They weren’t on the asphalt long and when Ian turned off onto a dirt road, Heath could see all the soldiers seemed to be relieved. “I’ve never even dreamed of that,” Dwain said beside him.
“Oh, I’m sure with what’s coming, those idiots would rather be dragged across the state,” Heath said with no remorse. All the soldiers soon found out the dirt was just as bad as asphalt because this was Kentucky, and there was just as much rock as dirt on the road. “Those troops better be glad they still have their vests on,” Heath stated.
“Why didn’t Lance and Ian take them off, I wonder?” Dwain pondered.
“The Borg Queen is waiting,” Heath replied, and Dwain just shut up.
Heath was certain the three miles to the build house were going to be the longest three miles the five had ever traveled. When they passed the clubhouse, some of those on duty came outside and watched them pass. When Amie flipped the line of troops off, Heath did a double-take at her. Amie had always been so sweet, but the look on Amie’s face now was very cold and hard.
Reaching the valley floor and once again on pavement for a half mile, the five gritted their teeth trying not to yell, and Heath could see most of the backs of the vests had been ground away. Again, when they were off the pavement the five seemed thankful as Ian sped up the driveway to the build house. Everyone was shocked to see Lilly and Jennifer there waiting.
Before Ian stopped, Lance vaulted out of the turret and ran over to Lilly. “How’s Dino really?” he asked.
“Lance, I will never lie to you,” Lilly told him. “Dino’s got a long way to go and isn’t out of danger yet, but he has an excellent chance. That’s why I came over. I know you want to see Dino, and you can, but before you do, you need to shower and change. You and Ian both.”
Taking his mask off, Lance glanced down at his body and it was filthy but he had been dirtier. “Can I ask why I need to be clean?” Lance pondered out loud.
“You and Ian have been fighting and your clothes are saturated with the smells of battle,” Lilly explained. “That will get Dino excited and he won’t want to stay still.”
Ripping his mask off, “We shower here at the build house,” Ian informed Lance.
Nodding, “We have some clothes here,” Lance replied. Neither would risk anything to cause Dino harm. Lance was glad that Lilly and Jennifer had talked them out of dragging a camper to the build house. They’d told the boys to use the build house as their ‘Enterprise’. Not even Lilly or Jennifer went inside without them. Both worked on projects here but nothing like at the research area. Nobody even mentioned the closet in the back bedroom that now had steel doors and was locked with metal hasps.
Reaching over, Lilly grabbed Lance’s hand. “I need to ask you one other thing,” Lilly sighed.
“Baby doll, you don’t have to ask,” Lance told her.
Taking a deep breath, “I need you to ask, tell, order, or whatever you do to get Allie and Carrie to stay near Dino,” Lilly told him. “We all know you two are about to unleash hell and they’ll want to help, but Dino listens to them better than anyone. They can keep him laying down and help tend to him.”
Scoffing, “You could’ve asked them that,” Lance chided. “For Dino, they’ll do anything they have to.”
Shaking her head, “No, I wasn’t asking them shit,” Lilly clarified. “For their ‘Lance’, Allie and Carrie will move the planet or die trying.”
“He’ll tell them,” Ian stated, and Lance turned to him. “Dude, as much shit as they put you through, they owe everyone this.”
“Let’s get cleaned up,” Lance said and then turned, heading for the build house.
“What do you want to do with them?” Lilly asked of the five tied-up moaning soldiers.
“They belong to the Borg Queen, but you can pick one to try treating for a bite,” Lance offered, then shrugged. “For now, they can stay there. They’re all already dead.”
As Lance and Ian went inside to shower, Lilly looked at the five. All were covered in scrapes and cuts from the trip. “Don’t think any have to get bit,” Lilly mumbled because just looking at them, Lilly was sure they would all die despite medical care.
Taking off his mask like everyone else, Patrick eased over to Rhonda as she took off her own mask. “Rhonda,” he called softly. “David and I want to go to the cabin. You know, just to be there for Lance and Ian when they check on Dino. Do you think they’ll mind?”
