by Eric Vall
“I’m just happy we do,” I smiled at her.
“That’s the shop,” Paige smiled back at me and then pointed ahead.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Let’s sweep the building.”
“Okay,” she nodded.
We made our way to the office door of the mechanics shop with our pistols in hand, and I opened the door and flanked right, and Paige followed to my left. We quickly cleared the office and the attached garage, I was sure there wouldn’t be anyone there, but it was always better to be safe.
“Can I drive?” Paige asked with a grin once we had walked the motorcycle out of the garage.
“Think you can handle it?” I laughed.
“I can handle you, can’t I?” she asked with a raised eyebrow. “I’m sure this thing isn’t much different.”
“Tara’s rubbing off on you too much,” I chuckled.
“I think it’s just enough,” the brunette said with a wink.
“Be my guest,” I told her, and I smiled and hopped on the bike. “Do you know how to operate it?”
“Yeah,” she said with a grin. “I rode dirt bikes a few times in high school.”
“Let’s go,” I smiled, and I threw my leg over her and wrapped my arms around her waist.
“Hang on,” she said. “I’m enjoying the feel of your package against my butt.”
I laughed out loud at Paige’s dirty remark, and then she fired up the bike and led us down a side road that took us north.
She led us around the Burlington Airport and through town until we reached Hwy 2.
“This should take us all the way up,” she hollered over the wind.
Paige liked to drive fast, and I held onto her small frame as she whipped us around corners and took off on straightaways.
“We will have to cross paths with 89 once,” she said. “But we’ll get off and walk the bike so we don’t make too much noise.”
I knew the guard was ahead of us, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have a checkpoint set up along the interstate.
I grimaced as Paige hit seventy on the highway. I trusted the girl to get us there on the map, but I regretted my decision to let her drive, and I decided that I would take the reins once we crossed I89. She was worse than Anna when it came to speed.
We rode on for a few more minutes until a sign to our left alerted us to our distance from I89, then Paige pulled over and turned off the bike.
I hopped off and resisted the urge to kiss the ground, and Paige grinned at me.
“That was fun! I need a motorcycle of my own.”
“We might be able to make that happen,” I said with a wink.
The brunette hopped off the bike and threw on her pack.
“Let’s make this quick,” I said.
“Okay,” she nodded. “Hwy 2 goes over 89 so we shouldn’t have a problem.”
“Right,” I said, and I grabbed the handlebars of the bike and started to walk it down the highway.
We crossed over the interstate easily, and when I was sure there wasn’t a checkpoint below us I hopped back on the bike, and Paige crawled on behind me and wrapped her arms around my stomach.
The area was clear as we rode, with nothing around us but trees. We crossed a small lake and then a while later we came to a large bridge.
“What body of water is this?” I asked.
“This is all Lake Champlain,” Paige said as we crossed the bridge. “Just to the west is New York.”
I wondered if there was another camp in New York. Each state had its own National Guard unit so it would make sense if there was one, but New York had a lot more people than Vermont. If there was a camp over there, I bet it was even worse than the one in Burlington.
The drive wasn’t long, and any small town that we passed through appeared to be abandoned. We passed a sign that told us Highway 78 was one mile ahead, and Paige pointed at the sign.
“Take 78,” she told me.
We made our way down 78 and passed several houses and farms until we saw a bridge ahead.
“Okay, pull over,” Paige said.
I pulled off to the left into the driveway of an old farmhouse.
“Swanton is right across that bridge,” Paige said as she hopped off the bike. “We should walk from here.”
“You got it boss,” I said with a grin as I pulled my pack on.
Paige pulled out the map and took a quick look before she put it back in her pocket.
“I think this bridge was rebuilt,” she said, and she started to walk toward the water.
She led me along the side of the road until we reached the water.
“Don’t we need to be on Highway 2?” I asked.
“I don’t think so, this is the old bridge,” and she pointed to a decrepit road that went straight out into the water next to the new bridge.
“Does this go all the way across?” I asked.
“No,” she shook her head. “It collapsed in the middle or something a long time ago, but if we follow it out we should be able to get a look across the water without having to be in the open.”
“Good call,” I grinned.
“Thanks,” she said, and she flashed me a smile, then we made our way out onto the old bridge until we reached water.
“Lay down,” I told her. “Let’s try to stay out of sight as much as possible.”
“Right,” she said as she took off her pack and pulled out two pairs of binoculars.
The old asphalt was covered with algae and plants, but we laid on it anyway and looked across the water.
“I don’t see anything,” Paige said with a frown.
“Me neither,” I said.
Just then, the roar of an engine came into earshot, and I saw a military truck heading toward the bridge.
“Shit,” Paige said. “Should we run?”
“No,” I said. “Stay down.”
There was enough plant life to cover us, and I doubted the soldiers would look down in our direction anyways. The truck passed us without notice and turned right onto the train tracks we had passed just before the farmhouse.
