“Yeah, it's OK. I told you the military killed my girlfriend. This is her.” He let the paradox sink in for a few moments before he continued. “Well, actually I thought she was dead, but thankfully I was way wrong on that score. After I left here with Grandma and Drew, we rode our bikes across the county until we reached my house. Hayes was holding Victoria as a hostage, then he blew away my house, and finally he took Grandma away in a helicopter.” He knew he was leaving a ton out of that story, but he didn't want to relive all the bad parts in the middle. One thing he did need to share: “Drew is dead.”
“Oh man. I'm so sorry. Did he have family here?”
“No, he was alone. That's why he went with me.”
Mr. Lee looked at Victoria, perhaps to change the subject. “Well, I'm glad you made it alive. Liam was distraught at your loss.”
She smiled and nodded. Evidently she didn't want to share any more of her story.
Mr. Lee took the hint and continued speaking to Liam as they walked. “In the few days you've been gone, the place has grown quite a bit, but fewer and fewer of the new people are Boy Scouts. It's caused problems with those who have been here from the beginning. I'm afraid we're in for rough times as food gets harder to find. Part of my desire to secure that MRAP is to have some security inside the wire, if you get my meaning.”
They talked about trivial things for the remaining few minutes until they reached the stranded truck. It wasn't all that far from the watchtower, which was itself about a mile or so into the woods outside the main valley. Mr. Lee pulled them into a circle before they got too close.
“From where we are now the dirt road goes to the left and right of us. If we go straight down this hill the MRAP will be visible. Half of us are going to sweep around to the other side so we have eyes over there. We'll all stay behind the truck as it sits now, so if we need to shoot anything near it, we aren't firing across the road directly into each other. Always keep that in mind.”
Lee looked at Melissa and suggested she lead the team going across the road. She and Phil took off with Bo, and three or four of the Scouts. They took one of the ladders too. That left Mr. Lee, Victoria, and himself on this side, along with a contingent of two Scouts, plus their fathers.
They agreed to start moving toward the truck in twenty minutes, which went by quickly. Soon enough, they descended the last small hill and could see the MRAP as promised.
It was a beast of a vehicle, designed to protect its occupants from being blown up by large explosions set beneath it. Liam recognized it from one of his books. This one had six big tires and was painted in the light and dark colors of the local woodlands, instead of the sandblasted tan common in the desert. The primary weapon was a high-powered Gatling gun on the roof. Liam saw what it could do to his own house. It would be an awesome weapon to control.
The rear doors hung open, as if they were flung wide in a hasty retreat. If this was a trap, it seemed a dumb thing to do. All six wheels were up to the axles in mud, but much of the mud pit had dried since it became trapped. Someone could easily walk up to the rear doors at least.
They studied the area for other people, or zombies, but the only movement was their own group in the woods across the road. They moved closer to the truck from their respective sides. Their weapons were hot, but were pointed down at the ground as they walked. In a few minutes, they peeked into the back of the truck; there was no one inside.
Mr. Lee held them up about twenty yards from the open doors. He told everyone to hold where they were and fan out to keep an eye away from the truck. The real threat now was zombies sneaking up behind them as they focused on the extraction.
“Liam, I want you and Victoria to come with me.”
The three of them moved closer. At the same time, Phil and Mel were doing the same on the other side of the road. They met at the truck. Liam and Victoria climbed inside the open back door.
Once inside, Liam couldn't help think it. “Wouldn't it be funny if this was an elaborate trap to capture the two of us?”
What if?
Victoria chuckled uneasily.
Liam recognized this as his MRAP. The very same one he had survived riding in for nearly a day. It had been abandoned in haste on his last ride when it was disabled at a roadblock by an unknown group of attackers. Hayes said they were looters, but he lied about everything.
Liam hunched his way into the front compartment. The security netting which had kept he and his elderly friends packed in the back was now pulled to one side. He could freely access the driver's position. He plopped in the seat, while Victoria did the same on the passenger side.
“Where should we go?”
“Denver?”
“I hope your credit card still works. We're going to need a ton of gas!”
They both laughed at the thought. Liam kicked open his door slightly so he could talk to Mr. Lee now walking up the driver's side exterior, on the other side of the muddy section of the trail.
“How's it look down there?”
“The mud doesn't look that bad. I think they just didn't want to put in the effort to get it out. We should have no problem with the tools we brought. The ladders should help.”
Liam felt relieved. The whole operation was going surprisingly well.
He looked around the dashboard, wondering how to start the big vehicle. Surely Mel or Mr. Lee knew. He noticed the key was still in the ignition down and to his right. It also had a piece of paper attached to it. Someone had taken a sheet, folded it over several times, then skewered it with the key so it hung in place. The message was obvious: “Read this note!”
He motioned to Victoria, and invited her to open the note.
“Things are going so well. I just know that note is bad news.”
She looked at him like he was crazy, then grabbed the paper and began unfolding. Quickly she skimmed it.
“Dang it. Liam, you win the award for smelling bad news.”
6
“To whom it may concern. If you find this MRAP and can get it out of the mud feel free to take it for a spin. Just be aware we're coming to take it back. Thank you for your attention.—DH.”
“Douglas Hayes. It has to be.”
“PS. Please return with a full tank of diesel. That's all it says.”
Liam was crestfallen. “I wonder if anything has changed now that we killed most of his team and sent him running? You think he'll still have the resources to come get this thing?”
“I don't know. I think we have to assume he'll be back. We can't underestimate him,” she replied.
Mr. Lee stood outside the open back door.
“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 dads 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 designat
ed 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.”
&nb
sp; 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—”
Since The Sirens Box Set | Books 1-7 Page 62