by Chogan Swan
“Kaitlin.”
“Kaitlin, the first thing you need to remember is never hand anyone a loaded gun. The second thing is that if you do, you do it like this.” She held the .45 out in her fist, trigger next to her body, fingers wrapped around the cylinder and the barrel pointing downward. “Also, even when it isn’t loaded, you treat it like it is.”
Amber checked the grip, it was dented and spattered with gummy, congealing blood, but still intact. “It should work.” she said. “You’ll want to clean it with oil. The last owner probably has a cleaning kit somewhere around here with the instructions still in it. Or, there might be one in the store inside. Keep it cleaned or the barrel will collect lead deposits. If you can’t find a gun kit, you can shove an oily rag back and forth through the barrel. Use a wire hanger that you put tape around so it won’t scratch. When you fire, this thing will kick like a mule, and some bullets are hotter and will kick like two mules. Read the number of grains on the box if you find a box, the more grains, the more kick. Don’t use a box that says ‘Cowboy action loads' for defense if you can help it, they are too light-grained, but if you have to, just shoot whoever needs killing a few more times. If you are practicing with them, which I recommend, just remember they won’t kick as much. Oh yeah, it won’t fire .45acp, and don’t use 410 shotgun shells, ever.”
Amber hit the release and flipped the cylinder down to drop it out, dumping the cartridges in her hand, checking them as she reloaded. “These are the Cowboy loads I mentioned,” she said. “When shooting, wait till your target is close enough to hit. That will be ten yards for you at first.”
She turned her head to Kest. “Live demonstration round,” she called then turned back to Kaitlin. “Right now, I’m checking the sights for you so I can let you know what the sights should look like when you shoot.” Amber assumed a solid shooting stance. “You should hold it two-handed like this, with stiff arms and squeeze the handle hard to keep it from getting away from you when you shoot. By getting away, I mean flying back and knocking your teeth out.”
Amber picked an aluminum soda can that was sitting in the dirt down the highway about fifty feet away for a target and squeezed the trigger. The gun roared, releasing a cloud of smoke, and the can flew back about ten feet. “The sights are on target; this is what it should look like.” Amber talked Kaitlin through the site picture and then had her hold the gun.
“Okay, you’re ready. Put the sites on the letter O on that wooden sign over there. Just think of it as one of the raping bastards that caught you and fire when ready.”
Kaitlin cocked the hammer back and fired. Her body jerked. The gun came up, but she’d made a quarter-sized hole in the sign close to the letter O and she cocked and fired again and again.
“Not a bad grouping,” said Amber. “You ever shoot before?”
Kaitlin shook her head.
“Good, that means you won’t have to break bad habits.”
Amber walked her through the mechanics of the gun and gun safety. “If you remember that the gun is the last thing you want to use, for when you can’t get away from trouble, it will help you stay alive. Otherwise, it's more likely to get you killed. Do you understand?”
Kaitlin nodded, eyes grim
“Ok, now you can return the favor by getting these people to help me get all these bodies over here. Don’t worry, they won’t wake up.” Amber nodded to herself. She’d just given Kaitlin better emotional therapy than a year of trauma counseling, what with today’s new reality.
Kest came out of the store carrying a satchel. “An EMT jacket was hanging at the back of the store. When I checked out back, this was in the 4x4. I guess the owner was an EMT before these guys made him a corpse and took his store.” He dropped the bag next to her. “Ten cold packs, surgical tubing, IV needles.” He plopped another bag next to it. “And a three gallon insulated cooler bag.”
“I need as many empty water bottles with caps as you can round up. If you need to, pour the water into something else so it isn’t wasted, but I need the bottles. I’ll take any plastic bottles you can find with caps.” Amber glanced back at the store as she worked. “Do you think she’s about done in there?”
“Soon, she said.”
Amber pulled the shirtless cowboy onto the plank she’d found in the truck and lifted the end that held his feet to rest it on the tailgate.
