Uprising: Book 2 in the After the Fall Series

by David Nees

  Lori Sue sighed. She knew this time would come. “You’re right. I haven’t taken care of you, but you know how busy I’ve been. Look, I can make it up to you right now if you tell me where to find Donna.” Before Reggie could say no, she grabbed him by the arm and tugged him along the street toward the alley. “Come on, you’ll enjoy this.” She shoved him forward and slipped off her jacket, dropping it to the ground over the bolt cutters.

  It didn’t take long. She led him back to the entrance.

  “Wow that was hot.” He had a surprised look on his face. His attitude was different now. It’s so easy, she thought.

  “You help me and I’ll make sure you’re happy. Now where did they move?”

  “To the southeast side of town. Ain’t many people there.” He gave her the address.

  “Thanks.”

  “You goin’ there now?” Reggie’s brain was starting to re-engage and he seemed worried. He gave her a sharp look. “You better not let anyone know how you found the place.”

  “You can trust me.”

  “When are you coming back? I’d sure like to try that again.”

  “Not right away. I’m pretty busy, big boy, but you’ll get more of what I got, don’t worry.”

  He smiled.

  Leo’s back. How’m I going to pull this off? Lori Sue left Reggie at the hotel entrance and walked back towards the bar. She had to step aside repeatedly for hurrying workers. Men shouted at one another, shouted at her to get out of the way. They were pushing, dragging anything they could find—desks, large copiers—into the streets to close them off. Lori Sue decided to walk around the perimeter to see what was going on.

  Along the way she ran into some of her militia customers. “What are you doing down here?” The officer who had given her his pistol asked.

  “What am I usually doing down here? I’m working.”

  “Ain’t no work for you today or tonight. Everyone’s too busy.”

  Nobody would talk to her. She looked at the developing fortress and shivered.

  Then she saw Leo.

  She was just passing an opening in the barrier, and she was in a position to be able to see down the middle of the four-block compound. Leo was far down the center street, by the bank building, but she recognized him instantly. He was giving orders to two nervous-looking militia officers. Then he jumped into a pickup and drove off.

  Ain’t gonna get Donna today. He may be headed back to his place.

  She decided to head back and tell the others. They’d want to know about this.

  When she got back to her apartment Billy wasn’t there, and the nearby rooms were empty too. She dropped the bolt cutters in her living room and ran across the street. The guard inside the door looked at her curiously, but he let her run past him and up the stairs.

  “Hey,” she said as she burst into the room. Everyone stopped to look at her. She was surprised to see Billy there, but first things first. “They’re walling in the downtown area. They know you’re coming.” She began to explain the preparations she had observed and what she had learned from the militia officer.

  “They’re not reinforcing the defenses at the perimeter wall?” Lieutenant Cameron asked.

  Lori Sue glared at him. “I don’t know, maybe they are. I wasn’t out at the damn perimeter wall. But I know they’re making up the blocks around militia territory like a fort.”

  “Damn,” Jason said. “Do they know we’re in?”

  Sergeant Gibbs frowned and rubbed his chin. “They can’t know too much if what they’re focusing on is fortifications. That says they don’t know where it’s going to come from and they don’t know where to hit us. Maybe they’re guessing, or just being cautious. But it does say they’re not putting their faith in their wall, which is disappointing.” He shrugged. “I think we can say at least that they’re sure we’re coming. Maybe they even suspect we’re already inside.”

  “But they don’t know we’re here, the army,” Cameron said. “They think the full contingent left. They won’t be expecting any large weapons; heavy machine guns, mortars, grenades. This gives us a big advantage.”

  As the men discussed Lori Sue’s new information, Billy took her aside.

  “So, you all joined up?” she asked him.

  “Guess so,” Billy said. “Right now it’s pretty boring. They’ve had me pointing out things on the map, sayin’ what building in the militia area is for what, and then they all argue. You didn’t get Donna?”

  “She wasn’t there anymore. Leo moved her to a place over in the south side. I think it’s almost as empty over there as this part of town.”

