by Ric Beard
Moss looked up at her and, seeing how she was ignoring his finger pointing at a crater, he cocked his head to the side.
“What?”
“Follow my gaze, but do it subtly.” Moss and Scruff both followed her gaze at the same time. Jenna sighed. “You donks are about as subtle as a cluster bomb.”
“Yeah,” Moss said. “But I see it.”
“Flickering,” Scruff said. He stood up and dusted himself off. Then without warning, he started trudging toward the hill.
“Where the hell are you going?” Jenna asked. “I didn’t tell you—”
“Stay there,” Scruff’s deep, gravelly voice said.
“The hell,” Moss said. He looked at Jenna. “Stay put.”
“I’m sorry, who the fuck is in charge around here?”
“I am.”
She pushed up from the ground. “But you said—”
“I lied. Sit.” He pointed at the ground.
“Of all the convenient—”
Moss didn’t even look back. “Jenna, I’ve lost enough for one week. Shut it.”
Moss yanked his rifle from where it leaned against the rock and stomped off.
Chapter Fifty-Five
Open the Door, Sara
“The optical camouflage system is degraded,” Sara said. “Power at 2%.
“Dammit all to hell. Dammit, dammit, dammit.”
“System charging.”
“How long before the camouflage is fully functional?”
“At current charge rate, optical camouflage will be fully functional in fifteen minutes.”
“Dammit, dammit, dammit!” Sean repeated. He slammed his hand on the console. He’d known the follow-up pulse cannon salvo had been too much, but there had only been a few road crew left and he couldn’t sit idly by.
“Lifeforms approaching.”
Sean’s head jerked up, and he stared out the windshield to see the giant with a blond beard tied into a knot at his chest stomping up the hill toward The Beast.
Every time you stick your neck out, Stone. Every-fucking-time.
“Evasive maneuvers!”
“Insufficient power. Would you like to engage the static field?”
Sean considered it. The men coming up the hill were the ones he’d quite possibly saved. It didn’t make sense to think they’d want to harm him. Sure, they were probably in a messed-up mood, but he wasn’t about to shock innocent people with the static field.
“Negative on the static field.”
He pressed the release lever on the inside of the door.
“Armed lifeforms approaching; exiting the vehicle is not recommended.”
“Open the door, Sara.”
The door started to fold upward. Sean took a deep breath.
Chapter Fifty-Six
Family Fights
Scruff raised his weapon as the man stepped out of the vehicle. He was six feet tall with long brownish hair to his shoulders. He wasn’t packing. He held his hands up as Scruff approached. Scruff stopped just short of him, allowed his weapon to drop to his side on its strap, and curled his fists into flesh sledgehammers with rivet knuckles. The man looked up like the larger might step on him at any moment. Scruff suppressed a smile as he stuck out his hand.
The man looked down at his hand and then back at Scruff. With some relief, he shook it.
“Sean Stone.”
“Scruff.”
The man’s eyes ticked away from Scruff, and the giant followed his gaze to Moss, who was standing next to him.
“Moss.” Moss’s eyes were on the truck, tracing its edges instead of eyeing this Sean Stone guy.
Scruff turned his head in the other direction and saw Jenna standing on his other side.
“You don’t listen so good,” Moss said without turning his head.
She smirked. “Yeah, I’m used to giving the orders around here. Not taking them.”
“Did I come at a bad time?” Sean asked.
“You think that’s funny?” Moss asked. “Who the hell are you, anyway?”
“I’m Sean St—”
“That’s not what I meant. I meant where the hell did you come from?”
“I came from OK City. Where the hell did—”
“Don’t start with me, son,” Moss said.
“Moss!” Jenna barked. She leveled out her voice before continuing. “Tone down the testosterone.”
“Look, you guys looked like you needed some help, so I gave you some.”
“How long did you watch before you gave us help?” Moss asked.
“Okay. I can see I’m not welcome here. So, I’m just gonna crawl back in my—”
Moss raised his weapon.
“I don’t think so.”
“Moss!” Jenna yelled.
“Where’d you get the truck from, sir?” Moss asked.
“I can’t tell you.”
“I don’t see you have much choice.”
“Hey man, how about I just saved your wretched ass? Maybe show a little gratitude?”
Moss stepped forward and slammed the stock of his rifle into Sean’s forehead. Sean slumped to the ground. “Thanks for the help.”
“What in the hell is wrong with you?” Jenna shrieked, shoving Moss backward.
“He stole that truck!” He leveled his eyes on Jenna and pointed at Sean. “Look at him! Look how he’s dressed. This guy ain’t military. He’s got no business driving stealth technology through the badlands. You tell me, Jenna! Who the fuck is he?”
“Maybe if he was conscious he could tell you! I’m more surprised by the fact there is a truck with stealth technology. The question is, why aren’t you? What do you know that I don’t?” Scruff watched them stare at each other until Jenna finally broke her gaze and knelt next to the Stone guy.
Sure didn’t take that rifle butt like a stone.
“Get away from him,” Moss growled.
Jenna looked over her shoulder.
