“He’s trying to be you, and he’s doing a pretty good job of it.”
“God, I hope not,” I said.
“Son, if it wasn’t for you, none of this would be here.”
“You’re the one who did this, not me.”
“But I would have faltered without you. You saw it more clearly than anyone and stepped up to do what needed doing.”
I didn’t know what to say. Pop was the one who put it all in motion. I just made it go the direction he’d pointed it.
“What do you have in mind for the Genos?” I asked.
“The question is, what do you have in mind? What do they have in mind?”
“They’ll work,” I said. “They’ll fight if they need to. I think we’ll let them decide what they want to do. They earned it by being civilized when all around them turned savage.”
“Those kids have really opened my eyes to what life as a Geno really is,” Pop said. “They were fully grown at five, and those bastards used them for their perverse pleasure. It turns my stomach. They’ve offered themselves to almost everyone they’re around. Poor kids. And the boy may even be more tragic. He’s twelve with the mentality of about six or seven. He cried when you and Dagger rode out. I talked to him some, and he was crying as much because you were leaving as he was for the horse.”
“Why me?”
“I asked him that.”
“Well?”
“He said you scared him at first, but you saved his family. You remind him of a guy named Davey who took care of him as best he could in the place they came from.”
“Speaking of that place,” I said, “I know we have enough on our plate right now, but we’ve seen that we can reach the Gulf.”
“Damnit, son. That’s a big project in itself. Just the manpower you’d need is pretty daunting.”
“I’m not sure I need any more than me and Jimmy.”
“And a boat, and a crew. We have the food supplies to do it, but not the other.”
“I know.” I scowled. “I can’t mount that sort of expedition…yet.”
“It’s a good cause, and I swear I’ll back it to the hilt when it looks feasible to do it.”
“That’s all I can ask, Pop.” I stood up and looked toward the new warehouse being built past the barn. “I need to talk to Kalet before he heads out. He needs to know where we went and what we did.”
“Yep. I’m getting a map put together as we get further inside the city. I guess I can scratch off the zone marked ‘Blues’ now. Jimmy said you got shot again.”
“Jimmy doesn’t know how to keep his mouth shut.”
“It seems lying isn’t something Jimmy does. But you’re not limping or anything. They healed up already?”
“Yeah, as long as I keep them fueled, the nanites work pretty fast.”
He shook his head. “You already know what I think about it. Go talk to Kalet before they pull out.”
I grinned as he went inside the farmhouse, grumbling about bullet magnets. Turning around, I saw Kalet out by the warehouse. I definitely needed to go over some things with him. It pays to be informed in this Fallen World.
* * * * *
Chapter 29
“I’m not sure which way will be the best way to go, Zee,” Spriggs said. “The old coal plants would be the safest, but we’d be spread out all along the river.”
He was pointing at the spots on the map as he spoke. “But here we have Limerick. Now, it’s a risk firing up something like that. There’s no place to replace the fuel rods, so we’re looking at about six to ten years of power before it’s spent.”
“Would you even want to risk firing it back up if it’s shut down?”
“Depends on what we find there. Too great a distance to run from here into the city. There are enough lines, but it would be too easy for someone to hit them and cut power to the city.”
I scowled. “We have to get something to hold the clowns over, or they’ll walk all over us in trades for slaves. I can’t leave people enslaved to those psychos if I can help it.”
“I need to scout Limerick,” he said. “We need to look at it. If we take it and use the power for as much as ten years, we can get the others put together for backup, provided we can get coal.”
“Pick a team and go take a look at Limerick,” I said. “If you determine it’s doable, tell me what you need, and you’ll get it.”
He nodded. “I’ve been teaching Able Redman how to work this place and keep things going. If I move into the city, he’ll be able to keep this place going. He’s finished up the lines to Pitman.”
“We all laughed at Sam when he started switching his farm equipment over to electric,” I said. “I wish we’d all followed suit. His is the only equipment running now.”
“Sheffley’s had three electric tractors and one combine.”
“Now we can charge them and drive them back here. Probably take a while, though.”
“It’ll be worth it,” he said.
“No doubt.”
He stood up from the chair he’d been sitting in. “Able found something while he was in Pitman. Don’t know if it will be any use without the programming capability. Markus says it could still be useful.”
He reached into a cabinet and pulled a couple of tubes out.
“Those are nanite tubes,” I said.
“Veterinary nanites. Markus says they’re just basic packages. One is for cattle, and the other for horses. There was one for dogs, but it was broken and the nanites had leaked out. We found a bunch of antibiotics for animals, but some of it was supposed to be refrigerated, so it was screwed. Lot of pills of different varieties. Some were animal painkillers. Probably work on humans if we needed it.”
“This is worth more than gold, Kal.”
“Yeah, but we may need it in the Infirmary.”
“You’re a good man, Spriggs. A lot of folks would have picked the painkillers out of the pile and kept them.”
“Would you?”
“No.”
“And I wouldn’t either.”
I nodded.
“Is it true you brought back a bunch of Genofreaks?”