The rest of the bodies were lining up as the freed slaves, wearing whatever clothes they’d been able to find, dragged them from the places they’d fallen. Amber opened the medical bag, pulled out an IV needle and a length of tubing and slid the tubing over the needle’s receptacle. She took an antiseptic wipe from the bag and wiped the skin over the internal jugular vein. The body’s head-down position had popped it up to make it an easy stick.
“No, Amber.”
Amber turned to see Ayleana walking through the door of the convenience store, dragging the last gang member, who must have been in the store. She stopped beside the yuppie still constrained by zip ties.
“If you promise not to wake her, I’ll let you go.”
“I won’t wake her.”
“She’ll wake on her own in an hour.” Ayleana used the small knife still grasped in her tail to slice through the plastic straps. “Remember; let her wake on her own.” Ayleana turned to the older couple sitting on the bench in front of the store. “Mr. and Mrs. Handy, would you mind sitting on the bench inside where my patient is recovering. Mrs. Handy would be more comfortable in there, and I’d like to be sure my instructions are followed.”
“Of course, and thank you for saving us, ma’am,” Bernard said.
“Yes, dear,” said Bernice. “Thank you, and I must say that I’m terribly jealous of your anatomical advantage. So very useful, isn’t it?”
“You are more than welcome, and thank you.” Ayleana grinned and continued to the truck, slinging the body she dragged to land in line with the rest. She turned to Kaitlin who’d been standing next to Amber ever since her work crew had finished their job. “Kaitlin, I’m Ayleana, I saw work boots in the store that I think will fit you. Get them before someone else does. They are on the top back shelf on the right. Also, would you stay to make sure my patient is not disturbed? I suspect her husband may not listen to Bernard, but I suspect that you and your Peacemaker will get his attention. If you have to shoot him, make sure no one else is in the line of fire.”
Kaitlin nodded, “I’ll do it, but—”
“Will you also oversee having these bodies burned when we go? We don’t have time to stay for that. You asked Amber to come with us. Do you still want to follow?”
Kaitlin nodded, her chin tense with resolve.
“Then I’ll try to get two friends of mine to pick you up here.”
Ayleana pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. “Amber and Kest, satellite is coming online in thirty seconds. Do you have anything urgent to say to Daniels?”
“Be careful and remind Drew of our date,” Amber said.
“Nothing urgent,” Kest said.
Ayleana’s thumbs danced across the keyboard screen until she hit the send icon. After a few moments watching the screen, she put the phone back in her harness. “Message received and seen,” she said. “He made it then. I hope he and Drew are getting along.”
Ayleana turned to Kaitlin. “I can’t be sure how long it will take them to get here, but he is competent, and will try to come as soon as he can. If you are here when he arrives, you’ll be in good company. People are heading to the store, and you are the law here now. Go get your boots and keep order.”
“Okay, I will.” Kaitlin turned to hurry to the store. A few moments later, her voice cut through the air with the ring of authority. “Okay, people, Ayleana made me the law here. So, no grabbing and hoarding. The patient over there needs to sleep for an hour. Everybody go out in groups of three with at least one other person and search all the cars in the area for supplies. Each group takes a gun from the ones the mostly dead guys had keeping guard. Take
five of these shopping baskets per group to hold supplies. I’ll bang on the metal drum outside when the patient wakes, and then we can bring supplies back and sort them out. Pull those baskets outside. Everyone can take one water bottle. Drink it now and take the bottles to Amber....”
The yuppie spoke up. “Come on people, why does she get to appoint the law?”
“She also told me to shoot you if you gave any trouble. And, since I’m not sure if that was starting trouble, yet, I’ll let you go sit on the bench outside till your wife wakes up... if you go fast.”
Indistinct voices.
“Amber is the hot girl with the caramel complexion who doesn’t have a tail. Take them to her.”
Amber laughed. “You picked a good sheriff, Aylie.”
“You were the one that picked her when you gave her the gun. I just agreed with your choice.”
“Seemed a good idea. Kaitlin’s the one who needs a gun the most, being a young, pretty target. But, why did you stop me?
