Foamers

by Justin Kassab

  A rusty hinge creaked, drawing her attention. The van door flung open and knocked her to the ground. Her rifle clattered away and warm blood ran from her nose. Brian climbed out with his rifle trained on her forehead. “Do you know from this distance it will take the top of your head clean off? You’d have been our queen.”

  Tiny knew well what would happen at this range. She knew that and so much more. During her time as a combat medic she had seen more carnage than she had ever thought possible. She knew what a rocket did to a person if it hit him directly. She knew what places a bullet would instantly kill the target. She knew immediately if she could save someone or not, and she knew no matter what she still had to try. She knew what an IED did to her squad. She knew the way it would shred flesh like butter. She knew what it was like to have one of her men bleed out in her hands. She knew what it was like to watch her friends get zipped up in a black bag. She knew death and she was not afraid of dying.

  Grace stopped on the other side of Tiny. She held her double barrel in a white knuckle grip. “Brian, what the hell are you doing?”

  Brian’s white sneer could be seen even in the darkness. “It was such a good plan. Kill the men. Keep the women. Take the supplies.” He pointed a finger at Tiny. “You ruined it.”

  Brian aimed down the sight.

  Tiny kept her eyes wide open, watching the barrel and waiting for an opening. She wasn’t going to die here at his hands. All it would take was the right moment. He had the advantage, but that didn’t mean he had the victory. Her chest rose and fell with quick breaths.

  Brian’s finger rested on the trigger. Tiny sensed her opening wasn’t coming.

  Grace screamed and pulled both triggers, tearing a double blast of thunder through her brother. His mangled body dropped to the wet pavement. The double-barrel shotgun crashed and bounced off the road. Grace squatted, sobbing into her hands.

  Tiny’s breathing leveled out as she composed herself and sat up. She grabbed her rifle as her eyes darted between Brian’s shredded body and Grace’s double barrel.

  Grace’s wet hair stuck to her crying face. “What the hell is happening?”

  Tiny moved beside Grace. “Kade, Lucas, and your brothers are dead.”

  Grace shook her head. “No, no, no.”

  “I’m sorry,” Tiny said, laying a comforting arm around a girl she hardly knew.

  Grace showed her half-moon of puncture wounds. “The dog bit me when I checked Kade’s pulse. He’s alive.”

  Tiny was on her feet, hobbling as fast as she could. The pain of her mangled leg radiated through her with each stride and made her wish she could move faster. She leapt over Will and dropped to the ground beside Kade. She propped his head in her lap and placed two fingers on his jugular. Argos rose from under the bus and growled at her. She glared back at the dog, which went silent and watched her. She could hear her own heart rush in confirmation of his pulse.

  She let out a nervous laugh, inspecting the bloodless holes in Kade’s army-green jacket. She unzipped the jacket and grabbed two fistfuls of the undershirt. Tearing it open she revealed two bullets stuck in a Kevlar vest. She leaned down and kissed Kade’s lips, a joyous smile spreading across her face. For everything that had just happened, this was the one piece of hope she needed. Kade was still with them. They hadn’t lost him. She hadn’t lost him.

  Mick jogged around the front of the bus. “I couldn’t find her.”

  “She’s on our side. Kade’s alive,” Tiny replied.

  The corners of his mouth pulled, almost as if he could smile, before they turned down. “Lucas isn’t.”

  Mick took a step, then stopped and stared at the end of the bus. Grace came toward them, slow and skittish, like a wild animal wandering into a campsite.

  She waited at the back of the bus and watched Mick storm off, his mud-covered face now streaked with tears. He had seen death before, even of those he loved, but this rattled him to the core. This wasn’t murder—something he understood as a police officer—this was war, an area in which he had no expertise. For the first time, Mick recognized just how scared he was of the Primal Age.

  * * *

  Kade bit his fingernails until his cuticles bled. They hadn’t moved since the attack, and he still hadn’t heard from X or Ashton, although Tiny reassured him they were just out of range. No need to alarm them with what happened.

  Kade still didn’t understand what happened, other than the fact that his chest hurt like someone went at it with a baseball bat. The bruise already had formed over most of his sternum. Mick wasn’t willing to talk about what had happened, and was taking his frustration out on the ground while he dug a grave for Lucas. Each metallic ring of the shovel was louder than the last. However, Mick had taken the time to make the argument that Grace was still a threat, so Kade volunteered to watch her until they were sure of her intent.

  Tiny and Victoria were salvaging what they could from the cop car, while Kade watched Grace replace the flat tire on the SUV. Argos was traveling between the groups, as if keeping tabs on everyone.

  He knew Lucas and the Wilson Brothers were dead, and his team had given him the broad strokes of what had happened. No matter how much he was told, he felt he would always be in the dark.

