“Sioux Falls is about eighty miles ahead,” Soares explained, zooming out the map on the recharged tablet.
“We got enough fuel left for that?” Cole asked, doing a quick mental calculation and resting on a guess that they hadn’t.
“No, not technically.”
“Technically?”
“Something the eggheads have been cooking up,” Soares explained. “It’s a refined fuel mixed with other stuff that’s supposed to go further. We don’t have much of it because they have to make the stuff by hand.”
“How does that he—”
“—when combined with the modified engines, it’ll keep us going. Half the cylinders shut off and… and to be honest, I’m not sure what else they’ve done, but I know it’s only good for ticking over the engines and is about as fast as running underwater if we needed to take off. We have to use that on the cruising stretches, but I’m really hoping to ditch these in Sioux Falls and pick up some solar hogs.”
“Solar... hogs?”
“Bikes. Like these, only with two wheels and a solar electric engine. They can recharge in the day like other batteries. Until then, w—”
He didn’t finish his words because Cole launched at him, hitting him in the chest with both hands and driving him under the branches of the trees as he pumped his legs. His right hand dropped to the gun holstered on his leg and Cole grabbed at it, stopping him from drawing the weapon as he kept pushing him until Soares fell, landing on his back with a hollow thud.
Cole’s hand clamped over his mouth as his eyes, only inches away from the older man’s, pleaded with him to remain silent.
Then they heard it clearly.
The high-pitched, hissing whine of a hovercraft shrieked in overhead to rumble along the track through the trees as the thudding resonance of the engines treated them to a weird doppler effect when it passed on.
“How the hell did you hear that coming?” Soares whispered after a minute of the two men staying frozen on the damp ground.
“How the hell didn’t you?”
“I’m old, you little shit.”
“But you can still kick my ass,” Cole added with a sideways grin.
Chapter 13
Two months after Occupation
“Try them again, Lieutenant,” Colonel Tom Mason said calmly. Inside, he was screaming, but it wouldn’t help the young air force officer to know that; he was the rock in the middle of the raging white rapids that was their control center.
“Paiute Mesa, Paiute Mesa, come back, over…. Paiute Mesa, this is Rappahannock, are you receiving us, over…”
The returning static told them the connection had been cut, forcing Tom to swipe the fingers of his right hand across his throat once. “Shut it down,” he said. “No sense in testing their DF capabilities.” He caught his brother’s eye as the congressman was loitering at the edges of the room and walked towards him.
“Direction-finding,” he explained. “Pretty sure they haven’t located us, but I don’t want to play hide and seek.” Travis nodded, shifting from foot to foot as his evident discomfort showed through.
“Relax,” Tom told him. “You look fine.” Travis smiled nervously. It had been weeks since he’d worn a tailored suit and even longer since he’d slept a whole night. The twins arrived only a week after he and Elaine showed up at the bunker disheveled from the boat ride through the wide stretches of the Potomac and with a Capitol cop riding shotgun.
“Haven’t done much TV work in a while, you know?” Travis said with a self-depreciating shrug, earning a heavy slap on his shoulder from his older brother.
“You’ll be great,” he said with an air of finality that told Travis to suck it up. “And so will Elaine and the boys.” Travis smiled at the words, beaming with pride about his and Elaine’s twin sons.
“Okay, okay,” he conceded, pushing a lazy, loving punch into Tom’s ribs, which was as close as the two men came to hugging. “Let’s do this.”
“Survivors of America,” Travis intoned solemnly. “Survivors of humanity. Eight weeks ago, we were attacked. Not by another country. Not by terrorists. But by an extra-terrestrial force, a foreign power with vastly superior weapons, an invader we must resist, must repel, must defeat at all costs.” He paused, unclenching his fist, which was partly raised from his side. He breathed out, making a show of relaxing, even if he didn’t feel it inside. He cracked a sad, crooked smile and averted his gaze from the bright lights set up behind the camera to the comfortable chair where his wife sat. She was stunning as usual, despite having had as little sleep as him, and she proudly held both boys in light blue swaddles. They slept soundly, which was the entire reason they were recording the propaganda film late at night at the only time when they were both settled.
