“What's going on in there? You two getting comfy?”
They showed him the note, removing all the humor from his face.
Liam expected Mr. Lee to make a decision immediately, but he surprised him by asking for his opinion.
“You've dealt with this guy before. What do you think we should do?”
Liam looked over at Victoria before answering. She gave him a slight nod, reinforcing his own notions.
“I...uh, we think we have to take it. If Hayes is coming back he probably won't just leave us alone in Camp Hope. It would be better to have this on our side. Maybe it will be a bargaining chip.”
Victoria finished his thought. “Plus, we can use it in the interim. No sense letting it sit out here doing nothing.”
And that set in motion the extraction process. The Boy Scouts were professionals at organized tasks, and under Mr. Lee's leadership they had the MRAP back on solid ground in under an hour. The ladders proved to be too fragile for the huge truck, but they were able to drag some nearby logs and wedge them under the tires. Mr. Lee and one of the dad's had also brought a winch in the wheelbarrow—he pulled it off a Jeep—and bolted it on the front bumper. They needed every advantage to get it out of the deep, muddy ruts.
The whole group packed in the vehicle and returned south on the dirt path. Melissa intimated she had driven one before, so she was the designated driver.
“This will come out on the blacktop road, and then we can re-enter the camp at the main gate.” Mr. Lee's tone hinted at saying something more.
Liam gave him a look in response.
“Well, it's just—”
He sat on the rear bench seat with everyone else. He looked down when he resumed talking. “I hate to complicate things. We really need this thing. But I should tell you the council instructed me not to try to salvage it.”
That shut everyone up.
“Is that why you had us go get this before letting us go to the camp? Liam's father really needs medical attention,” Victoria wondered.
Mr. Lee ran his hand through his hair. “Look, I'm sorry. You'll see when we get there why I needed to do this. The council never leaves their fortress. They don't know what's happening out here. The whole place is going to collapse if we don't defend ourselves.”
A few minutes later Mr. Lee spoke as if he forgot something important. “Don't worry about your parents, I had them sent to the infirmary as we were leaving.”
It made Liam feel a little better.
The ride was short. The only excitement was running over a couple zombies wandering the wooded path at exactly the time the truck was passing through. They finished the short ride on the paved road before they were at the front gate area. Mr. Lee invited Liam to stand up with him so they could both look forward and watch as they arrived at the camp.
Liam saw how much the atmosphere had changed.
The field near the front gate had a few cars parked in it when he left. Now the field was completely full and dotted with tents, campers, and canopies of every shape and size. It was hard to tell how many people were there. Hundreds at least. They were technically outside the formal property of the Scout camp, but adjacent to it.
They pulled up to the front gate. The last time he'd been through here, the entrance was called a gate, but it was really just a road intersection. Now there was a line of cars parked lengthwise to keep any vehicles from turning in and driving up the valley into Camp Hope.
Mr. Lee moved to the front so he could wave at the boys manning the front gate, and then he opened the door slightly to yell down at the them. The car blocking their path was promptly moved.
As they wound through the campers on the mile-long drive up the valley, Liam saw a whole new camp. Every possible open space had either a tent, a tarp, a camper, or a vehicle of some kind. There were even some plywood lean-to's. Whereas previously the campers concentrated on the narrow but flat bottom of the valley, now he could see tents and tarps well up into the woods on each hill flanking the valley. He thought there were a lot of people on his last visit. Now it seemed to be double that. A huge jump in just a few days.
His mind turned to one of the many traumatic events of the last ten days—the bombing of the zombies at the Gateway Arch. It was early in the crisis and the refugee camp at the Arch was at least as big as this one, minus the tents. Few people in the city thought they needed to bring living accommodations with them at that early juncture. Still, as the zombies overran the camp the Air Force unleashed hell by bombing anything alive or dead in the vicinity. This valley would present a similar target, especially if someone in the military got wind zombies had infiltrated the place.