“Hell, naw,” Rhonda scoffed, then saw Patrick and David looked terrified. “It’s the cabin, not the research area,” she told them.
“The boys designed it to keep people out. Anything they design like that is deadly,” Patrick pointed out. Truth be told, he and David were just as scared of the cabin as the research area, but they wanted to be there for Lance, Ian, and those at the cabin in this time of heartache.
Seeing the fear they held of the cabin but the need to be there for support for their friends, Rhonda felt real pride for the coalition. No, not friends. Family, Rhonda corrected in her mind. “Just don’t run off and you’ll be fine,” Rhonda assured them. Patrick and David took that to mean ‘stay right beside her’, and that’s what they would do.
“Lilly,” Heath called out, walking over to her. “Dino listens to everyone at the cabin. Why did you really want the Ladybugs?”
“Dino does listen to most there, but not with the same conviction he does with some,” Lilly corrected. “Lance and Ian, Dino will always do what they say. Allie and Carrie…. Dino would….” Lilly just droned off, not able to put it in words. “Let’s just say Dino listens to them the best.”
“He lets them paint his claws,” Jennifer snickered, and everyone grinned at remembering Lance and Ian spinning off at Dino’s pink claws.
“But, why them? You think Dino would hurt someone else?” Dwain asked. Everyone, except Lance and Ian, knew the Ladybugs were a huge help when the boys planned anything like revenge, be it a deed or exploit.
“No,” Lilly and Jennifer both answered.
“Dwain, Dino is going to have a liquid diet for several days and everyone should know, liquid diets suck. Trying to reason with a two-hundred-and-fifty-pound mastiff why it can’t have food is going to be a challenge,” Lilly explained.
“Yeah,” Jennifer chimed in. “Not to mention the fact Dino doesn’t like to stay inside when Lance and Ian are outside.” It wasn’t long until Lance and Ian came back out of the build house carrying their ARs but wearing sweatpants, t-shirts, and Crocs.
“Lance, Ian,” Heath asked as everyone moved to vehicles, “I trust this calls for an exploit on a monumental scale.” Heading to one of the tracks, both stopped and turned to him, and Heath really didn’t like the dead expression on their faces as Lance spoke first.
“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, understood as a child, thought as a child.”
Then Ian continued, “But when I became a man, I put away childish things,” he finished the summary of 1 Corinthians 13:11. “This is war and in war, you kill everyone on the other side to the last man. There is no lesson to teach. There is no mercy shown to any that attack us.”
Many gave a shiver at the cold tone, but couldn’t even argue the reasoning. It was the fact the boys weren’t treating it like a game, competition of wits, or resolve. Their reasoning was simple; kill everyone who posed a threat before they could hurt the group.
Chapter Nineteen
Trading Post
Sitting in Victor’s office with him, Bren and Blake were staring at a radio and listening to the Borg Queen. She was asking questions to the soldiers she claimed had attacked them. Every answer was given with a cry of pain. It was this morning when Victor had first heard it and nearly told everyone to load up to head north to Buckhorn and attack Wade, just so the Wild Ones would know the Trading Post wasn’t affiliated in the attack against them three days ago.
This morning, a helicopter from Buckhorn had come in carrying several officers who had demanded Bren follow the orders of Wade and assist
in attacking the Wild Ones. Victor was heading for a gun to shoot the officers himself, when Bren stopped him.
They hadn’t known the day of the attack on the Wild Ones, but everyone at the Trading Post knew something had happened because that night, firework mortars had started going off to the northwest. Even though the base at Buckhorn was fifty miles away, they’d all heard the ‘Booms’ and ‘Pops’ of fireworks. Climbing the water towers, they had gotten to see the bright explosions in the sky and Bren had pointed out what everyone was already thinking, he had never seen fireworks going off that high.
It was the next day when they’d found out why the fireworks had gone off around Buckhorn, drawing in stinkers from miles and miles away. Bren had gotten some of his troops to start monitoring the radios of those at Buckhorn and found out the fireworks had been launched near the base at Buckhorn. One site was a mile to the north and the other, a mile to the west. Patrols had been sent out but none had returned.
