Ashley lied down, turned her back to me, and slept.
I couldn't leave that kid. I wouldn't.
I dreamt of a million things that day. The images flashed across my brain like a test of memory: wolves, tunnels, Marilyn, Ashley, my mom flying, guns going off, fire, buildings crumbling, boats, water. Endless. Rapid.
My eyes shot open as I awoke with a gasp. Still in the basement. The concrete walls surrounding me like a prison. The flames of the fire dying to embers. The sweat on my forehead. Another soldier slept in the cot across from my dad. My mind still raced. Where was I? Was I safe? Should I run?
I looked and saw my dad and Ashley sound asleep. It was the middle of the day.
I sat up, held my head in my hands. Night’s become day. Three months ago I was sitting in a lecture hall, wanting to score. Now look at me.
A soldier jogged down the stairs and stood over my dad, rousing him. “Sir. Dr. Dawson. The President needs you.”
Dad was never quick to get up. He sat up, yawned, stretched, creaked. For a minute I thought he was gonna piss right there. But the soldier was panicky. “Sir. Now.”
He helped Dad up. Then turned to me. “You too.”
I stood up and stretched. I thought about letting Ashley sleep, leaving her there, where she’d be safe, but I don’t think she’d ever forgive me. I gently woke her up, helped her stand, and brought her along. We followed the camouflaged hulk out the door and exited the building in the darkness of night. “What’s going on, private?”
The soldier was my age, same height, but build like a rock. And he never smiled or looked anywhere but straight ahead.
“Word is the enemy is approaching,” he said. Almost robotic.
In a few minutes we were back at the Sears Tower. Up the stairs, we found Bill, the General, and several others in uniform pouring over a map. Other soldiers hustled from one point to the next, handing handwritten reports to the President.
The president turned and noticed us entering. “Roger, good. We need to get you underground. Adam can accompany you. It’s going to get ugly here. Private Lanier will escort you.”
I pushed Private Latrine out of the way. “Fuck that,” I said to the President. The others stopped.
Dad put his hand on my shoulder. “Adam, please.”
I yanked my arm away. “No, Dad. I’m not leaving. You go. You never could stand the sight of blood.”
“We don’t have time to discuss this,” President Douglas said. “Dr. Dawson, it’s your call. Adam can stay and help, Lord knows we need all the guns we can.”
I turned to my dad. “Go with them.”
“No, I don’t want to leave you-“
“Dad, I’ll find you. I did it once. I can do it again.”
He looked at me with a sadness I didn’t quite expect. “And if Chicago falls?”
I didn’t have an answer. “Just go,” I finally said.
He turned to go, then thought about it and turned back. “Mammoth Caves. You know it?”
I shook my head. “Never heard of it.”
“Remember it. Mammoth Caves.”
He hugged me. I held him tight and whispered in his ear “You know I love you, right?” The words surprised even me.
He looked at me in the eyes, and his soul flashed even if for a moment. “You know I love you right?”
I smiled. “I think I figured that out.”
He smiled back, turned and shuffled away.
I turned back to the President, the General and the plans. Tommy approached the table with Luigi and Ashley hanging in the back.
“Our scouts returned with reports of enemy movement to the west and south.” He looked up at Bill. “Hard core army and air force personnel in the west. Looks like your group from Gary in the south. Thousands strong.”
“Five thousand, sir,” Bill responded.
The general nodded. “I’ve enough men to cover the west, but not the south. I’m assuming the south engagement will be against a less disciplined enemy. I’ll need all the pros to the west. Bill, can you help lead the southern regiment?”
Bill nodded. “Yes sir.”
The general continued. “They’re assembling outside. Some national guard. Mostly civilians.”
“Not much to play with, sir.”
“Fighting fire with fire. They’re mostly militia as well, based on what you told me.”
“Yes sir, but they’re well trained.”
“And they’ve got no fear of dying,” I threw in. “This is their holy war.”
“We need more regular army, sir.”
