by Roger Hayden
Hodder’s force had been completely annihilated. The men among his mob most likely had concerned family too, somewhere. But their tale would not be one of sacrifice or courage—instead, their actions would live in infamy. Once all the gunfire ended, people began to stream out of their living quarters, weary and nervous.
Ernie and Veronica took charge and assured everyone that Hodder’s men had been defeated. No one really knew what to say. It didn’t seem real. Ernie had his team start collecting the rifles of Hodder’s dead men. The two enforcers taken prisoner were led to the stage and held at gunpoint while the citizen militia did a sweep of the area. One particularly dazed, blonde-haired woman walked around the courtyard trying to understand what had just happened. She nearly tripped over a rifle, then bent down and picked it up.
From the roof, Joel rappelled down the building. Once he reached the bottom, he carefully assisted his family in coming down the ratchet straps. Veronica stood on the stage overlooking everything. She felt euphoric about their victory but was also worried. Greg was nowhere in sight. She asked Ernie if he had seen him.
Ernie picked up the microphone to address everyone, but it didn’t seem to be turned on. He then turned to her. “No, I haven’t. I’m sure he’s running around here somewhere.” There was also the question of Hodder’s whereabouts. Ernie was confident that they’d come across his body soon enough.
“Can you call him on the microphone?” she asked.
Ernie tried. The microphone was turned on, but maybe it had shorted out. “PA system must have gotten damaged by all of the gunfire.”
Veronica jumped off the stage and walked alongside the building calling Greg’s name. She came to the end, turned the corner, and walked around it, pistol in hand.
***
Greg remained ducked behind the barrel trying to assess the situation. Hodder was slippery, and he wasn’t going to go down without a fight. Maybe they weren’t so different after all.
“Your call, Greg!” Hodder shouted. “Why don’t we go ahead and settle this like men? You come out from behind your barrel and I’ll come out from behind mine. Our weapons will be low and at the ready. Twenty paces and all that shit. Then we fire, just like an old-fashioned duel.”
“Not going to happen,” Greg said. “I have the advantage here. All you’re doing is dragging this out more than it needs to be.”
Veronica suddenly came around the corner only to see Hodder sitting against a barrel with his head tilted in the opposite direction and calling to Greg. At first she froze. He hadn’t noticed her yet. She raised her pistol just as his head turned to her. His revolver was down and at his waist. His hand hovered over its handle. Their eyes locked on each other.
“Well, well. Ms. Veronica. How about that?”
“I should shoot you right now. Where’s Greg?”
Hodder laughed and signaled behind him. “He’s pinned down just like me, right over there.”
Veronica quickly glanced ahead and saw Brian’s dead body lying on the ground in a pool of blood. Her eyes went back to Hodder, who seemed entirely too amused.
“You’re right,” Hodder said. “You should shoot me. But I assume you’ve done a lot of shooting already. Are you sure you have any rounds left?”
Veronica held the pistol firmly. Her mind raced for the answer. She didn’t know. Hodder could sense her doubt.
“That’s what I thought,” he said. “I, on the other hand, know that I have five .45 caliber bullets in here, enough to blow your head clean off.”
Veronica squeezed the trigger and the gun clicked. Her body seized, but she tried to hide the fear.
Hodder laughed again and tilted his head back. “Greg!” he shouted. “What was that about you saying you had the advantage? I think the game has changed.”
Greg looked over and saw Veronica standing in the distance. He threw his rifle on the ground and stood up. “All right, Hodder. You got me! Don’t hurt her.”
Veronica stood, frozen. Her eyes watched as Hodder’s hand went for his revolver.
Suddenly a female voice sounded behind her. “Step aside.”
Veronica moved to the side and Hodder then saw a distraught blonde-haired woman holding a rifle. Much to his confusion, she had it aimed right at him.
“Do you remember me?” she asked.
Hodder narrowed his eyes, trying to recognize her. “Um. Refresh my memory.”
“My name is Judy Russell. You shot my husband in the head. Executed him like an animal in front of hundreds of people. You stole my children from me and murdered them. You took everything possible from me. Now, I have nothing left. The only thing I have left is sending you to Hell.”
A month prior, Judy and her husband, Aaron, had been given a public trial for hiding a sick child, their daughter Sarah. They were accused of harboring an infected person on the base, and Sarah and their son, Freddy, were taken from them, never to see the light of day again. Hodder ordered one of his men to shoot Aaron on stage in front of everyone. Hodder had made her a childless widow. He thought that he had broken her completely. She had become a mute. Defeated. Catatonic even. But she had always been plotting.
Hodder swallowed. His Adam’s apple moved up and down. There wasn’t much to say. He knew that he was at the end. His only hope was that, like Veronica’s pistol, Judy’s weapon was out of rounds. He tried anyway.
