“We need to go to the bottom, one of the storerooms. I didn’t touch anything non-lethal. There’s probably more in there that we can use.”
Akio sniffed the air. Terry wrinkled his nose, and Char turned away. The smell of death continued to permeate the place, even though they could hear that the air handling system was running.
“Shall we?” Akio asked as he followed Eve into the dark tunnel.
Terry was about to tell the EI where the light switches were, but she was already there. The lights came on like last time, starting at the top and working their way downhill.
Eve led the way and the other three followed. Yuko had joined them, but she walked more slowly. When Akio saw she was falling behind, he called for Eve to slow down, which she did instantly.
“Eve is an EI?” Terry asked.
“Yes, almost an Artificial Intelligence and honestly, I can’t tell the difference. She is our constant companion. I don’t know what we would do without her. As a matter of fact, we wouldn’t be in here without her.” Akio pointed to the tunnel.
“We are doubly blessed by her presence,” Char offered.
They continued down the ramp and into the bowels of the mountain. Everything was as they left it. Terry looked for something out of place, unnerved for some reason. He knew the Forsaken were dead, but wondered if anything else had been left behind.
Char assured him there wasn’t anything. Akio confirmed that they were alone. The smell of death was being recycled through the system.
“Maybe someday we can burn it all,” Terry suggested, “but not yet. Maybe when it’s empty.”
“Tag what you want and let’s go,” Char told him. Terry went to work detailing the crates of flash-bang grenades, rubber bullets, and 40mm rounds that packed a net. Which meant he needed the M4 rifles, at least a few with the grenade launcher attached. With a grenade launcher, he’d also tag a couple crates of high explosive 40mm grenades. Maybe white phosphorous, too, in case he needed to start a vicious fire.
“You said this guy wasn’t a daywalker?” Terry asked, hesitating and looking up from the crates before him.
“No,” Akio replied. “He is powerful but must stay out of the daylight.”
Terry stopped what he was doing and tried to imagine how the battle might play out.
“I will address the Forsaken. Your job is to clear the humans out of the way to save their lives.” Akio stood still, blinking his dark brown eyes slowly. He rested his hand easily on the hilt of his ever present katana.
“Then that is exactly what we will do, Akio-sama.” Terry bowed deeply, then shifted the boxes of non-lethal weaponry that he desired. He went to the armory and removed ten M4 rifles. He slid ten crates of 5.56mm ammunition and a crate of magazines into the passageway for Eve to carry to the pod.
In the garage, Terry looked longingly at the tank. Char pinched his butt when Akio wasn’t looking.
Yuko giggled.
There were a few HMMWVs with fifty caliber machineguns. He left those. If he had to rely on a heavy machine gun, then he’d failed in his mission. He returned to the storeroom and pulled a crate of CS grenades, tear gas. He found masks still sealed, but they weren’t any good. He left them. The tear gas would disperse a crowd, and it wouldn’t affect him or any of the Werewolves.
Or a Were-bear.
“What kind of havoc do you think Gene would cause?”
“In Queens? Probably as much as you can imagine. You are not thinking about bringing him along, are you?” Char asked pointedly, narrowing her eyes and looking down her nose at him.
“Maybe he and Ted can stay behind and work with the Mini Cooper,” Terry suggested. “But we’ll need the rest, including Aaron.”
“Aaron stays behind to watch Kaeden,” Char answered. Her body language suggested that her statement was definitive and not up for discussion. “He can’t remember what he does as a Were. That alarms me.”
“Me too, lover. I don’t know why, but I feel like Kaeden should be with us.”
“In the middle of a fight? Are you stoned?” Char put her hands on her hips, glaring at Terry defiantly. “He was in this mountain with us because we had no choice. Now we do. Aaron is a godsend. We need to do a better job of protecting our children, TH!”
“But we’re going to Brooklyn, and you’re coming, too, aren’t you?” Terry asked, knowing that she was. “Is that your idea of protecting our baby?”
