“Remind me to thank Ruby then,” Mercy said. She looked around the room, Leo’s crew had stripped the house of anything useful, they had even managed to find some tinned food and matches. “OK, so we’re done here, it’s only thirty miles to Halifax, the NSA will be here soon. Have you got a plan?” Mercy asked.
Leo looked at Mercy then Tawny. “I’ve always got a plan, for me and my kids. We’re good here, we know the territory, so yeah, we’ll be on our way.”
Mercy leant forwards. “OK Leo, I know you weren’t expecting this today, but we need your help. My friend Rites over there is in a bad way, we need to rest up and regroup for a few days, get our shit together, decide what we’re going to do. The NSA are holding some of my people in Halifax, I need to get them out.”
Leo turned back to Mercy. “Now you’ve got my attention, you should’ve said so before. The NSA got some of my folks prisoner at the Citadel, that’s Fort George to you. It’s impregnable, but if you got a plan I’m all ears—”
“We’ll work something out,” Mercy said. “We’ll go with you and figure it out.” She extended her hand to shake on it but Leo had turned to face Tawny.
“OK, you can come with us,” Leo said. “We’ll take it one day at a time, see how we get along.”
They left the lodge and entered the forest. They had a couple of hours head start on the NSA.
“What if they bring dogs?” Tawny asked Mercy.
“We’ve all dealt with dogs before,” Mercy answered.
“True, but we’re out here, in Canada for Christ’s sake,” Tawny said, “and we’re unarmed.”
“Listen, we’re on Leo’s turf at the moment, let’s play by his rules. Oh and by the way—” Mercy paused.
“What?” Tawny asked.
“Leo—”
“What about Leo?”
“He’s interested in you. Can’t take his eyes off you, just giving you the heads up in case you hadn’t noticed,” Mercy said.
Tawny swore. “I need that shit like a hole in the head,” she muttered drifting off into silence.
Mercy stared ahead watching Leo guide his rag tag group through the trees. She was impressed with his tactics; he was using scouts and the ground he had chosen was marshy, they would leave no footprints. They came to reeds, a large expanse of water lay beyond. She figured it was Porters Lake, Rites was struggling but managing to keep up. Mercy was torn, she wanted to stop for Rites’s sake but she knew it was important to keep moving.
The scouts led them along the lake, then up a stream, the going was hard but nobody complained. The water would mask their scent if they were lucky. They left the stream and headed deeper into the trees. Mercy felt out of her element in the forest. Were there tropes here? How bad had the pandemic been in Canada? Were there skinnies? Had they started reanimating like in Manhattan?
Maybe it was best not to know, deal with things as they happened, it was all she could do. She looked at Rose trudging ahead, Rose was unpredictable, a loose cannon. The only person who could reach Rose was Tawny, Rose was Tawny’s problem. Flynn was her concern, thirty miles to Halifax, she could walk there in a day or two. The Citadel didn’t sound promising, but then again she had been on Sable Island that morning and now she was on the mainland roaming the wilderness with a bunch of kids.
Anything could happen—
Leo put his hand in the air, the group stopped. He sent a runner forwards to the scouts and waited. The runner returned a few minutes later and whispered in his ear. Leo stood up and waved the group on, the ground rose and the going was tough, they climbed up the slope and emerged on a flat outcrop. An old truck supported on blocks and a freight container with a tarpaulin awning lay in a clearing. A camp fire sat in the centre surrounded by log seats.
Leo turned and addressed Tawny, smiling, “Home sweet home.”
Tawny looked back the way they had come. “You gonna keep eyes on the forest?”
“Already taken care of,” Leo replied, “but we should be safe here, we’re pretty remote, there’s a road that way, that’s how this truck got here and that’s our way out. It leads to Route 107 which will take you to Halifax and all the trouble you can handle.”
The kids dispersed and started preparing for the evening. Leo gave instructions, there would be no fire, bedding was arranged for Tawny, Rites, Rose and Mercy. Rites lay down and closed his eyes, his skin was a pallid grey. Tinned food and spring water was shared out.