Is that what we're doing here?
He ran the scenario in his head. Liam's friends find a mysterious MRAP in the woods, conveniently left close to camp by Hayes—a man who has made Liam's life an increasingly depressing version of Hell. Somewhere between the third and sixth circles. So they bring it into the camp where it sits like a giant bull's eye. Maybe it has a tracking device? Maybe it gives them legal authority to come retrieve it?
Bottom line—Liam and friends become responsible for the fall of the camp.
He didn't share any of this with Mr. Lee or bounce it off any of his partners. He felt there had to be a time when paranoia was just paranoia. Hayes couldn't have known he was going to almost get killed trying to trade Victoria for Grandma. He couldn't have known his force of Humvees would be annihilated by Liam's parents and their neighbors. He couldn't have known it would be Liam who would be in the MRAP, even if it was found and recovered. There were too many variables.
But something nagged him like a lone flea in the small of his back.
“My job is all about the details.” Hayes had said something to that effect several times.
Was the MRAP just another of those details? Insurance if his plan to capture Grandma failed back at Liam's house? It nearly did. He admitted it did make sense, if one believed Hayes always stayed a step or two in front of his opposition.
As they moved slowly up the camp's main road, Victoria's voice echoed in his head. “Liam, you win the award for bad news.”
He glanced back at her, seated with the others. She had been watching him because he caught her attention right away. They shared a big smile, and he gave her a wink.
He turned again to the outside world and had an epiphany of sorts. He was with loved ones. He had powerful allies in camp. He had access to a devastating military vehicle and a cache of high-powered weapons. The folks in the tents he was driving by had far less.
I'm one lucky kid.
He rode that smile until the MRAP came to a stop.
Chapter 4: Key Insights
As they rolled up the road, more and more people became interested and kids began to follow along. Mr. Lee decided he needed to stand on the outside step and wave, so it was clear the truck was not a threat. Thus by the time they came to a stop, a considerable crowd surged around it.
“So, what do we do now? Go hand it over to the council?”
Mel was joking, but as soon as she said it they all looked at each other with serious faces.
It seemed obvious to Liam once it was said. Of course the leaders would want control of the biggest, baddest piece of military hardware in the area.
She continued, “Okay, it appears we all believe the council will take this off our hands. Do we want that to happen?”
Just then Mr. Lee stepped back in the front door. He seemed to sense the tension. “What?”
“Mel here thinks the council is going to take the MRAP for themselves.” Liam wanted Mr. Lee's unfiltered feedback before they were inside the building.
“Hmm, I hadn't thought of that. I assumed I'd be in charge of it since I'm the head of security. I can't imagine what they'd do with it otherwise. Drive it themselves?” He laughed, but with hesitation.
They shot around ideas for a couple minutes, but in the end they knew they had to at least report the vehicle was on the premises
. They decided Mel and Phil should stay inside the MRAP, ostensibly to move it to its next location.
Liam and Victoria got out with Mr. Lee and Bo and together they walked through the energized crowd toward the administration building front door. He heard more than a few people exclaim they were being saved. It left him unsettled as he walked into the headquarters for the valley.
He was hit by the contrast from his last visit. Instead of the organization inherent in the Boy Scout community, everything was in disarray. The new batch of arrivals changed the nature of the camp, and not for the better. At least not where hierarchical order was concerned. People sat everywhere inside the main open space on the ground floor of the building. Gone were the tables representing various branches of the Boy Scout order—food, shelter, and the camp leadership. Now it was just one big jumble of people.
Mr. Lee conducted them directly to the stairs. Liam remembered how the leaders retreated up the stairs to have a quiet place to discuss real business. They were interdicted at the foot of the stairs by two men with serious-looking black rifles. Liam couldn't identify the makes. Not AR-15s or AK-47s. His knowledge of rifles was not very robust. The men were not professional-looking military men, but they didn't seem like inept guards either.