“Because I’m not letting anyone else take responsibility for this. Since I defeated them in battle, I’m entitled to the blood in an emergency. And, though you may think it a technicality, I don’t. Taking their lives, that’s on me.”
“Well, it isn’t a job for two hands, and I don’t think a tail will help. Do you want me to at least move the tube and fill the bottles?”
“Just open the bottles and stand them up where the tube will reach for me. You can close them when they are full and put them in the coolers.
Amber watched as Ayleana, IV needle in one hand and tube in the other, inserted the needle in the cowboy’s external jugular and worked her way through the bottles. When finished, she tossed his body across the road into a depressed rocky area and picked another body from the lineup.
“Kest, would you move the water from my hydration pack to yours and Amber’s? I’ll need that room too.”
“Sure,” he said with a voice that betrayed his inner torture at watching this. Then, he stepped over to unstrap the pack for her and touched her arm.
Ayleana stiffened at the contact for a second, but relaxed when she looked in his eyes.
Amber felt her throat tighten and swallowed hard. Where was the bouncy nine-year-old waif in a pre-pubescent thirteen-year-old body? She loved that child. Was she still hanging on in there? Even if Amber couldn’t see her, she had to believe she was.
Chapter 41 — Roswell Bypass
After struggling to get around Dallas, the highways and countryside surrendered to their wheels, clocking along at 150 klicks an hour. Ayleana reminded herself to slow down for Kest and Amber’s safety. They swung north on Hwy 84 at a little town called Roscoe to avoid El Paso and so they could stop at the Mescalero Reservation. Kest wanted to bring news and carry messages on to the tribal nations farther west. After they crossed the border into New Mexico, they stopped at every abandoned car to top off. The cars were more spread out now—about one every fifty klicks—and most of those were already scavenged. The collapsible tank was more often empty than not.
Kest said he wanted to stop in Roswell just to see if they met anyone Ayleana knew. Ayleana pointed out that they'd have to wait for a five-day greeting ritual if any of the aliens there were Dymba passing as Mustangs. After considering, Kest settled for bypassing Roswell’s flying saucer community but leaving word for Daniel’s family that Daniel was alive and safe in Germany.
They’d managed to collect a few more cold packs from first aid kits foolishly abandoned by motorists. Ayleana was still consuming blood at an alarming rate. They'd filled her three-liter hydration pack, packed six gallons in the insulated bags and fit other bottles filled with blood into randome spaces in their luggage containers. In addition, she'd drunk as much as possible before they’d the left the store where they had rescued the people from the gang of parasites. Still, she fought the craving and struggled to conserve the supply. Everything she drank seemed burn up in the wildfire within her. Already, she’d finished ten of the unrefrigerated half-liter bottles.
She felt strong. Since her night with Drew, she'd grown seven centimeters taller and had adjusted the suit of body armor three times.
Worried about the things happening in her body, she’d texted Tiana for advice, but the next time she might get an answer back was still three hours distant.
The town of Mescalero in the Apache Territory seemed deserted. They finally found someone at the library, one of the tribal police, guarding the books with a shotgun. He had no news of what was going on, but Kest asked him to tell Daniel’s mother that Daniel was safe.
Outside Las Cruces, they pulled off the side of the road next to a round storage tank decorated by space murals and large models of NASA space shuttles. An abandoned car offered them a top off and Ayleana turned on her phone for the satellite broadcast about to pulse to everyone on their network.
Her message from Tiana warned her of several things. The Rio Grande crossing on Highway 70 was barricaded by a militia group, but there was a crossing to the north they could still use to bypass them. US military ground forces were building up in Tucson, and the obvious targets were the reservations in the area. Thanks to Kest’s warning, thousands of Native Americans had avoided capture and filtered home. Many of them with weapons, vehicles and tactical equipment, but the Deep State was manipulating it for propaganda worldwide. The Tucson buildup made getting to Puerto Peñasco from that direction impossible. Instead, they were to go to the border crossing at Agua Prieta.
Tiana’s diplomatic contacts with Mexico had brokered an escort through the checkpoint, if Ayleana could avoid Homeland Security patrols to the border.
