“Let me consult the crew,” Tuck said.
“Crew?”
“Yes,” Tuck said. “I want to talk to Dirk, Claire, Patricia and Manuel.”
Ethan rolled his eyes. “Whatever you want,” he said. “But I am not giving you an option. We need your help. If you don’t help, we will kick you out.”
“But you said if Rick found the energy cubes we could stay!”
“Things change! Now get down there and tell the rest of your ‘crew’ what I said.”
Tuck spit on the ground once more before making his way down to the camp members. It was on the thirty-eighth floor, near the bottom of the base, close to the hull where the AOJ was reconstructed. It was in a room that was designed for supplies, but since supplies were growing short, it had some room.
Tuck walked into the room and address the camp members. They all looked tired. They’d been here for months. Holed up in a small room with no natural light. People were starting to question their decision to come to the bunker. Tuck didn’t blame them. He was starting to question it. “Listen up,” Tuck said.
“What is it?” said Patricia.
“They want us to help up above.”
The entire camp moaned. This is what they’d all been fearing. They could hear the explosions. They knew that the bunker was underattack. They knew it was their fault. But the majority of them felt that part of the blame did rest with SpaceForce. Had they been let in right away, this problem wouldn’t have happened. The bunker would still be concealed. None of the facade would have been blown away by Dirk’s explosion.
“Fuck those fuckers,” said Dirk, while he chiseled away at a piece of wood in his hands.
“I know you’re angry,” said Tuck. “But we can use this an opportunity to show these tight asses we belong here.”
Dirk shrugged. He was part of the group who didn’t understand why it was necessary for them to stay in the bunker. They’d gotten along fine out in the woods. Even if food was getting harder to find out there, the camp members could have always traveled north. Rumors said that there were hardly any aliens north of the border. If that was true, there’d be food up there. Lots of it.
“What do they want us to do?” said Patricia.
“They want us to do what we do best,” said Tuck. “They want us to go up to the entrance and fight the bastards off.”
“Do you think Ethan will change his mind and let us stay if we do it,” said Patricia.
“I doubt it,” said Tuck. “But this will buy us some more time. The only way we’re staying here is if Rick comes back with the energy cubes. That’s the only way this is going to work. If we do well today, we will buy Rick some much needed time to find those cubes.”
Each camp member looked at each other. It was a somber moment. They knew Tuck wasn’t pulling their leg. They knew that this all depended on Rick. They had to give him time.
“We’ll do it,” said Patricia. “We have no choice.”
“Yes,” said Manuel. “We will give Rick the time he needs.”
The rest of the camp members nodded in approval. Tuck smiled. The old man turned to Dirk, who was still chiseling away. Dirk lifted his head up and looked at Tuck.
“Isn’t this such a touching moment,” Dirk said. “Alright, I’m in. But I’m in only because you will need my help.”
Tuck laughed. “You’re a greasy son-of-a-bitch,” he said. “Let’s go!”
It was time to get to work. Any one who was able-bodied and could fight stood up and grabbed their gear. Claire went for her bow but Patricia stopped her. “Hey, what gives?” asked Claire.
“You have to stay down here,” said Patricia.
“Why?”
“Because if anything happens to you up there, your mother will kill us all.”
Claire moaned. Her mother’s tyranny stretched halfway across the country. There was no point in arguing. She knew Patricia wouldn’t budge.
When everyone else got their gear ready, they made their way up to the entrance. As the elevator moved up the floors in the bunker, they could hear the explosions get louder.
The elevator and they all got out. The lights inside the bunker’s entrance were flickering on and off.
“These attackers must have some pretty powerful artillery,” said Dirk.
“Must be part of the same group that attacked the camp with the tank,” said Tuck.
“Fuck,” said Dirk.
In total, sixteen people from the camp joined Tuck and Dirk. Among the ranks were Manuel and Patricia. The camp members weren’t left using the weapons they’d brought with them. The SpaceForce personnel that met them outside the elevator supplied them with some new weaponry. The only person who didn’t take any of the upgraded weapons was Dirk, he stuck with his dynamite sticks. In the months since Rick left, he’d managed to produce quite a bit of it. He wore the dynamite sticks across his chest. Tuck said it looked suicidal, Dirk said that was the point.
The entrance to the bunker was in a small hanger, about the size of an autoshop garage. It was where the vehicles that were used to transport people to the bunker were stored. There were seven SpaceForce soldiers shooting through the large door that Dirk damaged with his dynamite. It looked a lot worse right now. Instead of the facade being blown away, giant fragments of the door were gone. It was now permanently open.
“They’ve got rockets!” said one of the SpaceForce soldiers by the door. “Be careful!”
Another soldier called for ammo. As quickly as he asked for it, an ammo pack flew from the hands of one soldier to another.
Tuck ran up to the soldier who looked like he was in charge. The soldier wore a badge that said McCrey and he was speaking on a walkie-talkie to Ethan. “You in charge?” Tuck asked.
McCrey turned to Tuck and nodded.
“Where do you want us to go?” Tuck motioned to the group of camp members that were standing behind him.