One of them knew Mr. Lee. “Hey, Lee. You bring back that tank? The council is shaking in their boots up there.”
Mr. Lee took it in stride. “What? Do they think I'm Julius Caesar coming to Rome?”
The guard shook his head and smiled. “I don't know about Caesar, but they are scared. The front gate radioed ahead you were coming. Sent this place into a tizzy.”
“Well, it's not like we shot up the place coming in. We okay to go upstairs Brian?”
“Yep.”
Liam was nervous as he followed Mr. Lee up, though he couldn't explain it. The council had given him no reason for concern the last time he'd been through here, and he appreciated their situation with so many people in the valley looking to them for answers. He'd felt the same back on the bridge with the Arnold councilman. That man withered away under the burden of leadership, and gave Agent Duchesne his opening. Liam really hoped he wasn't on the verge of creating more enemies.
When they were halfway up the stairwell, Mr. Lee stopped. He turned to them and spoke quietly. “I don't know what to expect, but let me do the talking.”
No one argued.
The last time he was up on this level, Liam met with the council in an empty conference room. Now, the entire level was swimming with tables manned by Boy Scout leaders. Apparently all the organization that had once been downstairs had been moved upstairs. But the order and efficiency was much reduced.
They walked over to an area of the big room where the council was sitting in folding chairs, talking quietly with some of the other leaders. Mr. Lee took them right into the discussion.
“Mr. Lee! Great to see you.” It was an old, frazzled-looking man on council.
Liam wondered if he really was glad to see him. Not all the leaders were there. Only four of the original six were present.
“Jason. Thanks for seeing us on such short notice.”
“Well, we couldn't exactly ignore the fact you brought that military truck into the camp, could we? And after we all agreed we would not bring it into our valley.”
“I know. I know. But everything has changed. I ran into my friends here, and the man who owns this truck held this girl hostage, then shot up his house, then kidnapped his grandma, and then blew up his entire neighborhood—”
“This is why we mustn't get involved!”
“They're coming back.” Mr. Lee said it matter-of-factly, and with quiet certainty. It had the intended effect; it got their attention.
Liam shifted in place, uncomfortable in the extended silence. He bumped into Victoria, and they traded terse smiles.
Everyone in the council's corner spoke quietly now.
“How do you know?”
“They left a note, it said 'we're coming back.' It's the same guy hunting Liam. If we don't have the MRAP they're going to come in here and we will have no way to defend ourselves.”
“Lee. We don't want a war. We just want to survive. We want the government to come back and help us, not kill us.”
“Then shouldn't we have the baddest war machine in the neighborhood on our side? To keep the peace? What if it's not the government, but instead a rogue motorcycle gang? What if a horde of infected walked up your child-lined street out there? There are a million reasons we should have this truck. Only one why we shouldn't. I don't know about you all, but I like to be prepared.”
He'd thrown the Boy Scout motto in their faces. Liam wanted to say more, but held his tongue out of respect for Mr. Lee. He'd seen nothing but open warfare with zombies and bad guys since he'd left the library so many days ago. Surely the council had to see the logic?
2
The council's decision was bureaucratically inspired. They wanted the MRAP placed outside the valley so they couldn't be blamed for taking it. They didn't care where, or how, and they put Mr. Lee in charge of getting it done.
The tone of the previous conversation made Liam's segue clumsy. “Before we go, I want to introduce a friend of mine from not far up the road. This is Bo, and he and his friends provided aid in getting me home and back. They would make good allies to have on your southern border.”
The council seemed put out, and briefly claimed they had bigger problems dealing with all the new arrivals, but relented and invited Bo to converse with them. They let Liam know he was no longer needed.
When he caught up with Victoria and Mr. Lee on the stairs, he was fuming. “Don't these guys have a clue what's happening around here? They don't care about defense, and they hardly seem to care about anything I say.”