“Why? You gonna hit me, too?”
Moss’s eyes went wide as realization crossed his face.
“No, of course not. No. I just—”
“You just lost enough this week, right?”
Scruff rolled his eyes.
Shit. Here we go.
“Well, yeah! I’ve lost enough this week!”
Jenna shot up, turned around, and landed a haymaker on Moss’s jaw. Moss reeled backward and fell to the ground, dropping his rifle. He blinked a couple of times, put his hand against his jaw, and looked up at her as his eyes stopped rattling in their sockets.
And people think I’m crazy, Scruff thought.
“You aren’t the only one who lost people, you moron.” Jenna punched the air with the finger of doom Scruff had seen so rarely, but knew better than to trifle with. “I lost my guys, too! Get your head out of your ass!”
Moss jumped up and took a step forward.
Scruff looked between the two of them, saw the venom in their eyes, and grabbed Moss’s rifle. He set it to low. Then he shoved his hands between them.
“Step back,” he grunted. Neither of them moved, so Scruff stepped between them, forcing them to step away from each other. He pointed down the hill as he leveled his eyes on Moss. “Go. Now.”
“Yeah, get the fuck—”
“Shut up!” Scruff boomed, turning on Jenna. “Stop being children!” Moss and Jenna both took a sudden step backward and Jenna nearly fell down. “You!” He pointed at Moss. “Go! Now!” He thrust the rifle into Moss’s hands, nearly knocking him down. “Go!”
Moss took a final look down at Sean, turned and stomped down the hill. Scruff turned toward Jenna. She looked like a wounded puppy, clear liquid forming in the wells of her eyelids.
“Check him, doc.” He pointed down at Sean.
Jenna nodded silently and got to work on Sean as Scruff looked on.
“Pulse is good. At least he didn’t kill him.”
Scruff grunted the affirmative.
“Sorry.”
“No need. Family fights.”
“How—”
Jenna stumbled backwards further and Scruff stepped toward her, his hands extended outward. When he saw her eyes roll back in her head, he grabbed her lapels and pulled her to him as her legs gave out beneath her.
“Jenna!” Scruff heard Moss shouting from behind. “Jenna!” Scruff swept Jenna into his arms and turned toward the camp. Moss was double-timing it up the hill, with Reagan in tow. They met in the middle of the hill. “What happened?”
“Passed out,” Scruff grunted. “Needs rest.”
Chapter Fifty-Seven
A Fucking Box
Sean woke up in a box. It was lit inside, but it was a box. There were two sleeping pads here, plenty of room for three more full-sized adults, but it was a fucking box. He remembered the pod structures he’d seen through the windshields of the tank, and he started to shiver.
He closed his eyes and tried to breathe deeply. But his heart was racing, and his breaths came in short gasps. Each time he opened his eyes, the walls seemed closer. He slapped the panel with the red light next to the top hatch. Nothing.
He could feel his temples pulsing now, hear the blood thumping in his ears. It’d been bad enough in the storage of The Beast, but then he’d known what was going on. Now, he was in the middle of nowhere, under threat of badlander attack, and someone had stuck him in a fucking box! He started yelling and pounding on the wall.
Chapter Fifty-Eight
A Blimp
“Backup crew will be here tomorrow,” Moss said. He was sitting in Jenna’s pod, holding her hand as she lay on her sleeping pad. “Defense Forces have launched extra drones in the meantime, to keep an eye on us, for whatever good that does at this point. Two drone strike pairs are inbound to watch the perimeter. They’re calling us home. They’re going to retire you.”
“Fine with me,” Jenna said, diverting her eyes to a corner of her cube in lieu of meeting his. “I’ve had enough of this shit.”
But in actuality, it wasn’t about the shit she’d of which she’d had enough. She was distracted by the epiphany that was the man sitting in the cube nestled between hers and Moss’s. The face she hadn’t seen in —
“I get it.” He rubbed the top of her hand. “I’m sorry I was an asshat, as you like to say.”
She smiled in spite of herself and found herself squeezing his hand as she looked up at him. She took in his smooth dark skin knowing it might be the last time.
“It’s okay, I was a bit of a douche canoe, too.”
“What’s a douche canoe?”
“Never mind.”
“You say never mind a lot.”
“People don’t get me.”
“I get you.”
“You’re as close as anyone,” she said. “So, what will you do?”
“I’m not sure. Follow orders.”
“Soldier until the end.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” Moss said, laughing softly.
“I get it.”
“They’re going to take Stone and the truck back to OK City. See if they can get an idea of where it came from.”
“Where the truck came from? You mean it isn’t military?”
He patted her hand.
“I’m going to let you get some rest.”
“Why do I get the impression that you know something about that truck that you aren’t telling me?”
Moss shrugged and kept his expression stony.
“I have clearance.”
“You don’t have this clearance, Jenna. I wish I could tell you. Maybe someday I’ll be able to.” He changed the subject. “We’re going to be welcoming a full division and a blimp in two days. They’re going to clear this road if it kills every badlander in the southeast.”
“They’re sending a blimp?”