  “Leo’s back?”

  “Yeah. I saw him. He’s directing the defense work. I can’t go get Donna tonight in case he goes back there. I told you, I’m being careful.”

  “You shouldn’t go there at all, now he’s back.”

  “I can do it tomorrow. He’ll be downtown all day from the looks of what’s going on.”

  “No, no. This ain’t right. Wait ‘til after the battle. It’s too dangerous.”

  Lori Sue whispered to him, “You don’t know how this’ll come out, you said so yourself, back at Chief Cook’s house. We’re on this side, ‘cause we ain’t gonna support someone like Leo.” She looked around and then put her head close to Billy’s. “They could lose, we could lose. Then it’s every man for himself. If I can get Donna out, no one will know who did it. We’ll just get along like we did before, only Donna’ll be free. If we lose the battle, there’s no way to free Donna. We free her now, that’s a poke in the eye for Leo and we’ll just act like we was with the militia all along.”

  “You think we’ll lose?”

  “It’s what you said. And besides, it makes sense. We help this group how we can, but we make sure we got a plan if things don’t work out.”

  “Then why risk helping Donna?”

  She gave Billy a long, serious look. “We girls got to stick together.”

  The two sidled their way back to the group to listen to the plans.

  “How many men you got?” Clayton was asking a man Billy didn’t know.

  “We have about fifty,” the man replied. He looked subtly different than anyone else in the room. He was dressed like a city man, in a maroon dress shirt and gray pants.

  “How many can shoot?”

  “Maybe thirty have shot before, but they’ve all been practicing. We haven’t fired the rifles, but we’ve gone over the M16, how to aim it, how to load the magazines, change them, switch fire modes, what to do if they jam. They’ll do all right. This is their fight.”

  Clayton gave the stranger a non-committal look but didn’t say any more.

  Cameron turned to Billy. “I’d like you to go out this evening and scout the defenses. You should be able to move around without being challenged.”

  Lori Sue looked sharply at Cameron. “You don’t believe me? I seen it all today.”

  Cameron turned to her. She could see the surprise on his face. “This is too important to go with just one report. I want more detail. Billy can tell us what has developed since you saw the defenses.” He turned back to the group. “He can corroborate what Lori Sue reported with any updates, then we’ll have the best info we can get. We can attack tomorrow after getting his report.” The rest agreed.

  “Well, then you better also recheck that Leo’s back,” Lori Sue said irritably. “‘Cause I saw Leo too.”

  The whole room looked at her in surprise.

  Chapter 57

  ___________________________________

  A s they walked back over to their apartment, Billy spoke ruefully. “I wanted to spend the night with you, but now I got to do this scouting. Damn! Things are gonna get hot tomorrow. Sure would be nice to have a chance to love some with you.”

  Lori Sue hugged his arm as they crossed the street. “That’d be nice, but we’ll have plenty of time for that, no matter how tomorrow works out. You just be sure to take care of yourself tomorrow. Don’t you go getting s
hot.”

  “I’ll be all right. But I still don’t like you going back to Leo’s place to get Donna. You should just stay here.”

  “I told you. I’ll be okay. Leo’s going to be gone all day tomorrow. He’ll be working on the barricades. I’ll have Donna back here before evening.”

  Billy shook his head in doubt. “I want you to wait for me. I’ll go with you tomorrow after giving Cameron my report.”

  Lori Sue rose before dawn. She knew that she had to leave before Billy got back from his scouting mission. Otherwise they’d have a big fight, and she didn’t want that. She was naturally stubborn, and she was committed to freeing Donna. Billy had shown surprising stubbornness of his own in not wanting her to go back. There was no reconciling the two. Better to just go and get it done. There wouldn’t be a fight when she got back with Donna, having stolen her from that monster, Leo. It would have been nice to see Billy off before the attack started, but this way was better. Get this done and get the hell back here while everything else was blowing up.

  “You got that 9mm I gave you?” Lori Sue asked Donna.

