God Country

by S T Branton

  Hundreds of heads turned to watch us stroll across the threshold. Almost everyone had their glasses raised to the general, ready to drink at the conclusion of his little speech. The man of the hour stared at us, his eyes full of surprise and fleeting rage. Then he smiled. Only this time, it was more like the grin of a hungry shark.

  “Ah, the guests of honor have arrived!” he announced. With a hint of venom, he added, “You’re late.”

  I glanced around the room at the ocean of refugees. The uplifted glasses sparkled. I had no doubt that every single one was laced with ricin powder.

  “No,” I said. “It looks like we’re just in time.”

  He opened his mouth to say something else, but I gave him no opportunity. The whole room blurred as I charged toward the head table. The crowd erupted in confused babbling as people fought to see the commotion. I heard Dan and Deacon call for calm and tell people not to drink anything. My mind and vision focused entirely on my target. If Marcus spoke just then, I didn’t hear him.

  The blade of the Gladius Solis didn’t appear until it was inches from the general’s heart, and when it did, it emerged with such fury that I saw his uniform scorched instantly from the blazing heat. His face morphed from smug self-satisfaction to shock and then to horror and fear as he realized he had no time to stop me. The sword plunged into his chest before he could utter a single word.

  He crumpled on the floor behind the table. I did hear something after that—the sound of a dozen guns cocking. When I looked up, it was into a row of barrels. But most of the men behind those guns weren’t looking at me. They gazed with dismay at their leader’s dead body, the remains no longer imposing and charismatic.

  “Listen.” I readied my sword, and a few of them flinched. Up close, I could see that many of those boys were young, impressionable, and scared. The guns began to waver in their hands. “I’m only here for him. This could easily get worse, but only if you want it to.”

  A beat of silence passed. “No,” one man said at last. His voice cracked a little. He cleared his throat and looked to either side. “No, he’s dead. You killed him.” He dropped his gun with a clatter. “You don’t need to kill us too.”

  Very quickly, the rest of the men followed suit, raising their arms in surrender.

  “All right,” I said. “Kick those guns away. We’ll figure out what to do with you from here.” I glanced back at Dan. “I can promise we won’t kill you, but something tells me the actual military is gonna have a real bone to pick with you.”

  The young man went as white as a sheet.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  “What the fuck? This is bullshit!” A ripple went through the cluster of fake soldiers as one shoved his way to the front. He still clutched his rifle, and his eyes blazed with righteous fury. He rounded on his former comrades. “What the hell is wrong with you pansy assholes, huh? We didn’t sign up for this because it would be easy. We weren’t promised a walk in the park or a damned Sunday drive, okay? You think that’s why we took out all those other guys? Call me crazy, but I did that because I believed in the general.”

  He held his gun tightly in one fist and gestured wildly with the other hand. The others stood motionless in front of him, transfixed by his passion.

  “You’re crazy, man,” someone muttered. “It’s over.”

  “It’s over?” The single loyalist let out an uneven laugh. “You hear this guy, trying to tell me it’s over? I’ll tell you when it’s fucking over, man. For you? Right now.” He raised the gun in a flash and pulled the trigger.

  The crowd of spectators screamed.

  “Stop him,” Dan shouted. “Now, before there’s a riot.”

  “We’re going to rebuild,” the loyalist yelled. “The general may be dead, but his dream is my dream, and it lives on.” He held the trigger down again, and in the second before I reached him, a few more of the surrendering men fell. I lunged from behind and tackled him to the floor. His rifle skidded toward the refugees, who shied away as if it might explode.

  I held the Gladius Solis to the man’s back—not close enough to immolate him, but close enough to make him sweat. He grunted and tried to twist away.

  “Uh-uh.” I held him fast. “You’re not going anywhere, friend. It’s time to sit in the corner and think about what you’ve done. And when I say the corner, I mean the dungeon. With the bodies of all those soldiers you killed.”

  “It wasn’t only me,” he spat, his face pressed down sideways against the floor. “We were all there. We all followed orders.”

