by Steven Bird
Turning to a short, stocky, bearded man in Scorpion Camo, Q said, “This human brick wall is Sam.” Turning to his six-foot-tall African-American counterpart, he added, “and this formidable fellow is Tyrone.”
“Pleased to meet you all,” Jessie said with a nod.
Looking Jessie squarely in the eye, Q insisted, “Now, please, tell us what you know.”
Jessie explained to them how he had been traveling east when he stumbled across Nate and Britney, who were being pursued by the UF. He then explained how the trio was traveling together when they were pushed south into the mountains below Highway 411, and how they had encountered the strange, animal-hide-clad individuals and how the beasts had taken Britney. He explained in great detail his and Nate’s foray into the cave, and how he had to leave Nate behind to seek help.
Retrieving a topographical map from his jacket pocket, Q unfolded it and mumbled, “Let’s see. Okay, Dandridge is here… oh, yes, here is 411. So, you were in this general area?” he asked.
Nodding in agreement, Jessie explained, “Yeah. And we traveled to this area here when our encounters with, um, them, occurred.”
“Do you think you can find it in the dark?” Q asked, looking at the sun’s position in the sky. “We can’t get that far on foot with the remaining daylight. We’ll have to push hard into the night.”
“Yeah. Yeah, sure. I traveled in the dark all night last night. It’s the only way I know the area between here and there. But speaking of traveling on foot, did any of you see a dun horse running away from the gunfight? I was leading my horse on foot when those bastards ambushed me. I sent him running to keep him safe.”
Looking around, Q asked, “Anyone see a horse?”
Seeing them all shake their heads no, Jessie sighed and said, “Well, let’s get going. Nate’s been a sitting duck for far too long now.
“Do you guys have night vision?” Jessie asked. “Because those bastards do. It’s how they move so well in the darkness of the caves. It’s awfully damn hard to work your way through a cave with torches and flares illuminating your position when your opponents can move without being seen.”
“So, you’re telling me these guys dress up like some sort of cavemen, but use high-tech night vision?” Q asked with a confused look on his face.
“I’m afraid so,” Jessie confirmed. “Which also means they’ll have it in the dark of the woods, too.”
“We’ve got a hand-held thermal. It’s really more of a game tracker than anything else. We’re lucky to stay supplied in ammo and weapons. Having night vision for all our guys just isn’t workable given our suppressed supply chain.” Looking around while he gathered his thoughts, Q asked again, “So, you’re sure they all have night vision?”
“We took a PVS-14 from one of them in the cave. I left that one with Nate. While working my way east to find help, I encountered a few more of the bastards; one of which was riding Hank, my horse. I took him down, with Hank’s help, of course. He wore a head-mounted PVS-14 like the others.”
“The good stuff,” Q replied.
“Yep.”
“Where’s that unit? The one you took from the guy on your horse?” Q asked.
“Unfortunately, it’s lashed to the makeshift saddle on Hank’s back, which is now running around in the woods somewhere.”
Thinking things over for a minute, Q said, “Well, if Nate’s in as bad a shape as you said, we can’t waste any more time. We’ll just have to risk bumping into those freaks in the dark.”
Turning and looking to Sam, Daryl, Tyrone, and Carl, Q asked, “Are you guys good with that?”
“Hell, yeah!” Tyrone replied. “I can’t stand the thought of Nate sitting out there in the woods alone with those… whoever they are, looking for him.”
“That, and the clock is ticking on his injuries,” Sam added.
“Let’s get to it,” Daryl said with eagerness in his voice.
“Alright, then,” Q announced, as he turned and began walking due west, “No need to chat about it any further. Off we go!”
~~~~
Awakened by little Zack climbing into bed with him and his wife, Peggy, Nate rolled over, snuggling up next to her. Reaching his arm around her with a yawn, he said, “Well, I guess it’s time to get up. I’ve got a big day ahead of me. I’m supposed to help Evan with that cellar he’s working on.”
