“But Ced,” Karli said. She wanted to say more but she just stood there, silent.
“There’s no harm in it,” Cedric said. “I’ve known for a while. It’s kind of hard to miss. But it doesn’t matter.”
“Promise?” Karli asked.
“Yeah,” Cedric said a little perplexed.
Before they could finish their conversation, Steph reappeared from the nearest doorway. “Sue said, and I quote, ‘that prima donna better hurry up because I ain’t got all day to wait for him.’” Steph smiled as she backed through the doorway.
“I better get this over with,” Cedric said. “And I’ll probably be leaving for the mission directly after it. We’ve got to get this mission done today.”
“So, I guess I’ll see you tonight?” Karli asked.
“Yeah. But go ahead and eat dinner without me. I’ve no idea when we will be back.” Cedric grabbed Karli’s hand in his and quickly kissed her on the lips.
“Don’t be an idiot out there,” Karli said after Cedric pulled away. She still had a light hold on his hand.
Cedric pulled his hand free and said, “No guarantees.”
Ross was in his office unpacking boxes. “So,” he said to Sue, “I don’t know why I get to stay. I mean, I get why Darla and Stan stay. A nurse and gunner. But why me?”
“True,” Sue said as she helped with the small moving boxes. “It makes sense for someone from the defense crew and someone from the medical crew to stay. But, really, it just makes sense to have the secondary of the logistics crew here, too. You’ll be the most worked assistant. Plus, we had the extra room. This was supposed to be for a nurse, but Darla and Stan are married.”
“So,” Ross said, “I’m a bonus order?”
Sue chuckled, “No. I wanted you here to help out. You’re basically in charge if anything happens to me. I need you down here to give orders.”
“Right,” Ross said unenthusiastically. “Listen,” he said.
“I know,” Sue said. “You don’t want second in command of logistics. You don’t even want to be in logistics. But if it isn’t you, it's Ben. And I’d freaking kill him if I had to put up with him all the time.”
“So long as it’s clear that I’m ditching this job as soon as someone else qualified comes in,” Ross said. “Don’t even care if it means losing my room.”
Ross was so intent upon his conversation that he jumped when someone knocked on the door.
“Come on in,” Sue said setting her empty box aside. She looked up to see Squirrel shifting his way into the room.
“Ma’am,” he said wringing his hands. “Cedric said he’ll be ready to give his report in ten minutes. Garcia as well. They just have to finish unloading the firearms they collected.”
“Thanks,” Sue said expecting him to leave. When he continued to stand there, she added, “Is there anything else?”
“Yes ma’am,” he said nervously. “Cedric requests that the logistics department inventory and catalog all of the collected firearms as soon as possible. Cedric would like to take some of the new shotguns on the mission after the briefing.”
Sue smirked, “Ross,” she said turning to him. “Cedric’s going to owe you big time.”
“He already does,” Ross said gritting his teeth. He got up, leaving his box of paperwork, to walk to the doorway. “As soon as I can,” he added under his breath as he walked by Sue, “I’m ditching this job.”
Her smirk vanished and she replied in kind, “You only want to impress that girl some more, don’t you?”
Ross’s face turned red. “God, Sue. You have to boil everything down to hormones, don’t you?”
“Well,” She said. “I raised a son. I know what it’s like.”
“First off,” Ross said, “her name is Aggie…”
“Oh,” Squirrel chimed in, “That hot nurse with the dark hair? Yeah, I was gonna ask her on a date. But I figured she was totally out of my league. And,” he added sheepishly under the blank stares of Ross and Sue, “I wouldn’t know how to take a girl on a date like this anyway.”
“Dude,” Ross said, “she’s at least five years older than you. Did you consider that?”
“Yeah,” Squirrel said, “why do you think I was gonna ask her out?”
“Just go,” Sue said holding in her laughter.
After Squirrel made his retreat, Sue did begin to laugh. “Well,” she said, “you’ve got competition.”