  “It’s stuffed inside of one of Leo’s shoes, behind some socks. It’s a pair I’ve never seen him wear, but I made sure they took all his shoes,” Donna replied. She smiled for an instant. “They listened. They’re scared of him.”

  “I’ll bet he’s gonna be downtown until this fight is over,” Lori Sue said. “I’ll get your gun. Let’s also get you dressed in something other than that nightie. We may have to run for it.”

  “Get me loose first. I’ve got some clothes. I saw them when I got moved. But I haven’t worn anything but this and a house coat to go across the street.”

  “Bastard,” muttered Lori Sue. “Hold out your leg.” She pulled the bolt cutters from her jacket and began to go to work on the shackle. “Damn. These ain’t big enough. That’s some hard-ass metal.” She was squeezing the handles together as hard as she could and moving the jaws back and forth to try to gouge out the metal of the cuff. It was barely leaving a mark.

  “Just try to cut the chain. We can get the cuff off later.”

  Lori Sue switched to the chain. “That ain’t much easier.” She kept at it, grunting with the effort.

  “Let me help,” Donna said. “I’ll grab one handle, you grab the other, and we’ll try to push them together.”

  It worked only for a moment, then the cutter slipped sideways and they rapped their knuckles together.

  “Ow! Shit that hurts,” Lori Sue shouted.

  “Shhh.”

  “Who the hell’s gonna hear? The only guard’s down at the main door.” Lori Sue jumped up and looked around. “We got to get you free somehow. We could be here all day gnawing at that damn metal.”

  “Oh God. He’s going to come back before we get done. I know it,” Donna said. Her voice began to rise in panic.

  “Don’t get hysterical on me. He’s probably not coming back today.”

  “But he might. He might check up on me before the attack. I can feel it.”

  “Will it make you feel better if I get that gun?”

  “Yes. Hurry.”

  “Then we got to figure something out with that damn chain.” Lori Sue went into the bedroom. “Where’re his shoes?” she shouted back to Donna.

  “In the far closet. There’s some shelves on the floor for shoes.”

  Lori Sue got down on her hands and knees and poked around the closet floor. It was too dark to see anything. She pulled out a pair of shoes. No gun. Another shoe, then another. Still no gun. Shit. Did he find the gun? If he had he’d be coming back, coming back for her. She reached back into the closet and pulled more shoes out. Finally she felt the gun. She reached into the shoe and pulled the 9mm loose from where it was jammed into the toe.

  After retrieving the gun, she checked it. It hadn’t been unloaded. He didn’t find it! She could imagine Leo playing a trick like that. She ran back to the hall near the door where she had left Donna sitting. Donna looked up at Lori Sue with tears in her eyes. “Give me the gun and you get out of here,” Donna said. “He’s going to come. I can feel it. And he’ll kill you. I’ll use the gun on him when he comes.”

  “You ever shot someone?”

  “No.”

  “You ever shot a gun?”

  “No.”

  “You won’t stand a chance. Look.” Lori Sue pulled another pistol out of her back waistband. “I got a gun too. Picked it up after I gave you mine. I wasn’t gonna go without.” She shoved it back into her pants. “And I shot someone once. Some cowboy who thought he could manhandle me into some sex. Came following me out from the roadhouse out on Vickers Pike, couple of years before this shit happened. He grabbed me but I got free and ran across the parking lot. He made the mistake of comin’ after me, so I shot him. Hit him in the shoulder. He went down and started bawling, ‘Why’d you have to go and do that?’ ‘Why?’ I told him, ‘Why’d you come after me, you dumbass? Serves you right—”

  “Okay, let’s hurry,” Donna said.

  Lori Sue put the jaws of the cutter over a link of the chain, with one of the handles on the floor. Then they both pressed down on the other handle together. They were pushing with all their strength, sweating and puffing in their exertion. They didn’t hear the key turn in the lock. .

  The door swung toward them.

  “Need the keys?”

  Leo put the key he was holding in his pocket. Smiling, he pulled out a small key ring. “It’s easier than trying to cut through high-strength steel. The shackle and chain are not wimpy decorations. Nothing cheap like that for my girl. I got her quality gear.”