The general nodded again. “I understand, Bill, but I’ve got nothing to spare. Find yourself some national guardsmen and divide up in to companies, then cover this area.” He pointed to a bridge.
“I’ve already got one captain ready to lead.” Bill said.
“Who?”
Bill looked at me, then back to the general.
The general looked at me. Then at Bill. Then his brow furrowed in confusion. “You want to give him control over a company? Over a hundred men?”
“Sir,” Bill said, “I’ve seen this boy lead the five of us over some of the worst conditions I’ve ever been through. He’s shown natural leadership that you can’t teach in basic training. He’s good with a rifle, and quick on his feet.”
I pulled Bill back a bit. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“Giving you a chance,” Bill said.
“Yeah, but this isn’t really a ‘giving you a chance’ kinda moment. This is serious stuff.”
“Do you honestly think there’s anything out there you can’t handle? Worse than the lake? Worse than what you told me about in Pittsburgh? You’ve seen the worst nature has to offer, and you’re still here. Anyone who can cover the ground you’ve covered, keeping his team intact, is ok with me.”
I stood there, frozen. He was talking about me. I looked around the room. Ashley didn’t smile, she just put her two pistols into her jeans. “He’s right,” she said.
Louie looked down at his shoes. “I don’t want to go with anyone else.”
Tommy hoisted his sniper rifled on his shoulder and gave me a nod. Fuck.
The general shook his head. “Not these three. Bill - for chrissakes, they’re just kids.”
“Not anymore sir. They stopped being kids a long time ago.”
No argument from everyone. The room grew quiet. “Fine. Dawson, you’re in charge, Bill’s second in command. Get those people organized and get ‘em ready. Let’s move.”
On the way downstairs I asked Bill about Tolbert. “Went to find his wife. Never came back.”
“He’ll be back,” Tommy offered.
“What if he doesn’t come back?” I said. "I never trusted the shit, and now he’s abandoned us."
“He’ll be back,” Tommy said, more a bit more force.
Bill stood me in front of a lineup of ten men, ten lines deep. “Platoons, this is Captain Adam Dawson, your company commander. Lieutenants front and center.”
Four men came forward. Bill sprawled out the map on back of an abandoned Ford. “Gentlemen, this is your area to protect. You will be Alpha Company. We’ve set up barriers along the highway running east to west. Your position will be from the river to the financial district, here at South Wells Street. I want one platoon spread out over one hundred yards, one man every five yards. Adam, you place them as you need them. There are no reserves. You are the front and only line. Bravo Company will be to your right on the other side of the river. Charlie Company will be to your left all the way to the lake.”
Bill patted me on the back. “You’ll be ok,” he said. I looked down at the map. Then up at the lieutenants. What the fuck was I doing? What was Bill doing? These men are all going to die under my leadership.
Tommy snapped at attention. He looked straight ahead. “Your orders, sir?”
Orders? Start simple. Like the doc at the hospital in Pittsburgh. One step at a time. Read their names.
I looked at the
ir name tags on their shirts. Three guys, all husky, tall, probably played football in college. One woman, Ware, short, but built. Kinda hot, actually. I shook the thought out of my mind. She'd probably castrate me with her pinky if I touched her. “Ok. McCaulky, you’ll be first platoon. Take the river and do as the colonel says. One man every five yards. Verdin, you take middle right, Ware, middle left. Stephenson, left flank.”
I turned to Luigi, Tommy and Ashley. “You three stick with me. We’ll stake out a spot behind the front line.
The men moved, shouted orders for platoons to move out, and the groups disappeared into the night.
We walked behind Ware's platoon, when in the distance I heard a whistling sound. Faint, but distinct. I’d never heard it before, except in some movies, I thought. Sounded like…a mortar shell.
It grew louder, then stopped, replaced immediately by a massive explosion. It struck something in the distance, but the explosion echoed around the buildings and gave the illusion of it being closer. Concrete, somewhere out of sight crumbled.
Another whistle. Another explosion. This one closer.
