by Chris Bostic
“I guess I figured as much,” I said. “Now what’s the real story?”
“The little, uhm, spy…” Austin paused. “What did they call her?”
I tried to remember, but could only come up with a partial answer. “Something small, like chipmunk or mousey little something.”
“Oh, right, Field Mouse. It sounds like she checked in this morning while we were sleeping. She’s headed back to somewhere outside Cherokee. Supposedly she’s already verified everything Noel had said about temporary bridges and the soldiers massing.”
“Really? That’s great.”
“Yeah, great…I guess.” He eyed me curiously. “Anyway, she’s gonna do another quick recon and then wait to meet up with us outside Smokemont.”
“Weird name. Sounds familiar,” I replied, already growing tired of the details. Whatever was going to happen, I just wanted it over with.
“There’s something about a bridge between Smokemont and Tow String. You remember that place?”
“Weirder name, but I’m sure I’ve seen it.”
“Of course. Tow String’s the horse camp up from the Visitor Center,” Austin explained. “Mom and Pops took us there to ride a few times.”
“Oh, yeah. Dang.” That memory hurt. I supposed they all would for quite a while, but riding horses with my parents was particularly vivid. Dad had shown up in his usual attire, a white button-up shirt and khakis. Work khakis. I had been surprised he hadn’t worn a necktie, and not a string tie like the old-timer cowboy types.
Thankfully, Mom had talked him out of the tie, but he wouldn’t budge on the khakis. Or the white shirt, which had needed bleach when we got home courtesy of an unplanned trip through a berry patch—all thanks to Maddie’s horse getting a bit feisty.
I found a smile creeping across my face at the visual, and quickly erased it when I realized Austin was still talking.
“Mouse is thinking the soldiers are gonna try to fix the bridge below Tow String first,” Austin said. “Or maybe chopper in some troops farther up the highway behind us, you know, like you saw yesterday.” He paused ominously. “Or both.”
“Figures.” I looked around at the assembled group. Several new people had joined Spotted Owl. They were all shaking hands and introducing themselves to my mom and Katelyn’s parents. It wasn’t quite as many as I’d expected for a War Council unless those people were just the leaders.
“Well, we knew this was coming,” John said, suddenly appearing behind me. “Come on, bud. I’ll show you the gear they’re letting us borrow.”
I followed John to the back of the cave where I was presented with extra water bottles, a selection of dried foods to put in my backpack, and a first aid kid. I held the packet in my hand, and stared at the assortment of bandages, gauze and antibacterial. There was hardly a thing in there to patch up a bullet hole, much less a rocket.
“You have enough ammo?” John asked.
I nodded numbly.
“Good.” John tried to hand me a pair of binoculars. I declined, not wanting to weigh myself down with any unnecessary gear. “These guys have some nice stuff. A lot more military than ours.”
“How about body armor?” I asked.
“I wish. They’re not that military…but hang on.” John looked through a couple more plastic tubs and pulled out a giant hunk of green, weathered steel. “How about a helmet?”
“Yikes, that’s ancient.”
“Heck, yeah. But you gotta protect your brain box.”
“I’m not so sure,” I quipped. “It looks heavy.”
“More like weighs a ton.” John tossed it from one palm to the other, and held it out for me to examine.
I turned up my nose at it. “I’ll only wear one if you do.”
“Alright. That’s a deal.” John turned back around to dig in the tub. “You might be off the hook on that one,” he declared.
Spotted Owl walked over to us. “Y’all geared up?”
I set the helmet on the table with a clunk. “Sorta, I guess.”
“You fellas need something else?”
“More helmets,” John replied. He remained stooped over. “Or body armor?”
“No can do on the second one,” Spotted Owl said. “But I think there’s a bunch more helmets somewhere, plus some canteens, bandoliers…”
“Band-o-what?” I said.
“The shoulder slings that hold extra mags or shotgun shells,” John answered.