Terry approached his wife and mirrored her pose. Akio and Yuko excused themselves and left the garage.
Char’s eyes sparkled under the fluorescent lighting. He thought that she was radiant. Whether from the pregnancy or not, he didn’t care. He slipped his hands around her waist and bent to kiss her. Char draped her arms over his shoulders and around his neck, pulling his face to hers.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
People were fishing along the shore and in the base’s small harbor. Kaeden had his hand in the neck fur of the great tiger while Ted walked stoically, not making eye contact with anyone as he didn’t want to answer any questions.
But it was inevitable. “Where’s your boat?” someone asked. Ted ignored them, but Kaeden didn’t. He stopped and the tiger stayed between the boy and the fisherman, eyeing the man warily.
“It broke apart on the rocks, but we saved some of the fish!” Kae replied, upbeat and smiling as long as he wasn’t too close to the water.
The man mumbled something and went back to his fishing. Ted walked around the harbor and then headed inland. He started whistling once he cleared the trees. Aaron changed into his human form and Kaeden handed him his clothes. The tall man dressed quickly while they waited.
The wolf pack loped toward them, ten shaggy beasts with tongues lolling. He opened the sail wrap and dispensed the fish. “Don’t you forget how to hunt, you lazy bastards!” Ted told them. If they did, he’d keep feeding them, but they needed a good hunt to sharpen their skills.
“I think I’ll take you hunting tomorrow. Inland, away from the lake,” Ted said, nodding once as if the deal was sealed.
“I want to go!” Kaeden added.
“I don’t think so, Kaeden. We will hunt as wolves, moving quickly. In any case, it will be up to Terry and Char,” Ted replied.
Kaeden huffed and stomped his feet. He was still a little boy.
Aaron took Kae’s hand and the remaining fish from Ted, and started walking toward the chow hall. “I don’t know about you, little man, but I am hungry. All that swimming took it out of me,” Aaron said, looking at where his clothes were ripped from the sharp edges of the dead ship. His wounds were closed, but his nanocytes demanded more energy to keep healing him.
Kae thought it was a good idea. He was always hungry. If Terry and Char had a measuring stick, they would have seen that the boy had already grown a couple inches since he’d been with them.
That much growing took energy. “Me, too, Aaron. Chow’s up!” he called in his little voice, repeating what he’d heard Terry say.
***
Terry and Char each carried two heavy crates as they climbed the ramp back to the pod. They deposited them behind what Eve had already loaded. Yuko offered tea, which Terry and Char graciously accepted. Terry had been a coffee guy, but that died with the rest of the world. He hoped that someday, he would taste again of the black nectar of life.
Yuko produced an insulated pot from which she poured tea into small cups. Terry and Char cradled them in their hands, waiting to see how Akio drank his. Once he took a sip, they followed suit.
When the desired crates had been moved to the pod, the lights inside the mountain were turned off, and the doors secured, Terry wanted to double-check. Akio stopped him.
“No need, Anjin-san. All is as Eve said.” Akio motioned that everyone should take their seats. “I think it is time to go. I would like to show you something on our way back to your home.”
Neither Terry nor Char asked what it was. They’d find out soon enough.
Akio sat back and closed his ey
es. To Terry and Char, he looked like he was asleep. They turned in their seats and peered out the window. It had been a long time since they’d flown. They’d just traveled from Chicago to New York City to the Rockies and were heading back to Chicago. All in half a day, including the time it took to find and load the munitions Terry wanted.
The Wastelands were mostly barren, crisscrossed by streams and windbreaks of trees. The red dirt was pervasive throughout. It looked like a vast desert when only decades previously, it had been called the heartland. Now it was called the Wastelands, the Fallen Lands.
The pod continued north. On the horizon, Terry made out the green fields on both sides of the Missouri River. The pod started to descend and Akio opened his eyes. Terry and Char saw the mass of humanity and small herd of cattle.
