by Nathan Jones
“Well that's good.” Lewis didn't want to be rude, but he was in a hurry to get somewhere he could lie flat. Preferably with a willowy redhead wearing a matching wedding band curled up against him. “Why don't you and Ben come around to our camp tonight for dinner, if you're off duty?”
His friend gave him an uncomfortable look. “I don't really like leaving my position, even when I'm off duty. I like to stay on top of things.”
Lewis grinned. “I'm not asking you to a party, Raul. I figure even if we've all got our assignments, there's still some things the squad leaders should discuss.”
Gutierrez grimaced. “What, like supplies and rosters? I could be spending that time sleeping.”
“No, like the fact that we've got more people than we need to man the positions.” Lewis leaned in, immediately regretting it when he nearly fell on top of Gutierrez. “Davis did say he wanted us to find opportunities to hit at the enemy, right?”
The defenders murmured their approval at that, and the former soldier's eyes lit up. “Now that's a meeting I wouldn't mind attending. I've been going crazy waiting around for the enemy to come to us.” He offered his hand again. “Listen, I need to get this food back to my squad. I'll see you tonight, okay?”
Lewis awkwardly returned the handshake, then got propped up between the two men helping him again. As Gutierrez and his squad mates headed off to their lunch, he turned to look up the slope. “Let's go check out our new home away from home . . . away from home.”
* * * * *
His cousin's arrival was a pleasant surprise for Trev.
Although if he'd hoped that Lewis would take over leading the volunteers the moment he arrived, that obviously wasn't going to happen. His cousin's face was gray after the relatively short hike from the road, and the two men propping him up were practically carrying him as he struggled to drag his feet into each new step. Trev hurried over to take the place of one, returning Lewis's weak smile of greeting as they continued on into camp.
Jane, who'd been out on patrol, had rushed back when she learned her husband was here. As soon as she saw his condition her face paled, and she immediately moved to take his other side and guided him toward her tent. Trev had expected some sort of scolding, but all she said was. “I think this was more than you could handle.”
“Probably.” Lewis's head was lolling with every step, but he struggled to lean in and kiss her cheek. “Worth it.”
“Good idea or not, it's good to see you,” Trev said. He turned to the defenders who'd come with his cousin. “Welcome to camp, guys. If you want to start setting up your tents, we'll get you to work right away and introduce you to how we're defending this hillside.”
The new volunteers nodded and headed deeper into camp to greet friends, the one carrying Lewis's pack pausing to set it beside Jane's tent. That left the three of them to themselves to help him over to the tent and the rest he needed.
In spite of Lewis's condition, he was smiling as Trev and Jane carefully manhandled him down through the open flap. “It's good to see you too, man. It'll finally be the two of us going after the blockheads. That'll be something to see, huh?”
Trev paused lowering his cousin the last foot or so to the waiting sleeping bag, feeling a wrenching in his gut. He quickly recovered and set him down, trying to keep his voice casual. “Going after them, like your raids around Aspen Hill?”
Lewis caught the edge in his tone and gave him a sharp look. “Yeah, something like that. We've got more people than we need, and running a few raids would take the pressure off Davis and his Marines taking out roads. Spread the enemy's attention out.” He paused. “Some of the other volunteer squads are attacking into the valley, aren't they? I'm sure I heard that.”
“A few,” Trev agreed reluctantly. “Vernon, Harvey Fredrickson, some of the groups farther north. Nothing big, mostly taking potshots at patrols or emplacements, but they're out there.”
His cousin and Jane were both staring at him now. “Okay then,” The redheaded woman said slowly. “I've brought up us attacking the blockheads before and this is the first time I've seen you balk. What did you have in mind for us?”
Trev shrugged. “I don't know. I figured we could just run down the clock.”
There was an uncomfortable silence. “Run down the clock,” Lewis repeated flatly.
“Yeah. I mean we're about a month into summer, and the temperature is capping out at 75 degrees in the valley on the warmest days. And from what I've heard it's still getting colder, not warmer. It's not going to be too much longer before we run into a brutal nuclear winter, and the blockheads aren't going to be able to do anything then. Besides, they've got supply lines that stretch across half the country, and that's got to be killing them. The war will win itself if we just wait.”
“Like the town waited against Turner?” Lewis asked. Trev fidgeted uncomfortably as his cousin continued. “Let's say winter did come, and instead of leaving the blockheads decided to hunker down. How'd you like to be trapped up in these mountains, which may I remind you we know from personal experience are way colder than the valley, through a nuclear winter, with enemy soldiers out there causing mischief?”
Another awkward silence fell. “Besides,” Jane said. “We're not even to the hottest part of summer in a usual year. Nuclear winter may be coming, and probably way earlier than winter usually does, but it's still months off. The blockheads could do another attack like they did along the Wasatch Front any day now. We can't afford to sit around waiting for an act of God to save us.”
Lewis propped himself up on his elbows with a grimace of pain to meet his eyes. “We've all lost people, Trev,” he said quietly. “But we can't let up now. Everything we can do to win this war, we need to do. We'll all have an easier time during this winter if we can drive the blockheads away before it starts. Especially if we do it soon enough that we have some time to properly prepare for it, without needing to look over our shoulders for enemies.”
