The gown was designed to seduce, with laces up the front barely concealing her small breasts and plunging down dangerously past her navel. It looked like one snap of the strings holding the dress together would render her completely naked. Maybe that was the point. I flicked my gaze to Jake and could see two bright red spots burning on each cheek. He wasn’t all that thrilled with her get up either and I put my hand over his, as he grasped his Bowie knife in a death grip.
“Don’t worry, Jake, we’ll get her out. There’s really not that many of them, right?” He only nodded to me, finding it hard to take his eyes off Blossom as she made her way back to the central building. Once she was out of sight, he shook his head a little and finally returned his gaze to me, eyes blazing with resentment.
“If they hurt her, so help me, I’ll kill them all.” It was more of a statement of surety than anything and I felt my skin prickle a little at the sincerity in his voice.
“Tomorrow night, we’ll get her out then,” comforted Cedar, “the moon won’t rise until late, so we can get in to position without being seen. Once we’re hidden by the door, we’ll blow their stash of munitions, which will confuse the hell out of them, and that’s when we’ll go in.”
We both nodded and returned to our watch, but nothing more happened through the night, except for a scouting team leaving at sun down and coming back just when we were starting to worry that we’d have to wait in the hot attic all day.
Chapter 20 – The Rescue
For a final time we ensconced ourselves in the wilting heat of the attic, waiting patiently for the sun to hit the right angle to camouflage our movements. Jake spent some time studying the numeric key pad, using the high resolution binoculars we’d scored from the Sand Walker stash. He felt he could bypass it with little effort. Cedar had been similarly engaged, but her focus was on the remote detonation of the kidnappers’ little stash of weapons. It pleased her further that they’d put all of the Chinese sourced weapons in the same place. I was amazed that they hadn’t realized that someone had rifled through their goodies, but I guess people saw what the wanted to see.
In my three days of recon I had come to realize that the survivalists weren’t really worried about attacks from the outside. Most of the concern seemed to focus on obtaining supplies from the domes, which entailed a goodly amount of firearms, moderate planning and greasing the wheels of the local politicians. The last item was only supposition on my part, but how else could the come and go from the bio-domes without more trouble?
We were lucky, we’d finally gotten a pretty full head count of the community, and it was larger than we thought. About thirty-five people lived in the compound and it was a respectable mix of women and men. There were several younger ones; varying in age from about ten to seventeen, but the majority were in the middle years, which meant that the compound was starting to die out.
“Sand Walkers and Outcasts normally only live until their fifties or so. Between the radiation, lack of supplies and territory skirmishes, it’s not an easy life,” explained Cedar. “If a community loses too many young people, they’re pretty well doomed to extinction, unless of course they get lucky and come across some ‘breeders’ in their travels.” She shook her head, but I couldn’t be sure if it was because of our particular situation or the general crappiness of the world at large.
“Surely Outcasts don’t operate the same way as the Sand Walkers?” I asked. I’d already developed an extreme dislike for the survivalists just from Cedar’s stories and the fact that they would willingly kidnap an innocent girl. That she had been in my care was doubly irritating, but I turned my own self-loathing on to them and it made it easier to imagine killing them without hesitating.
The thought made my mind wander back to our discussion, earlier in the day. Cedar, eternally practical, had brought up the subject of homicide; a cheery contemplation to have over coffee flavoured gel meals, especially after a restless mid morning sleep. My circadian rhythms were completely messed up since we’d started staking out the gated community.
“It’s entirely possible that we’ll have to kill some of them, you do realize that right?” she’d asked scraping out the remains of her insta-meal with her index finger. With that ghoulish thought, she popped her finger in her mouth to savour, and I use the term loosely, the last few globs of breakfast gel. Jake’s head popped up from behind the tablet screen and he had a rather menacing smile on his face.
“Lookin’ forward to it.” It was said with alacrity, but I could hear the metallic ring of grudging resolve in Jake’s voice as well.
“It’s not easy to kill someone, you know,” replied Cedar, in a bitter voice, “well some times are easier than others.” Jake gave a brief nod of acknowledgement, which Cedar missed as her comments were directed at me. Great, I thought to myself, she’s pegged me as the weakest link. I squared up my shoulders and stared directly into her eyes.
“I can do it if I have to, I’m not going to let them have Blossom, and if I have to kill someone to get her back I will. I’m just not as ‘Clint Eastwood’ about it as old dead-eye over there.”
We’d spent the last two early afternoons running scenarios and Pipkin tracked our reaction time and accuracy in simulations that were similar to what could happen tonight. Jake was a dead shot; born to it like cockroaches to survival. I did okay; sure I didn’t always kill the target, but I disabled them enough to get away clean. Cedar was calm, collected and deadly, but only when necessary. She focussed mostly on stealth and cunning, which made sense, as she’d survived so long on her own out in the Bee Zee.
“I do have a strategy,” I offered, seeing the doubt in her face. She hadn’t been happy with my ‘if possible only wound them’ tactics. She raised her eyebrows questioningly. “I’ll just imagine the horrible things they are planning on doing to Blossom and act accordingly.” I was going to leave it at that but my pesky conscience wouldn’t let me. “Some of them are just kids, for God’s sake!”