McCrey looked at them and pointed to the gate and put his walkie-talkie down. “We need you to establish a presence outside the bunker. We need you to push back against this threat.”
Tuck shrugged. Of course this is what Ethan wanted them to do. He got up and made his way to the camp members. He’d have to tell them the bad news.
“What do they want us to do?” said Patricia.
“They want us out there.” Tuck pointed to the blasted open door.
All the camp members looked stunned. It sounded like a warzone out there. It would be suicide out there.
“That’s crazy,” said Patricia. “There’s no way.”
“Listen,” said Tuck. “I know this sounds difficult. But we have no choice. We’ve been up against worse.”
All the camp members looked at each other. Tuck was right, they just didn’t want to admit it. The camp members made a circle like a sport’s team does before for the big game and let out a big “Let’s go!” They ran to the gate and to the war that awaited them outside.
Chapter 44
The Smoky Mountains are named after the natural fog that hangs over them. From the distance, the fog looks like a large plume of smoke rising from their surface. Rick led the group through the dense fog of the mountain range, stepping over moist, thick forest floor foliage as he did so.
Sandra and Bobby hadn’t been here for five years. The forest didn’t look any different. There were no signs of human activity in the foothills leading up the mountain. Aside from the battlefield they found in the streets of Knoxville, things looked much the same.
Sandra felt uneasy walking back through the woods of the mountains. Finding the crest of Quinton’s camp on that dead fighter’s body sent a shiver down her spine. She hadn’t thought of Quinton or his deranged camp in years. Part of her hoped that the fighter who wore the jacket had picked it off a dead body. Part of her hoped that Quinton’s camp was long gone. But she knew that wasn’t true. Quinton was here. He was a man who was going to survive at all costs. He would do whatever it took.
Rick didn’t care about so
me deranged human camp out in the middle of the Smokies. He figured that whoever they were, they’d be desperate for food and technology and be at their wits end. He dismissed Sandra’s worry about the jacket and the crest. It was the AOJs, motherships and harvesters he was more worried about. The last time they were here, they said they saw tons of harvesters. Rick made sure that the group walked slowly through the forest and didn’t make much noise.
Bobby wasn’t with them. He ran up ahead, on the trail of a rabbit he’d spotted a half-hour earlier. Sandra said he couldn’t leave the group, but Rick overturned her demand. He was hungry and was getting tired of living off of dried packets of rice. He wanted something with some meat on its bones. A rabbit sounded good.
The fog of the forest grew thick as they hiked up the mountain. It was getting to the point where Rick couldn’t see a few feet in front of him. It was going to be difficult to spot the energy cubes in this. He turned to Sandra and asked, “Are we close?”
“Yes,” she said. “This is exactly what it was like five years ago. The energy cubes should be close by.”
Rick looked around the woods. Bobby had been gone for thirty minutes. It was time to call the boy back. They’d have to forget about the rabbit.
“Bobby!” he yelled out.
There was no response.
Rick turned to Sandra. “You think your boy will be back soon?”
“I don’t know,” said Sandra. “I’m not the one who said he could go chasing after a rabbit in the first place.”
“You were right,” he said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think it would take him this long.”
“Ah, look at that. Finally, the great and mighty Rick Frost admits a mistake.”
“You don’t know me very well, lady. I’ve admitted to plenty of mistakes.”
“Your whole life is a mistake in my books.”
Sandra wasn’t going to give Rick an inch. She came along on this trip because she had to and only because she had to. If Bobby hadn’t said that he knew exactly where the energy cubes were, than she and her son wouldn’t be here. But there was no going back on that now.
John sensed the hostility between Rick and Sandra and tried to change the subject.
“I think I understand why the machines left some of the buildings in Knoxville,” he said, hoping that both Sandra and Rick’s curiosity would be piqued by his statement.
Both Sandra and Rick stayed quiet. Their interest was piqued. The two SpaceForce soldiers laughed, but they didn’t want to leave the scientist hanging. Jeremiah asked, “Why did they ignore some of the buildings?”
“I believe it has to do with the chemical compositions of the older materials,” John said.
Both Jeremiah and Darnell looked at each other confused. John noticed their confusion and then continued, “I think older buildings are less interesting to them because they have less electrical components. The harvesters seem to be only interested in rare Earth materials and those older buildings were made of relatively common stuff.”
“How can the harvesters tell?” Darnell asked.
“I imagine it is through a series very finely tuned sensors that can analyze many layers of materials at once.”
“Is it your job to make everything sound boring?” Jeremiah asked.
Darnell laughed.
Despite his silence, Rick was listening. What John was saying did sound interesting. He did wonder why some towns had been avoided since the invasion began? It didn’t make sense. But whatever these things were, they were after something specific. The aliens didn’t give a rats ass about human civilization. We were just an annoying ant colony in their eyes. We were just something that could be easily swiped away. He didn’t want to defend John, but he also didn’t want the two meatheads to miss the point. It was important that they understood this stuff, too. “Hey, you guys ever read a book?” John asked.