“Shut it,” Ross said. “Besides. He’s right on one thing. What would I even say? Hey, this situation sucks. Wanna go talk about a movie we’ve both seen?”
Sue leaned over to a small shelf and pulled a book down. “Well,” she said looking at the cover. “First off, what is this?”
Ross looked at the cover. There was a monster and some kids on the cover. “Yeah, that’s one of Denise’s books. She let me borrow it.”
“Have you read it?” Sue asked.
“Just finished a few days ago.”
“Take this to her and tell her you didn’t want her to go insane with boredom. She seems smart. Maybe she could use a book,” Sue advised.
“Yeah, maybe,” Ross said. “But maybe I’ll find a different book.” He slid the book back on the shelf and left.
“I don’t get it,” Sue said after Cedric had explained the situation for the third time. “Miller starts a fight with us and you let him go?”
“Like I said before,” Cedric explained trying not to betray any fear. Now that he was inside, he was afraid he’d done the wrong thing. “I am trying to build goodwill. We kept their firearms as price due. The treaty says that we can imprison them if they trespass, not that we have to.”
“I know what the treaty says,” Sue replied. “I wrote it.”
“As you’ve said,” Cedric stated flatly. “Miller is a jerk, yes. But whether we like it or not, we don’t need a fight with any of them right now. They won’t retaliate. They’re out of supplies.”
Sue stopped. “How do you know?”
“Davis mentioned it,” Garcia piped in. “Before Miller backhanded him for saying something.”
“That’s it,” Sue said. “That’s what I was missing. I couldn’t figure out why Miller was wanting to start a fight to begin with. He wants our supplies. Our food. It’s the same as last time.”
“Then we shouldn’t have let him go,” Garcia said.
“No,” Dr. Moore said, “Cedric called it right. Letting Miller go, and letting his crew fill in the Colonel on the truth, is what works best. We need to be the bigger people on this.”
“But if they need our supplies so bad,” Garcia said, “isn’t that a mistake? Plus, what’s the deal with them wanting Cedric now?”
“My guess,” Sue said, “is that the Colonel is going to want to merge the two groups. But he will want to do it in a way where he’s on top. He probably thinks if he can get Cedric on his side, to see things his way, he will get just that.”
“He won’t,” Ron mumbled.
Cedric felt pride at Ron’s statement. “So, now that all the pieces are clicked together, am I free to go on my mission?”
“I suppose,” Sue said. “But we need to sit down for a full meeting and discuss the entire situation at length. We need to prepare for any and all possible retaliations and ramifications.”
“I don’t think there will be any,” Cedric said. “But after we discuss it amongst ourselves, we need to reach out to them.”
“What for?” Dr. Moore asked.
“To continue to build goodwill,” Cedric said. “We need to look like the good guys to their people. We know we are doing the right thing here. They need to know it too. Win the people, win the war.”
“Hearts and minds,” Sue muttered. When everyone turned to look at her, she acquiesced, “Maybe. We will discuss it at length.”
After she stood from the table, the other department heads followed suit and shuffled out.
As Cedric was walking out of the room, he felt fingers wrap around his elbow and warm
breath on the back of his neck.
“I’m still not sold on it, Cedric,” Garcia said. “I’ll have your back, but you’d better be right.”
Cedric shook her hand from his elbow and said, “I hope so.”
He walked back to the armory to find his crew, along with Ross, gathering equipment for the run.
“How long until we’re ready?” Cedric asked.
“Five minutes,” Eric said. “Anderson is gassing up the truck.”
“Right,” Cedric said. “As we discussed. We’ll take the cage-roller only. That puts Squirrel up front, the rest in the back.”
“You don’t have room for one more, do you?” Ross asked as he handed a shotgun to Cedric.
Cedric saw Eric roll his eyes over Ross’s shoulder.
“We are only taking the one truck,” Cedric told him. “I really don’t think we have room.”
“And it’s not your job,” Steph added, “like we already told you.”
