by T A Williams
Landon turned to him and there was malice in his eyes. “You think you’re smarter than you actually are. You can’t take us straight on so you think you can just split us up? Have us turn on each other? I could put a bullet between your eyes right now and sure, Noah might be a little upset, but he’d get over it in a couple of weeks.”
“It was just a question,” Alec said softly and let it drop.
They finished the ride in silence.
Ben
When the transport helicopters arrived they didn’t bring goods to trade; they brought guns, ammo and more troops. Ben stood alone in the grassy lawn in front of the mall entrance and watched as the three transport helicopters were unloaded. He felt the warm sun on the back of his neck but still a shiver ran through him. There hadn’t been any meetings since the one he attended. No talks. No attempts to find a solution. They were gearing up for something else.
He watched as a soldier stepped out slowly from the closest transport helicopter with his gun dangling awkwardly at his side. The soldier took in the sight of the mall and then slowly surveyed the area. The soldier turned toward him and stopped. They shared a look and Ben smiled. The street kid turned soldier all but ran up to him and stopped a few feet away, seemingly unsure of what to do or say.
Ben grabbed his shoulder. “It’s good to see you, Ty.”
Ty showed him his pearly whites as he grabbed him and pulled him in close for a hug. “Damn, B. It’s good to see you again.”
After a few moments the hug ended and Ben looked Ty up and down. “So you’re good? No permanent injuries?”
“All healed up,” Ty said, turning in a slow circle with his hands up in the air.
Ben frowned. “I see they couldn’t do anything about your face. It’s a shame but I guess you can’t make chicken salad out of chicken shit.”
“I always knew you were jealous of how good I looked.”
Ben laughed and then grew serious. “Crimson?”
Ty’s face grew serious but he nodded quickly. “She’s awake. She woke up a few days after you left.”
“Did you talk with her? Is she all right?”
“She was still a little out of it the last time we talked, but she’s good. Hell, she still looks good as can be, even with all the bruises all over her face,” Ty said with a strained smile.
“So she knows about our squad?”
Ty looked down as he nodded. “Yeah, they told her. Took it as you would expect, stone-faced. She puts up a front but I know it’s hurting her.”
“It hurts all of us,” Ben said.
They shared a moment of silence until finally Ty cleared his throat and took the place in. “So this is it, huh? Is what’s-her-name any closer to admitting she’s pretending?”
“No.”
Ty casually glanced around. “Is she pretending?”
“I honestly don’t know.”
“Shit, B. It doesn’t exactly look like they are getting ready for a peace summit over here.”
Ben watched as crate after crate was unloaded from the transport helicopters and taken inside their makeshift base. “No, it doesn’t. We are about to have company.”
Anderson walked from the transport helicopters over to them. He looked Ty over as he approached and didn’t try to hide his frown. “Report inside. We’re about to get some new orders.”
Ben and Ty nodded and both began to walk toward the mall when Anderson stopped. “Not you, newbie,” he said to Ty.
Ty raised an eyebrow but Ben patted him on the chest.
“I’ll see you after. I’m glad you’re here,” Ben said.
After they had traveled a distance Anderson glanced back toward Ty. “Is that dude for real?”
“He’s fought beside me since New York. He might not look like much but he’s a helluva soldier,” Ben said, keeping his focus forward.
Ben followed Anderson into the mall and into an old restaurant that had been converted into Locke’s HQ. The bald man watched them come in and directed them to a large table in the center of the room. There were already a dozen soldiers sitting around the table. Ben recognized a few but the majority were new. All of them had the same body language, the same look in their eyes. They were seasoned soldiers. It felt strange but Ben realized so was he.
After a few minutes Locke nodded at one of the soldiers in the back and the soldier left the room, closing the door behind him. Locke walked to the head of the table and dropped a file folder onto it. He stayed standing and looked out over the table.
“As most of you know, we have spent an incredible amount of time and manpower trying to find a peaceful solution here. As most of you also know, the pretender has dug in her heels and refuses to give back the power she stole from the true government.”
Ben glanced around and realized that Allison wasn’t in the room.
Locke leaned forward and put his knuckles on the table. “We’ve been given new orders. President Johnson is trying to rebuild a nation and isn’t interested in wasting anymore time or resources on this situation.” Locke stood tall as one of the soldiers walked around the table placing a folder in front of each of them.
Ben looked down at the manila folder in front of him and looked up to Locke.
The man smiled. “We’ve been given the green light to make this country whole again.”
Ben
One of the worst things you could do during a mission was fail to focus on the mission. Ben knew this but he still felt his mind wandering. He had seen her face, the real Sylvia Carter. In the manila folder Locke gave them was a copied picture of Sylvia Carter. She was a gray-haired woman of at least sixty in the photo, nothing like the woman he had met previously. They had been right; the other woman was a pretender.
