by A. American
“Where’s the armory?” Ted asked.
“It’s inside of this connex here, underground. There’s a set of steps that take you underground once you’re inside. All weapons and ammo are stored there.”
“What sort of weapons do you guys have? What could we be facing if these rogues get to them?” Sarge asked, keeping up the lie.
Dunlap looked at Wallace. “You know better than me.”
Wallace cleared his throat. “M4s, SAWs, a couple of Browning .50s—”
He was cut off by Mike. “Why the fuck does a law enforcement agency need .50s?”
Wallace smiled. “Just as strong, just as well equipped, remember that speech?”
Sarge bit his tongue. “I remember, what else?”
“Let’s see, everyone carries a Glock. There’s a few .300 Win mag scoped rifles and a few M320 launchers.”
“Jesus, 320s?” Mike blurted out. Sarge shot him a look telling him to rein it in.
“We mainly use them for less than lethal, they’re for gas and stuff like that,” Dunlap said.
“Do you have any lethal for them?” Sarge asked.
“Oh yeah, we got that too,” Wallace said.
“Where’s the CP?” Sarge asked. Wallace pointed it out.
Ted knelt down and pointed at a rifle magazine with sticks arrayed in a square around it. “What’s this?”
“That’s the detainment facility,” Dunlap said.
“Who’s held there?” Sarge asked.
“You know, troublemakers, people caught committing crimes. Sometimes they take people straight there from reception. I don’t know why. I’m not part of that.”
“Anything else we need to know?”
“Not really. It’s basically run like a big jail. People come in and they go out.”
“Is that how they operate, like a jail?” Ted asked. “What I mean is, that’s how the security is set up, looking in?”
“Yeah, for the most part. They do fence-line patrols, drag the roads, that sort of thing. Other than the gates, everything is focused in.”
“Thanks for the input, gentlemen. Why don’t you guys go get some rest while we get ready to move,” Sarge said.
• • •
Jess was moved back to her cell once they realized Shane’s hypothermia was no longer an issue. What she’d initially thought was going to be a horrible experience had turned out to be an almost enjoyable break from the monotony of isolation.
Shane stayed under the blankets. He expected they would take them and was surprised when they didn’t. Any time he was not under them he would start to catch a chill. Now his thoughts focused around when he would have to face Niigata again as that was surely in his future.
The door to the unit opened, and Shane listened as footsteps grew nearer. The sound of his cell unlocking was accompanied by the usual light washing in. He hid under the blankets to avoid it. Then the nurse pulled his blankets back and began to check him out: taking his temperature, checking his pulse, the usual routine. What she did not do, unlike any other health care professional, was ask him how he felt. That was irrelevant.
“How does he look?” a man’s voice asked.
“He’s getting better. Probably one more day and he’ll be back to normal. Well, nearly normal,” she said.
“You got one more day, there, sport, then you’ve got a date with your favorite person,” the man laughed. “You and him will have all kinds of fun.”
When the door closed, relief washed over Shane. Sure he had to meet Niigata again, but at least it wasn’t today. He wasn’t sure he could take it right now.
The men went to Calvin’s cell where the nurse checked him over as well. The diagnosis for him was not as positive as Shane’s.
“His ribs are healing slowly. He’s old, and old people just don’t heal that fast,” the nurse said.
“Well, how long will it take him to get healed up?” the man asked.
“It could take weeks.”
“You better hurry up, old man. They aren’t going to feed your worthless ass forever.”
Calvin didn’t respond from the floor where he was lying with his arms over his eyes. There was a lot he wanted to say, but he was in no shape to deal with the consequences.
The men continued down the row of cells. As they passed Jess’s cell, one of them banged on her door.
“Wake up!” he shouted.
The other banged on Fred’s and Mary’s cells.
“Tomorrow is the day, ladies! You’re finally going to get what’s coming to you!” the man said, then began to laugh.
“Yep, tomorrow’s your big day!” the other shouted.
Jess was immediately terrified. She tried to convince herself that she didn’t know what that statement meant, but deep down she knew. She sank against the wall.
Fred took the statement without any emotion. She’d already accepted the fact. There was no escaping from her current situation and she knew it. It’d taken time to come to the conclusion and it was hard to accept. But now that she had accepted it, there was nothing more that could affect her. She didn’t want to give the bastards the satisfaction of ruining her last hours.
• • •
Aric sat on an empty fuel drum, staring at the detention facility. He was thinking of ways to get Fred out of there—and fast. But then what? Where would they go? They’d have to leave the grounds, with no place to stay, without any food. Wait a second, he thought to himself. Looking back at the motor pool, he started to develop a plan. Kay would probably give him food, or at least turn a blind eye if he took some. He could stash it in a truck along with weapons and extra ammo. The hard part would be getting out of the camp. He’d never get through the gates with Fred in tow. He thought about how he could pull that off when an idea struck him. Right before the breakout, he would cut through both fences, opening a path. He could move a truck over to the fence, cut it open, and head to the detention center. The fence line was only about a hundred yards past the detention facility.