Ross exhaled and said, “Right. Not my job. I’m the guy with the paperwork.”
“No,” Cedric said, “you’re the guy keeping Ben and Sue in check. You’ve got other problems to worry about.”
After a few moments of awkward silence in the room, the Nighthawks began gathering their small backpacks and the few firearms they were taking before they headed out of the back door of the armory. They left Cedric with Ross.
“Listen,” Cedric said breaking the silence, “I know what you’ve been through. We’ve all been through something at this point. But you just recently recovered from that broken arm. And you are good at your job. You have a mission to work on here. You don’t need a mission out there too.”
“I’m going stir-crazy in here,” Ross said.
“What about that girl?” Cedric asked. “Nurse sarcasm, what’s her name again?”
Ross chuckled. “I don’t know man,” he said. “There’s issues there too. But you’ve got work to do.”
“Right,” Cedric said. “We’ll talk when we get back. I’m sure we can find a way to get you outside of the walls for a bit.”
Cedric strode to the back door with his backpack slung over one shoulder and a shotgun over the other.
“Yeah,” Ross said. “We need to find something different for me. I think these walls will be the death of me if I stay here.”
Chapter Four:
PROPANE RUN
Within minutes of leaving headquarters, Cedric’s crew hit a speedbump in their plan. It should have taken the crew only twenty minutes to get to the propane facility on the outskirts of Morristown. The small station had four huge depot tanks. In addition to those, there were a few tanker trucks scattered around.
The group had made a staunch decision to avoid Morristown. It had a considerably higher population compared to their current city of Rogersville. But the propane facility was not in city limits—rather, it was in the rural outskirts—sitting right on the railroad tracks for easy access to the cheap transportation of propane.
Anderson was driving the cage-roller, a Chevy Silverado 3500 dually that used to belong to Cedric’s brother, Charlie. It had been repurposed when the infection hit by adding armor and a four-foot-tall steel cage over the back. After the Nighthawks were formed, they commandeered the vehicle for their primary mode of transport. They also continued to make modifications, much to Charlie’s chagrin, by adding the roll cage and a few other things.
The truck had also, briefly, fallen into the hands of the FRA. That turned out for the better since the paramilitary group had added a .50 caliber machine gun turret to the roof.
The crew was less than five minutes into their trip when Cedric felt the cage-roller begin to slow. He leaned to the back-glass window and shouted over the roar of the engine, “What’s going on?”
“Something’s in the road,” Squirrel shouted back from the passenger seat.
Cedric undid the top hatch of the cage and stood up to full height. He peered over the top of the truck roof, around the turret, at a blackened wreck in the road. There were hunks of burnt metal and shattered glass coating the road. It looked as if a large vehicle, maybe a delivery truck, had partially exploded.
“What do you think happened?” Cedric asked when Eric stood up beside him.
“I bet they were hauling some kind of fuel or explosive when they were shot up,” Eric responded. “Look,” he said pointing, “bullet holes in the metal. Might not have happened here, but it happened somewhere.”
“Well,” Cedric said, “I’d rather not find out where they came from.”
“Agreed.”
Cedric crouched back down to the rear cab window and shouted over the roar of the engine, “Pull a U-turn. If we backtrack about a quarter mile, we can take a different road. It’ll put us on Three Springs Road instead of Highway 113. Only a few extra minutes of driving. I don’t want to hang around and clean this up. Three Springs will take us out near the same place. We’ll be fine.”
“Sir,” Anderson said, “We’ve not scouted that road yet, have we?”
Cedric shivered inwardly when Anderson called him ‘Sir,’ but replied, “Not since before winter. I was on that road with Eric a few months ago. It was fine then. We just have to hope. This is the only one we’ve scouted to Morristown officially. So, we have to make concessions. Like I said earlier today, we need that propane if we want the solar panels finished.”
“Fine,” Anderson said as he began to accelerate and turn the truck around.
“Squirrel,” Cedric added. “Keep an eye open for any issues. That metal had bullet holes.”