Mumbling, Peggy protested, “No, don’t get up yet. Snuggle with Zack and me for just a little while longer.”
“How can I resist an offer like that?” he murmured with a smile, cuddling up next to her.
Awakened by the bone-chilling sound of coyotes howling in his vicinity, Nate sat up quickly, causing his head to spin. Feeling the throbbing pain in his leg, Nate mumbled, “Ah, damn it to hell. Oh, how I wish I was still in that dream right now.”
As his mind began to clear, Nate looked around and realized it was completely dark. How long was I out? he wondered. Wait, were those coyotes? Ah, hell. Those mongrels must have picked up the scent of my wound on the breeze.
Thinking things through, he knew if he had to take a shot at one, he’d simply be trading coyotes for their furry two-legged foes. I’m not sure which is worse, Nate pondered.
Pulling the headband of the night vision monocular onto his head, Nate positioned the PVS14 in front of his right eye and switched the unit on. Speaking aloud, hoping to scare away his four-legged foe, Nate said, “I bet you song dogs think I can’t see in the dark, don’t ya? Well, I’ve got a surprise for your flea-bitten asses. Now, git!” he barked aggressively.
He listened intently, hoping to hear the sound of retreating paws, but the woods were eerily silent. Even the insects and crawly critters of the night seemed to be afraid to make a sound or a move.
Hearing a twig break behind him, Nate smacked a log with a stick he had picked up off the ground, and said once again in a controlled voice, “Git! Damn you!” trying not to be too loud.
Hearing chatter between several of the coyotes in the darkness to his left flank, Nate wondered what exactly it was the dogs were planning. He’d seen their handiwork with the flock of sheep back at the homesteads more than enough to know how well they hunted as a pack. If they were letting you know they were there, it was for a reason.
Scanning the area with his night vision, Nate rolled over onto his left hip to try to see over the log behind him, just in time to catch a glimpse of movement. “You bastards ain’t as sneaky as you think. I see you out there. Now, git!” he snarled. “Git before I skin you and make hats out of you! Go on, git!”
One thing Nate knew for certain was the fact that the coyotes back at the homesteads seemed to always know when an animal was injured or lame. They seemed to target the weak, and right at this moment, that was him. They could probably smell the blood and the condition of his wound from miles away.
Although they’d rarely targeted humans in the past, this new world, where unrestricted subsistence hunting had taken its toll on the coyote’s regular food supply, had altered the previous norms. Coyote encounters with humans had been on the rise, and given his injured state and the aroma of fresh blood and of his wound, well, they may not pass on the opportunity for a meal.
Thinking of all his options, Nate knew he couldn’t continue portraying himself as prey. He had to be a fellow predator. Reaching up and taking hold of a low hanging tree branch, Nate pulled himself upward in an attempt to stand. Pushing with his injured leg sent a searing, burning pain shooting throughout his body. “Holy hell. Grrrrrr aaahhhhh, damn it, that hurts!” he grunted while biting his lip to keep from screaming aloud. Finally getting up onto his prosthetic leg, Nate attempted to stabilize his balance with the tree branch. The pain in his leg was almost too much to bear, but he knew the pain of coyote teeth tearing into his guts while he was still alive would be even worse. He had seen their handiwork enough to do anything it took to avoid falling prey to those filthy beasts.
“I ain’t goin’ down like that, you damn dogs!” he shoute
d.
Listening, he could hear spurts of movement all around him. He knew he had been completely surrounded by them while he was asleep, and he also knew the fact they weren’t retreating based on his obvious awareness of them was proof an attack was coming soon.
Mustering up every ounce of strength that remained in his body, he slung his rifle around his neck and began pulling himself up into the branches with his upper body strength alone. Feeling the futility of his efforts, Nate took his M4 and hung it by the sling on the broken stub of a branch, and then commenced pulling himself up into the tree, free from the added weight of the weapon.
Hearing snarls in the darkness as the dogs advanced toward him, Nate pulled hand over hand, lifting himself into the dense, and tightly-spaced branches of the pine tree.