He felt a tap on his shoulder and his mind snapped back to attention. He moved up twenty yards and took position behind a large tree. Fifty yards away was the converted courthouse and inside was the woman pretending to be the president of the United States. Ben counted seven soldiers patrolling the exterior: two on the roof, three at the checkpoint near the front gate and two more patrolling the front perimeter. Locke took position behind a tree ten yards from him and scanned the area, and within a minute the entire squad was in position and looking out over the courthouse. Locke pointed to Ben and then to one of the soldiers patrolling the front. Ben nodded and turned his attention to the soldier as Locke used hand signals to give orders to the rest of the squad.
His soldier was stopped at the far side of the lot, looking out toward the wooded area. The man’s gun was slung over his shoulder and as he stood there, he aimlessly kicked at the dirt in front of him. Ben lifted up his rifle and put the man in his sights. All of their rifles had been outfitted with silencers, which while it wouldn’t completely drown out their shots, would dampen them enough that the soldiers inside might not notice what was happening.
As Ben stared down his sights at the soldier he heard the fake owl call coming from Locke. Ben focused all his attention on the soldier, let the air out of his lungs and pulled the trigger. The man’s head jerked as the bullet entered one side of his head and exited out the other. The sound of the other guns firing seemed to happen all at once and by the time Ben pulled back from his sights the rest of the soldiers stationed outside were down. The rest of the squad was already pushing forward and Ben rounded the tree and followed behind. They went forward in a line at the pace of a quick walk, all of them with their guns at the ready, looking down the sights. Ben heard the sound of two other silenced shots as they approached the door but he didn’t look away from his avenue. They stopped at the front door and prepared to breach. The fact that a non-silenced gunshot had not been heard yet was a good thing, but it wouldn’t last for long.
Locke went in first, then Anderson, then two other soldiers before it was finally Ben’s turn. As he stepped in the door he heard three silencer shots and then a guttural scream. They had known they were going to have to split up inside the building due to the size, so when it cam
e time they separated silently. Ben went down a dark hallway and set up behind a door. He gently opened the door with the barrel of his gun at the ever-widening gap. When the door was halfway open he saw a soldier sitting at a table with a deck of cards. As the soldier looked up Ben fired and then kicked the door open the rest of the way and fired at the soldier sitting across the table. He followed both up with another shot to the head and checked the room. As he turned to leave he heard an unsilenced gunshot come from the second floor. That one shot turned into two and then multiplied. The enemy knew they were there. Ben exited his room into the hallway and was met by dozens of people. He managed to just stop short of pulling the trigger as he realized the people weren’t soldiers, they were civilians.
“Get on the ground, now,” Ben screamed with his gun still raised. A couple of the people dropped to the floor but the rest just stared at him, confused. “On the ground or I will shoot you,” Ben screamed. This time the meaning of his words seemed to get through as the people fell to the floor.
Now he had no idea what he was supposed to do. They expected there might be a few civilians but the hope was that most of them would have left for their homes due to the late hour. Ben turned around to make sure it was clear and his mind raced.
“All right, everyone get up slowly and go into this room now,” Ben said, trying to sound calm and in control.
The people got to their feet. A few glanced at him, a few more were crying but no one tried to escape or attack him. The first person to go into the room screamed as she saw the bodies of the soldiers Ben had just shot. He didn’t know why but that hit him like a bullet. For the first time he actually looked down at the soldiers. The soldiers weren’t Chinese or Korean. They weren’t raiders attacking innocent people. These were American soldiers just like him, only they were tricked by a power-hungry woman into fighting for the wrong side.
“Get in and stay quiet,” Ben said softly. “Don’t come out until we give you the all-clear, understand?”
No one said anything but he wasn’t looking for a verbal answer. He closed the door and stood there for a moment. Focus, he told himself. Secure the building and then he could worry about how he was going to sleep at night. The gunshots coming from upstairs stopped but the sound of heavy footsteps still rumbled overhead as he continued to sweep. The sound of someone struggling to breathe echoed throughout the hallway and it didn’t take long for Ben to come upon a soldier lying near a door on the back side of the courthouse. Unfortunately, the soldier was in his squad. By the time Ben got to the man he was all but gone. His pupils were dilated and he didn’t even react when Ben bent over him. The soldier took two last wet gasps and went silent. Evidence of two gunshots to the chest was visible and the open rear door suggested the culprit had managed to escape.
There was a loud whistle from the second floor that meant the main objective of their mission had been completed. As Ben stood up from the body of his fellow soldier to finish his sweep, he took solace in the fact they had captured the pretender.
Ally
It wasn’t the last time the other group arrived but it was the last time Ally was there when they did. Dena only went in once a week now and even if Ally had wanted to go and visit the White House, she wasn’t allowed. The area around the new capital was locked down and only military personnel and a select few civilians were allowed anywhere near it. Ally saw Maclin from time to time but it was only when he was en route to the White House or was being sent out on a mission. Their town originally only had a couple dozen soldiers stationed in it but within a week more began to arrive as the President ordered them back home. Still, with their soldiers stationed all over California it was going to take time, and within a few weeks their numbers still only reached around sixty or so. The town continued to function but the smiles were more limited now and the shops only stayed open for a few hours midday. This meant that if Ally wanted to trade she had to get all her hunting done early in the morning so she could make it back before her favorite shops closed for the day--either that or late in the day so she would have something for the early morning. Which is where she was going now--hunting just before nightfall.