Mercy went over to Leo who was sitting with another youth examining their haul of weapons. They had taken the soldiers’ three guns; an Ithaca 37 shotgun, two AR-15 automatic rifles and three pistols; a Glock 17 and two Ruger American pistols.
“Nice haul,” Mercy said. “Why don’t you have more guns though?”
Leo pulled a face. “This is Canada, Dawes.”
Mercy nodded. “We’re going to need more than that if we’re going to free our friends at Fort George.”
Leo narrowed his eyes. “We ain’t got many guns, but those nearer the city do. There’s them in Halifax that oppose the NSA; they got relatives being held as slaves and breeders in Fort George.”
“Breeders?” Mercy asked.
“Yeah, the NSA use slave labour for the fields and workshops and they’ve got women to have babies, the breeders. Colonel Randel says he’s taking the long view, says he’s the only one guaranteeing the survival of the human race, him and his NSA.”
“How many of them are there in Fort George?” Mercy asked.
“NSA? About five hundred. Civilians in the park surrounding the fort; about a thousand—”
“And you say there’s some kind of resistance to the NSA?”
“Well I wouldn’t call it a resistance exactly, a few families and street gangs joined together to fight the Colonel after he cleared Halifax of the tropes.”
“He really did that? Cleared the tropes?”
“Yeah, no, sort of. Him and his army waged war on the tropes in the early days. He imposed martial law and a shoot to kill policy for anyone suspected of having the infection. He murdered a lot of people who hadn’t turned, then when the virus took hold he burned down whole sections of the city. Thousands died, their bodies were bulldozed into mass graves, the NSA used quicklime. There were some pitched battles with the early tropes, he had gunships back then, they were effective. He corralled thousands of tropes in the underground carparks and malls in the city centre and torched them.”
“So not so much a quarantine, more of an extermination of the population, trope and human,” Mercy reflected.
“Yeah, I guess. There’s still plenty of new tropes drifting into the city every day from surrounding towns and suburbs—”
“Nice,” Mercy said her voice cold. “What do you know about the Colonel?”
Leo looked away, wind rustled the leaves above. Leo’s face was hard to read, he remained silent. Mercy knew she had touched a nerve. Leo’s companion looked uncomfortable but spoke up.
“Don’t know much about him except he came from south of the border after the Fall, with his men. He killed Leo’s parents for refusing to go to Fort George, the Colonel took Leo’s brother and sister, they’re being held in Halifax. It’s taken all my effort to stop him from charging in there, they’d shoot him down. They’ve still got plenty of ammo and heavy machine guns, mortars too. They’ve even got some aircraft and helicopters working out of Shearwater Airforce Base— we’ve got bows and arrows.”
Leo glared at his friend then his face softened. “This here’s Jude, we go way back. Jude’s family died in the pandemic.”
Mercy looked Jude in the eye, she saw his pain. “So we’ve all got one thing in common, we’ve lost our parents. So you guys are family now, you, this group, everyone’s got a story, a history. Look at what Rose did today, everyone’s damaged, it’s just below the surface for all of us, it’s all we’ve got left, anger and pain. All I know is Colonel Randel has got my friends and I intend to do something about it.” She looked at Leo and Jude, “You want
in?”
Leo nodded. “I’m in.”
Jude’s shoulders slumped. “I knew this was coming when I saw you.” He sighed. “Yeah, I guess I’m in, just wondering what we do about the younger ones.”
“They’ll come with us. If we can join up with the Halifax families we can ask them for shelter.”
Mercy looked at the guns on the ground. “We’re going to need more weapons and ammunition before we go to Halifax.”
Leo looked at Jude. “Well that’s gonna be difficult, the NSA took all the guns from the hunting shops in the area and from the police station so unless we trawl through houses there’s nowhere to get weapons—”
Tawny walked up to Mercy and stared at Leo. “We can take them from the NSA guys who’ve been sent to find us.”