“Judy, look. You knew the rules on sick family members. They are to be reported immediately. You and your husband violated those rules. You violated our trust—”
She unloaded the weapon into him in a blinding burst of gunfire. His body instantly went limp as round after round tore through him in an eruption of fury. After expending the magazine, all that remained of Hodder was little more than ravaged organs, bone, and blood splatter. Judy stared ahead with tears running down her cheeks. She tossed the weapon aside as Veronica stood near her in shock. The woman didn’t say a word. She walked away like a zombie, ignoring Veronica’s calls to come back.
The Aftermath
Veronica called to Greg as he picked up his rifle and ran to her. He had seen the woman, Judy, unload her rifle, toss it on the ground, and simply walk away. Greg pulled Veronica close and squeezed her tightly. He lifted her off the ground as she wrapped her arms around him.
“Hello,” she said, looking at Greg as tears welled in her eyes. He set her down and they took a quick glance at Hodder’s bullet-riddled body only a few feet away. She turned away as Greg tried to figure out what happened.
“Who was that woman?” he asked.
“I don’t know. She said her name was Judy and that Hodder had killed her family. Guess some vendettas are larger than others.”
“Our plan worked though,” Greg said. “We’re alive and we did it.”
“What about all these people? All the things they’ve been through. Where do we even start?”
“They’re free now,” Greg answered. “They can do whatever they want.”
Veronica looked at the ground. “For now.”
Greg placed a hand on her shoulder. “Let’s go check on everyone.”
She looked up and studied his face. It was still consumed by bruises, cuts, and scabs, but it was the face of a man she couldn’t help feeling something for.
“OK. I’m ready.”
They walked back to the public square as people continued to flow out of their living quarters, surveying the carnage around them. Ernie stood on the stage with the other freed prisoners and explained to the crowd what had happened. He declared it a new day for Base 42; a day of victory, hope, and survival.
“We fought back hard and we won. The brutality of Bill Hodder’s reign has come to an end. He spent months lying, terrorizing, and controlling us, and in the end, he broke the spirits of many of you. Now it’s over.”
Greg and Veronica entered the square as everyone’s eyes followed them. Many people still feared them.
“It’s the terrorist!” a frazzled woman screamed.
Roars of protest began to echo
throughout the crowd. Greg pushed his way to the stage as Veronica followed.
“Greg!” Joel shouted out from the crowd. He pushed through as well and ran to Greg, hugging him. Surprised, Greg stood with his arms to the side and slowly brought one arm to Joel’s back.
“Thank you,” Joel said. “We’re so grateful for what you’ve done.”
The crowd was noticeably confused by the embrace of the two men. Ernie continued to talk from the stage.
“They’re not terrorists. They’re the reason we’re standing here right now. As you know, many of us were accused of being a part of some resistance movement. Some of us were, but it made no difference to Bill Hodder. He killed us indiscriminately. His crimes were immeasurable, and he would have won had it not been for these two people. They freed us from our cells, urged us to fight back, and because of them, we’re all free. And I’m proud, as we all should be, to call them friends.”
The crowd stood in stunned silence. Their minds had been so scrambled by Hodder’s propaganda, they had no idea what to think.
“Hear, hear!” a man shouted from the crowd.
Applause grew lightly and then caught on as the entire crowd began to cheer.
“Come on up here, Greg. Say a few words,” Ernie said.
“Yeah, say something!” Joel said, clapping. His wife, Jordan, soon met up with them and hugged both Greg and Veronica.
Greg looked around, feeling a tad overwhelmed. Everyone seemed to like them now. He climbed on stage at Ernie’s behest and then held out his hand for Veronica.
She shook her head and refused. “Come on,” Greg said. “I’m not saying a word until you join me.”
Veronica reluctantly took his hand as he pulled her up. The crowd continued to cheer as Greg took the stage. He didn’t like all the attention but figured he’d try to tell them what he knew. He wanted to try to bring life back into their defeated faces.
“These brave people on stage are the real reason we defeated the men who held you prisoner. We couldn’t have done it without them. And none of us would have been freed without Veronica.”
Veronica smiled as the crowd applauded.
Greg continued. “Bill Hodder has been defeated. His body is lying on the other side of this building. We’re pretty sure that all of his men are dead as well. Unfortunately, we lost some brave men of our own.”
Ernie cut in. “We actually took two of Hodder’s men prisoner.”
Greg nodded. “That makes three prisoners total. What we do to them will dictate what kind of people we are from here on out. Veronica and I plan to leave, as I’m sure many of you will. Those who stay have a lot of work to do. Things are pretty bad out there. We have no news on the Ebola epidemic, and the entire state has been cut off and isolated from aid, at least according to the last news reports we heard. The virus could very well still be a threat. But nothing, I feel, is worse than what all of you have endured.”