“Here they come,” I yelled. “Get in position. Now!”
Another explosion. Then another. Closer.
Tommy yelled to me, “Mortar fire.”
We ran up the street as quickly as we could, dodging debris that dropped as the bombs ripped the city apart. Dust fell like snow all around as each explosion brought forth a small earthquake.
The temperature began its roller coaster ride down to freezing, and people spilled out of buildings like feed coming out of silos. Soldiers mixed in with civilians. The soldiers knew where they were going. The civilians didn’t.
We stopped a block from the base of the Sears Tower, just as another explosion hit above us. We ran under shelter to hide from the falling glass and concrete. The tower moaned, its steel innards bending ever so slightly. The fucking thing teetered on the brink of collapse. Memories of 9/11 came forth, but instead of falling straight down like a controlled demolition, this baby was gonna topple over, and take half the city with it. And if it was like 9/11, the city would be covered in dust and debris. An entire army could walk in under that cover and take us all. Night had become day, but night was still dark. The perfect time to attack.
We were fucked. Still no sign of the enemy.
I looked at Ashley, who had taken out her little nine millimeter pistols and checked the ammo like Bill showed her. I looked at Luigi. He wasn’t a fighter. He wasn’t prepared for this. But I didn’t want the little guy to leave my side.
Rain fell.
The temperature dropped so fast, that rain morphed into sleet, then hail, then snow, all in a matter of minutes. A tattered Bengals hoodie provided some buffer against the cold. Adrenaline provided the rest..
“We’re dead here,” Tommy said. I ran up a fire escape that provided a better view. I could see down the highway we had walked up just yesterday. The entire fucking highway had become a sea of white movement. Occasionally rockets flew overhead, mortars whistled and exploded into the side of buildings, and huge drifting snowflakes mingled with ash and debris creating a surreal mixture of nature and man.
Tracer bullets lit up the sky, some in a straight line, some hitting their targets dead on, some flying randomly high into the night. Visibility shrank from a few blocks to a few feet. The snow started falling sideways.
Fuck this. I turned to the others. “We’re doing no good back here. This is what we’ve come to do, and I’m not about to give up just yet. We’re gonna have to fight. You guys ready?” They just smiled and nodded. We ran towards the fighting, screaming. Two months of pent up anger, two weeks of no cutting, and I was ready to take someone’s head off.
The first platoon came into view a block ahead of us, under the overpass of what used to be a highway. They were fighting, but I couldn’t see their opponent. They made slashing gestures with their rifles against the snow.
We drew closer and saw the figures in white. Hill’s army, decked out in their white robes, their white jumpsuits, blended in perfectly with the storm, making them practically invisible.
The ground soaked up the red blood like a dark red slushy, then fresh snow almost immediately buried it. The road grew slippery, and my tennis shoes begin to soak in the piling snow. Louie and Ashley darted ahead, Louie with an Uzi, aimed and ready but not firing until he was sure. Ashley pointing her two pistols ahead
Louie flew backwards in a quick, jerking motion, dropping his Uzi. A tall, thick guy lifted him up by the throat. I pointed my rifle at him and pulled the trigger. Two quick bursts and red exploded from the chest of the guy just as he pulled out a knife. He flew backwards as Louie dropped like a sack. I expected a look of terror in Louie’s eyes, but when he turned to me, anger flared in his eyes. He ducked and rolled away. I saw another white ghost moving towards us and I fired, still running forward. The body fell backwards from the impact of my bullet hitting the mark.
It felt great.
Ashley pointed her forty-five, firing rounds and screaming like me, leveling the person in front of us. I couldn’t tell whose bullets rocked them but it didn’t matter. We were in the thick of it.
One last bullet ripped past and nailed a national guardsman behind me. I heard his grunt as he fell, then silence. I turned as his face had turned blood red, his eyes staring up at the snow falling into them.
I ran forward and jumped on the first white-robed person I saw, slamming the butt of my rifle into their skull. As the person dropped I noticed her middle aged features. Probably doing her laundry two months ago, now fighting to the death, a death caused by me. Then I noticed the pistol she clutched in her hand.
