by Jeff Carlson
The headset only rang once.
“Yeah,” Cam said, as steady as always. His voice set her heart thumping again.
“Are you okay?” she asked, too loud.
“Yeah. What’s going on?”
Ruth found it very easy to picture him alone with nothing except his ri†e and his pack, hurrying across the mountainside. After all this time, he belonged out there, whether he wanted it or not. He would have crossed below the barrier hours ago, losing himself in the trees and rock, but he was no longer wearing goggles or mask, his face exposed to the wind…and in Ruth’s imagination, his dark eyes lifted at the drumbeat of helicopters…
“I need you to go through with it,” Ruth said gently. Then she realized how that might have sounded. “No, I mean, just keep moving, but I need you to stay ready.”
“If you—” Cam said.
Another voice broke in. Grand Lake’s people had been listening all along and Ruth felt a sickening bolt of panic as a new man on her headset said, “Najarro, this is Major Kaswell. Stand down, soldier. Do you understand? Stand down. If you let her use that nanotech, you’ll kill thousands of your own people.”
Cam didn’t even respond to the other man. “If you think it’s best,” he said.
“I do,” Ruth answered like a promise.
He was the perfect one to shoulder the responsibility. He was accustomed to relying only on himself and to being apart. Maybe he even resented them because he wanted so much to belong but always felt on the outside.
“Cam,” she said, without thinking. Then she repeated it. “Cam, thank you.” She knew they had to keep their conversation short to prevent Grand Lake from triangulating him, and she wanted to make their connection as real as possible. “Don’t worry about me,” she said.
“You’ll be ‚ne.” Then his tone changed. “You let her go or I’ll release the nanotech anyway,” he said to everyone else on the line. Then he hung up. There was so much more to say and they’d never had the chance.
Ruth was shaking. She nearly dropped the button. But she had learned to channel the force of her emotions and she turned it on Shaug and Caruso. She let the tremor show in her voice. “I’ll give you one hour,” she said. “Get your planes ready. We’d better have them in the air before we warn the Chinese, or they might just sterilize this place with another nuke.”
Caruso said, “We need longer than that!”
“One hour. I’m through arguing.”
“Goddamn it, this is insane.”
“We win,” Ruth said. “Do this and we win.”
The parasite had it all, the advanced targeting of the new vaccine and the unparalleled replication speed of the machine plague. Because it lacked the hypobaric fuse, it would spread worldwide in far less time than it had originally taken the plague, ‚lling the atmosphere, riding the jet stream. The nanotech would hit Europe and Africa in days instead of weeks, dooming everyone to the tiny fragments of land above ten thousand feet. With their other war in the Himalayas, the Chinese couldn’t risk it even if the Russians might — and without their allies, the Russians would also fold.
“Think what those bastards did to us,” Shaug said. “You’re going to let them keep California?”
“Some of it. For now. What does it matter?”
“It’s our home! It’s ours.”
“They’ll go back to their homes if we let them. If we give them a little time. They’ll go back or I’ll wipe them out. Just them, don’t you get it?” Ruth knew she could design a new plague to eradicate the enemy — only them, all of them — a smart bug that understood geographical limits. The parasite was merely the ‚rst step in a stunning new level of nanotech.
“Then do it now,” Caruso said. “Kill them now.”
“No.”
He was as exhausted as all of them, she realized at last, and since the invasion he’d seen little except defeat. He would grasp at any straw, but she would never start a genocide if there was any other option. Even a new plague would not be instantaneous. The Chinese would have time to launch their missiles.
The desperate nations around the world simply could not continue ‚ghting. The cost was too steep and there was no end in sight except total collapse.
“It has to stop somewhere,” Ruth said, blazing with sorrow and faith. “It stops today.”
25
The mountainside was busy with people, a confusion of dark shapes against the lighter earth. Hundreds of them formed two slow-moving chains, following the long V of the two gullies cut into the slope. Dozens more picked their way down through the hills outside of the ravines. Daylight †ashed on weapons and equipment. The late afternoon sun was nearly gone from the eastern face of the Rockies, and its low rays turned everything to shadows or sparks.
