base ahead, about a mile or so away. He stood, his legs managing to hold him upright. He pulled Alex up and the two made off shakily at first before building up to a slow jog as they found their balance after the shockwave.
***
Neil galloped into the Base. His horse, like all the others, had bucked wildly as the explosion rocked the immediate vicinity of the blast. Fortunately, where others fell, he had managed to hang on and control his horse. He had chased after Alex’s horse and grabbing its harness, calmed it down, enabling him to retrieve Alex’s rifle from its holder.
He still had a chance to return home to the militia, but needed to get Kate. He just had to hope that Bob and Trey, or at least Bob, hadn’t been caught in the blast.
Deserted was the first word that came to his mind as he galloped across the runway. Not an aircraft in sight. Tumbleweed drifted slowly in the wind, where the once pristine tarmac had been home to thundering and powerful jets. It had an eeriness to it that had Neil reconsidering his plan. He could just keep riding. But where was he going to go? If everywhere was like the Air Base or Boise, it was either nothing or a slow pitiful death in a festering hellhole. The militia was his home and whether Trey was alive or dead, Kate solved his problems, explaining his absence to Bob or appeasing Trey.
He pulled his horse to a stop and listened. They had to be there somewhere. The Mountain Home Air Force Base sign welcomed him to what could only be described as a small town. A Burger King sign beckoned him onwards. Everything else was gone, only the bare structures stood where he once imagined the powerful fighter jets would have awaited their calling. Not one person reacted to his presence. He rode on and turned towards the Burger King sign. Empty parking lot after empty parking lot. Even the Burger King had been stripped bare, only a few chairs and tables remained. Where the server and kitchen once sat, there was nothing, just an empty void. Everything of value was gone.
He rode on, a housing estate sat off at the opposite end of the Base, between him and the estate, empty shop after empty building lined the streets. Not a car to be seen. Mountain Home Air Force Base was no more. The realization of how long it was going to take to search for Kate hit him. It was no small task.
He looked around wildly. The survivors of the blast would be heading towards him. He had limited time. Where would they have gone? One sign pointed towards the exit, the far side of the Base and wherever it led to beyond. He looked around again. Standing in his stirrups to maximize his range, but nothing stood out. There were hundreds of places they could be, even one of the homes way at the back. Too much time was passing. It hadn’t looked anywhere near as big when he’d ridden in. He clucked his horse onward. He had tried. He rode towards the exit, almost skidding to a stop. To his right sat a Pizza Hut, it too was empty like the Burger King, but that wasn’t what had stopped him. Behind the restaurant sat another building, and out front were six horses.
***
Trey picked himself up and looked around him, barely four men were wandering aimlessly around him. Bob was to his right, slightly ahead. He remained motionless. Beyond that, he didn’t particularly want to look. Body parts, human and equine, littered the area around him. The horses lucky enough to survive had scattered in almost every direction. None remained. He and whoever was able to would have to walk.
“On me!” he shouted, receiving little response. He barely heard his own shout, his ear drums ringing from the blast.
He waved his hands and caught the attention of those on their feet and using signs, managed to get what turned out to be six able-bodied men by his side.
“What do we do?” asked one, looking at Bob’s motionless body.
“We complete our mission!” said Trey bluntly. “It’s what the Duke would expect. And I don’t know about you guys, but I want some payback!”
With six nods, Trey led the way, taking a slightly more c
ircuitous route to avoid the worst of the carnage. Off in the distance, he spotted two men jogging into the Base. They were too far ahead to be any of the militia. He grabbed his AR-15 from its shoulder sling and aimed. They were well beyond its range, but that didn’t stop him trying.
Chapter 65
Nick fell to the ground, as chunks of tarmac began to spit around them. Alex was bemused for a moment before the realization hit him. Somebody was shooting at them, but they couldn’t hear because of the distance and the explosion.
“Son of a bitch!” screamed Nick. “I’ve been shot in the ass!”