Trev tried to smile. “You're right. Besides, with you here we could really do some damage.”
If he could go into a situation with anyone, it would be with Lewis. But even so it was hard to drum up any enthusiasm for the thought. He didn't like the fact that the thought of going after the enemy left a sick feeling in his gut. He didn't like the thought that he was afraid to act because he might get more friends killed.
It wasn't rational, and it was keeping him from doing his job as a leader, but feelings were rarely rational. He just needed to act, even when it was the last thing he wanted to do. Bury the doubts that made him hesitate, made him refuse to act, until they weren't quite so loud.
He wasn't sure he could, but it would be easier with Lewis in charge. He could set aside some of the burden of being a leader and it would make things less complicated. Maybe he could even limit who went on these raids just to volunteers, so even if things did go wrong again he wouldn't have ordered anyone to their deaths.
Trev grit his teeth. He didn't want to think like that. “What do you have in mind?” he said to get out of his own head.
Lewis and Jane glanced at each other, then at him. “I've been thinking it over in my copious spare time,” Lewis admitted. “I'm sure my wife has been too. And don't lie, Trev. Even if you're not wild about the idea, you've probably considered possibilities yourself.”
“Maybe. So again, what did you have in mind?”
His cousin told him.
Third time's the charm for uncomfortable silences. Jane finally cleared her throat. “Sounds doable.”
“You're going to have to run that by me again,” Trev said, shaking his head slowly.
Lewis grinned at him. “It's not as crazy as it sounds.”
“It sounds like you want to lead a raid against a target a stone's throw from thousands of blockheads in Huntington,” Trev shot back. “It doesn't have to be as crazy as it sounds.”
“No really, just hear me through. Davis has spent all this time staging attacks where he did everything
he could to avoid the enemy and just take out high value targets. And you're right, we'll be sneaking right into the belly of the beast to do our damage. They won't even see us coming.”
“Sorry Lew, your logic falls apart there. If we walk right into the middle of them they don't have to see us coming to crush us. We won't be able to do anything without raising the alarm, and then we're stuck with no way out.”
His cousin waved a finger at him. “Ah, that's where you're wrong.” He reached into his backpack and pulled out a small black device.
Trev frowned at it. “Oh yes, that explains everything.”
“Come on, Trev. Don't tell me that after all this time you've spent around Graham, you never asked him about the tools of his trade.” Lewis carefully waved the device his way. “This is a detonator with a countdown timer. When his team was setting up explosives in Aspen Hill Canyon Graham gave it to me, just in case the remote detonator malfunctioned.”
“Graham's going to kill you if he finds out you stole that,” Trev said with a low whistle.
Lewis's smile turned a bit lopsided. “He never asked for it back. I'd rather say “sorry” than “please”, especially with a crater fifty feet wide to show for it.” He carefully tucked the detonator away again. “Give me five minutes in a blockhead armory with this thing, and I'll make every raid we've done up til now look like a water balloon fight. And best of all we'll be in and out without making a stir, long gone by the time it goes off.”
Trev tried to hold his annoyed expression, but against his will a rueful chuckle burst out. “Remember back in the good old days, when you were the one calling me crazy when I came to you with these sorts of plans?”
Lewis grinned back. “So that's a yes, then.”
“I guess we'll see what Gutierrez and Ben think.” Trev reached down to clap his cousin's shoulder. “But I'd say it's a definite maybe.”
* * * * *
Lewis finished outlining his plan, then leaned back away from the campfire, resting his head on the log he was leaning against. “What do you think?”
“I think we didn't have a proper fireworks display last 4th of July,” Trev, seated next to him, replied with a wide smile. On Lewis's other side Jane simply nodded in agreement.
Ben, sitting across the fire, leaned back and raised his hands. “Not that I think it's a bad idea, Lewis, but my squad's out. I want to bring my people home once this war's over, and that means letting the blockheads come to us behind the safety of our emplacements. That's worked well for us so far. Everything else we've tried?” He shrugged. “Not so much.”
“Fair enough,” Lewis said. “I prefer volunteers for these attacks anyway. Would your people at least be willing to consider picking up the slack, taking extra shifts on sentry duty and patrols while we're out there?” Ben hesitated, then nodded. Lewis turned to Gutierrez. “Raul?”
“Of course I'm in.” The former soldier leaned forward. “But you know what I say? I say taking out roads is great and all, and shooting at blockheads is going to happen no matter what.” He waved towards the campfires visible in the valley below. “What we should really be going for is stealing their supplies, like you did in that raid on your shelter. Hit them right in the gut and make things easier for ourselves at the same time. And if we're sneaky enough we don't even have to get into a shootout.”
Lewis had been nodding the entire time. “I had the same idea, after we've done this first raid taking out their armory. Davis has been avoiding blockheads while taking out the roads, and nobody's tried to go anywhere near one of their camps. If we blow up some munitions they'll double up their defenses around armories, and might not even see us coming for their food.”