“Liam, not everyone thinks like you do. Hell, most people don't. These guys are used to rules and regulations dictating society as well as their little place here in this valley. You've been out of the valley and know it ain't pretty. I've been out on the border of this place and I've seen enough of it.”
Liam had a spark of inspiration. Something that would put Mr. Lee firmly in the realm in which he was now operating: high paranoia. He started to grin at the thought, which Victoria noticed right away.
“You have a plan?” she asked.
“Let's get back to the MRAP. We have to go park the thing, don't we?”
Mr. Lee nodded. He was smart enough not to press for details while standing in the same room as the people trying to chase them out.
As Liam climbed the steps up the back of the truck, he watched Bo cut through the diminishing crowd. He walked with a tight grin and a feint head shake as he pulled on his deep brown beard. He climbed up and joined Liam as they sat in their seats.
Mel and Phil were in the front seats, watching. “How'd it go? You all seem to be in a hurry.”
Mr. Lee instructed them to slowly return to the front gate.
“The council wants this vehicle out of their sight. They can't imagine a scenario where it would be good to have a bad ass weapon parked on their front lawn as a deterrent to any would-be attackers. We have to think of a place to park it. We want it to be close in case we need it, but it has to be out of sight. Out of mind for these wimps.”
Bo added, “And they weren't interested in any kind of partnership with my family either. They invited us to come here and stay to help with security, but they saw no use in working out any kind of cooperation. They're more worried about finding tents for the new people, including me.” His tone was doused with sarcasm. He picked up his shotgun and began breaking it down to clean it.
“Wow, it's the definition of a no-brainer to shore up your defenses by allying with groups nearby.” Liam didn't know if it was true in real life as much as he knew it was true in the online games he used to play with his friends.
Victoria saw the emerging picture, “So, they want the truck out of the camp, but we know we have to stay close because we're going to need th
is thing at some point. Where should we go?”
Mr. Lee was about to say something, but Liam jumped ahead, “We should take the MRAP and go check out the Elk Meadow facility. It's just over the hill and across the highway. If the place isn't ash it may have some supplies we can use. If we have to keep the truck outside the valley, we might as well use it for something that can actually help the campers. We may not have much time.”
He paused with an epiphany, “And it's not just Hayes. This place is falling apart. The council is losing their grip. Returning after the few days I've been on the road has put the whole place in contrast from the last time I was through here.”
Mr. Lee, sitting on the bench opposite him seemed to chew on that. “Hmm. As head of security I suppose I should be defending the camp from such accusations, but my job has mainly been to help defend against the infected moving through these woods. I don't do water cooler gossip or politics. But now that Liam said it, it would explain the heavy security inside the administration building. I was surprised they let you guys in with your weapons. Maybe my authority got you in, or maybe they were just sloppy. I wonder if they're asking themselves the same question right now? Maybe Liam is right. While we have it, we should put it to good use. As far as I know, none of our scouting parties have gone up that way. Most residences we've been searching are to the east and south because they're closer.”
From up front, Mel and Phil shouted agreement.
The MRAP waddled down the valley on the tight crowd-choked road, exited through the front gate, then turned right toward the highway rather than left back to the dirt road to Endor. They began the short drive toward the highway and their destination.
Victoria leaned over to Liam. “Are you worried about going back? Didn't you say that's where they ran experiments on the old folks?”
“Nah, I'm not worried. It's probably bombed to smithereens, but there were some odds and ends on the ground after my subdivision was blown up, so maybe there's something worth salvaging up there.” He looked to see if Mr. Lee or Bo were listening. When it appeared they were talking to each other, Liam continued as quietly as possible in the noisy space. “My real fear is finding the group of eighty-something's we left after we all walked out of the destroyed front gate of that place. At the time I didn't think they would make it a mile by themselves, but later I wondered if Hayes found them, and they told him where Grandma and I had gone. Maybe they're all dead.”
Stop the Sirens: Sirens of the Zombie Apocalypse, Book 3 Page 7