In an ironic turn of events, Mexico had closed its borders with the US to control the tide of refugees trying to get out of the southwestern states. Mexico was further from the EMP detonation than any place in the US. The Mexican power grid was only lightly affected. Tiana's last warning said to avoid conflict, extreme physical exertion and erotic pleasure after the first threshold encounter.
Ayleana thought back on her activity since threshold and considered that she had already missed on all three. Drew had proved a fast learner at nii pleasure requirements for females and the time in the SUV while Kest and Amber slept had broken both of the last two points and maybe some of the first.
Oops.
Tiana text scolded her for not coming to her on first noticing the onset. But since it happened at the reception after the premier and Tiana had been on spy duty, Ayleana felt she had some excuse. Tiana's nose should have already told her about Ayleana's condition, so Tiana was being unreasonable. That, by itself, was cause for concern. Ayleana couldn't remember Tiana being worried enough to lose perspective that way.
No one had warned Riniana Tiana about any of these matters when she’d gone through it. So Ayleana had assumed it wasn't a concern. Thinking back on it though, Riniana Tiana was much more closely monitored, and her family made sure all those things happened, without being clear about why or what would happen if not.
Ayleana snorted. So far, her memories of an alternate life had been an uninformative pain in the ass, but at least she’d gotten to remember Riniana Tiana seeing her family and friends before going to war.
Ayleana took the last of the unrefrigerated half-liter bottles and sniffed it before emptying it down her throat. Then, she put the cap back on the bottle, shook the last drops to the end and licked them off the threads. “Slight change of plans,” she said, stepping back onto the bike.
~~~{}~~~
The militia sent a squad to barricade the other bridge as well by the time they reached the northern crossing of the Rio Grande, but it wasn't blocked yet.
Ayleana led a charge across the span at high speed. Throttle locked while keeping the squad pinned down with the Glock 40. She used the thirty-round magazine extender to make sure she didn’t run out of bullets until they crossed the bridge. When they passed the unfinished barricade, Kest passed her his gun—equipped the same way—so she could cover them as th
ey made their exit. Eyes that operated independently were a big advantage when both shooting and escaping at 130 KPH.
The reason the militia was trying to block the bridges in the first place was still a mystery. Ayleana was just glad she hadn’t killed anyone this time. It wasn’t exactly avoiding conflict, but at least she’d managed to avoid mayhem.
The temperature climbed to ninety degrees Fahrenheit, and Amber and Kest were almost out of water by the time they reached the Arizona border. Ayleana expressed a liter of milk for them. At least she wasn’t short on fluids with all the blood she’d been drinking.
They stopped again outside of Douglas Arizona since it was time for another satellite update.
After Ayleana read it out to them, Amber scratched her head. “The border crossing is too jammed up, so we’re going over the fence? Did I hear that right?”
“Yes, Tiana even sent little drawings of how to do it too. Three guys from SST will take the bikes away so we don’t leave evidence when we go over at the wall across from the baseball stadium. Tiana will have someone meet us there.”
“I saw the drawings,” Amber said with a snort. “Aylie, I know you are strong, especially for your size, but I’m six-feet tall and weigh seventy-two kilograms without body armor, clothes, sidearms, water pack and ammo. None of which I’m willing to part with even though it weighs about eighteen kilograms more. Kest is just as heavy, and he’s carrying all the same stuff. How the hell are you going to do that?” She pointed to the drawing of the figure standing at the base of a wall with fingers linked to provide a catapult. In the drawings, two other figures ran to the wall and leaped from the linked hands to the top of the wall to make a crossing.
“Haven’t you noticed what’s been happening to her body since yesterday?” Kest said. “Amber, Ayleana has been getting taller fast for at least the six months since we met, and now she’s as tall as you and probably weighs more. This threshold thing that is kicking her ass is also putting her body in high gear. Besides, she and I have done this move for fun when we do parkour. I know you can make that wall with what you have on if you can grab the top. The drawings say the wall is only twelve-feet and it's not razor-wired at the top. Let’s try. If we don’t make it, we’ll regroup.”