  They were frozen in place. They stared up at Leo.

  “Don’t I get a welcome home?” He shook his head slightly at Donna. “The last time you were all over me, wanting to make love. Now you’re trying to get loose? And who’s this?” He pointed at Lori Sue. A smile played at the edges of his mouth, but his eyes were dark and malevolent. “You got a girlfriend? Without asking my permission? Maybe I should add her to my collection.”

  He stepped forward and shut the door without taking his eyes off them. “Slide the bolt cutters over to me…on the floor. Don’t get up,” he commanded as Lori Sue started to move.

  “I was just trying to make her more comfortable,” Lori Sue said. “That shackle around her ankle chafes, in case you didn’t notice.”

  “That so?” Leo replied. “I wouldn’t get smart with me. It could get painful for you. I don’t think she’ll be doing much without that shackle for some time, now that I’ve seen this.” He switched his gaze to Donna. “And I thought I could trust you. I thought you were coming around.”

  He moved, and Lori Sue tensed, but he just stepped around them and into the living room. He turned a chair partway round, so that it faced them, and sat down. “I’m now curious,” he said. “All that loving the last time. Was that just an act?”

  Donna didn’t answer. She just stared at him, her eyes wide with fear.

  Leo abruptly bellowed, “Answer me!” His cool veneer cracked, and his rage was now plain to see.

  Donna flinched and didn’t answer. Lori Sue’s mind was on Donna’s gun. He hadn’t seen it; in the struggle with the bolt cutters, Donna had actually ended up half-sitting on it. But as soon as Donna moved, he would see it.

  “Don’t yell at her,” Lori Sue said. “Ain’t you done enough? You’re just a bully. I seen guys like you before, pushin’ women around, makes ‘em feel big—”

  “I told you to hold your tongue.” There was no pretense now. “That’s gonna cost you.” Leo stood up.

  Lori Sue jumped up. “I ain’t afraid of you,” she said, even as she stepped back.

  “You will be.” Leo said. He stepped forward. His speed caught her off guard. He moved shockingly fast.

  Lori Sue’s 9mm was in her hand in a flash, but it felt slow as he reached for her. She fired. The bullet grazed his side. He lunged at her. Something small and silvery spun from his hand. She pulled the t
rigger again as he grabbed the weapon and the shot went into the wall. Before she could get off another shot he twisted the pistol toward her, almost ripping it out of her hand. His hands squeezed tight over hers, he turned the gun and the pistol fired again.

  A huge fist slammed into her stomach. She couldn’t stop herself from falling backwards.

  “Stupid bitch. Serves you right,” Leo said above her.

  Above her she saw Donna standing, one arm out, with a pistol in her hand. The gun fired with a sharp explosion of sound and flew out of Donna’s hand back toward her ashen face. Leo staggered sideways, looking at Donna in surprise. Lori Sue felt him trip over her legs. He fell out of her view, her gun thumping on the carpet.

  She saw Donna almost leap over her and stoop to snatch something up. It was the little key ring. She heard Leo groan and begin to roll over. Donna crawled back past Lori Sue and twisted around, trying to insert the key into the shackle lock. Her hands were shaking badly, and she couldn’t seem to make it work. No, shoot him, Lori Sue wanted to say, but the words wouldn’t come out. She could see Leo now, slowly getting to his feet. He’d be on Donna in a moment. There was the click of the lock springing open. The gun! She wanted to say, but Donna forgot it and leaped for the door.

  Leo lurched overhead. “Come back here, bitch. I ain’t done with you.” His voice harsh with rage and pain.

  Lori Sue saw the door fly open, and heard the sound of running feet, and she was glad.

  Chapter 58

  ___________________________________

  I t was morning. The map room was just starting to fill with people for the final meeting when Catherine saw Billy run in. The boy looked around wildly and saw her and Jason; he ran over to them, almost knocking over one of Charlie’s people in the process.

  “Billy!” Jason looked at him in astonishment.