“This is how we retaliate,” Travis said. “It is our responsibility, our duty and our honor to survive. Hide. Go off-grid. Stay underground. Never surrender, never give in, and never forget who we are.” He softened again and smiled at his family before turning to face the harsh lights and camera where his expression took on a hardened resolve.
“Never give up,” he said intensely. “Neve—” One of the babies’ faces creased up as he started to wail for no obvious reason.
“Cut! Reset, let’s go again,” came a voice from the darkness as people moved in to help Elaine comfort the boys, who were both singing as though the world had ended. Travis rubbed his face before a young woman appeared to dust at the shiny parts of his skin with a makeup brush. He sighed to himself, careful not to breathe out directly into the face of the girl standing uncomfortably close to him.
Tom has his war to fight, he thought, and this is how I do my part.
Tom sat with his elbows on his knees and his fingertips massaging his temples. A glance at his watch told him he’d been awake for a little over nineteen hours, but with two other enclaves going dark in the last hour, he didn’t see his chances of sleep improving any time soon.
“Here you go, sir,” Major Hansen said as he handed Tom a cup of coffee. Tom accepted it with a nod of thanks and took a long pull in the hope that the caffeine would reconnect his brain to his mouth. Hansen, one of the very few US Marines to make it to the bunker and the only other officer, had automatically taken it upon himself to be the colonel’s right hand, even though he was older than him by four years. Hansen showed no resentment to the fact and seemed loyal and passionate about their fight.
“Thanks,” Tom said after the first gulp of coffee had warmed him on the inside.
“You should get some rest, Colonel,” Hansen said.
“So should you, Major,” Tom countered, knowing that neither of them would capitulate unless tiredness prevented them from carrying out their roles. Those duties included mainly gathering strength and reports on numbers of citizens and forces personnel in various locations all over North America and organizing everyone to be ready to conduct a single strike of their counteroffensive to hit them where it hurt: in the big ship roving mercilessly over the eastern seaboard. The people needed something to rally behind, a leadership they could identify with, and that was where his brother came in.
“You read the intel report on Ohio?” Tom asked Hansen, sensing more than seeing the slow nod of his head in response.
“Damned traitors,” he said, anger growing in his voice. “Wouldn’t have believed it unless I’d seen the satellite surveillance footage. Our own people?”
“Yep,” Tom said coldly. “Our own people, turning on their kind and becoming foot soldiers for the freakin’ birdbrains.” He took another pull of coffee and sighed wearily.
“We need to shut out all communications to the outside world that aren’t directly routed through the control center. I can’t promise that’ll help, but…”
“Leave it with me, sir,” Hansen said. “I’ll get it done.”
Chapter 14
Tom
Dex took the flash drive from Alec, looking it over, and stepped back, clutching the compact device in his hand. “
You’re not going to kill me, right?”
Tom’s finger twitched beside the trigger of his gun. He hated to trust anyone, not like he had before. If he’d been more cautious, his brother would still be alive, and maybe, just maybe, things would be different.
Tom hadn’t realized he was gripping the gun tightly, pointing it straight at Dex. He glanced at Alec, who was watching the altercation with anger.
“Don’t do it, Tom. He’s with us,” Alec said.
“Listen to the kid. Haven’t I proved myself?” Dex asked, his hands up, his head cocked to one side.
Tom lowered the weapon, shoving it into its holster. When had he changed so much? He hadn’t always been battle hardened and so weary. He coughed, a red fleck dribbling onto his chin, and he wiped it away.
“You’re right. I’m sorry, Dex. I…I don’t know what came over me.” He stood a little taller and smiled, as if resetting himself. “You have to understand, it’s been hard trusting people, when so many of our own people have sided with the bastards. Present company included,” Tom said.