Alex grabbed him and dragged him unceremoniously as fast as he could to cover. They were just fifty yards from the first hangar. Safely behind cover, he removed his sidearm and tentatively looked to see where the shooters were.
Seven men were walking towards them. Still a good way off, but each was armed with an AR-15. Both of their rifles had been strapped to their horses. Between him and Nick, they had two pistols and two knives and a man with a bullet in his ass. Bullets pinged against the fabric of the hangar, forcing him back inside.
“Seven guys with AR-15s,” he relayed to Nick, who was removing a medipack from his kit. He injected the wound with what they had been told was the latest advancement in battlefield wound management. His ass cheek numbed and the faint whiff of glue filled the area. “I’ve just shot myself up with coke and superglue, haven’t I?”
“Does it feel better?”
“I don’t feel anything!” he said, looking over his shoulder at the site of the wound.
“And it’s stopped bleeding, result! Now, I think we should get the hell out of here,” suggested Alex. As he pulled Nick up, Nick buckled as he struggled to cope with one side being numb. Alex held him for a second.
“Okay?”
“Bit strange, but let’s go.” Nick hobbled as fast as he could after Alex. They burst out of a door at the back of the hangar and on into the Base proper, out of sight of the militia.
***
As the debris subsided, Scott could make out the outcome of his strike. He felt sorry for the horses, but not the militia, some of whom were clearly going to take a little longer to die. As the survivors began to surface, his finger hovered over the trigger ready to finish the job. Their two men had made it, but were still in danger. He counted seven militia up and moving.
“Take your finger off of that trigger!” ordered the civilian who had given the approval to drop the bomb.
“Our guys are in trouble.”
“I’ve just had my ass chewed off for dropping the bomb. We are, and I repeat verbatim, ‘not authorized to drop so much as a fart’. Our guys can look after themselves and if they can’t, they know what they have to do.”
“What they have to do, what does that…” Scott stopped himself. He understood what it meant. Scott looked back at the screen just as one of the men took a bullet and went down. His hand moved to his joystick and the trigger.
The civilian drew his side arm. “Don’t!” he warned. “You have no idea how important what we are doing here is. It is far bigger than any of us and those men understood when they signed up for the mission. I will not hesitate to put you down.”
Scott thought of his wife and daughter and relaxed his hand. “Understood.”
“Do I need to relieve you of your duties for the rest of the day?”
Scott shook his head. “No, I understand. I am not authorized to fire weapons.”
The civilian replaced his pistol, but remained at Scott’s shoulder.
***
Trey reached the hangar and swore loudly as only a patch of blood remained. They followed the men out the only way they could have gone, and were faced by a town ahead.
“They could be anywhere!” moaned one of his men.
“Shit!” exclaimed Trey, thinking the same. If they went to ground, they’d never find them before dark and if Bob’s concerns were true, his superior numbers and firepower would be meaningless.
“Where first?” asked one of his men.
A gunshot beat him to his answer. “There!” said Trey confidently, pointing to where the sound of the shot had come from.
Chapter 66
Kate cradled Ava in her arms, rocking her gently. She was having to fight back the tears, not wanting to show Ava how worried she was. She couldn’t help but stare at Ava’s leg, and her cut, a cut that had never healed, the redness spreading from the wound despite how clean they had fought to keep it. Whilst still in her leg, they had time, but when the infection spread to her blood, that clock had accelerated dramatically as the blood pulsed the infection through her, through her organs. Her body was fighting, but it was fighting a battle it had little or no chance of winning without help.
Sophie and Zach were across the room. Sophie wasn’t able to hold her tears back and was hiding them as best she could, burying her head in Zach’s chest. Her heaving shoulders, rising and falling with each intake of breath as she struggled to keep her tears silent.
“Danny, could you feed Hank please?” asked Kate. She wanted to keep him busy. He was still not fully aware of how bad things were. The longer that lasted the better. Deep down, he was a deeply emotional boy who had still not fully come to terms with his father’s death. Ava was closer to him than anyone. Her passing was going to be devastating for him.