Cam stood motionless above a short cliff, squinting into the light. “So many soldiers,” he said.
Allison grinned. “That’s good.”
He shook his head. Grand Lake seemed to be losing a signi‚cant number of troops to desertion and their uniforms added to the disorder. Most of them had taken off their helmets and ‚eld caps. They’d donned civilian jackets or hats. And yet they stuck together for the most part, making concentrations of Marine or Army green despite their efforts to blend. The other refugees tried to avoid them, which was impossible, creating knots and jams within the migration.
There was no ‚ghting that Cam had seen. Everyone was too busy, loaded with packs and slings, but he’d noticed more than one collision. The nearest ravine had a crooked drop in it. Again and again people tripped and fell there, jostling in the crowd. Cam supposed it was only a matter of time before someone’s frustration led to blood. He worried that a lot of the troops were still organized squads. He was especially interested in the loners and small groups who chose to hike through the rougher terrain outside the ravines. Not all of them were heading down. Here and there, tiny ‚gures trudged upward against the larger trend. Why? Allison thought they were giving up. Others were probably looking for places to camp out of the wind, but she agreed that some of them must be hunters sent by Grand Lake to get to Ruth ‚rst.
Cam tugged restlessly at his carbine’s shoulder strap. Then he swung his binoculars to another man standing on a high point across the slope, one of Allison’s people. Cam signaled with his arm straight out from his side, holding the pose until the man saw him and returned the gesture. It meant “I haven’t seen anything.”
Shit, he thought.
They should have planned to meet Ruth somewhere else. This pass was a madhouse, although Cam didn’t know where the situation would be any better. Even the western faces of the Divide must be covered in people. Ruth could walk right past and they’d never see her, but Cam did not complain out loud. Allison and the other mayors had done more than he had any right to expect, mustering nearly forty armed men and women who were willing to stay and watch. They were still at least a day’s hike from Deer Ridge, the nearest town where there would be shelter from the bitter nights, and meanwhile the refugees who’d gone ahead would claim all of the available food, clothing, and other gear.
“I should try to talk to them,” Allison said. She meant the soldiers, he realized. She was staring into the gully below, where four men in coveralls and a USAF jacket moved among the other people. Allison’s scarred cheeks had lifted in another con‚dent grin and Cam smiled at her ambition.
If Ruth got free, it would be due in large part to the other woman’s efforts. Cam was grateful. Allison could have walked away, but she was sel†ess enough to feel her own kind of gratitude. She was smart enough to see an opportunity.
It had been three days since Ruth walked into the command bunker and ended the war. Cam had shut off his cell phone to avoid being tracked, yet they knew from radio reports that the test strikes had been a success. One of the American planes was shot down before delivering the parasite, crashing in the wilderness, but in three spots the Chinese and the Russians suddenly found themselves overwhelmed by the machine plague
. Some of them survived. That only helped Ruth’s scheme. The invaders’ aircraft were turned away by their own people in the mountains in Arizona and California, but they managed to ‚nd safe ground just the same, landing on isolated peaks — and they continued to report their survival.
The cease-‚re was established hours later. The withdrawal began the next day. Ruth remained in the command bunker throughout their negotiations, staying the hands of the American of‚cers who wanted to chase the enemy back into the desert. Cam had spoken with her twice more, turning on his phone again at midnight on the second day and at noon on the third. She was okay. And then she was outside.
“Come with me,” Allison said, tugging intimately at Cam’s gun belt. He was aware of her blue eyes, but he continued to sweep the mountainside with his binoculars.
“Let’s give it another hour,” he said.
“It’ll be dark before then.”
“You can talk to those guys after they’ve made camp. They wouldn’t listen to you now anyway.”
“Come with me,” Allison said, drawing Cam near enough for him to notice her good, female scent despite the wind. She said, “It’s not safe for us to be alone out here at night.”