One patrol had reported back that a small tank like the Wild Ones used was at the area to the east, but contact was soon lost. This worried Bren on many levels because that meant the Wild Ones could send out their thunder bots. Until then, he and everyone had assumed the thunder bots had to stay close just to recharge but now, they all knew better.
Victor was just staring at the speaker on the radio, still fighting the urge to just go and kill those who’d come down from Buckhorn. The area around them was pretty vacant of infected right now because the infected were now flocking toward Buckhorn. Listening to a soldier answer the Borg Queen’s question with a gurgling scream, Victor leaned back in his chair knowing that was the last one. The message was over two hours long and repeated, and Victor could almost say it word for word as the cold voice of the Borg Queen spoke again from the radio.
“Your warning was given, yet you attacked, so all at the camp under General Wade will die,” the Borg Queen stated. “The loyal minions in our army are assembling and will be there soon. When the Wild Ones leave, no human, young, old, male or female will be left alive.” There was a pause and then the broadcast started over again.
Reaching over, Bren turned the radio off. “I still say we kill some from Buckhorn, just to let the Wild Ones know we had nothing to do with it,” Victor stated.
“I agree with that,” Blake nodded. “How many does Wade have up there anyway?”
“Over thirty thousand bodies,” Bren answered. “Troops? He has over three thousand.”
Raising his eyebrows, “You’re sure?” Victor asked.
“Very. One of my officers knows Captain Lowell, who flew in with the group. I told you he had more than us,” Bren reminded Victor. “But there are also over a thousand Homeland agents on the fighting force, and Wade has added over two thousand that he pulled from the survivors to add to his ranks.”
“Damn,” Blake droned. “With both peninsulas of the Trading Post, we only have ten to twelve thousand bodies total.”
Nodding, “Yes, and since Victor expanded his scouts, we now can call on three thousand guns to fight,” Bren said.
For several minutes, Victor just studied Bren. “You think Wade can hold the Wild Ones off?” he finally asked.
“I doubt it,” Bren admitted. “But think, Victor. For the Wild Ones to attack Buckhorn, they will now have to push through a sea of infected that they brought there. Why take the risk? Infected are stupid, but they make the very air toxic around them and they have the numbers. No commander would face those risks willingly. Yet, the Wild Ones don’t seem to care. When or if they attack, they will have to fight through just to lay siege to Buckhorn because I assure you, they can’t just punch inside.”
Having been to Buckhorn twice, Victor agreed with a nod. The camp was set on Lake Buckhorn between two bays. Water protected the base from the north, east, and south. On the west side, a two mile fence had been put up. The fence was made from logs. At one time, the fourteen hundred acres that the camp covered had been heavily forested, but there weren’t any trees there now. All had been cut down to build the barricade which averaged thirty feet but in some places, the barricade rose fifty feet high.
Even Victor had been impressed when he’d first seen it because the barricade had been put up in a mere two weeks. Where the barricade didn’t follow a ridge was where it rose over fifty feet high. After the barricade was up and refugees moved in, the refugees were forced into labor. At one time, the area was steep hills but now was nearly flat. With shovels, wheelbarrows, and buckets, the refugees had piled dirt up on the back side of the barricade.
There was only one gated entrance that was used and could be blocked off very quickly if needed. Even then, work hadn’t stopped. Crews had been sent out to gather more trees and then those had been sunk at the water’s edge around the camp to completely seal the camp off. There were two boat docks that were used more than the road to bring in supplies. In the beginning supplies had been brought in by air, but the helicopters were in bad need of maintenance. They had the manpower, just not the parts to do the maintenance, so now the choppers were only used when needed.
Knowing Bren like he did, “You think the Wild Ones have bitten off more than they can chew,” Victor stated.
“That’s the way I’m leaning,” Bren admitted. “If nothing else, the Wild Ones have sealed Buckhorn off. Colonel Yelson who is over this delegation, showed me photos they took on the way here. There has to be half a million infected within two miles of the camp. Even on the east side of the lake you can see infected, and it’s nothing but forest there twenty miles in any direction. Nothing compared to the west side outside the barricade. There are so many infected along the barricade now, it can’t be manned. Their only saving grace is the barricade is so high, it keeps the hydrogen sulfide from filling the camp.”