  Grace’s hands shook and she lost her grip on the tire iron, which landed on the cup of lug nuts. The lug nuts flew out in every direction, clanging off the ground and scattering into the darkness.

  Grace snatched the tire iron and smashed it repeatedly off the ground. After a half dozen bashes, she sat back and wept into her hands. Kade sat down beside her putting his shoulder against hers. He set his shotgun on the ground opposite Grace.

  “Did you ever see A Christmas Story?” Kade asked.

  Her fingers parted and she looked at him with one eye.

  “In that the kid said fudge, but he didn’t actually say fudge when he spilled the nuts,” Kade said.

  “What did he say?” Grace asked, still hiding behind her hands.

  “You’ve really never seen it?”

  “We weren’t the holiday type.”

  “I wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise then,” Kade said.

  Grace dropped her hands and glared at him. “Do you really think I’m ever going to get the chance to see it?”

  “I don’t honestly know, but I do know I am worried about Ash and X. And I know that if I talk about anything it takes my mind off of them,” Kade said.

  “My brother shot you. You could be dead right now. One of your friends was killed. I killed one of my brothers. How can you find any way to distract your mind with all of that going on?”

  “Practice.”

  “Practice?”

  “Yes, practice. Ironically I used to use the Primal Age as my playground of distraction.”

  “The Primal Age?”

  “Yeah, sorry I forget not everyone calls it that. There’s a book called The Doomsday Doctrine. A handbook for the different possible end of the world scenarios, and it calls the overall concept of Armageddon, the Primal Age.”

  “You’ve been prepping for this?”

  Kade laughed and ran a hand through his h
air. “I don’t think anything could have prepared me for this.”

  He heard the shovel strikes of Mick’s frustration. No amount of studying, theory, or even practice could have given him a practical application of surviving in the Primal Age. He rubbed the sore spot on his chest. He wasn’t prepared for this. The possibility of the Wilsons turning on them hadn’t crossed his mind. They had met in a standoff, but seemed to work well enough together. If they had planned to attack, he didn’t know why they didn’t when he gave them their guns back.

  “Grab a flashlight, and we’ll find those nuts. You already have one on, so as long as we find two more we’ll be good to go,” Kade said.

  It took them a few minutes to locate the lug nuts, but eventually they secured the spare tire. When they finished, Kade grabbed his shotgun. The action caused Grace to flinch.

  “What’s wrong?” Kade asked.

  “Part of me thinks that the hole your friend is digging is going to be for me,” Grace said.

  “Why would I have you fix the tire before I killed you?”

  “So, you didn’t have to fix the tire.”

  “Good point, but we’re not going to kill you.”

  Tiny strolled over, interrupting their conversation.

  “Mick’s ready for us,” Tiny said.

  “We really should be getting back on the road,” Kade said, as the three of them made their way toward the overturned cop car.

  “I know you are anxious to catch up to Ash, but we will do better if we bury Lucas,” Tiny replied.

  They continued walking in silence, and Kade felt guilt sprouting in his conscious. When he had told Tiny not to worry about Lucas’s confession, it might just blow over, this wasn’t the intended result he had hoped for. Lucas was their most valuable resource, and now they had lost him. He had died. He was dead.

  The situation had blown over.

  When they reached the grave, Mick had Lucas’s body beside the hole. Victoria stood next to the cop car, as the other three filled in around the grave.

  Kade joined Mick, and they grabbed opposite ends of Lucas’s corpse and lowered him into the shallow grave. This was the first time Kade had seen Lucas’s body. He looked normal except for everything was missing between his nose and chin. Mick draped an emergency blanket over the body and began shoveling the pile of dirt into the grave.

  “If anyone has anything to say, now’s the time,” Mick said, keeping his eyes on the spade.

  The night was silent as they waited for the first one to speak. Kade noticed Tiny’s tears, but didn’t want to draw any attention to them.

  “Lucas was a great friend, and prepper. I felt much safer having him along, and he will be missed by all,” Kade said.

  “In my brief time with Lucas he seemed like a really smart guy, and I’m sorry I didn’t get to know him better,” Grace added.

  Tiny wiped her eyes. “No one in my life ever showed they cared like he did.”

  “He was-” Mick said, resting on his shovel. “I never-”

  Mick threw down the shovel and stormed toward Grace. She froze as he closed the distance. Kade rushed to intercept Mick’s charge, but Mick stiff armed his bruised chest, which dropped him to the ground.

  “This is your fault,” Mick growled as he threw Grace to the ground.

  Grace positioned herself belly down, protecting herself in case of a beating.

  “Your fault.” Mick drew his pistol, and that was all Kade needed to fight through his pain.