A fist from another person in white landed square my jawbone, knocking me over. I fell on my shoulder in a few inches of snow, my head bounced off the pavement and the world swerved. A red alarm bulb went off in my brain, throbbing in rhythm to some unheard beat. I looked up and saw the man in white standing over me, smiling, raising a forty-five at my head. He cocked it, pointed it at my face.
Tommy flew into him with a brutal tackle. I stood up, woozy, and saw Tommy stand up from on-top of the guy. He held a buck knife, probably seven or eight inches long, covered in blood and smiled at me. “Got ‘im,” he said. “We’re even.” He lowered his hand to help me up. Good guy to have on your side.
Our numbers seemed fewer. Ware ran up beside me, out of breath, bleeding from her scalp. "Sir," she huffed. "My platoon's almost gone. Verdin is dead, and his troops have scattered. What now?"
A path. We had to funnel them. Even if it meant letting them get to the Sears Tower. Maybe the other army had fallen back too. Maybe they had reserves. "Line the streets. Guerrilla warfare. Fall back and let them come, then when they're funneled into the street open fire. They'll be coming down that main road to the tower. Pull Verdin's troops and consolidate with yours. You’re in charge. Got it?" She snapped a salute and I faked one back. As she disappeared in the night I looked around and saw national guardsmen lying dead next to people in white, the snow already covering their bodies in a natural shroud. And still for every one of our guys four or five of theirs surrounded them. The fighting devolved into brutal hand-to-hand combat. Most of us had probably used up our ammo or were too afraid to shoot. Or too pumped. I looked for Ashley.
I found Marilyn.
I didn't know her, my rage had clouded my vision, and anyone in white was going to die. I grabbed her by the throat before I noticed who it was, and immediately felt the point of a short stiletto in my gut. She didn't know me either. Thankfully she didn't drive the knife forward or I'd have been skewered.
We stared into each other for a split second. Our mutual threats then turned into the most passionate kiss I've ever felt.
A rocket flew overhead and slammed into something high and far behind us. Marilyn dropped the knife and grabbed my arm.
"We gotta move," she shouted above the noise.
“Where’s Eve?” I asked. I couldn’t be
lieve I even cared.
“With Hill. She’s safe. C’mon. You’re outnumbered.”
Whatever was hit behind us started to groan. Whatever it was, it was gonna fall. I turned but couldn’t see past the driving snow.
Ashley came behind me, then Bill, Tommy and Louie behind her. The groaning to the north sounded like steel bending. “Adam,” Bill said, bent over and breathing heavy. “Order your men to fall back to the left. It’s the Sears Tower. It’s gonna go.”
Marilyn yanked on my arm.
"They're aiming for the tower," Marilyn said. "They want it to fall. To create chaos. We've gotta move!"
I turned, and saw the remaining men in my company. “Fall back to the left!” I yelled. “To the Stock Exchange! Tell everyone to fall back to the Stock Exchange!” Jesus, would Ware get the message? I just sent those troops into the worst place in the city to be.
Other voices echoed my order. Soon stragglers of men came running out of the snow towards us.
The groaning grew louder. The fighting stopped as both sides looked in the direction of the collapsing building. We couldn’t see it, the snow drove too hard into our face. But we could feel it. The ground trembled, and inside, everyone just knew. The crowd scattered, screaming. I followed Marilyn up another street heading east.
We ran for two blocks or so, fighting off the occasional enemy along the way. I threw a punch at one, but she ducked, then came up slashing with a knife. Cut me right across the bicep, which hurt like a bitch. She stared at me. “C’mon,” she said. “Bring it motherfucker.”
Normally that would’ve impressed me.
But two bullets blasted into her gut, doubling her over to her knees. I turned around and saw Louie pointing a small forty-five, slowly lowering it, his eyes as wide as spotlights.
Under a Broken Sun Page 23