“True, but they’re kids that don’t know any other way,” Cedar said with a sigh. “Trust me, if you don’t kill them, they’ll try to kill you.” I had my doubts, but didn’t say anything. I couldn’t reconcile the idea of a snot nosed kid being a stone cold killer. They’d hesitate, wouldn’t they? I looked at Jake; the calm resolve in his eyes chilled me a little. Maybe Cedar was right. Jake had never had a banner life, but compared to these kids, it was pretty cushy and here he was ready to drop the hammer if necessary. I’d forgotten about the black and white world that teenagers live in. Right or wrong, do or die; there was no room for any grey area. I’d do well to remember that. Jake’s voice snapped me out of my reflection and back to the sweaty reality of the attic.
“There’s no way that we’re going to get that lucky!” He said it quietly, but the disbelief in his voice made me look out the window towards the compound. The light was almost perfect for our approach, but that wasn’t what had Jake so excited. The main gates had opened and over a dozen Sand Walkers walked out of the portal, supply sleds shushing quietly in their wake. I couldn’t believe it and waited for someone else to confirm my suspicions.
“They’re going on a supply run!” crowed Cedar, still keeping her voice low. “They’ll be gone for hours.”
“You don’t think it’s a trap do you? Maybe they noticed we’d been in their stash.” It sounded paranoid, even to me, but it was a possibility.
“Maybe, but hopefully we’ll be able to see how far out they go,” nodded Cedar, eyes glued to the spectacle in front of her. A few late comers rushed to catch up with main group, so by my count the residents in the compound reduced almost by half. I was starting to like the odds, as most of the Sand Walkers kept to the front side of the compound, thinking it was the most likely entry point. The scouting party cut through the small town, passing right under our window. We rushed to the other side of the house to track their progress as they made their way with frightening efficiency towards the light polluted horizon coming from Montreal. If it was
a ruse, we’d still have a good hour to get in, grab Blossom and get out. We’d viewed the rendering that Pipkin had developed, trying to get an idea of the layout of the inner section of the compound, but his scanners were still limited even though his ear was almost completely repaired. He’d be ready in another hour, give or take, to storm the wall, so to speak, so we settled in until he was ready to go.
Finally, it was time. We loaded ourselves up with our weapons and skulked silently towards the compound. Cedar stopped us in the shadows of the last house before the no man’s land that the survivalists had cleared to protect their sight lines. The sun was glaring directly into the windows of the houses nearest the rear gate. She dropped down to the ground and made her way, inch by inch towards the locked door. She made the distance fairly quickly, with no alarm rising from the compound. I watched her tilt her head, ear pressed to the door for a moment and then gestured Jake to follow her. We’d already agreed that I’d be final cover, making sure that Jake could crack the lock, before making my way over.
The lock took him less than thirty seconds, a feat that both impressed and worried me. I shimmied my way across the open ground as the sun sank below the horizon. I noticed that I could almost hear it, as the rays extinguished themselves in its descent.
Cedar sprayed something on the hinge side of the door and eased it open gingerly; like she was waiting for it to screech from disuse. Whatever she had used on it did the trick, as the gate whispered open allowing us access to the inner sanctum. We had been pressed up against the wall, in case they had a sentry posted, but no cry of alarm sounded, so Cedar primed her corner shot and followed it through the opening, crouching low. Jake and I followed suit and I closed the door behind us, lest it give away our presence.
Our beige clothes had been perfect for the day, but now we stood out against the darkness, and I thought I heard Cedar curse quietly under her breath. She gestured us forward and we moved swiftly between the two houses on either side of the gate, eventually peering around the corner at a small thoroughfare that seemed to circle the outer houses on the perimeter of the compound. Pipkin started scanning immediately, despite his power being low. While his ear was fixed, the sun had set sooner than we anticipated, so he hadn’t been able to fully recharge. The middling draft blowing over the wall was sufficient for him to start recharging, but it was going to take a while, unless the wind picked up.
He rendered an image against the wall of the house nearest us, and we could make out human shapes moving in some of the houses across the street, but the two that we had slipped between were vacant. I let out a small sigh of relief.
Cedar pulled the detonator out of her pocket, raising it to show us she was ready to implement our somewhat dodgy plan. She counted down silently, dropping a finger for every second; we all braced ourselves and plugged our ears when her thumb started dropping to join her other fingers.
The sound of the explosion echoed across the expanse of buildings and I could feel a slight vibration in the wall I had pressed myself against. It was actually a little underwhelming, but it did get the desired response. Pipkin’s real time render showed people leaving their houses and rushing to the main gate. I could see the blotch of black smoke curling up blotting out the stars and I thought I could also see the flutter and shimmer of flames cresting the far edge of the wall.
When we were certain that the coast was clear, we headed for the centre of the compound, stopping twice to check the map that the bot rendered. We could see the congregation of people gathering at the front gate and they seemed to be undecided on how to proceed. We’d expected them to rush out to the munitions stash right away, but we hadn’t anticipated that half of the community would have gone out to forage on the night we decided to attack. We waited to see if they would come to a decision and exchanged smiles as we counted ten bodies leaving through the main gate and heading towards the explosion. The odds were the best they were going to be, so we rushed forward and slipped in to the building where we thought they were keeping Blossom.