“Where do those train tracks lead?” I asked Paige.
“They go straight up into Canada,” she said as she looked at the map she had pulled from her pocket.
“Any roads that can take us in that direction?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she said. “Greenwoods road will lead us up there.”
“That’s a short walk,” I said as I looked at the distance on the map. “We’ll leave the bike here and head that way.”
“Okay,” she said, and we made our way back the way we came.
“We’ll walk on the side of the road,” I said as we turned on Greenwood Rd.
“Right,” she nodded. “We don’t know if they’re using this road too.”
“Exactly,” I said.
We walked for about ten minutes before we began to hear gunshots every so often.
“I think we’re getting close,” Paige said. “What the hell are they shooting at?”
“No idea, we’ll find out soon though,” I replied.
I took us farther off the road into the tree line, and as we walked the shots grew louder, and I heard men shout and the roar of multiple engines.
We came to the edge of the tree line where the road split. To the north was an old farm that had been taken over by The Guard, they had trenches set up, two guard towers with .50 cals, and the soldiers shouted and pointed further north, so I pulled out my binoculars to get a closer look.
“We’re right at the border to Canada,” Paige whispered.
I scanned with my binoculars and felt my eyes grow wide as I recognized the situation. Just across the border there was a huge refugee camp, it was larger than any I’d ever seen before, and the people looked skinny as all hell. The fence had been torn down in one spot, and I watched as several Canadians tried to make a break through the hole, but they were quickly taken down by soldiers.
Canadian soldiers had set up their own trenches on the outside of the fence, and
they fired back at the Guard.
“Holy shit,” Paige breathed as she looked through her own binoculars.
“Yeah,” I nodded. “It’s a ton of people.”
“Are we at war with Canada?” she asked.
“I don’t think we’re at war,” I said. “But the Guard can’t let them through when we’re struggling to feed our own.”
“There must be a hundred-thousand people over there,” she said with a frown.
The civilians were crammed behind the fence like sardines, and it was obvious by their filthy clothes and frail bodies that they had run out of supplies.
“Why can’t we let them in?” Paige asked.
“There’s too many of them,” I shook my head. “The Guard is running low on supplies as it is. That many people would drain all their resources in less than a day.”
“Shit,” she said. “What do we do?”
“I don’t know,” I said.
“Montreal is only a few hours north of here,” Paige said. “These people must have come down from there.”
The Canadian soldiers fired at the men in the towers, and one fell to the ground, but was quickly replaced, so Guard soldiers yelled and pointed and opened fire back at them.
I did a quick count of the Guard soldiers and realized there were only one hundred or so men holding the border.
A makeshift med tent was located on the far side of the farm and wounded soldiers sat outside and bled next to their fallen comrades who hadn’t been so lucky.
“There’s so many people over there,” Paige said. “There aren’t many American soldiers here.”
“It looks like less than a hundred men,” I nodded.
“And it looks like they’re losing,” Paige added somberly.
The Canadian soldiers continued to provide cover fire when the civilians tried to cross, and we watched as more civilians tried to hop the fence and make their way around but were cut down like the others. There were more of them than our men, and I wasn’t sure how much longer the Guard would be able to hold out.
“Let’s stay here and watch for a while,” I said.
“Okay,” Paige nodded, and she laid down in the grass.
We watched as men were injured on both sides of the fight, and the gunfire died down. The fight had ceased for the time being, but I figured it was only a matter of time before more civilians tried to make it across the border and then the fight would be back on.
“They’re just hungry,” Paige said with a frown.
“Yes,” I nodded. “Unfortunately, we don’t have the resources to care for them all.”
“I wonder what the other larger cities are like,” Paige said quietly.
“It can’t be good,” I said. Cities like Chicago were in bad shape before this all went down, and I couldn’t imagine things had improved.
“We still haven’t found out anything about the attack by North Korea,” she said.
“You’re right, but it seems we have a much more immediate problem right now,” I said with a low voice.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“These guys can’t hold on much longer,” I said. “Eventually they’re going to break through.”
“Do you think they’ll head in our direction?” she asked with wide eyes.
“I do,” I said. “They will go looking for food anywhere they can find it.”
“Those other Canadians we took out made their way to us,” she frowned. “I guess it’s not far-fetched that these people would do the same.”
A truck loaded with more injured headed in our direction, and we ducked down farther to the forest floor.
“What about the people at the Burlington camp?” Paige asked.
“I don’t know how we can help them,” I said with a frown.
“We have to do something,” Paige pushed, and I thought back to the scene we had watched earlier with the mother and son.
“If we help them, we’ll have to take out some of the Guard,” I said.
“Right,” she said, and then she looked down. “Then there would be nobody to protect the border.”
I nodded.
“Do you think we could get them to set the civilians free?” she asked.
“Not voluntarily,” I said. “They’re using them for manual labor.”