“Come on Hank,” called Danny. The food was on one of the two pack horses outside, something Kate had failed to consider before asking.
“Zach, could you keep an eye on him please?” asked Kate, throwing an apologetic look and reaching her arm out for Sophie to join her and Ava.
Zach followed Danny out, the sight and sound of Hank growling at him as he stepped outside the door taking him by surprise, especially after having carried him for the best part of fifty miles.
“Turn around real slow, kid!”
Zach realized it wasn’t him Hank was growling at. It was the man behind him with Danny in his arms and his hand over Danny’s mouth. Danny was struggling against the man’s vice-like grip, but the rifle pointing at Zach stopped him from offering any help.
Zach put his hand on Hank’s back to try to settle him. He wasn’t going to be appeased. His growl increased the more Zach tried to calm him.
“Shut that dog up or I will!” The rifle moved from pointing at Zach to Hank. Hank’s teeth, old and yellowed came into view as his growl moved to a snarl in response. Zach felt the old muscles begin to flex under his hand. Hank was getting ready to attack. Zach looked at the man, his finger was tightening on the trigger. He was as frightened as they were.
Zach was no weapons expert, but he knew a bolt-action rifle needed two hands to chamber another round. The man had one bullet available to him and two targets. Hank and Zach. With Danny in his other arm, he was in no position to reload. His finger tightened further, and his arm began to shake slightly. It was a heavy gun to be pointing and holding with his left arm.
Zach began to prepare himself. He held Hank in place. The old dog was straining.
“Don’t even think it!” warned the man. “I’ll shoot you both!”
“I don’t think so,” said Zach confidently, the rifle swung from pointing at Hank to Zach as he spoke. Zach released the pressure he was using to hold Hank in place. He shot like a young pup, covering the distance to the man and Danny like a greyhound, lunging at the man who was holding his Danny.
The rifle barrel flew skywards as the man pulled the trigger, its bullet following its intended path while the rifle went off on a world of its own with only one hand controlling its power. The 0.338 bullet was enough to kill an elephant at half a mile, at ten yards, it was the equivalent of using a sledgehammer to crack a peanut shell.
***
Alex and Nick caught sight of Neil in the distance as they tried to get themselves as far from the militia as possible. His sharp change of direction as he was about to exit the Base and leave them behind had them both picking up speed. He had spotted something worth staying
for. The family.
“You go on ahead!” urged Nick, his dead butt cheek holding them back.
“You sure?” asked Alex.
“The militia are far enough behind us. I’ll be with you before they clear the hangars. Go!”
Alex raced off, leaving Nick to realize just how much his injury had slowed him. Not feeling the wound was making him forget he had even been shot, although he felt sure the drugs in the injection were helping with that.
Alex cleared the restaurant as his rifle was fired. He still had over a hundred yards to run. If he’d had the shot he’d have taken it, but there was too much happening. The dog was falling on Neil and the boy, while the young man was spinning and crashing to the ground. Alex had his pistol up and aiming at Neil as he neared the scene. He kicked the rifle away as Neil struggled against the dog.
“You okay, son?” asked Alex of the boy who was scrambling to his feet while his dog had no plans to let go of the shooter’s arm. Alex had the shooter in his sights and was ready to shoot.
“Drop the gun!” came the command behind Alex.
***
The sound of the shot from the doorway brought Kate to life. She had been completely caught up in her daughters; all three oblivious to the world around them as they took some much needed comfort from one another.
Danny and Zach were outside and neither had a gun. Kate was up and moving in an instant, racing to the doorway, her PPQ out and ready for action. She ran out of the door without a thought for herself, and seeing Zach lying on the ground, aimed her gun at the man standing over Danny and another man, who she recognized as militia. Only one man had a gun and the shot had to come from somewhere.
TRIAL: A Post Apocalyptic/Dystopian Thriller Page 25