When Cortez and the other idiot showed up to deliver food, he’d go inside with them, as he had the other day, and shoot them both. Once they were down, he’d take the keys and get Fred out. Then he thought about the other girls. If they wanted to come, they could. If not, they were on their own. Aric hopped off the barrel and headed for the kitchen. It was still a rough plan, but it was the best one he could think of. He decided to run parts of it past Kay.
As it was between services, Aric found Kay in the dry goods storage doing an inventory. The shelves weren’t exactly overflowing.
“Hey, Kay, whatcha doing?” Aric said as he came up behind the older woman.
Kay yelled and jumped, turning around with a hand over her chest. “Aric! You scared the life out of me!”
“Oh, I’m sorry, wasn’t trying to.”
Kay smoothed her hair, composing herself. “I’m inventorying our supplies.”
Aric looked at the shelves. “Doesn’t look like there’s much here.”
“There’s supposed to be a delivery tomorrow. I was just trying to see what we have on hand.”
“Well, that’s kinda what I wanted to talk to you about.”
Kay laid her clipboard on a shelf. “What do you mean?”
Aric looked around, then quietly asked, “Is there anyone else in here?”
“No, what’s going on?” Kay asked, concern in her voice.
“Look, this needs to stay between you and me. Can you promise me that?”
“What is it? What are you talking about?”
“Will you promise me that you won’t say anything to anyone about what I’m going to tell you?”
“All right, Aric, I promise. What’s wrong?”
Aric took a deep breath. “I’m going to get Fred out.”
Kay’s eyes went wide. “What? How are
you going to do that?”
“The less you know, the better for you.”
“Then why are you even telling me? I don’t understand.”
“Because I need your help. When I get her out, we’re leaving here, and we need food.”
Kay slowly nodded her head. “I see.”
“You don’t have to give me anything. Just let me, you know, take some.”
Kay looked upset by what she was hearing. “I don’t know, I don’t want to end up over there too.”
Without even thinking, Aric blurted out, “Then come with us.”
Kay was shocked. “What? Come with you? Where are you going?”
Aric looked at the floor and shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know yet. I’ll have to figure that out. But anywhere is better than here.”
Kay looked around the kitchen. “How do you plan on getting out of here? You’re going to just try and run? They’ll catch you in no time. You need to be smart about this, Aric.”
“Well, I’m going to take a truck, so we’ll have transportation. I’m taking weapons and ammo too.”
Kay started thinking it over. The idea of getting out of camp was intriguing, but the uncertainty of what lay outside the camp’s fence was scary.
“I—I don’t know if I could, Aric. I mean, where do you plan to go? Hell, how are we going to get out of here?”
“I can get us out, I think.”
“You think! This isn’t the sort of thing we’re going to do on a hunch—either you can or can’t. Do you want to end up dead?” Kay was incredulous.
“Look, I want to get her out of there, and I’ve decided I want out of here too, and I’ll do whatever it takes to get out.”
“When are you going to do this?”
“Soon. There isn’t much time before the”—Aric swallowed hard—“execution.”
Kay thought about the situation for a minute. She’d like to be in charge of her own life too. But it was scary to think about having to try to survive without the camp. She’d been there long enough that it was the only life she knew now.
“Let me know when you’re going to do it. I’ve got to think about it.”
“What about the food?” Aric asked.
“You can take what you want. If I don’t go, I’ll just say it was stolen. If I do come, it won’t matter, will it?”
Aric smiled. “I guess not.” He wrapped his arms around the older woman. “Thanks, Kay.”
Kay patted his back. “No problem, just think it through. I don’t want you winding up dead over this.”
“Me neither, me neither.” They released their embrace and Aric added, “I gotta go, got things I need to check out, so that this is a smart plan.”
Kay nodded and Aric quickly left. Kay stood there thinking about what he’d said for a long time. It was both petrifying and exhilarating, the thought of getting out of the camp. Even though she wouldn’t admit it at the moment, she knew in her gut that she didn’t want to be here forever.
Aric went back to the motor pool to look for a truck. The Hummers were fuel thirsty, but not nearly as bad as the other options, so one would have to do. At the pool he started checking the truck, and headed to the mechanics office. He knew they kept a roster of all the vehicles and their statuses in there. While he was going through the log, he remembered something that would really help: the locker for the scavenging crew.
The locker was literally a one-stop shop for what he was planning. Why didn’t I think of this before? he thought to himself, as he surveyed the SAWs, ammo, batteries, body armor, first aid supplies, and stack of MREs inside of it. He took a quick inventory. Everything he needed was there—it would just be a matter of loading it quickly when the time came.
Returning his attention to the log, he read that one of the Hummers had recently been serviced and went to look for it in the rows of vehicles. After he found the truck, he started it up. It seemed to run just fine. Now he needed to make sure it was still there when they made the escape. There was only one way to take a truck out of service, and that was to red tag it, but he needed a reason. That’s all I need, a reason—doesn’t have to be legit, Aric thought. Going back to the mechanics desk, he looked around for anyone who might snitch on him being there. Seeing no one, he grabbed a red tag and took it back out to the truck.