“I got the impression that the command council was as pissed as we are.”
“A blimp?” Jenna repeated. “Yeah, I imagine so.” She scoffed. “It’s about freaking time.”
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Make Our Work Together Easier
Reagan stood over Wolfe and peered down into his eyes, a small blade gripped in her left hand. Crusted blood painted his face from his temple where Scruff’s rifle had struck him as he rode in on his motorcycle in his attempt to imprison her a second time. The others were in their pods. Moss and Jenna showed no interest in the proceedings. Though she’d seen initial doubt in Jenna’s eyes, she’d gotten the impression the woman had bigger fish to fry. She’d relented, stating clearly that this was Reagan’s chance at payback for two years of hell.
Reagan had appreciated the sentiment.
Wolfe tried to talk through the gag Scruff had wrapped around his mouth.
“I listened to you talk for two years, Wolfe,” Reagan said. “I listened to you brag, I listened to you curse me as you took me however you desired. I listened to you yell at our child, the child your guys killed tonight. So you don’t get to talk. Not this time, darlin’.”
Wolfe continued to grunt.
“You weren’t carrying a fusion weapon when you rolled into camp. If you had been, I would’ve assumed it was you that killed Lucy, and you’d be dead.”
Wolfe grunted and screamed into the rag, but no one except Reagan could hear him. He shook his head back and forth violently.
“I know, I know. It wasn’t you. But that Jenna woman sleeping right over there in her pod? She’s a trained doctor. And she told me that my baby girl had a spiral wrist fracture. I presumed you’d broken it, but I didn’t know you did that. It explains why she hurt so bad at the time. And that, Wolfe, well that makes me really, really mad.”
Wolfe screamed through the gag.
“Plus, you brought your boys here. You knew I was here. You knew Lucy was here. Remember? You asked for us by name. Then you killed all these innocent people. So, you don’t get to walk away clean. That just wouldn’t be fair, right?”
He started grunting, and she punched him in the chin.
“Shut the fuck up, Wolfe! It’s my turn!” She pressed the knife to his throat and he stopped struggling. “That’s better. Now, I’ve got a present for you.” She reached into her back pocket. “This is Morpho. It’ll make our work together easier.”
Wolfe looked at the injector and back at Reagan, eyebrows furrowed.
“Hmmph?” he said.
“I want you to remember my face clearly for the rest of your pathetic life.” She straddled him and slammed the injector into his neck. Then she pushed the plunger. “Look at my face. You always said it was a pretty face. Such unscarred, smooth skin. Prettiest slave in the cul-de-sac. That’s why you never hit my face, right? You wanted to keep me pretty for when you raped me. So, look real good at my face.”
His eyes started to flutter as the narcotic passed the blood-brain barrier.
“Remember my face forever, Wolfe.”
Book Four
Part Thirteen
Triangle City
Chapter Sixty
Both Middle Fingers
Day 6
Sunday, Mar 24, 2137
Triangle City
Intertwining red and white spirals decorated the tops of umbrellas at the outdoor cafe on Breakthrough Boulevard. Blake sat in a chair with an overstuffed feather cushion enjoying their shade while reading his Tab, one foot propped on the chair next to him. It felt like the first day of spring, with the sun shining warmth upon the people striding by carrying shopping bags, pushing strollers, and holding hands. The smell of fresh bread wafted through the propped open doors of a bakery next door.
“Doesn’t appear Diamond Sky caused a lot of fear to me,” Lexi said as she approached the table.
Blake looked up.
&nbs
p; Her hair shone like fire in the sunlight. It was pulled back tight in a ponytail. She wore slim sunglasses with dark brown lenses instead of the usual SmartGlasses. Her yellow dress seemed to be an extension of the sun itself, bright in the midday glare with white flowers tattered randomly across the knee length skirt. Her legs went on forever.
“Nice dress.” Blake lowered his foot and stood.
She smiled, held her arms out, and spun once, the bottom hem of the dress floating into the air.
“It’s your mother’s. You like it?”
He stood and kissed her offered cheek.
“It looks great. But don’t I pay you enough to buy your own dresses?”
“She saw me admiring it when I visited your father last night.”
“Oh God, and she forced you to take it. Typical Mom.”
“I thought she was just going to take it off right there. But in true Kara style, she had a spare. She insisted I wear it when I talked to you.”
“So, you have something to tell me, and she thought the dress might help. Something tells me I’m not going to like what’s coming.”
He reached down and pulled out a chair.
She feigned fanning herself.
“Such a gentleman, suh.” Blake pushed the chair in beneath her as she descended into its embrace. She leaned her head onto the backrest and exposed her neck to the sky. Lexi exhaled a long breath and looked up at the sun, feeling its warmth bathe her exposed skin. “I could get used to this.”
“Why shouldn’t you?”
“According to the mayor, I should practically hide indoors.” She looked around. “Seems people disagree.”
“I am starting to wonder if he’s even trying anymore. Everyone in the city talks about his inability to keep us safe, so he tells us to stay at home. What kind of weak politics are those? It’s like he wants Dad to whip his ass at the polls.”