  “Oh, don’t worry,” I assured him. “Your buddies will be there too. Don’t mistake mercy for forgiveness.” That said, I turned to find Dan. “Hey, Dan? Do me a favor and round these guys up, will you? If anyone else tries to dissent, tie ʼem up before you taken them down to the basement.”

  “Don’t worry,” he told me grimly, looking over the prisoners with a cold and critical eye. All traces of his trademark friendliness were gone from his face. “We’ll handle it from here.”

  I nodded. “Thanks.” To the general’s men, who suddenly seemed much less intimidating, I said, “Good luck.”

  “We can bury the bodies,” one of them piped up. “If-if you think that would help.”

  Dan glowered at him. “You know what would help me, son? If you shut your mouth.” He motioned for his squad to join him, and together, they herded the unfortunates through the broken doors. The throng of survivors watched them leave in relative quiet before they turned back to me.

  “Vic?” Veronica emerged at the front. I saw Jules right behind her. “I think it would be an awesome idea to explain what just happened.” She came up to the table and stood beside me. “Please don’t worry, everyone. It might not seem like it right now, but I assure you that Vic’s done the right thing. She can tell you everything.”

  “This had better be good,” a woman shouted. She was instantly bolstered by outraged agreement. “That guy was taking care of us. What will happen now?”

  “Yeah. I’m not following your ass anywhere else, lady. We had it made in this place.”

  “You can’t bust in, take our drinks away, and kill people outta nowhere. Where the hell have you been, anyway?”

  “Hey!” Veronica shouted. “Let the woman talk, will you? She’s on our side. I swear it.” She nudged me in the ribs as if to tell me to get on with it.

  “Okay, look.” I held up my hands, one of which still held the sword. “I understand that this looks bad. And I understand that you’re probably super angry at me for ruining something that looked like a great thing. I wish it was, guys. I wish we could have ridden this whole thing out in this base and been perfectly safe. But the general wanted to kill us all.”

  It took a few minutes simply to make myself heard over the clamor that erupted after my last statement. What was supposed to be a joyous feast had turned into an impromptu town hall, where I was the elected official, and they were the loud, opinionated public.

  They barely stopped short of throwing things at my head, but I could tell that some of them wanted to. I could hardly blame them, considering they didn’t know the whole story. Eventually, I was able to explain everything to them, and Veronica convinced them to believe me. The survivors’ rage at me turned slowly to the general instead, and to the gods he had meant to serve through his grand sacrifice.

  “For now,” I said, “we can stay here, and we will.” A resounding cheer went up, and it felt like a two-ton boulder was lifted from my chest. “My team and I will defend this place from whatever comes our way. If we play our cards right, maybe we can get reinforcements and make this a real settlement. Until then, it’s up to us to make sure this place keeps running smoothly. Can we do that?”

  Another cheer sounded. “Yeah!”

  “Good job, Vic,” Veronica said, grinning. “You were on pretty thin ice there for a minute, but you pulled it off.”

  “Hey, why don’t we rename the fort?” suggested a teenage kid near the front. “The ge
neral’s not runnin’ it anymore, so it makes sense, right? Fresh start, clean slate, all of that. It’s our place now.”

  “That’s a great idea,” said Veronica. “What should we call it?”

  I shrugged. “I’m only one person. I think it should be up to them.”

  “How about Fort Victory?” the youngster asked. “That’s like, your name, isn’t it? Vic for Victory?”

  I laughed. “That’s not really how it works, but you know what? Sure, I’ll take it.”

  I wholeheartedly support this notion, Marcus agreed. It is quite a magnanimous gesture after the contention which you faced. I admit I am somewhat surprised.

  “Hey, man, people can be pretty great,” I told him. “And kids think swords are cool.”

  This has been a fact since the days of the Roman Empire.

  “To Fort Victory!” A third cheer went up.

  Frank pushed to the front of the crowd with a glass in his hand. “I’ll drink ta that,” he yelled, placing the cup to his lips.

  The cheer turned to a cacophony of terrified screaming.