Both Darnell and Jeremiah were about to respond when Rick intervened again. “What the scientist over here is trying to tell is that those machines are after something specific and that they their mission isn’t to destroy everything in their path. If the thing doesn’t interest them, they don’t want it. They move on.”
The two SpaceForce soldiers looked at each other and then down at the ground. They weren’t feeling embarrassed, but they knew that what Rick was saying was important. It was something they should know. They could report this information back to Ethan.
“Thanks for putting my sometimes verbose explanations into layman’s speak,” said John.
Rick turned to him and said, “I have no idea what you just said.”
The two men laughed. For the first time since leaving the bunker, Rick didn’t have the desire to punch John in the face. He was about to ask John more about his findings when he heard Bobby scream for help.
“Was that Bobby?” Sandra asked.
“Yes,” said Rick. “It’s coming from just beyond the ridge.”
All four of them readied their weapons and made their way to the top of the hill. Once they got to the top, Rick pulled out his binoculars.
“HELP!” Bobby screamed.
The fog was thick so Rick had to turn on his heat tracking vision. The white haze of the fog turned to a cold blue. Rick scanned the area. Out in the distance, he found a group of red blobs. It had to be Bobby.
“Over there,” Rick said to Sandra, who got up from the ground and ran in the direction without even thinking twice.
“Fucking shit,” said Rick. “Don’t run!” John, Darnell and Jeremiah nodded. They weren’t going to follow Sandra.
As Sandra disappeared into the fog, Rick and the rest of the group walked up slowly to the red blobs he spotted in his binoculars. “Sandra?” he yelled out. “Bobby?”
He heard nothing.
They made their way through the fog. Rick was getting close. He pulled out his binoculars and checked. The red blobs were twenty yards away. He could more quickly discern what they were. Bobby was there, he could tell by the body shape, it was long and lean. There were others with him. They were holding weapons. There was four of them.
He updated the group. He then motioned with his hands to the direction of the shapes. “It looks like four hostiles have Bobby captured.” He was about to give every one the go ahead when John stopped him.
“Wait,” John said. “This looks like a trap.”
“What do you mean?”
“Why is Bobby not responding to us?”
Rick thought about it. John was right. The boy was being used to bait them out of hiding. The only option they had was to remain hidden and wait.
A few moments passed, Bobby yelled out “Help!” once more. Sandra hadn’t been heard from or seen since she disappeared into the fog. She screamed, “I’m coming!”
“Don’t do it, Sandra,” Rick yelled out.
She didn’t respond. The situation was bad. They couldn’t see a damn thing and now this. Rick pointed to the north-east edge of ridge and tapped Jeremiah and Darnell on the back. The two soldiers ran off in the direction he gave them. Rick and John took the north-west position. They ran through the woods carefully, trying not to make any noise. They didn’t want to let the hostiles know that they were falling for the trap.
When they got to a small tree stump, Rick and John stopped. Rick got down to his knees and checked through his binoculars once more. The red blobs were farther away this time, but still close enough that he could tell how many of them there were. As he looked through, he saw two more red shapes emerge. It was a tall figure dragging another figure.
“Shit,” said Rick.
“What is it?” asked John.
“They’ve got Sandra.”
There was no more time for fooling around. They would need to act now. Even if this was a trap, they couldn’t risk losing Sandra and Bobby. Rick called out, “Attack!”
Jeremiah and Darnell got the message. Gun shots started to go off. The blast of Jeremiah’s RX-20 sniper rifle rang through the woods. The few birds there wer
e in the trees flew away.
Rick looked through his AR-99, but he couldn’t see anything. The fog was too thick. He didn’t want to fire blindly either, he couldn’t risk hitting Bobby or Sandra. He ran in the direction of the blobs, hoping that luck was still on his side and he wouldn’t get hit by anything.
He kept running in the direction, watching the ground below him pass. He had to make sure that he didn’t trip over any tree roots or vines.
He kept running until he ran into Darnell. Rick fell to the ground with a big thud.
“Motherfucker,” he said.
Darnell was built like a football player. He stayed standing.
As Rick gathered himself, Darnell helped him up.
“Where’d they go?” Rick asked.
“No idea,” said Darnell. “Looks like they’ve fled.”
“Fuck!” said Rick. “We need to find them. If we don’t we’re fucked. Those two knew where the energy cubes were.”
Chapter 45
“There are at least thirty of them,” Felix said.
He was hiding behind the trunk of an old tree, looking toward StarPeak Mountain. The dense forest cleared up before the base of the mountain. It created a small clearing. Beyond the clearing was a large metal door that had been blasted open. In front of the door were were forty-six men and women.
“What kind of weapons are they are carrying?” asked Sharon.
“Rockets,” he said. “Machine guns, knives. A few of them even have bows and arrows.”
“What are they shooting at?”
“There is a door,” Felix said. “That’s gotta be the bunker. They are firing at whoever is inside the bunker.”
“If they’re attacking the bunker…” Sharon’s voice trailed off.
“They’re not our friends.”
Battle- Earth Page 21