No one spoke. Tawny continued, “You saw how easy it was to tackle those three guys. You’ve got three guns and three pistols now and your crossbows and arrows. This is your territory, do what the enemy least expects, attack instead of run. An ambush, they’ll have transport, but they’ll need to track us on foot. They’ll have to leave a couple of guys to guard the vehicles. That’d be a good place to start—”
Leo looked at Jude. “She’s right, we knew we’d have to fight one day. This is our chance, then we can take the fight to Halifax, get our people back. The stakes are high, but it’s the only way. If we’re armed it’ll show the families in Halifax that we mean business, we’ll be valuable to them, we can join forces.”
Jude stared at the ground for a long time. Mercy kept quiet, the decision was between these two friends, she would not push them. She was prepared to go to Halifax alone if she had to.
Finally Jude looked at Mercy. “OK agreed, but we need to run it by the kids and explain the plan. Anyone who wants out can take a back seat without feeling bad.”
Mercy stood up. “Let’s do it then.” She extended a hand to Leo, he stared at her for a moment then stepped forwards.
“We have a deal,” Leo said, shaking her hand.
The group gathered after everyone had a chance to rest and eat. The kids, except for the perimeter guards, gathered in the freight container. A few small candles and a storm lantern provided some light. Leo explained the plan and the reasoning behind it. The kids hung on his every word, their faces dim pools of reflected light. Leo stopped talking and silence followed.
“OK everyone, it’s over to you now. We’ll put it to a vote and remember, if anyone wants out that’s OK. But before we vote does anyone have questions?”
The faces in the group stared at him, a girl aged about nine put her hand up. Leo nodded at her. “Go ahead Saph, what is it?”
The girl stood up and closed her eyes gathering her thoughts. She leaned forwards and spoke, her voice nervous. “We t-t-t-take no prisoners, right?” Her stutter cut the air like a knife.
Leo looked at Tawny then back at Saph. “These men are ruthless, they will kill us or take us as slaves. So damn right Saph; we take no prisoners. This is kill or be killed—”
Mercy gave Leo an appraising look. She glanced at Tawny, Tawny’s eyes were fixed on Leo, a thoughtful look on her face.
Another hand went up, a young boy with a burn mark on his face stood up, “We could use the grove, they won’t know about that?” A murmur of approval rippled through the group, one or two faces smiling.
Leo nodded. “Yes, that’s one of the options we’re considering. First things first though, the vote. Hands up those that want to go ahead with this—”
Saph put her hand up first, followed by one or two others, then the boy with the burn mark raised his hand which seemed to be a watershed moment as all the other kids followed suit.
Leo kept his face straight. “OK everyone, we’re going to do this. Remember this is not a game, this is real, this is for us and our families. We’ll look after each other and our new friends are going to help too,” he gestured to Tawny, Rose and Mercy.
They heard footsteps outside, a figure walked into the freight container and pushed to the front. A tall, thin girl about sixteen or seventeen emerged from the crowd. Her face was hard, she stood in front of Leo and Mercy.
“What is it Molly?” Leo asked.
Molly’s eyes fell on Mercy. “I’m sorry, but your friend Rites, he’s—”
Mercy didn’t wait for Molly to finish, she pushed past her, she knew. The kids parted in silence, Mercy went to where Rites lay under the tarpaulin on a makeshift bed. She knelt beside him and took his hand, he was dead.
I’m so sorry Rites. Those NSA bastards. You survived the pandemic, survived New York City, survived the Fall, only to die at the hands of those butchers. Mercy felt a hand on her shoulder and glanced back, Rose and Tawny were standing behind her.
Rose squeezed Mercy’s shoulder, “We’ll get them for this won’t we?”
“Yes Rose we’ll get them, for Rites and for Vince too,” Mercy answered, she felt old, empty. She should be upset, angry, but she felt nothing, no emotion; the Fall, the NSA, the virus, it had taken away her humanity. She was existing not living, she had no tears left to give.
Tawny’s voice broke the silence. “Fucking men, it’s always the fucking men who do this shit. You and me Rose, you and me, Angels to the end, we’ll bring the fight to the NSA.”