“Well I was thinking we raid their weapons too,” Gutierrez admitted. “Although the idea of blowing up more than we could ever carry away is an opportunity too good to pass up.”
“Exactly. It could make a big difference in the war.” Lewis glanced around at the small crowd gathered by the fire, just about everyone off duty from all four and a half Aspen Hill squads. “But that's just the squad leaders. Like I said, I'll be relying on volunteers for this. Who's with me?”
Within five seconds over twenty people had raised their hands.
“Are you going to give the people on duty right now a chance to volunteer, too?” Gutierrez asked.
Lewis nodded. “Absolutely. Depending on what we're doing we might not need everyone, for example with this one ten people should be more than enough, but we appreciate everyone who offers. You will all have a chance to join us at some point.”
He briefly closed his eyes against his pounding head. Resting until dinner had helped, but he was still more than ready to get horizontal and sleep if he could. He couldn't exactly call it a plus, but since his head injury sleep had come twice as easily as before. Unfortunately it had also come twice as much. “All right, everyone, get some rest and relaxation. We'll spend the next few days picking out our target and planning the raid. Once that's done we go, so be ready.”
There were a few murmurs of assent. Lewis stuck around for about ten minutes answering questions, responding to well wishes, and chatting with friends, but then he couldn't stand it anymore. With help from Trev and Gutierrez he made it back to his tent, sinking down onto the sleeping bags while Jane headed out to lead the night shift, making up for missing the afternoon one being with him.
He hoped he'd be in good enough shape to go on the raid by the time they had it planned out. Trev and Jane had both agreed to lead teams out scouting, doing most of the legwork and then bringing the information back to him so they could brainstorm. They'd avoid fights at all costs for now, to keep the blockheads from raising their guard, and hopefully their raid would be a complete surprise.
It was probably Trev's flippant remark during the campfire meeting, but that night he dreamed about fireworks.
* * * * *
Trev shifted slightly, focusing the binoculars on a pair of trucks that had just pulled into the depot.
Even as he watched the backs were thrown open and soldiers began hauling bedraggled men and women in filthy, torn clothing out. Some fell painfully to the ground, too off balance or stiff to catch themselves. The soldiers beat at these poor people with the butts of their rifles until they managed to get their feet under them, staggering away from the vehicles to make room for more prisoners to emerge.
And more, and more.
“Jeez,” Trent muttered, watching the event a few feet away through his own binoculars. “How many they got in each of those things? Twenty? Thirty? They're like clown cars.”
Trev watched a young woman who was trying to stand take a brutal blow to the back of the head, then collapse back to the ground. Her attacker and one of his companions broke away from the other soldiers herding the prisoners away from the trucks, laughing as they lifted the woman by the shoulders and legs and hauled her limp body towards the nearest tent. Trev doubted it was for medical assistance.
He looked away with a sick feeling in his gut. “There's nothing funny about this.”
Trent gave him an abashed look. “Sorry.”
“One or two trucks full of prisoners have passed through this depot every day I've been watching this place,” Jane said, “Some they take on north, some they drop off like these ones, shoving them into that barn in the middle of camp. The ones that stay get brought out to do manual labor, not just here but walking them down the road to Huntington. Digging ditches, hauling supplies, and cooking and cleaning for the camps. Along with-” she broke off with a shudder, “other things.”
Trev's earbuds crackled with Lewis's voice. He and Jane had their mics toggled on to a private channel, so his cousin could hear what they were talking about and give his two cents. They could still receive messages from the main channel, but their mics only went to each other. A nice bit of communications technology.
“We saw them bringing prisoner trucks like this through Aspen Hill, too,” his cousin said. “So it's a pretty large scale
operation. And it makes an awful sort of sense, I guess. The Retaliation very likely knocked us into a pre-industrial existence. Life back then was harsh and labor intensive, literally backbreaking for most but the wealthy. Most societies had slaves, or a class similar to them, to do the hardest work with little hope of ever advancing to anything better.”
“So the blockheads are reinventing slavery to drive the growth of their new civilization, and not just being vindictive?” Trev asked.
“A little of both, probably.” Lewis answered. “Either way free people will work just as hard with the right motivation. Harder, if they have the hope of a brighter future. A lot of scholars agree that the fall of Rome was largely tied to their indolence and reliance on slaves, while the American Dream inspired previous generations to succeed. Not to mention that slavery is fundamentally wrong and we've long since moved past it.”
“I appreciate the history lesson,” Trev said. “But all of us already know they're wrong. The question is how we're going to help the people they're capturing.”
There was an awkward silence. “It looks like someone's gotten over his reticence about going after the enemy,” his cousin said dryly.
Trev flushed. “Shut up, Lewis.”
There was another silence. “Sorry, man. I don't know how bad what you guys are seeing out there is. But that's beside the point. Our first target is the armory . . . the shed, not the barn.”
The shed was on the northern side of the camp, with its own layer of protection. “But the barn's where they're putting a lot of the supplies. It's worth considering.”
Jane gave him a sympathetic look, but her tone was firm. “Considering what? Even if we could manage to free a bunch of people, how would we get them out? We'll be lucky if we can get a small team in and out.”