  “Frank!” I suppressed the urge to laugh. “You can’t do shit like that.”

  His shoulders slumped. “None of you can take a damn joke.” Then he looked at the glass, sniffed it, and drank anyway. The survivors who saw him held their breath until they realized he was fine, and then they broke into laughter.

  “Don’t do this,” he warned. “Don’t any of you do this. I can do it because I’m already frickin’ dead.” Their laughter ceased. “Inside,” he added quickly. “I’m dead inside. Aren’t we all? Haha!”

  Veronica sighed.

  I said, “Dude, don’t quit your day job.”

  The mobster threw his hands up. “I just—I’m tryin’, all right? Ol’ Frank is tryin’ his best.”

  After that, it seemed easier to breathe again. We cleared the broken doors away and dumped anything from the tables that might have been poisoned.

  “Let’s figure out a way to test the food in the kitchen,” I said. “If it’s good, there’s no reason not to have the feast now.”

  “Good call,” Jules said. “Everyone’s probably hungry anyway. It’ll be a good way to defuse tension.” She and Veronica headed into the back. A moment later, they reappeared. “Bad news,” Jules informed me. “No one actually cooked anything. It seems the general didn’t expect anyone to make it that far.”

  “Wow. What a total jackass.” I rubbed my face. “Okay. Should we adjourn, then?”

  “I mean, we could still cook,” she said. “We’ll need some help, but we can definitely pull it together.”

  “I’ll put out a call. I bet they’ll be willing.” I stepped to the front of the mess hall. The general’s body no longer lay where he had fallen behind the table, which I was glad to see. I cleared my throat, and a hush coursed through the group. As I was about to speak, a familiar voice interrupted me.

  “We’ve got a problem.” Maya stood in the open doorway, dripping wet, with Luis at her side. They were both out of breath. “A huge problem.”

  “Maya!” Two people cried her name out in unison. One of them was Frank, and to my surprise, the other was Steph. Deacon raised an eyebrow.

  They both said, “I love you,” still in concert. Deacon raised the other eyebrow. The two immediately turned to stare at each other in horror.

  “Thanks,” Maya said. “There’s no time for that right now. The gods are coming.”

  “Oh, fuck. Of course, they are.” I hurried to pull Veronica and Jules out of the kitchen. “Change of plans. It’s fight time.” They followed me, and I grabbed Deacon. “Come on. We have to distribute some weapons. Where’s Brax?”

  “Here.” He stood by the exit, so quiet that I’d almost walked right by him. “Tell me I can kick some ass since you didn’t save anything for the rest of us.”

  “It was only one guy. Or two, I guess.” I shook my head. “Whatever. Yes, you will get to kick ass, but first, I need you to get Dan and help him with the guns he confiscated. We might need them all.” He looked doubtful, but he agreed and slipped past Maya and Luis. I turned to them next. “Did you see them? What are we up against?” I held my hand up. “Wait, don’t tell me. Cats, right?

  “Cats?” Luis looked at me like I’d grown another head. “I don’t know man, but she’s no joke,” he answered. “She’s got a whole army behind her. I’m talking waves.”

  “It’s true,” Maya confirmed. “She must be a real god. There’s no other way she could control so many. They’re still a good way out, but they’re moving fast as hell. We got back here as fast as we could. I don’t know how much time we’ve got before they arrive. Not much.”

  “She?” I asked. “Is it Tahn?” Thoughts of a rematch danced in my mind.

  Maya shook her head. “I don’t think so. It didn’t look like her. It’s someone new.”

  I nodded. “Guess we’ll find out soon enough. Deacon, come with me. Maya, Veronica, Luis, Jules, help everyone else get ready. See if anyone will join the fight. We’ll need as much help as we can get. Everyone else needs to stay in the fort, no matter what.”

  “Roger,” Luis said. He and the three women moved past me into the mass of refugees that was once again awash with confusion.

  “Where are we going?” Deacon asked.

  “The general’s study,” I said. “He hid the lockbox with all our shit in there. I’m willing to bet he has a secret stash, too.”