“Yep,” I answered. “They don’t really like the name too much.”
“What are they calling themselves?”
“Just Genos,” I said. “A lot of them are a bunch of Science Fiction fans who just wanted to look cool. They sure got a raw deal.”
“That’s a fact. How many died decades early before the Fall?”
“Too many.” I shrugged. “What can you do? The surprise was that they were still civilized when the rest went savage.”
“The rest?”
“The regular humans we saw on this run were pretty awful. Then these folks, who I expected to be savages, were the best of the bunch.”
“That would have surprised me, too.”
“Eddie said he just wanted to go live somewhere in peace. He said he’d love to learn how to farm. His wife, Yvonne, is looking to join the Farmer’s Guard. The rest are mixed between the two paths. You want a few to come up here? Couple of them would love to work down in the bottom of that labyrinth under the dam. A few of them can even breathe under water.”
“Now that would be handy.”
“I’ll talk with them.”
“Thanks,” he said. “You got any preference on who I need to take to scout Limerick?”
“I’d say to take Gary and Grady. They both have a good bit of experience. Can’t go wrong with them. I’m thinking you can ride with the caravan I’ll be leading until you need to head toward the plant. My next one goes out to the river. Anything I need to look for?”
“The five coal plants I pointed out. If you get near any of them, maybe you could see if they’re occupied. At some point we’ll have to take them if we want sustainable power. The nuclear plant might last a decade or so with the fuel rods on hand.”
“I guess we need to look into some sources of coal,” I said. “West Virginia was always coal territory. Maybe
we can find someone still willing to mine it.”
“If we’re extremely lucky, we can fire up the reactor without blowing ourselves up.”
“When you try, I think there’s something in Texas I have to be doing,” I said and slapped his back.
“Oh, hell no! If I have to turn it on, you have to be right there beside me. Otherwise, I’m happy to just stay right here at the dam.”
“Well, shit,” I said. “I could hope, couldn’t I?”
“Sure, but you’ll still be right there beside me.”
“You can’t take my dreams, man.”
“Dream all you want, but you’ll be right there.”
“I knew I should have sent Pop.”
“Now you’re stuck with it.”
“I hate you.”
He laughed. “That’s what keeps me going in this Fallen World.”
* * * * *
Chapter 30
“How’s the shoulder?” I asked.
“It’s been better,” Eddie answered. “I heard you met Yvonne on the way in.”
“She’s been a big help with the girls we took from the clowns. They did some pretty awful shit to those people,” I said. “She said she was going to join the Guard.”
“She’s been talking to the kids from the island, too,” he said. “I’ve never seen her this angry. The girls’ stories were bad enough, but that boy has had it rough. There used to be some people who trained their dogs to fight one another. They used aggressive breeds and pitted them against one another. With him, it was like using a passive, friendly breed and making it fight. I despised the dog fighting before, and it’s something completely different now.”
“What do you think about joining me on the next run? I plan on reaching the docks where these kids were bought. I’m putting this guy Galloway out of business. Willingly or unwillingly, he’s done. I thought you and a few of the others would like to be a part of that. There will be violence, and I know you don’t like that part of it, but I also know you’re good at it, or you couldn’t have kept those people safe in the Convention Center.”
“I don’t like the violence, but this is the world we live in now, and it’s a part of life. These people need to be stopped. I’ll get the boys together. I doubt I can keep Yvonne out of it, but I’ll try. And you’ve never seen anything like Alice. She’s been spliced with one of the meanest damn animals, pound for pound, in the world.”
“I met her. Five feet tall and looks like a bodybuilder? Has that white stripe down her back?”
“Yeah, that’s her. She used to be a part of an underground fighting circuit. Remember the dog fight reference? She was used for something similar until Drake’s unit found them. Drake was an Obsidian guy before the Fall. His unit freed her, and she sort of followed him home. She doesn’t say much, but she’s been solid.”
“Alright, get your people ready. We’re leaving early tomorrow morning after the wagons get loaded.”
“We’ll be there.”
“You got any skill with a rifle?”
“Pretty good, worked Naval Intelligence for a long time, and Yvonne was Navy. Drake was OSF. Billy’s not so good. Have you seen the size of his fingers? Skin’s a half inch thick.”
“That explains a lot of things.”
“That’s why he’s nearly bulletproof. It would take a big gun to pierce his skin. Most small arms just scratch the surface. After what he told me you did in the Blue Zone, I guessed you were an Agent. I knew Jimmy was an Agent, but you never went any further than that. But the odds would be astronomical that you’d both have your original imprint at the time of the Fall.”
“Jimmy was an Agent. He was having an imprint loaded into him when the bombs fell. He got the skills downloaded and still had his memories intact when the Imprinter shorted out. He’s still Jimmy, but he lost some things, too. No emotions. He just has the memory of them, so he does the best he can.”
“That explains a great deal. I was wondering. The man’s just a little bit terrifying.”
“True enough,” I said.
“And you?” he asked. “If I pry too much, just tell me. I worked in Intelligence. I’m inquisitive.”