“I wonder if there’s a way we could create a distraction large enough to free them,” she puzzled.
“That’s a good idea,” I said. “We’ll have to consider both sides here, though.”
“Right,” she nodded.
“And with how hellbent those assholes on the horses were to get back the escapees, I don’t think they would let them get away easily,” I shook my head.
“Fuck,” Paige cursed.
“This is bad,” I said.
“Couldn’t we teach them how to hunt and grow food?” she asked.
“We could,” I said. “But there’s a lot of them, and they would clean out the area of wildlife fairly quickly.”
“They need to split into smaller groups,” she said.
“Mobs are dangerous,” I agreed. “The longer they’re cooped up like that the less they’ll care about anyone else.”
“Right,” Paige nodded. “Mob mentality. They’ll do whatever they think is right. But don’t mobs usually have a leader?”
“Yes,” I said. “But they’re not quite to mob mentality yet. Normally that comes once someone gets a wild idea, and the rest of the group follows.”
“You mean a wild idea like storming the fence en masse?” she asked with a worried voice.
“Yeah,” I said. “And I don’t think it will be much longer until that wild idea becomes a reality.”
“There aren’t enough men to hold all of them off if they rushed out,” Paige said.
“No,” I agreed, “there aren’t.”
“What happens once they break through?” Paige asked.
“I’m betting that will be when the Guard packs up for Virginia,” I said.
“That’s why they’re making all the wagons,” she said.
“Yeah,” I agreed.
“But what does any of this have to do with North Korea?” she asked. “I mean, where are the North Koreans?”
“I don’t know,” I said, and I pursed my lips. “I’m still trying to figure that one out, but my guess is if the Koreans actually did invade, they would have started on the west coast.”
“If North Korea really did attack then why isn’t the Guard out holding them off instead of holding the border?” she puzzled.
“Maybe they haven’t made it this far east yet,” I said.
“Wouldn’t it make more sense to send the troops to fend them off, though?” Paige asked.
“That’s what the order to go to Washington D.C. was,” I said. “But we don’t know how much of the Guard is even left.”
“That’s true,” she agreed with a nod. “If all that’s left is here and in Virginia, we’re in deep shit.”
“We’re already in deep shit,” I said. “Those people are going to break out sooner or later. And my bet is on sooner. They will be all over the Green Mountain and the farms at the base.”
“We need to make a plan,” Paige said.
“Agreed,” I said. “Come on, I think we’ve seen enough.”
“Okay,” Paige nodded and put her binoculars away.
We walked in silence back the way we came. Several hours had passed while we were watching the battle at the border, and from the sun, I guessed it was already midafternoon.
The trip back to the bike was short, but it seemed much longer than it had earlier. The situation weighed on my mind, and I tried to think of what our best course of action would be.
“We’ll ride back down Highway 2 and find somewhere to camp for the night,” I said as we approached the motorcycle.
“Okay,” she nodded.
I reached out and pulled her into a tight hug, I wasn’t sure whether it was more for me or for her, but it felt good. Her small bo
dy was tense at first, but she relaxed against me and buried her head into my chest.
“Everything is going to be okay,” I told her, and I hoped it was true.
We hugged for a moment longer, hopped onto the bike, and headed down the way we had come earlier. We made it down to the town of South Hero that we had passed earlier, and I took a right and headed further south until we reached the coastline.
“Why did we come all the way down here?” Paige asked as she hopped off the bike.
“I figured if we’re going to stay the night we might as well have a nice view,” I said with a smile.
“Lake Champlain really is beautiful,” she said, and she walked toward the shore.
“It will be even prettier once the sun goes down,” I said.
“Can we build a fire here?” Paige asked with a smile.
“I think that would be fine,” I smiled back.
We were far enough off the main road that I wasn’t worried about the Guard seeing our fire, even if they decided to take Highway 2.
“How about some hot dinner too?” I asked.
“Oh yes please,” Paige said with a grin.
“I’ll find some wood,” I said, and I turned to walk toward the tree line.
“I’ll work on the firepit,” Paige called after me.
I managed to find some nice dried branches and some pinecones to start the fire and I made my way back to where Paige had set up a circle of rocks for our firepit.
“Let’s get a fire going,” I grinned as I started setting up the pinecones and wood, and within a few moments we had a small fire going, and I sat down next to it.
Paige sat between my legs and leaned back against my chest.
“Tav,” she said in a quiet voice.
“Yeah?” I answered and kissed the top of her head.
“What are we going to do?” she asked. “I can’t stop thinking about it.”
I grabbed her shoulders and lightly pulled her around to face me.
“We’re going to survive,” I told her. “We’re going to protect our family and our community, first and foremost.”
“What about everyone else?” she asked and gestured to the north.
“We can’t dwell on them,” I told her. “If we can help them, we will, but we’ve been able to help ourselves and we have to have faith that others will help themselves too.”
“Like the people at the outpost,” she said.