“You thinking we’re a fife and drum corps?” Spotted Owl said with a chuckle. “Ain’t no marching band here. We’re all about the stealth.” He looked to me and suddenly sobered up. “Speaking of which, we’ve got more camo if anyone in your group wants to change clothes.”
I knew exactly what he’d meant without him having to say it. Though little more than dark stains, the knees of my pants were permanently stained with my father’s blood. No doubt my mom’s clothes were even worse.
“Yeah, I should change.”
Spotted Owl scooted farther back into the cave and found replacement jackets and pants for both me and Mom. I accepted as graciously as I could muster, and took off to give my grieving mother the new clothes. The helmet remained behind on the table like the discarded relic it was.
After changing and gearing up, I gathered at the opening to the cave with at least fifteen other people. Besides the eight in my group, Spotted Owl had brought together a similarly-sized group from his camp.
The two men from the night before flanked him. Off to each side of them, there were two couples. I assumed they were married, though probably not so old that they had kids close to my age.
“It’s a little under five miles to Smokemont, but we’re stopping a little short of there. Mouse will rendezvous with us on this side of the highway, on the ledge overlooking the campsite.”
“Another camp?” Katelyn’s dad asked.
“Not like this one.” Spotted Owl gestured to the group. “This is all the help we’ve got for this mission.”
“What about the War Council?” I asked without caring whether I had the right to do so.
He brushed me off. “More on that later. It’s time to head for Smokemont.”
“Hold on,” I said, but Katelyn’s dad interrupted my follow up question with one of his own.
“So if it’s not a rebel camp, what’s Smokemont?”
“It’s an old touristy campsite like the kind with fire grates and concrete pads,” Spotted Owl answered him with details that I could’ve provided myself.
Thanks to Austin’s earlier comments, I realized I’d seen the campsite at Smokemont a couple years before on a family trip, though my parents never stayed at a place like that. My mother always insisted that we rough it in a backwoods camp that a person would have to hike ten miles to get to. In a lot of ways, it had helped prepare me for hiding out in the park.
I watched Mom straighten up as Spotted Owl talked. Her face was eerily calm as if she’d wiped away all emotion. I had no idea if that was healthy, but wished I could do the same. Every memory was torturing me, while she had clearly woken up much stronger. Or at least less easy to read.
Talking done, Spotted Owl led us through the boulder field and to the trail that ran right past the boulder where I’d spent part of the morning with Katelyn. I was in the middle of the pack, right behind her, and reached out to tap her on the shoulder. She spun around with a giant grin, and slowed at a wide place in the trail long enough for me to step alongside.
“Want to take a break?” I whispered in her ear. She squeezed my arm and pretended to shove me away. With strangers following on our heels, I didn’t smack her on the butt the way I wanted as she skipped off ahead of me.
We headed down the hill into a lush valley. It turned out to be so dense with vegetation that I felt like I couldn’t see more than forty yards. Somewhere off to the side, a brook babbled over stones, but I never caught sight of it.
Spotted Owl took us up a shallow incline, encouraging us to spread out as we walked. I
knew exactly why, though I couldn’t think of a time that the helicopters had attacked in the woods during daylight hours. I didn’t know if the thermal imaging would even work very well in the heat of the day. Still, I knew they’d have no qualms about hitting us in the wide open, and hoped we wouldn’t spend a single second exposed to the clear blue sky.
“Just keep following the trail,” Spotted Owl told everyone as we filed past him. “Keep close enough to see the person in front of you, but no closer than that.”
I let Katelyn drift ahead of me briefly, but didn’t stay that way for long. As soon as I was sure I was out of sight from Spotted Owl, I jogged ahead to catch up.
“You’re a little close, bud,” she said.
“Not close enough,” I replied with a rogue grin.
“You’re practically all over me,” she said, turning around to playfully shove me back a step.
“I wish, babe.”
“Is that all you think about?” she joked, but seemed to immediately regret it when she noticed my face crumble like an old brick building. Obviously, I had plenty of other things weighing on my mind. “I just meant, uhm…”
“I know,” I said softly. “I’m a guy. We’re all pervs.”