Working feverishly to get himself high enough into the tree to be out of reach of the pack of hungry coyotes, Nate felt the crushing jaws of a coyote clamp onto his boot. The dog immediately began thrashing from side to side, in an effort to shake his grip and bring him down from the tree. Swinging his leg and slamming the dog against the trunk of the tree, Nate’s rifle was knocked loose from its precarious perch, falling to the ground and out of his reach.
The impact against the tree forced the dog loosened its grip and it fell to the ground. Nate seized the opportunity and reached up to the next branch to pull himself higher into the tree. Just as he began to lift his body upward, he felt another set of teeth clamp onto the back of his thigh, while a second dog grabbed hold of his boot tied securely to his prosthesis.
With the weight of both dogs pulling down while they thrashed about, Nate felt his grip begin to fade, but his prosthetic leg came loose and fell to the ground, taking the dog with it.
Still feeling the crushing, tearing bite of the other coyote latched to his leg, Nate locked his elbow around a tree branch and reached for his knife, drawing it from its sheath. Slashing at the dog, Nate made contact with its face over and over, trying his best to dissuade the dog from continuing its assault.
With a yelp, the dog released its bite and fell to the ground as Nate heaved upward, pulling himself safely out of reach.
Momentarily pausing his climb to rest his shaky arms, Nate looked down with his night vision to see the wounded dog writhing around on the ground in pain. Yikes, it looks like I got that little bastard good.
After a few minutes, the rest of the pack moved in closer to the tree, only now, instead of focusing on Nate above them, they seemed to have turned their attention to their wounded pack mate.
When one of the dogs snarled, exposing its teeth, the rest of the dogs followed its lead and began moving in on their wounded pack mate. Once they were within reach, the alpha male leapt onto the injured, blood-soaked animal, with the rest of the pack following suit.
Nate watched in horror as the dogs tore into their pack mate, eating it alive, tearing into its soft belly for the rich tasting fats, intestines, and organs.
That could have just as easily been me, he thought while he stared in revulsion at the gruesome scene.
Chapter Sixteen
“How long?” Yuri asked. “How long have you been in cave?”
“I… I don’t know. Maybe a few days?” Britney replied. “I’ve lost track of time. With no sunset or sunrise, it all blurs together.”
“Is one with us, now?” he asked.
“Probably. I don’t get how they do it, but they can move very quietly, and without any light at all. They seem to be at home down here.”
“I see nothing,” he complained.
“Yeah, me neither,” Britney agreed. Wanting to break the eerie silence and her haunting thoughts, she asked, “So, where are you from, Yuri?”
“I am with UF.”
“That’s not where you’re from. That’s who you’re with, now. Where did you grow up? You sound like you’re from Russia or something like that.”
“I am from Ukraine,” he replied. “I was raised by grandmother and lived with her most of life, until joining military.”
“What was her name?” Britney asked with genuine curiosity, glad to engage in what seemed to be the beginnings of regular, human interaction.
“Why you ask these things?” Yuri asked. “Why this matter?”
Pausing, Britney said, “I’d much rather spend my time getting to know you than thinking about what’s going to happen next. If I just sit here in the darkness, I feel all alone. I think about the horrors I’ve seen over the last few days. I see my parents being murdered by your friends and hear the screams of Greg and the other boy echoing through my mind. I… I just don’t want to feel alone anymore.”
Unsure how to answer, Yuri muttered, “I not join UF. I sent here from my country to work with UN as part of Security Council decree. They put us in UF. We have no way home. We have to stay. We have to serve. They tell us we keep peace and stop insurgents who kill and murder innocent people.”
“I’m sorry, Yuri, but it’s the other way around. The UF does the killing of the innocents.”
“I not see what you see. Only know what I am told,” he contended. “The same as most soldiers. Soldiers are told why enemy is bad, then they fight. We do not have luxury of choosing enemy.”
After a brief, awkward silence and wanting to change the subject, she asked, “What was her name?”