“A little while back some raiders took some of our folks back to the city. We followed them.”
“The Lassiter thing,” he said.
“Long story short, I got shot…a lot. Was a miracle Jimmy got me back to the Farms alive. Ended up giving me a transfusion. Jimmy’s blood was the only match available, so they went for broke. It should have killed me, but my genetics are so close to his, the nanites have been rebuilding the ‘Agent’ they sense is broken.”
“Damnit, man! That must be a hell of a thing. With my clearance I knew about the Agent program, but that should have been impossible.”
“I say that every day,” I said. “Some days I wish it hadn’t worked, and I could’ve joined my wife, but most days I’m glad I’m still here. Our daughter keeps me going, and I’m trying to help Pop build a better world for her to grow up in.”
“Our son was in college,” Eddie said. “He was in the New York City Complex when the bombs fell. I tried to call him and get him to leave the city when there was talk of escalation. He was out with his friends and didn’t get the message until too late. Everything happened way too quickly.”
“Damn,” I muttered. “That’s rough.”
“If I hadn’t retired early, I’d have been there too.” He shrugged. “The original Genos started dying a couple of years after we got our mods, and we both retired because it looked like we may be in our golden years already. Then we moved to the neighborhood with the other Genos. We could all wallow in our misery together. Turns out a shortened lifespan doesn’t worry me so much anymore. We started doing things we always wanted to do. We toured Africa, swam in the ocean off the coast of Hawaii, went skydiving and deep-sea fishing. Yvonne spent most of her time in the water. It was just chance we were home when my friends started telling me things looked bad.”
“I guess we all have one of those stories,” I said. “You guys were living life. Most of the stuff I did was with the Army. Saw as much of the world as I wanted then, and came home to plant corn with Pop.”
“And because of that, we’re all here.”
“Pop is the reason we’re all here,” I said. “He’s the part that holds all this together.”
“That’s funny,” he said. “I was talking to him yesterday. He said the same thing about you.”
“Pop has a lot of whacked out ideas.”
“Maybe so. But he’s still probably right. I’ll let you know after I’ve seen a little more. As for now, I’ll go get my bunch together. We won’t be needing horses; they freak out a little around us, except for Drake. He’s just a regular Joe.”
“Yeah?”
“Joseph Drake,” he said. “We call him Regular Joe. Alice doesn’t go anywhere without him, and he doesn’t go anywhere without her. Most norms don’t have relationships with Genos. We die early, and a lot of people won’t invest in that sort of thing. Drake’s different.”
“If Drake was Army, he probably figured he was on borrowed time already. I spent all that time figuring I’d be dead before it was done. Lot of people tried to kill me. Got shot a few times. Death is something we all just lived with during the war. Live life to the fullest and all that. I thought all that was over when I came home. Guess I was wrong.”
“I hadn’t really thought of Drake along those lines. It makes sense, though.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more of that over the next year or so. People have to take the joy in life as they can in this Fallen World.”
* * * * *
Chapter 31
“Bogs?” I asked as I rounded the corner to find him holding Dagger’s reins.
“Zee needs fighters. Bogs is fighter.”
“You don’t have to do that anymore, Bogs. I’m not going to ask you to go back there.”
“Bogs will help fight.” The giant handed me the rei
ns and walked away from me to join the others at the wagons.
“Shit,” I said and patted Dagger’s shoulder. “You ready to fight, too?”
He nudged me with his head and snorted.
“Crazy-ass horse,” I muttered and jumped into the saddle.
I rode over to give the order to move out, when I stopped. Grady Conner rode into the compound on a beautiful Arabian that was black as night. Behind him was a whole herd of horses. I stopped and watched as they steered sixty-two horses into the corral.
Sixty-two new horses and five miniatures, to be exact.
Grady rode back out the gate, and two of the kids pushed the gate closed. He rode over to me.
“Miniatures?”
“What?” He shrugged. “Pop said bring back all the horses we could find. They’re horses.”
I laughed. “Keep them away from Wandrey. They’re short enough he could breed them.”
“True,” he said. He waved to Eric. “Put the minis in the barn for now!”
“I know you just got in, but Spriggs needs some fellas to help scout out a place,” I said. “You up for that?”
“I’m guessing you’re leaving right now?”
“’Fraid so.”
“Deli will be pissed.”
“She’s at the bunker right now, anyway.”
“Well, damn.” He sighed. “I guess so then. But I get a vacation after this, right?”
“Yeah, I’m thinkin’ somewhere in the Caribbean.”
“Wouldn’t that be sweet?”
“Just remember you said that.”
“What?” He sighed again. “Did I just agree to something I’m not gonna like?”
I grinned and turned toward the wagons. “Come on, law man. I have a fifty with your name on it.”
“I thought you said scout,” he said. “I guess considering how your scouting missions turn out, we’ll probably need the fifty.”
“It’s a different fifty this time,” I said. “You’ll be taking the Barret.”
“Now that sounds intriguing.” He paused as we rounded the wagons. “Is that a damn—”
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