He looked out into the crowd. A child’s face—a young boy sitting atop his father’s shoulder—caught Greg’s eye. “I suggest we open the gates and take our chances out there. We can’t be scared of the world anymore. It’s time to venture out and reclaim our lives. It’s time to live.”
The crowd clapped and cheered. He hoped that he got through to them. With that, he felt he had said enough and offered the floor to Veronica. She declined and nearly ran off the stage before he grabbed her. She refused anyway, and they both walked off the stage together.
“To the gates!” Ernie said to more applause.
Under the overcast sky, all one hundred thirty-four people began to flow from the public square down a concrete path toward the front gates. Greg and Veronica followed Ernie, with everyone eager to see the desert beyond the walls. Just as they began moving in a mass group, they heard the sound of helicopters in the distance. Faces looked up into the sky with excitement as the rumbling in the sky deepened.
“Helicopters?” Veronica asked Greg.
“Not a moment too soon, eh?” he answered.
They continued to walk as the crowd got to the gate. Ernie and his men took the lead, shot the padlock off the chain, and then pushed the gate open to raucous applause. Men, women, and children poured outside and into the majestic sight of the open Sun Valley desert. They weren’t sure what to do or where to go. Ebola was still a fear among most. Veronica brought Greg to the side and told him that she wanted to sit. They moved away and sat atop a small dirt hill. She took his hand in hers and squeezed it.
“You’re right,” she said.
“About what?” Greg asked, turning to her.
“That we have a lot of work to do.”
Greg nodded.
Veronica continued. “But I’m hopeful. I want to know what is going on in the world. How bad the disease has gotten.” She laughed. “Mainly I just want to get the hell out of this state.”
“We will,” Greg said, stroking her back. “We will.”
The helicopters coming into view were unmistakably military.
“Are they coming to help these people?” Veronica asked.
“If so, it’s long overdue,” Greg said.
They stared out into the rolling hills, sprawling mountains, and rugged terrain of a wide-open valley.
“We should get going,” Greg said. “I’ve got a jeep hidden only a half mile from here.”
“What about the van?” Veronica asked.
“I’ve got that hidden up the mountain.”
Veronica smiled. “You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you?”
“Yep,” Greg said, standing up. Veronica quickly grabbed his leg.
“No, not yet. I want to sit for a moment. Get my thoughts together.”
Greg crouched back down and sat, nodding his head. For a moment, they were silent. The helicopters were in range. There were three of them. The crowd instinctively spread out more, waving and shouting into the air. The sky was a thick blue and the line of mountains on the horizon was comforting.
“You were always asking me about my past. Well, I’ve been doing some thinking,” Greg began.
Veronica looked over at him with renewed interest, intrigued by his mystique.
The helicopters flew over the base, dangerously close to the ground, then circled around and flew over again. The people chased after them, waving their arms. They began to land some hundred yards away from the base. Greg and Veronica’s hair flew up wildly as dust clouds engulfed the crowd and drifted over.
Greg paused to gather his thoughts, then continued. “And there’s no reason to dredge it up. It’s a pointless exercise.”
He turned to her and placed a hand over hers. “I have to go somewhere else. Relocate and start all over again. I’m sorry; that’s just the way it has to be. It’s how I live.”
Veronica stared into his eyes. “You’re taking me with you.”
“You don’t mean that,” Greg said. “You think you mean that because of all we’ve been through, but it will pass.”
“I don’t know anyone else who would risk their life for me the way you have. That means something, Greg. It has to mean something.”
“It does. It means that you’re worth it.”
Veronica looked up at him and smiled. “I want to be with you, Greg. I can’t handle all of this disease and death everywhere without you.”
She leaned forward and gave him a soft kiss on the lips. “And I know that you want to be with me, too.”
Greg wasn’t sure what to say. She was right. He took her hand and kissed the back of it. “You do have very pretty eyes.”
Veronica laughed as the helicopters blew another cloud of dust in their direction. The crowd swarmed around the helicopters like prisoners of war being rescued.
Greg stood up and held his hand out and helped her up. “Let’s get out of here.”
They walked off, away from the crowd, the noise, and the helicopters and toward the ravine where the jeep was parked. No one took notice of their leave, and they announced it to no one. They we
re simply two people walking hand-in-hand along the desert under an overcast blue sky. The epidemic could be raging across half the country for all they knew, but something told Greg that it had subsided. But if it hadn’t, they would go find a safe place, if such a place existed within their travels.
Their story would continue and the world would face other disasters, epidemics, and pandemics years down the road. They continued their walk, happy to be alive and happy to have each other. They left Base 42 without a second thought. Sometimes it was better to not look back.
The adventure ends…for now.