Filling out the tag, he listed the default as electrical short. In the description box he wrote, shocked driver when attempting to start. Anyone other than the mechanic that saw the ticket would just move on to the next. And if the mechanic saw it, he would have to find Aric to find out what happened. Either way the truck would be there until he needed it.
With the transportation element sorted out, he breathed a tiny sigh of relief. His mission was going to easier than he’d first anticipated. He smiled to himself and headed back toward the kitchen to reassure Kay. It was there that he realized his timetable had just become a hell of a lot shorter.
Aric arrived back at the kitchen to find Cortez there, collecting meals for the prisoners in the detention center.
“’Sup, Vonasek?” Cortez asked.
“Same old shit, man, what are you up to?”
“Getting ready for the big day!” he said with a smile.
Kay and Aric both looked at him. “What big day?” Aric asked.
“Oh, you haven’t heard?”
“No, heard what?” Kay asked.
“There’s gonna be an execution tomorrow.”
“Execution? Who’s being executed?” Aric asked, playing dumb.
“Those three murdering bitches are going to be shot in front of a full assembly of the camp tomorrow.”
Aric’s head started to spin. It took considerable effort to remain on his feet, as his knees wanted to buckle. Kay was just as stunned. Her mouth was hanging open.
“Hey, man, you all right?” Cortez asked, squinting at Aric.
Aric placed a hand on the counter to steady himself. “Oh yeah, just tired. When are they going to do it?” Aric’s mind was racing, trying to figure out a way to get Fred out in the shortened timeframe.
“Tomorrow afternoon. Gonna be a firing squad, and I asked to be on it,” Cortez said as he tossed a freeze-dried pea in his mouth, smiling as he crunched it up.
Aric wanted to beat the man to death where he stood. Not shoot him, but use his own hands to inflict pain. It took every bit of restraint he possessed to stand there and look at him.
“Well, I guess I’ll see you then,” Aric said.
Cortez picked up the meals. “Get there early so you can get a front-row seat.”
Kay and Aric watched as Cortez walked out. As soon as the door shut Aric looked at Kay, tears were running down her face.
“Oh my God, what are we going to do?” Kay asked as she fought back sobs.
“I’m going to kill that bastard,” Aric said through gritted teeth.
“I can’t believe they’re going to do that.” Kay shook her head. “I just can’t believe it.”
“We have to get her out before tomorrow afternoon. Kay, please say you’ll come.”
Kay nodded her head, wiping away tears. “Yes, yes, I’ll come with you. If this is how they are going to act, I don’t want to be here. Jess was raped. He deserved it. What those girls did was right. We are going to get them all, aren’t we?”
“Of course we are. I’m not leaving any of them behind. Get ready. I’ll let you know when I am.”
She gave him another quick hug. Aric left the kitchen and headed for his room. It was time for action.
Chapter 16
We were running low on meat again. The fastest way to get some was to use the gill net in the creek to catch mullet, so we used the kayak to get the net across the river just as we did last time. The difference now was that there just didn’t seem to be any mullet in the river. We watched the creek for hours, even
going up and down the river to look for them, but we came up empty.
“I guess we need to let the net sit for a while,” Thad said.
“Yeah, let’s leave it out for the rest of the day and see if it catches anything. No use waiting here,” Danny said.
“Well, in that case, I’m going to go over to Chase’s place. I want to see if he knows of anyone around who might have taken the shots at us,” I said.
Danny adjusted his hat. “You think he’ll know?”
I shrugged. “Can’t hurt to ask. Plus, we can get out of here for a little.”
“I’m going to stay here. I don’t think I need a change of scenery,” Thad said.
“Me too, I’ll hang out with him,” Jeff said.
“You want to see if Mel and Bobbie want to go?” Danny asked.
“Sure, we’ll take the girls too. Getting out of here would be nice for everyone. We’ll take Sarge’s big buggy so we can all fit.”
Danny gave me a look. “You think he’ll care?”
“Hell no, he wouldn’t care. Plus, he ain’t here to say anything about it,” I said with a grin.
“Cool, let’s get everyone rounded up and take a ride.”
Everyone was excited to leave the camp, even if it was just for a short trip up the road. After making sure we all had our weapons, Danny and I tossed our packs into the back. I got in behind the wheel with Mel beside me and we headed out.
“This is fun!” Little Bit said, holding her hand outside the buggy.
“It is nice to get out,” Bobbie agreed.
Mel nodded her agreement. Taylor sat in the back with her face to the sky. “The sun feels good.”
Even Lee Ann seemed to be enjoying the ride. She was at least looking around, not sitting with her face buried in her arms.
The road was windswept, the only tracks on it from deer and other critters.
“We need to come hunt out here. The deer are obviously using the road a lot,” Danny said.
“Can I go hunting with you?” Taylor asked.
“We’ll see,” I replied.
“Come on, Dad, I wanna go.”
“You ever been hunting?” Danny asked.