“I don’t blame you.” Dex stuck his hand out, dropping the drive into Tom’s grasp. “We did it. I hope whatever’s on there helps the cause. It might get me killed.”
“It might get all of us killed. But so will doing nothing,” Tom said. “Alec, my bag.”
The young man pressed his pack over, and Tom moved to the edge of the hallway, finding a desk there with three dusty chairs around it. He slid into one of the seats and pulled his bulky old military-grade laptop from the bag, powering it on. He impatiently tapped his fingers on the desk’s surface, waiting for the software to open up.
It blinked to life, and Tom stared at the small drive before pressing it into the port on the side of the computer. This was it. He’d been waiting a long time for this information. Something to turn the tides. Exactly what priceless information had this Trent James managed to sneak away from the Overseers?
A folder appeared, and Tom clicked it open. There were dozens of other folders, each labeled clearly. He found the Transportation file and tapped it, opening an intricate spreadsheet filled with truck lanes for moving supplies. It had over two dozen tabs showing truck numbers, their times and routes for each Occupation base. Tom scrolled through them, finding bases he’d never even heard of.
He breathed heavily as he tested other files, his smile straining his cheeks. “Bingo,” he said softly, finding a file on the Seekers and Trackers. “I think these are access codes. We’ll be able to control them.”
Dex let out a low whistle behind him, and Alec leaned over Tom’s shoulder, trying to take a better look.
“What does it all mean?” Alec asked.
“It means our plan may work after all,” Tom replied.
“Is there anything on the gateway?” Dex asked, and Tom searched.
He spent another ten minutes trying to find anything about the Detroit facility, but all he could locate were the shipping schedule details. There was nothing about the inhabitants or operations.
“Nothing that I can see here. I’ll need to spend more time on it, and I don’t think we should stick around,” Tom said, about to close the computer when he thought of something else. “I need a minute.”
He went over the files again, seeking a human personnel file. To his surprise, he found a document titled “Organizational Chart.” He opened it, revealing the names and roles of the top humans under the Overseers’ control. He didn’t have to look at it long to see the one name he’d been curious about. It stood alone at the top of the chart. Two words were typed into the sole spot: The Colonel. Of course he used a nickname, a rank he’d never earned. He was exactly the type.
Tom bristled at the man’s misuse of his old ranking. His fist clenched and he banged the desk with it, the sudden noise causing Alec to jump behind him.
“What did you see?” Alec asked.
He couldn’t tell Alec the truth, that the man he’d trusted most had sent everything into a downward spiral. People had spent the last twenty-five years telling Tom there was nothing he could have done about it, but none of that mattered. He would always feel responsible for his brother’s death, and seeing the man’s moniker at the top of the page nearly threw Tom into a white-hot rage. He took a few deep breaths, resting his hand on his chest.
“Just something from my past,” Tom said, closing the laptop. “I think it’s time we headed out.”
“You sure you’re up to it? You’re a little pale,” Dex told him without the hint of a joke.
“I’m fine. Do you understand the plan?” Tom asked the hunter.
“I’m leaving, heading south on the twenty-nine until someone from the Occupation finds me wandering around, beat up with one hell of a story to tell,” Dex said.
“Beat up?” Alec asked. “But you look fine. You have a gunshot wound and all…”
“I’m not beat up. Yet. Tom, would you do the honors?” Dex asked, and Tom felt a tightening in his stomach.
“Sure, but let’s take it outside.” The confines of the Science Centre at the Nebraska University began to bother him. He felt trapped, and after finding two sentries posted here, he wanted to leave and never return, especially given what he now had in his possession.
Alec grabbed Tom by the arm as they moved for the exit. “You can’t really be seriously considering hitting Dex?”
“Don’t worry about it, kid. I’ve been hit a few times in my life. More than a few,” Dex added.