Char could feel Adams and the others, almost two hundred people in total.
The pod rotated as it landed. The hatch opened and they looked out on an open field. Adams was running toward them.
“Stopping by to say hi, see how things are going, then we’ll have to be on our way,” Terry quipped, smiling and holding out his hand.
Adams saluted as Boris had taught him, then shook Terry’s hand. Char smiled back. She could see the calm on his face.
“Thank you,” he told her simply. “On a side note, we have company who decided that go west young man was for the birds. They said Mother Earth was going to swallow their village and they decided it was time to see greener pastures. I present to you, every-freaking-body and their cows.”
Adams swept a hand to encompass the entirety of the field before them. The chief was obvious since he was wearing his headdress. He walked deliberately toward them, skeptical at first, but when he saw Terry and Char, he brightened considerably.
Akio waited on the ramp. Eve and Yuko were nowhere to be seen.
“Chief Foxtail, isn’t this a pleasant surprise. I have to say that I’m quite pleased that you and your people will be joining us. We have plenty of room,” Terry suggested.
“I’m happy to hear you say that because we are coming. It would be a depressing walk to think the whole time that there was no place for us,” the chief replied.
“You are always welcome by our fire,” Char said. The chief hugged her.
“Well then, what is this fine looking piece of technology? I didn’t think anything like this survived,” the chief wondered, looking at the pod. Akio held up a hand.
“I am sorry, Chief Foxtail, but I am unable to show you the pod at this time. Please do not take it personally. I don’t show it to anyone, but I needed their help.” Akio nodded toward Terry and Char.
“To wit,” Terry began. “With you and your people, we can leave you the rifles, ammunition, and horses, if you’d like, because I could use Boris and his squad. We have a job we need to do and I’d like the platoon intact.”
“And me?” Adams wondered, cocking his head. He seemed unsure as to which answer he preferred.
Char looked at him closely, studying him. “I think I’d like you to stay with the chief and all the people. They need you here and it seems that your time on the trail is serving you well.”
The chief put a hand on Adams’s shoulder and nodded. “It is doing us all some good. My people will scout ahead and keep us on track. We have lost five cows in a dust storm that nearly caught us in the open. Otherwise, we are well.”
With that settled, Terry looked for a way to round up his squad. Boris and Charlie were miles ahead. The others were scattered far and wide. “Can you get me a horse, Adams?” Terry asked.
In no time, a horse materialized and Terry made a quick circuit around the group, finding the FDG members and sending them running toward the pod. One of the farmers pointed the way ahead where Boris and Charlie had gone. Terry thanked them and rode back to the pod.
Char gave the chief a crash course in how to use the AK-47 while Terry was rounding up the Force warriors. All of them handed over their rifles and ammunition to those who remained. They were only to be used in case of an emergency and even then, the chief wasn’t so sure.
“Would you please send a couple of your people ahead to where Boris and Charlie are scouting? Tell them to wait and if it’s okay with Akio, we’ll pick them up in the pod.” The chief waved one rider to him. He gave the young woman instructions and sent her away.
Akio pulled the chief to the side and the two spoke congenially for a few minutes. Even with Terry’s enhanced hearing, he couldn’t understand what they were saying. Akio bowed and the chief raised his right hand in respect.
Akio signaled for the others to embark. Terry directed the men to their seats along the inside of the pod. The ramp closed, and the vehicle lifted into the air and smoothly accelerated forward. It couldn’t have been more than twenty seconds later when they set down again.
The ramp opened and Terry saw Boris and Charlie watching them intensely. They’d seen the pod before, but they never expected to see the colonel and the major in one, or that they’d be ordering them to leave their horses and rifles and hop aboard.
The chief had no intention of giving out the rifles or ammunition. He intended to put it all in one of the carts and forget about it. He was afraid to think what such weapons would do in the hands of the untrained. There was already a great deal to fear without adding to it.
Terry and Char didn’t think that the Force might be terrified of flying. They’d never flown before.