The joking fizzled. Katelyn forced a tight smile that came out like more of a grimace. “Not you, babe,” she said. “You’re a real gentleman.”
“My da…” I paused awkwardly. “My momma raised me right.”
“Yeah, she did. She’s a strong woman.”
I nodded. I refused to show emotion. I couldn’t bear to see Katelyn’s expression every time she thought she’d said the wrong thing. It wasn’t her fault I wasn’t dealing with things well. I knew that was all on me.
We settled back into a rhythm. Katelyn set the pace, keeping us just within eyesight of John up ahead, and me right on her heels. The path was too narrow to hold hands, and the conversations were too much of a minefield to talk. But the proximity helped me anyway. I could be a robot, yet know that Katelyn was right there for me, literally leading the way.
Spotted Owl came running up behind us. He was too quick for me to step back and pretend like I had been following his rules.
The big man slowed as he approached, and gave the two of us a disapproving shake of the head. But he only said, “We’re almost to the rendezvous,” before running on ahead.
“You see that look?” I asked.
“Hard to miss,” she replied. “Guess we’re not spread out enough.”
Before I could stop myself, I said, “I’d like to spread you out.”
“Jeez, Zach. You’re getting a little, uhm…”
“Okay, that was a bit much,” I said, blushing. “I admit it. I’m sorry. So much for being a gentleman.”
“I know you were kidding,” she said, before adding on, “Sort of.”
“Yeah. Definitely sort of.” I shook my head. “Enough of that for now.”
“For now,” she joked, and took my hand. She pulled me forward faster. “I think we’re supposed to catch up to the others now.”
We jogged on ahead, ducking under low hanging limbs. Our boots pounded the bare dirt, and soon had us right behind John, who had already caught up to Austin and my mom.
The trail widened out to where Katelyn and I could walk side by side. Spotted Owl was up front within view, moving much slower than he had moments ago. He held up a hand for everyone to stop.
He turned, and whispered so softly I could barely hear him say, “I’ll be back with Mouse.”
The others stood around in a group. No one talked.
I adjusted the rifle slung over my shoulder, and twisted my back side to side to keep loose. Austin tossed his backpack to the ground with a thump that drew several sharp looks. Ignoring them, he sat down next to it. Mom also shrugged off her pack, though she kept standing. She had company a moment later when Katelyn’s mom came over to whisper to her.
Footsteps on the trail caught everyone’s attention. I turned to see Spotted Owl hiking back toward us, but he seemed to be alone.
“Where’s Mouse?” asked the bigger of the two bearded men.
“Right here.” He stepped aside to reveal a girl that looked no more than twelve years old following behind him. Though not entirely accurate, it seemed to me like she barely came up to the big man’s waist.
Her face was smeared brown with mud, as was her jacket. Leaves fluttered behind her as she marched with purpose toward the center of the group. Dark eyes that seemed to be all pupils stared at us through slits.
She angled off toward Austin and tossed a backpack decorated with leafy, cut branches next to his. White teeth grinned at him as she plopped down on the ground beside him, and waved for everyone to gather around.
“I’m only going to tell you this once,” she announced with an unexpected gravelly voice. “So y’all better listen the heck up.”
CHAPTER 17
“I like your style,” Austin told Field Mouse when she was done talking and the adults had gathered off to the side to discuss the intel she’d provided.
“Sweet piercing.” She grinned as she looked at the shiny metal stud through his eyebrow. “What’s your name?”
I thought he might reply with some silly, made up code name. I wouldn’t have put it past my brother to volunteer something ridiculous like Snake, Cobra, or some other reptile. Turtle would’ve been funny, but I thought that one might’ve already been taken by one of the two bearded men. The shorter, slower one.
“Austin,” I heard him say as I leaned in a little closer to eavesdrop.
“Cool, Big A,” she said, and bumped him with her shoulder. “You can call me whatevs. I kinda like Mouse, but it’s pretty much all good.”