The pace of the crowd was increasingly anxious. Some groups were already staking claim to the †atter areas inside the ravines, blocking the †ow of other refugees, erecting lean-tos and tents. There was no ‚rewood. There was no food except whatever they carried and weeds and moss. Water seeped from the earth in a few muddy trickles but Cam saw a pack of men and women in Army uniforms settle down on top of one spring, denying it to anyone else.
Yesterday at dawn, the sun had found several cold bodies among the thousands of those still breathing. The war was over, but the dying went on. Not all of the sick or injured would survive the trek down from the mountains, and Allison’s people had dug in against a low knoll away from the ravines, stacking rock to form windbreaks and ‚lling every canteen, cup, pot, and plastic bag from their own spring, buying the goodwill of nearby refugees with water and advice.
Allison kept her hand around his waist. “I know what you’re thinking,” she said. “We’re doing what we can. If she made it this far, we’ll ‚nd her.”
“Yeah.”
There were so many things that could have gone wrong. Grand Lake might have captured Ruth as soon as she called to say she was clear, gambling that Cam would never release the parasite. They could have tracked her by satellite or plane despite his warnings to let her go. The refugees worked to conceal her, but at the same time, the crowds were another danger. A woman by herself would be a target.
We should have gone after her, Cam worried, but Allison had had her hands full organizing her camp and her sentries. Cam couldn’t have hiked back into Grand Lake himself. He still carried the nanotech and he didn’t trust it with anyone else. Allison’s people were ready to embrace Ruth as a savior for forcing the peace, but they didn’t know about his involvement. He’d told them Ruth did everything herself.
“We’ll try again tomorrow,” Allison said. She ‚nally let go of him. She held both arms over her head, calling in the line of sentries. The nearest man didn’t notice, his binoculars aimed up the mountainside, but on a hump of granite beyond him, the next woman saw Allison’s signal and repeated it. Those two had even farther to walk to camp than Cam and Allison, and he was glad they’d stayed as long as they had.
“Thank you,” he said, taking Allison’s hand. He would repeat the words in camp, too, as he asked them for one more day. They were all discouraged — but the nearest man was waving off Allison’s signal.
The man raised his left ‚st, then turned and pointed at the mountainside. Cam immediately twisted away from Allison, though not so fast that he didn’t see the emotion in her face. She covered her hurt with her grin, but he knew he’d done a little more damage. For the moment, he didn’t care. He brought his binoculars to his eyes and tried to ‚nd what the man was indicating.
About a mile up the hill, outside the ravines, a trio of uniformed ‚gures had stopped to gaze back at Allison’s sentries with their own binoculars. That was not unusual. Both the civilian refugees and the AWOL troops reacted uneasily to the lookouts. There was nothing distinct about this threesome, two men and a woman, ‚lthy and tattered like everyone else, but they’d recognized Cam. They all had their hands up. It was Ruth and Estey and Goodrich.
“Ha!” Cam rolled his arm in a big this way gesture. Then he turned to go, wild with excitement.
Allison didn’t follow, exchanging semaphore with her sentries on either side. Cam should have waited. Instead, he scrambled down a rocky bluff.
He had to cross the nearest gully, which was thick with refugees. He stalked into the crowd with his weapon up. No one moved to stop him. In fact, four women stumbled away from their blankets and packs to keep their distance. Cam thought to apologize, but it was better if these people were afraid. Allison and her sentries would cross behind him and they didn’t need any trouble. It was a strange feeling. Everyone on this mountainside was alive and free because of one woman’s strength. They should have been celebrating. Ruth, he thought, but he wouldn’t yell her name. “Estey!” he shouted.
The three of them walked together in a way that reminded Cam of himself and Newcombe. He wondered brie†y if Newcombe was alive and if he was still a friend or if he’d chosen another loyalty, like Deborah. Their days together seemed very distant, and Cam marveled at the unity he saw in Goodrich, Ruth, and Estey.