“Right,” Squirrel said.
Cedric looked up at Eric, “Strap in for the turret.” He didn’t wait for a response but instead turned to the others in the bed. “Take up positions and keep your rifles raised.”
When Cedric stood back up to be the spotter for the turret, he saw that Eric was already strapped into the electrician’s harness that was tied to the cage. It was there to help balance the shooter while the truck was in motion.
“Good call,” Eric whispered. “I know you don’t want the job, but your damn good at it.”
Cedric grimaced but didn’t respond.
When the truck was passing a school zone sign for an elementary school, Cedric tapped the roof of the truck and shouted, “Turn here!”
There was a sudden shift in the weight of the truck as Anderson whipped the steering wheel and took the turn at full speed instead of slowing down.
Eric chuckled as Cedric grabbed the cage to keep from falling.
“He’s like a robot,” Eric said. “Give him specific instructions next time.”
Anderson continued to drive as Cedric gave short instructions on where to turn and which path to take. Overall, Cedric thought to himself, this way should only add ten or so minutes.
Cedric smiled when the truck finally turned onto Three Springs Road. It was no less than five seconds from the time he smiled that a new sound reach his ears.
Pop, pop, pop.
“Gunfire!” Eric shouted. Cedric grabbed a speed release on Eric’s harness and snapped the button loose. They fell together to their knees and peered through the cage. Had Eric known where the shots were coming from, he would have said a location instead of a generic warning. Despite the slight tremor in his hands, Cedric felt glad he could interpret the one-word communications of his team so well.
“Where’s it coming from?” Cedric heard a voice shout. He couldn’t tell who it was over the shouts of the others and the noise of the truck.
“Unknown,” Eric shouted into the wind.
“Anyone know?” Cedric asked. “Squirrel, Anderson, anything?”
“Negative,” Anderson responded.
“I don’t see anything,” Squirrel added. “You sure it’s gunfire?”
“Hell yeah,” Eric said. “Just can’t see from where.” Then he added in a lower tone to Cedric, “We need some shielding on the turret before the next run. The gunner’s a sitting duck.”
“Noted,” Cedric said as he continued to look. “Do you think it was a warning shot, or what?”
Anderson slowed the truck but didn’t stop. “What’s next boss?” he shouted back.
Cedric looked for a brief second at Eric trying to decide the course of action. As much as Eric had said Cedric knew what to do, Cedric was clueless at the moment.
“Proceed slowly,” Cedric ordered. “We don’t know anything about the situation yet.” Then he turned to the rest of the group and added, “Does anyone see any damage?”
Nobody responded which Cedric took as a negative.
The truck continued on a slow course of ten miles an hour for the next ten minutes. No other shots came. Cedric looked at Eric and squinted his eyes in confusion.
Eric knew the unformed question Cedric had and just shrugged his shoulders in response.
After another minute or so, Cedric pounded the back glass of the truck cab and shouted, “Speed us back up. Don’t know what’s going on. I just want to get out of here.”
Anderson’s response was to gun the engine and accelerate far too quickly. They had progressed no more than twenty yards before the shots rang out again.
Pop. Pop. Pop.
Anderson held the accelerator down even harder and the engine of the diesel truck roared.
The gunfire continued about every five seconds. Pop. Pop. Pop.
“Stop the truck!” Steph shouted above the roar of the engine.
Anderson slowed waiting for Cedric or Eric to confirm the order.
“Stop!” Eric repeated.
Anderson stopped.
As soon as the truck was halted in the road, the gunfire ceased.
“I don’t like this,” Squirrel said looking for their shooter. “Why are they wanting us to stop?”
Steph clicked the latch on the gate to the metal cage and slowly climbed out, her hands raised. She peered around but saw no one.
“Guys,” she said looking at the driver’s side of the truck. “The bullets can’t penetrate our armor.”
“So, we did get tagged?” Eric asked.
The Living Saga (Book 2): Enduring Page 5