  Kade couldn’t find enough air to get to his feet, but he scurried on all fours until he could block the line of fire.

  “Mick. Holster your gun, now,” Kade said, glaring into the barrel.

  Tiny snagged Mick’s wrist and raised his aim above the other two.

  “It’s her fault,” Mick said, as he buried his face into Tiny’s shoulder.

  Kade took a deep breath to compose himself. He had lost his parents over the years, which made him practiced at loss. The initial shock, the following rage, the nothingness, and then the normalcy with the occasional phantom pain were all things he understood. Losing Lucas hurt him too, but he was able to recognize the stages he was going through. He didn’t expect Mick to be able to take the loss in stride, but he also couldn’t afford Mick losing his head over one of their deaths. In all likelihood it wouldn’t be the last.

  “Grace, go to the van,” Kade ordered rising to his feet. “Now.”

  Without saying a word, Grace scrambled away.

  “Victoria, get back to the ambulance. We are leaving in five,” Kade said.

  “I’m just going to grab a bottle of water from the bus quick,” Victoria said, as she walked away.

  Kade strode up to Mick and Tiny. He pulled the pistol from Mick’s hand.

  “Mick, we all lost a friend. I can’t have you lose your head over it,” Kade said.

  Mick separated from Tiny. “You don’t get—”

  “I don’t care what I don’t get. You’re going to drive Lucas’s SUV the rest of the way. By now X and Ash have a huge lead on us. What I do care about is you pull it together so we can catch them,” Kade said.

  Mick took the handcuffs from his belt and handed them to Kade. “For your own protection.”

  Kade took the keys, while Mick trudged toward the convoy.

  “Was I too harsh?” Kade asked.

  “I don’t think so. I am surprised at how he’s taking this,” Tiny replied.

  Kade shook his head. “You got Argos with you?”

  “Yeah. We owe that dog a huge thanks. If it wasn’t for him and Grace, we’d all be dead,” Tiny said.

  Kade tapped his chest. “Seems I owe Jem my life for more than one reason.”

  “Let’s catch up to your sister before she falls for X’s outlaw charm.”

  “Not funny.”

  Kade and Tiny made their way back to the convoy. At the top of the embankment, Kade looked back at the spot where his friend would stay forever and gave him a farewell wave.

  When he got to the van, he felt like the handcuffs had become an anchor in his hand. He wanted to trust Grace, but he didn’t know what she was capable of doing. She had killed her brother, and Mick’s warnings were still echoing in his head. He had no idea if trusting her or trusting caution would pay off in the end.

  CHAPTER VI

  SPEED BUMPS

  ___________

  Xsped along, the lights of the sports car slicing through the darkness, illuminating the trees that had shed their foliage. The dotted yellow line in the center of the road went by so fast, it seemed solid. This was probably the last time X would ever get to drive a fast car. There were many things he looked forward to in the Primal Age: no job, no taxes, and no cops besides Mick. However, there were some things that he would miss from the Old World. Expensive cars that could go fast—they ranked high on the list along with movie theater popcorn, beautiful women, and cold beer.

  “Is that the best you can do?” Ashton said, reclined in the red passenger seat.

  “Don’t want to get out of range of your brother.
He’ll think I’ve pulled off to the side of the road and raped you.” He took the walkie from the cup holder.

  “It’s not rape if they’re willing,” Ashton replied.

  X searched for any indication she was kidding, but her stone-faced delivery gave none. “Ha. Ha. Good joke.”

  She still showed no response. He shook his head, trying to keep out thoughts that would piss off Kade. He held down the call button. “X to Kade.”

  When the button released, the usual static wasn’t there. X tossed the walkie onto Ashton’s lap. She shot up in her seat, startled. He gave her a wink. “Mind checking what’s wrong with the walkie?”

  Ashton twisted the channel nob. “It must have got bumped off the right channel.”

  She handed it back, and he held the button. “Coolest man alive to Mopey.”

  “I bet he’s freaking out right now,” she said with a look of amusement.

  X had a feeling she was right. As tough and uncaring as Kade appeared to the world, X knew him better. If anything, Kade cared too much. Kade felt a friend’s pinprick like his own seppuku. X hoped they could make it a long time before they had casualties. Any loss would have Kade questioning his leadership abilities, and frankly, they didn’t have anyone better.

  “Can you check the GPS? See if I can let him know where we are?” X asked.

  Ashton pulled the small cube out from the center console and scanned the map. X wondered how long they would have the relics of civilization. Power was still on everywhere they had stopped; satellites were still feeding signals; even the plumbing at Sheetz still worked. Would they have a day, a week, a month, or maybe a year before it was all gone?

  “I’m not sure where we are. It looks like we should be coming to a river soon,” Ashton replied, holding the GPS screen so X could check.