He hadn’t been sure if any of his squadmates were helping Ruth. She’d kept her phone calls to a few seconds each. Where was Foshtomi? Dead? The other two Rangers appeared to have committed to Ruth entirely during their standoff inside the bunker, and they would be a welcome addition to Allison’s group. They might help Allison reach out to other deserters, bolstering the future of the refugee crowds, but as Cam got closer, he forgot everything except Ruth.
She ran to him, laughing despite her obvious exhaustion. She was horribly pale, yet her brown eyes were alive with pleasure and hope. Cam didn’t hesitate. He stepped right into her arms and they clung to each other, their chests pressing tighter each time they spoke and drew breath.
“You did it,” he murmured into her curly hair. “You did it. You did it.”
“Cam,” she said. “Cam.” But she let go of his waist.
Allison strode in behind him with six men and women, each of them brandishing a shotgun or a ri†e. Several more spread out across the hill, forming a defensive line. “We’re with him,” Allison told Estey and Goodrich, and Cam nodded quickly and said, “It’s okay, they’re here to help.”
“Great,” Estey said. “Thanks.”
The two women looked each other up and down as Cam kept his arm around Ruth’s shoulders. Then he stepped away from her toward Allison. Ruth was worn and tense, but he saw the disappointment in her eyes before she concealed it exactly as Allison had done.
“Yes, thanks,” Ruth said to the younger woman.
Cam had been sleeping with Allison again. For one thing, she was capable and smart and beautiful — and the fact of the matter was there hadn’t been any guarantee that Grand Lake wouldn’t go up in a nuclear ‚reball or that Ruth would escape even if she took control of the war. Regardless, Cam had decided he’d better do everything possible to entangle himself with Allison again. They needed her.
“There are some people watching us,” one man said.
“Let’s go,” Allison said. “We have food and water and a few tents out of the wind.”
They got moving. Cam and Allison walked together as the group hurried toward the ravine, but as they began to spread out he glanced sideways for Ruth. She met his gaze silently. Maybe she understood. He wished things were different.
“How are you?” he asked.
“We’re okay. We’re all tired.” Ruth glanced at Estey and Goodrich, including the Rangers with herself. We.
Not long ago she’d spoken about him the same way, but
he had to be careful. Allison and the other mayors would be a major force in establishing the townships they intended to build on the plains east of the Rockies, far away from the foothills, where the summers were probably too hot for the bugs.
Allison could be the key to keeping Cam and Ruth hidden. They knew they would always be regarded as criminals by some. They hoped to keep their heads down until the situation improved, and meanwhile there were hundreds of other problems. Except for a few wild crops, there was little to feed anyone beneath the barrier. Farming would be a long-term challenge given the insect swarms, widespread erosion, and the utter loss of some plant species. The nearest cities had already been heavily scavenged during the plague year. Entire neighborhoods had been destroyed by ‚re, †oods, bugs, and ‚ghting. They couldn’t rely on the old world to sustain them for long.
Perhaps most importantly, there was also the next-generation nanotech that Ruth had said must be designed as fast as possible. The war was over, but there were still large Russian and Chinese populations throughout the West. They would play for every advantage as they gained and developed their own nanotech, dragging their feet to leave U.S. soil, haggling and bargaining, looting, even digging in for a new ‚ght.
“Tomorrow we’ll make it to Highway 34 and Deer Ridge,” Cam said. “It’ll get easier.”
“Mm.” Ruth was noncommittal.
She’d stopped looking at him, and Cam felt a deep pang of his own longing and disappointment. They’d won. They’d lost each other. He couldn’t even make an effort to correct that loss. He knew her too well to believe that she would ever disappear into the ruins with him, just the two of them together. Ruth needed people because she needed electricity and food and protection. She needed equipment if they could ‚nd it, and Allison’s network might prove more useful in acquiring the basics of a nanotech lab than any raids led by Estey and Goodrich.