“A wooden wall and the infected don’t go well together,” Blake offered, and Bren nodded as he spoke.
“Yes, but the platoon of engineers under Wade put a sprinkler system at the top of the barricade to help in the event the vapor is ignited. They used what was on hand and in my opinion, have made a nice, defensible area. If the Wild Ones attack that camp, they will have to take casualties to overrun it. A lot of casualties. Wade has sixteen Strykers, half a dozen Bradleys, twenty MRAPs, and a tank.”
Holding up his hands, “Bren,” Blake said. “I saw your men using equipment like that before we moved out here and it just turned into their tombs.”
Very surprised by Blake, “Very good,” Bren chuckled. “Yes, but against humans attacking, that equipment could repel attackers easily. What Wade really needs is artillery. Hell, even mortars, but they don’t have any. If they had artillery to keep the Wild Ones back from attacking the barricade, Wade could let the infected the Wild Ones called in to surround the camp deal with them.”
“We need to get some artillery,” Victor declared.
“Hold up,” Bren said. “Victor, to have artillery doesn’t mean just the weapons. You have to have huge amounts of shells for artillery to be effective. I’m talking a thousand rounds per gun. Mortars, you need just the same because they can’t shoot as far so you have to compensate with volume of fire to keep the enemy from advancing.”
Letting out a long groan, “So, we can’t go get any?” Victor asked.
“Victor, I would rather have air if we had to choose,” Bren told him. “The closest stockpile of artillery is three hundred miles and unlike small arms ammo, it has to be hauled in by truck in the amounts we would need. Heavy artillery, each projectile weighs a hundred pounds and takes charges more than that to launch it, so each ton you’re only lugging ten shots around. If we had a few heavy lift helicopters we might be able to bring in enough, but artillery eats munitions like you can’t even imagine. Artillery is called the ‘King of Battle’ for a reason, but it takes a lot to feed that king.”
Thinking for several minutes but not turning away from Bren, “Do you think the Wild Ones can take Buckhorn?” Victor finally asked.
“They a
lready have, Victor,” Bren pointed out. “Buckhorn is cut off and can only move by air now, and they can’t haul in the supplies they’ll need.”
Since he’d been the last one from the Trading Post to visit Buckhorn, Blake spoke up. “Bren, they have greenhouses, livestock, and power. They can just hunker down behind their barricade.”
“They have some means to sustain themselves, but not for the numbers they have there,” Bren answered. “Blake, you know what we need, so apply that to them. Thirty thousand people consumes over a hundred thousand pounds of food a day, and that’s near starvation rations.”
Since he knew the Borg Queen broadcast by heart, Victor replayed it in his mind. “But the Wild Ones declared, ‘They were going to wipe Buckhorn out’,” Victor said.
Before answering, Bren pondered about how to word his response so Victor could see it from a military view. “Victor, like I said, Buckhorn is wiped out, they just aren’t dead yet. The only chance Wade had is long gone. If he would’ve launched everything he had and attacked when his patrol was taken, he could’ve done damage, real damage to the Wild Ones,” Bren acknowledged. “Now, granted, those he sent would’ve never made it back because the infected would’ve swamped them before they could leave. But with what Wade has, he could’ve hurt them. It just would’ve been a suicide mission for those who went, and he would’ve lost all his heavy weapons and most of his fighting force.”
With the scenario playing out in his mind, Victor shivered. “That’s not a choice,” he stated bluntly.
Bren was happy to hear that from Victor because that’s why the Trading Post didn’t take in lots of ‘survivors or refuges’ who’d been just ordinary souls before this, unless they had a trade or skill that was of use. The women and kids who made up the stock didn’t count. All of them were seen as commodities. Bren had pointed out for every ten refugees inside, there had to always be one armed personnel. This had to be maintained so those inside didn’t try to take over because only those in charge or who they’d appointed had guns.
Forsaken World | Book 6 | Redemption Page 39