As we snuck through the doors at the back of the building, I couldn’t help but imagine what it would have been used for before the Melt. I was sure that it was a common area used by the tenants of the gated community and they likely played card games and held birthday parties here; they might have even had a pool table or ping pong. Now the building looked more like a church or, better yet, the inner chamber of some strange religious sect. The walls were draped in scavenged plastics and materials, with wall torches fitted out with light sticks and even the occasional candle, the wicks buried in a malleable plastic that could be reformed and reused once the wick had run down. The main room held a large platform that housed what looked like a circular bed with some sort of weird half reclining chair contraption resting on top of it. The chair had manacles hanging from the arms and the two front feet. I tried not to imagine what it was for, but failed miserably. I could tell that the purpose wasn’t lost on Cedar either, as she paled visibly, even in the dim light.
There were three other doors off the main chamber, one leading to what used to be the kitchen, another likely to bathrooms, and the third was hopefully where they were keeping Blossom. There were two heat signatures showing and we could only hope that the second one wasn’t heavily armed or bent on taking Blossom out instead of losing her. Cedar gestured to me and I approached the door cautiously. She mimed for me to kick the door in; another surprise tactic, to throw off the guard. What we hadn’t discussed is the likelihood of me executing the move successfully.
I surveyed the door. It was a standard issue dense plastic, that resembled metal, but I knew it didn’t have quite the same structural strength. I lined myself up and raised my foot and drove it in to the spot right by the door handle.
I overestimated the necessary force and fell through the open doorway landing in a pile just past the entry. Cedar and Jake came through the opening; guns raised trying to see in the dim light. I hauled myself up and slid on my night vision goggles, only to be blinded by the glare of a high emission light stick.
“S-s-s-top or I’ll s-shoot!” wavered a voice from behind the light. If the stuttering hadn’t been comforting, the higher pitch, particularly on the word ‘shoot’, made me feel one hundred percent better. It was just a kid.
“Oh, shut up Silas and put down your gun.” Blossoms voice was rife with relief, but I couldn’t tell if she was afraid of the boy or not. “You won’t be able to shoot all three of them, before one of them shoots you. Can’t you see they’re armed to the teeth?”
“Blossom, are you okay?” This came from Jake as he made his way toward her voice. He took great pains to show that his weapon was pointing directly at the point behind the light. My eyes were adjusting and I could make out the slim outline of a figure and the defined muzzle of a hand gun pointed in my general direction. I’d had enough of the blinding half light and broke open a regular light stick to get the lay of the land.
“Yes, but thank God you came to get me. Let’s get out of here.” She gathered up a few items that were scattered around her. “Silas, unlock me, I have to go.” She pointed to a chain that kept her neatly attached to the cot where she’d been reclining. Silas blinked a couple of times; lowering the bright light stick to the point where I could make out his features. Cedar gasped and I almost toppled over as she grabbed my arm. I turned my head and watched her eyes roll back in her head, like she was about to faint, but she managed to stay upright. She shook her head, like someone high on ‘O’ and looked back at the young kid named Silas; then she slid on the safety on her corner shot and slung the weapon over her shoulder.
I don’t know if she even realized that she was walking towards the kid as she secured her weapon and I grabbed her by the arm to hold her back. The kid was still armed after all. She shook me off.
“Don’t you know who this is? It has to be; he looks just like her.” And then the pieces fell in to place for me. The kid must be Amethyst’s.
“Looks like who?” B
lossom asked waiving her chain at the boy, like she expected to be obeyed. He lowered his weapon and reached in to his pocket for the key.
“Like, such a long story, we’ll have to tell you another time,” replied Jake. “Hey, let’s stop screwing around, Pip’s render shows people coming back from the blast.
“He has to come with us.” Cedar’s voice was steady and she reached for Silas’ arm.
“Are you crazy lady? I ain’t goin’ with you!” yelled the kid jumping back to avoid her grasp and raising his gun back up.
“Yes, you are.” It was stated quietly, but I didn’t have a doubt that we’d be hauling this kid with us come hell or high water. I pointed my gun at him, the laser centred on his forehead.
“My gun says you’re coming with us, too. Jake, tape up his mouth and his hands and we’ll get the hell out of here.” I saw the kid’s lip tremble before Jake tied a band of random cloth around his head. I think Jake took a bit of pleasure in wrenching the kid’s hands together and binding them up tight. It was then that Pipkin interrupted the proceedings to let us know that “unfriendlies” were approaching. I could hear a couple in the common area and wondered if we’d get out of the building in one piece.
“Is there another way out of here?” I hissed at Blossom.
“There’s a window along that wall, but you’ll have to break it for us to get out.” She ripped down a hand made curtain and pointed at a fairly small opening a metre and a half off the floor. I quashed a groan. We only had a small chance of escape, literally. It didn’t exactly fill me with confidence.
Chapter 21– And Then There Were Five
Last Farmer: Last Farmer Series - Book 1 Page 19