Alec stepped in front of the larger man in a leather jacket and pushed his chest. “This is ridiculous; stop calling me a kid. I’m a man. And is all of this really necessary? Why don’t you stay with us, head to the coast? You can help our cause. Help convince whoever the hell we’re meeting with to join our forces.”
Tom watched Alec from the corner of his eyes. It was about time the young man showed some initiative. But he was wrong about this one.
“Sorry, Alec. Won’t work. They’d likely kill him on sight,” Tom advised them. “Plus, I’ve given Dex another task, one I can’t accomplish without his help.”
“Then he can return to Cripple Creek. Join them,” Alec said, his voice pleading.
“Kid… Alec, I have a role to play. And I’ll be in Detroit when I’m told to be there. So will you. Don’t stress it. I’ll be interrogated, but I’m good. And if the worst case happens, then I’ll be dead and won’t have to worry about this shit any longer,” Dex said, his words calm and straightforward.
“That’s the problem. We have too many people willing to accept their fate. No more. I’m not settling for this world any longer.” Alec shoved the man again, and Dex let him. Alec turned his attention on Tom and the man realized he wasn’t going to be passed over by his nephew’s outburst. “And you. You come up with these plans and never fully fill anyone in on the end result. I get that you want to shut the gateway, but why can’t you tell me who this group on the coast is? Why didn’t you give Cole more than a rough map and an idea?”
“Soares will take care of him,” Tom said softly.
“And what if Soares is killed? What then? Cole’s on his own with nothing but a vague direction to head. And Lina… she hardly seems the type to convince an army to join the Reclaimers. What’s your game here, old man?” Alec asked, the title stinging Tom’s ego.
He took the tirade, letting the man blow off steam. Tom knew he deserved it. “I’m not trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes. I’m just… reluctant to give away too much.”
“Don’t you trust us?” Alec asked. Tom flashed a look at Dex, who stepped toward the exit.
“Everyone’ll fulfill their roles, and if they don’t, we always have a secondary plan,” Tom said.
“Which is?” Alec asked.
Tom shrugged.
“See. You won’t even give an answer again. I’m sick of your crap, Tom. Why did you ever have to show up in my life?” Alec asked. “Without you, I’d be at the facility, Beth would be alive, and I wouldn’t have any idea t
here was another world out here. I wouldn’t think there was a chance, and when we fail, I wouldn’t ever have needlessly felt the hope.”
“Without hope, there’s nothing,” Tom told him.
“Another line of crap. If you want people to follow you, you’re going to need more than conjecture and hand waving to make it happen,” Alec said.
“I don’t need to.”
“Why? You haven’t explained anything,” Alec said, the wind nearly blustered out of his sails.
“I have you and Cole on my side. That’s all I’m going to need,” Tom told him.
Alec punched a locker, denting it. He pulled his hand away, rubbing his fist. “I’m going to need more than that. Why are we so important?”
“I can’t tell you. I’ll have to show you,” Tom said with finality.
“Then show me,” Alec demanded. “Show me why we are so damned special!”
Tom took a step toward his nephew, but Alec moved away. “I can’t right now. In due time.”
“In due time. I’m growing tired of your mantra. I’ll be at the Jeep.” Alec walked away, leaving Dex and Tom alone in the foyer.
“The kid has a point,” Dex said.
“Shut up,” Tom told him. “No one asked you, Hunter.”
“You still want to beat me up?” Dex asked, tapping his chin.
“Gladly.” Tom clenched his fist.
Chapter 15
Lina
Five days, or more accurately, nights on the move had left both humans exhausted and their four-legged companion bored.
They went through the same routine every day: move out at dusk with one eye on the sky and another on the tablet in case the colored dots began homing in on them, travel all night and find somewhere to shelter in the pre-dawn light. Although they carried rations, Lina continued to set traps like Cole had shown her, but they weren’t always as effective as his.
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