Coby ran ahead as usual to check on the snares to see if they had caught anything for the day. He was becoming increasingly good at resetting the snares and Ally realized soon she would be able to train him to hunt. The problem would be in finding another bow, because there was no way he was going to use hers. The canopy of trees overhead blocked out most of the falling sunlight and echoed any and all sound back to them, meaning that Ally was very aware of how little progress Adam had made. The man crunched through the underbrush and panted heavily as they made their way through the woods. It hadn’t been Ally’s choice to bring him but today was Dena’s day to go to the White House and Coby didn’t want him back at the house stressing himself out. So instead he was with them and Ally had already resigned herself to the fact she wasn’t going to spot any game for the day.
“See anything?” Adam asked.
“No,” Ally said without even looking. “If you want to hang back and catch your breath I can scout ahead and see if there is anything out there.”
“No, I’m good,” Adam lied.
The small amount of hope was blown away with the wind. She stopped where she was and sat down on a fallen tree, letting her bow rest on her lap. Adam caught up to her within a few seconds and looked around as if he was going to be able to see something.
“What’s wrong? Tired?”
“Yeah…I’m tired,” Ally lied.
Adam’s chest seemed to puff out in pride as he mistakenly thought he had managed to not only keep up with Ally but also surpass her. “All right, I guess we can take a quick break.”
She didn’t try to hide her smile. They sat there listening to the wind and the wildlife until Coby came over the ridge with two small rabbits in each hand. He saw them sitting there and a look of confusion came over his face.
“Everything all right?” he asked.
“Yeah, Ally just needed to take a break,” Adam said, his chest still jutted out.
Coby looked to Ally, who winked, and the boy smiled and gave her a knowing look. He held up the rabbits so Ally could see. “Not much but we can probably get a decent stew out of them.”
Nobody with anything good to trade would even give those tiny things a second look. Coby was right; rabbit stew for dinner it was. “Everything reset?”
“Good as new,” Coby said.
“Well, I’m rested. Ready to head out, Adam?”
The man didn’t look like he was but he wasn’t about to admit to it, especially with his most recent victory. He stood up slowly with a wince and nodded his head. “If you think you can keep up.”
“I’ll try,” Ally said dryly.
At first it sounded like a firecracker going off in the distance. Ally instantly took notice but it didn’t register with her what it was until the next one went off, then the next and then it was all they could hear.
“Is that-” Coby started.
“Gunfire,” Ally said softly and then bolted forward. She was aware of Coby and Adam running behind her but she didn’t slow down. The closer they got to town the louder it got, but the town wasn’t where the gunfire was emanating. The source was just beyond the town. The gunfire was coming from the White House.
“Dena,” Adam yelled at the top of his lungs.
Ally stopped on a hill just outside the town and saw muzzle flashes coming from the darkness next to the White House. It was hard to see but Ally was certain she saw several bodies lying out in the open near the entrance.
“Ally, Coby, go home. I’m going to get Dena,” Adam said.
Before he could get past her Ally put an arm up to his chest, stopping him. “No, take Coby home. Dena could be there.”
Adam looked from the White House back to her. “What? She…she could still be there. And if she’s not then what are you going to do?”
“If she is not at the White House then
I will head home and meet you all there,” Ally said, already trying to figure out how she was going to accomplish this.
“Ally, that doesn’t make sense. I’m the adult and-”
“What can you do?” Ally yelled. “You know I’m better than you at this.”
Adam’s face went blank for a second and then another round of gunfire caused him to wince slightly.
“Look,” Ally began, slightly softer, “get Coby to safety. If Dena’s not there then I will bring her to you. Understand?”
Again Adam looked from her to the White House and back again. He knew she had a greater chance of surviving this than he did, but his mind still struggled to get past the fact he was letting a young girl run into danger while he ran to safety. “Dammit Ally,” Adam said softly.
“I’ll meet you back home in twenty minutes,” Ally said as she bounded down the hill toward the town, not giving Adam another chance to argue.
As she ran through town she heard screams of fear erupting from the houses as each new burst of gunfire came from the area around the White House. The people were huddled up, hiding and hoping for whatever was happening to blow over. By the time Ally left the town behind, the gunfire had all but died down and night was fully upon them. The clouds partially obscured the moon, causing the moonlight to travel across the ground in strips. Ally stopped at the edge of the town and looked up at the White House. Small fires were spread out on the ground leading up to the building, revealing over a dozen bodies sprawled out on the ground. All of them were wearing army fatigues, the small army fatigues her people wore. Ally unhitched her bow and readied an arrow. Just as she was about to run forward she saw someone slip out from behind the White House and slowly limp their way toward the edge of the clearing. Ally leveled her bow and followed the person and as a strip of moonlight passed over the person, she made out the bloodied face of Maclin.
“Maclin,” she whispered as loud as she dared.