  But we had to move fast. Time was already running out.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  The fort came alive again. Deacon and I ran for the commander’s office as everyone else streamed out of the mess hall behind us. The rush of people was loud and chaotic, but the tone had changed. They were scared, of course, but also determined and hopeful. We were no longer a herd of victims. We were rising up against a common enemy to fight for our new home.

  Their courage inspired me.

  The door to the corridor still lay in pieces where I’d broken through it. Deacon saw it and chuckled. “If I ever need to find you, all I gotta do is follow the trail of destruction.”

  I shrugged. “I was a lot more subtle before I got my hands on a sword that cuts through everything in the universe. Besides, it was a gift. It’d be rude not to use it.”

  “That sword still blows my mind,” he said. “I can’t believe someone gave that to you, but I’m so glad they did. You’re the best person for that thing.”

  I stepped across the splintered wreckage. “It’s worked out so far, more or less,” I said. “I’m making it up as I go, but I think we all are. You get good at improvising when it’s your only choice.”

  The door to the study was open as I’d left it, and so was the bookcase with the lockbox. The first thing we did was shovel out the rest of the weapons. Deacon slipped his guns back on and smiled. “That’s better.”

  I nodded. “I know the feeling. Now, let’s make sure he wasn’t hiding a special secret in here. He seemed like the type of guy who’d have something up his sleeve just in case.”

  We tore that room apart quickly. I dumped the desk drawers on the floor and scoured every inch of the frame for any other secret switches. No luck there.

  Deacon pulled down everything he could reach from the walls and knocked the shelves clean. He found nothing except a few colonies of dust bunnies—until his fingers hit a groove as he slid them across the room’s longest wall.

  “Wait,” he called. “Here.” The panel was almost five feet tall and as heavy as shit. It took both of us to roll it back. A light went on in the exposed compartment. We looked at each other.

  “What’d I tell you?” I asked triumphantly. “Look at that thing.”

  “Talk about a contingency plan.” Deacon planted his foot on the compartment ledge and undid the metal clamps holding the RPG in place. He hefted it to his shoulder, testing the weight. “Yeah, that’ll leave a dent.”

  A black case lay in an alcove in the floor of the hidden compartment.
I took it out and found four pristine rockets laying in a thickly cushioned base. “Good enough,” I said. “Time to get this show on the road.”

  Deacon slung the launcher onto his back, and we beat it out of there as fast as our legs could carry us. It wasn’t quite the treasure trove I’d hoped for but having a rocket launcher was better than not having one. Worst-case scenario, a few rockets could do a lot of damage to an incoming horde.

  Hopefully, Dan or his people knew how to handle the thing.

  A truly monstrous machine, Marcus commented. I suppose in some ways, we are fortunate that the gods waited so long to attack. The technology of war has developed in frightening ways.

  “We’re fighting bullshit with fire, my friend,” I said.

  The scene outside remained largely unchanged, aside from the fact that no more families were running around the halls. The fort belonged to fighters now, and the big mess hall stood empty. I spotted my team rejoining with Dan and Brax near the front entrance, divvying up a big pile of guns between them. Some of those rifles looked pretty damn lethal.

  “Son of a bitch,” I muttered. “That’s where all his good weapons went. He was expecting a much bigger fight, wasn’t he?”

  Alas, foiled by the element of surprise.

  “Thank God.” I shuddered to think about what a bloodbath it would have been otherwise.”

  “Hey, there’s our fearless leader,” Maya quipped as Deacon and I drew closer to the group. “I finished bringing everyone up to speed. We’re almost ready to move out.”

  “Civvies are in position,” Steph announced. She very pointedly did not look at either Maya or Frank. “They’re waiting on a go word.”

  “We don’t have enough,” Brax cut in. “Not by a long shot. We’re damned if we do this.”

  I gave him a look. “You’re damned as it is, so what’s the difference? And we can do this.”

  Uncharacteristic surprise softened his face, and he shrugged. “Fair enough.”