“Whose name?”
“Your grandmother, silly.”
“Her name was Zhanna. My parents died when I was very young. Father went off to fight in Afghanistan. He never come home. My mother was told he died fighting in Kumar Province.”
“What happened to your mother?”
“I was still very young. After father dies, mother went off to find work in coal and steel town of Makiivka in Ukraine. She wrote letters saying she would send money home. But never did. She stopped writing soon after. We never find out what happened. Grandmother told me she must have died because mother would not have abandoned us. Makiivka was not good place for young woman. If she not die, probably other bad things happen.”
“How old you are?” he wondered. “You sound very young.”
“I’m fourteen,” she answered.
“Very mature for such young girl,” he replied.
“I’ve had to grow up quickly since it all started falling apart.”
“Where you from?” Yuri asked.
“My parents and I were from the Nashville area, which was hit pretty hard during the beginning of the attacks. We’ve been on the move pretty much since the beginning.”
“Ah, music city,” he said. “I like your music.”
“It used to be,” she muttered.
Hearing movement on the far side of the chamber, behind Britney, Yuri asked, “You make noise?”
“No,” she whispered.
With the reminder they were not alone, their conversation gave way to silence as both Britney and Yuri listened intently for their watcher. Hearing something slip across the chamber in the darkness, they both wondered if it had left, or had merely changed positions to keep them fearing the unknown of the darkness.
While Yuri lay there chained to the floor, he thought of the suffering he’d seen and experienced in his life. He also reflected on the suffering he’d seen inflicted by governments, using him and his comrades in arms as the source of the pain.
I deserve this, he thought, acknowledging his sins against his fellow man in the name of following orders. But she does not.
~~~~
After several hours of silence had passed, Britney could hear movement coming from Yuri’s location. The movement was very slight, as if he was trying to conceal his actions.
Hearing their watcher shift across the room, she whispered, “Stop it. They can see you.”
The hairs on the back of her neck began to stand on end. She could almost sense that the figure in the darkness was on the move. She felt its presence. Her body tensed up as she felt as if the figure was hovering over her.
With the feeling of the dark, evil pre
sence moving from her, she heard something whistle through the air, followed by the sound of a thump and Yuri yelping.
“What’s happening?” she asked. The sounds of a struggle intensified with several grunts and Yuri’s chains thrashing about.
She could hear someone choking and gasping for air. The sounds of the struggle began to slow until there was one final release of air, and then silence.
Fearing that Yuri had been killed by their watcher, Britney balled up into the fetal position and began to pray for deliverance from her hell when a hand grasped her.
Recoiling in fear, she heard a familiar voice whisper, “Shhhh. Is okay. Hold still.”
Opening her eyes, she saw a momentary and faint outline of Yuri’s face in the glow of green light as he donned a night vision monocular he had taken from their watcher during the struggle.
“Hold still. I free you,” Yuri said as he worked feverishly on Britney’s restraints. Whispering, he explained, “They use night vision to move so well in darkness. I take. Now, I use it.”
“Is he…?”
“Yes, this one is dead. Now, we must go before others come.”
Feeling the chains fall free from her ankles, Britney sat up while Yuri worked on her wrist restraints. Whispering softly, she asked, “How did you do it? How did you get free?”
“Much training,” he replied. “This not first time I find myself in captivity. We prepare for such things. Things do not go well for us when captured by insurgents.”
Gently removing the restraints from her wrists, Yuri took her by the hand and helped her to her feet. Her legs were shaky from her prolonged malnourishment, and her muscles and joints were achy from being on the cold, hard, uneven rock surface since her captivity had begun.
Her heart raced as Yuri began leading her through the darkness of the chamber and toward one of the cave tunnels.
“Walk carefully,” he said, noting the uneven surface of the cave floor.
Yuri’s escape seemed too good to be true. Was this really happening? Was she simply dreaming? Her mind raced as she wondered if Yuri had been an unlikely answer to her prayers.