Any of them.
***
Chicago
When Sue walked into Billy’s office, he wanted to know what was going on.
She was sore from having hit the pavement more than once. Shonna, Merrit, and Sue had practiced together, going through forms and getting back into hand-to-hand combat techniques. It had been a while since they trained like that.
It was gratifying, but in a painful way. Sue worked a sore shoulder as she looked at Billy, Felicity, and Marcie.
Clyde had stayed with Billy that morning and was happy to see Sue finally return.
“Did I hear that the pod arrived? What did Akio want? I can’t find Terry and Char anywhere. I need answers!” Billy spewed his words out.
“Akio wanted to assess the one we know as Joseph, a Forsaken. He beat the crap out of Gene, and then he took Terry and Char with him when he flew away. Outside of that, nothing happened,” Sue replied.
Billy sputtered. “Terry and Char left? Where’d they go?”
Sue shrugged as she petted Clyde using her good arm.
“But, they didn’t tell me anything!”
“Billy’s feelings are hurt, if you can’t tell,” Felicity drawled softly as Marcie crawled around on the floor. Clyde wanted to go outside and run. He’d been cooped up all day.
“No idea where they went. I can tell you they weren’t expecting it, but being what Akio is, you don’t turn him down when he asks you to do something,” Sue explained. “I got the impression they’d be coming back.”
Billy grumbled and fussed with a couple papers on his metal desk. “What’s a Forsaken?”
“That is a good question, Billy. Do you remember the old vampire movies?” Billy nodded. He liked scary movies. It was the only thing he’d watch on television. Usually, he had gone out to make trouble.
“They are like the old vampires. They drink human blood for nourishment. They eat people food too, for what it’s worth,” Sue told him.
“They drink human blood and Walton brought it here?” Billy stood and pounded on his desk. Marcie started to cry. Felicity angrily looked his way.
“Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, right?” Sue quoted. “There’s nothing to worry about. We can take him if he gets out of line. Terry has Joseph’s word that he won’t feed on any of our people.”
Sue’s words didn’t placate Billy, and seeing what an enraged Joseph had done to Timmons, she wasn’t so sure the Werewolves could defeat the Forsaken in a battle. It was best that they not find out, but to be sure, they needed Terry Henry Walton
and Charumati back.
They were the force behind everything that had been accomplished. Terry and Char were the reason that Joseph was in their control in the first place. Terry had beaten Joseph into submission and made it look easy. Terry had beaten Timmons and made that look even easier.
Sue was certain the whole town needed the alphas, as they were the strength of the pack.
“Come on, Clyde. Let’s get some fresh air!” Sue said happily, throwing her blond hair over her shoulder as she tossed her head and walked out.
“Do you have any idea what’s going on, Felicity?” the mayor asked.
“When it comes to Terry, Char, and the Werewolves, I don’t have the foggiest. But the rest of the town is running fine because of you, Billy dear. Have Pepe and Maria been able to make contact with the farmers up north?” Felicity asked, watching out the door as Sue and Clyde ran across the open field in front of the mayor’s building.
“Not that I know of, but that’s something we need, along with the cattle,” Billy shuffled the papers around on his desk, but he wasn’t looking at them.
“This place is so much nicer than New Boulder, cooler, the lake, a breeze, and everything,” Billy said softly. “Terry was right about North Chicago. And Ted said we have power whenever we need it. But we don’t really need it right now, do we?”
Felicity was noncommittal. If they had it, she’d turn the lights on. Without it, they’d use candles, or be fine without light.
But Billy was thinking logistics. It wasn’t sexy, but it was what the mayor was responsible for. He wanted power to the freezers and hopefully, they’d still work after twenty years. With the ability to freeze food, they’d be able to start preparing the town for next year, and then the next, until such time when they never had to worry where their next meal was coming from.
It was what the mayor had committed to doing for them.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The pod settled into the middle of the old parade deck.
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