“Mouse fits,” he replied.
One of her eyes narrowed. “You can talk all the crap you want, but you make fun of my height and I’ll knee you in the-”
“Ha. Yeah, right,” he interrupted. “You can’t reach that high.”
I couldn’t believe she didn’t knock him out. Instead, Mouse said, “Nice one, Big A.” She extended a hand to him, and they bumped knuckles. “I’m glad you’re here. These other guys are soooo lame.”
“Does she know him?” Katelyn whispered in my ear.
I shook my head, and kept watching them with barely contained disbelief. I’d never seen my brother actually talk to a girl. He’d talked about lots of girls, mostly the black-eyed, black-fingernailed ones who liked death metal music. But he’d never brought one over to the house before. Not that I had room to talk. Katelyn was my first serious girlfriend, or really my first one ever.
Mouse hopped up and pulled Austin to his feet. “C’mon, Big A,” she said. “I wanna show you something cool. Let’s get outta here.”
“Hold on.” Austin glanced back toward our mother, who was still embroiled in a conversation with the other adults. I caught his attention.
“Go on, Big A,” I said with a grin. “I’ll cover for you.”
“Thanks, little bro.”
Mouse pulled him down the trail, saying something that sounded to me like, “That cutie’s your brother?”
“Well, that was bizarre,” Katelyn said as they disappeared.
“I’m a little surprised he left with her.”
“I’m not, but I meant Mouse. She’s a bit strange. I swear she looks like she’s a seventh grader, but sounds like she has a two pack-a-day habit.”
I shook my head, and pulled Katelyn over toward the adults. Spotted Owl was in the middle of splitting the group into two.
“I’ll stay with these guys,” he said, motioning to my mom. “Forget about Smokemont. That’s all clear.” He gestured to the shorter, stocky man at his side. “Box Turtle will take you guys over to the Mingus Creek Trail…cross country. We need to hit the Visitor Center tonight, at dusk. Any questions?”
“What happened to Cherokee?” I asked from the back of the group, surprising myself with the ability to speak my mind in front of the adults. I seemed to be getting a
little better at that.
“I guess you missed that part,” Spotted Owl answered a little snottier than I preferred. “Mouse said they’ve already moved units out of Cherokee. They fixed the big bridge over the Oconaluftee this morning. They’re working on the Mingus Creek bridge now, right past the Visitor Center.”
“Oh, sorry.” The wheels turned in my head. “Then shouldn’t we hit behind them, and cut ‘em off? Maybe take out the new bridge?”
“You’re smarter than you look,” Spotted Owl said, drawing a harsh glance and a sharp intake of air from my mother. “We’re headed that way while Box Turtle takes these guys to the Mingus bridge. We’ll take care of our targets, and meet up at the Visitor Center to surround whoever’s left.”
“Speaking of that,” my mom said. “Who was watching the bridges? Shouldn’t they have stopped this?”
Spotted Owl turned to her. Any swagger dropped from his voice when he said, “They tried. While you were sleeping, we lost a couple guys this morning.” He glanced at the sky and took a deep breath, then turned to me as if to answer my much earlier question. “That’s another reason the full War Council has been delayed. We’re a little short on manpower. All the other camps are freaking out and wanting to protect the bridges close to them when they should be helping us with the big push.”
“I hope you don’t blame that on us,” Katelyn’s mom said, apparently taking issue with the way he’d made it sound like we’d been sleeping in and slacking after a brutal, grueling hike to his cave. I agreed with her wholeheartedly, and nearly lost it.
Spotted Owl quickly apologized. “That’s not what I meant, not at all.” He wiped the back of his hand across his brow. “They were just good guys. We were pretty close.”
“Then it’s time for revenge,” Spotted Fawn said. “We’re ready to take this fight to the enemy. We’ve had enough sitting around.”
“Right on,” Spotted Owl agreed. “Grab a bite to eat and get ready to move out. We’ve got a ways to go yet.”