The next morning Mercy, Tawny, Leo and Jude met with the rest of the group. Leo stood up and spoke. “We’ve agreed a plan,” he said, looking at Tawny and Mercy. “We’re going to split the group into two. So that’ll give us twelve per party. My group will take to the lake in the boats down near the sports shop. We’ll take to the lake and flank the NSA at the lodge. We know they’re there; Johnny and Stig checked the lodge out earlier. The second group, Jude’s group, will move out to the west road where they can wait and see what the NSA are doing. The NSA will probably want to search the forest in daylight, they may have dogs. Once Jude’s group have spotted the NSA they’ll send a runner in to draw them to the grove, the runner knows the ground so they’ll get through. Jude’s group can follow and pick off the soldiers from behind. Remember kill in silence if you can, surprise is everything.”
Jude got up. “That’s just a rough outline, we’ll have to keep it flexible, things could change.”
“How many of them are there?” one of the boys spoke up. He looked about thirteen, his teeth startlingly white against his dirty face.
“Well Johnny and Stig counted three SUVs so there could be ten or twelve of them but we’re not sure—”
It started to rain, a damp chill rose from the earth, the group was silent. Leo shifted on his feet. “I’ve known you all for a long time now and I meant what I said last night, if anyone wants to sit this one out then there’s no pressure. I— we all understand. Know this though, these men are killers and slavers, if they catch us, well you know what they’ve done to our families, to our parents, brothers and sisters—”
Saph stood up and looked at the others then turned to face Leo. She closed her eyes concentrating. “T-t-t-t-they tied my mother to a tree and hurt her b-b-b-bad before they shot her. T-t-t-they shot my brother in the f-f-f-face—” she stopped and looked at the ground. “It’s our turn now,” she said, her voice clear and strong.
The rain became heavier as if to endorse Saph’s words. Leo nodded at the group, “OK guys, get ready, we’re moving out in ten minutes. Good luck and be safe.”
The group dispersed gathering weapons and jackets. Mercy approached Leo, “Nice speech, so I guess I’ll go with you on the lake,” she looked around, Tawny and Rose had attached themselves to Jude and were deep in conversation.
Leo looked across at Tawny. “What is it with her? She seems—” he didn’t finish his sentence.
Mercy shrugged. “Tawny’s had a hard time, like the rest of us. You’re looking at a lot of scar tissue there, she doesn’t trust men and I don’t blame her. Rose is all she’s got left of her old life, her family. Rose is the most important thing in the world to Tawny.”
Leo sighed. “Nothing’s
simple now is it? Everything’s complicated—”
Mercy pulled her jacket tight around her, she was already soaked. “Damn right. Come on Leo, we’ve got work to do.”
Leo, Mercy and ten others said goodbye to Jude’s group and left the camp. They climbed down from the outcrop and made their way through the forest for half an hour until they came to the lake. Leo followed the shore north until they arrived at a duckboard path which disappeared into the reeds. They took the path and five minutes later arrived at a concealed mooring; three upturned canoes lay on a decked area.
“Right everyone, boats in the water, you know what to do,” Leo ordered.
Mercy helped lower one of the canoes into the lake and watched as the others did the same. She hesitated, none of them had life jackets. She looked at Leo, “Does everyone know how to swim?”
Leo pulled a face. “Dawes, what do you think? I told you already, this is Canada, now get in.”
Mercy climbed in and resolved not to question Leo about his group’s abilities. It was odd being out on the water again, she still had not recovered from her ordeal at sea; she clutched the sides of the canoe, her nails digging into the wood.
“Here, take this, start paddling,” Leo passed her a paddle. She looked ahead as the front of the canoe broke through the thick reeds into open water. The sense of claustrophobia receded and her head cleared, she took the paddle and placed it in the water. Leo could read people, he was good with his kids, his group trusted him.
Maybe he’ll reach Tawny, maybe—
Mercy lost herself in the paddling. The others knew what they were doing, they moved into deeper water and the shore receded. They paddled down the centre of the lake for forty minutes then started moving towards the shore again. The lake was calm, the canoes made a shimmering noise as they glided through its velvety black surface.
Mercy focused on the approaching shoreline and after fifteen minutes of hard paddling the canoe ground onto gravel. Leo jumped out and held the canoe steady for the others. They jumped ashore with the rest of the kids and hid the canoes in the long grass.
The Survival Chronicles (Book 2): Angel of Mercy Page 12