Minus America (Book 3): Rebel Cause

by Isherwood, E. E.

  Uncle Ted drove them around the big complex for a short time until he seemed to have his route planned out. All at once, he goosed the motor and headed onto the pavement of the taxiway. Meechum followed close behind; Kyla looked around her shoulder to see their speed go from twenty to seventy in a few seconds. They passed under the wing of a mammoth gray cargo plane. Then, in seconds, they crossed onto the airstrip.

  Meechum groaned as she worked the throttle. She’d made good on her promise to feel the pain later, but it was obviously difficult. Kyla prayed it didn’t get any worse, otherwise they’d have to come up with a way to cram four people onto one bike.

  Uncle Ted had to slow down when he reached the grass, but not by much. Kyla tried to tap keys on the tablet to get a better idea of the number of drones around, but her cursor became stuck.

  “Oh, hell,” she exclaimed. “Someone knows I’m in.”

  Ahead, the line of giraffes patrolling the edge of the property was much easier to see than it had been in the dark. Large, metal dogs also appeared. The tall grass hid their numbers, but they were out there. White flying drones hovered every hundred yards or so.

  Kyla’s interface didn’t show their position on a map, so she had to use trial and error. She tapped the screen and selected a random giraffe to make it deactivate. When done, she searched for a stopped drone, but it wasn’t obvious to her. She tapped a few more and saw a nearby giraffe immediately stop.

  “There! Go by that one!” Uncle Ted had to look back to see where she pointed, but he soon caught on to the fact a drone was behaving in an odd manner.

  They had about a hundred yards to go to the property boundary, and she used the time to tap more of the drones. She tried to find the pattern in where they were on her screen compared to where they were on the security detail. Seconds later, after shutting down three in a row, she finally established the numerical order. Once she had that, she was able to shut down the three different types of drones close to her target. She went out from there as fast as she could click.

  Kyla had eight or nine deactivated before one of them turned back on.

  “Shit! Someone definitely knows what I’m doing! They’re tracking this tablet. They’re tracking these bikes. We’re lit up!”

  “We can’t stop now,” Uncle Ted declared.

  The two original drones were powered down, and that was where they were headed. But other drones were coming back online almost as fast as she could tap them off. A live person was fighting back. It was hard for Kyla read the screen while bouncing on the bike, but she noticed an option to reset the modes of the drones. With seconds to go, she could either try to tap faster or tap smarter.

  Here goes nothing!

  Amarillo, TX

  Brent and Trish had gotten the drop on the stranger in the car. They pulled him out and parked his vehicle behind the Cadillac sculpture to help hide it. They realized immediately they’d found one of the enemy soldiers, mostly since the guy told them over and over that he was done fighting for David.

  They’d waited until all members of the team were back before they tried to interrogate him.

  “So,” Brent began, “tell us again how you came to be here. Are you a deserter?”

  “It’s all over, man. They’re all burned alive. The Americans came back and kicked our ass up one leg and down the other. We were told this was a colonization process, not a war. I don’t want any part of the that.”

  The guy wore black overalls with brown sleeves and traveled with nothing more than the clothes he wore. Brent figured he wasn’t a frontline soldier, and he had no weapons, so maybe he could get some intel out of him.

  “You said the Americans came and attacked. Who are you fighting for?”

  “David,” he said abruptly.

  Brent looked over to Trish and the others before turning back to the man. “Who’s David? Is that a person or a nation?” He figured it might have been a weird acronym or something.

  “David is leading us to the promised land. He’s our generation’s Moses, I guess you could say. But he said everything was taken care of by the reboot. We weren’t supposed to have to fight. As I said, I’m not big on war, especially the death part.”

  “Where does David come from? What nation?” If he could figure out who they were up against, he might be able to craft a proper mode of counterattack. If he could get numbers of men, tables of organization and equipment, and mission objectives, it would greatly help their cause of fighting back.

  “He comes from the old America, but he fights for us all—the poor, the dispossessed, those without a homeland. We’re his rebels.” He stuttered. “Was. I’m not anymore.”

  “Without a homeland,” Brent echoed. There couldn’t be many of those. Everyone came from somewhere. He took the man at his word. “So, David came from the United States. Was he by chance at the Amarillo Airport? Did he die in the fire?” If they’d managed to kill the leader in their bold attack, he was going to buy each of his men a new car with the millions of dollars in gifts he’d be given by the returning government.

  “No, David stays in a place called Cheyenne Mountain. In a bunker. He told us in one of his speeches.”

  “NORAD?” he asked with surprise. If the bad guys had managed to hole up in NORAD, it would be nearly impossible to get them out. It was built to withstand nuclear blasts.

  “Yes, I’ve heard them say that before.” The guy looked around, scared he was going to be in trouble. “Look, it’s all I know. I came over here because I wanted to be one of the homesteaders with a new wife, but look at me now.” He pointed to his uniform. “I’m only a common soldier.”

  “Where did you come from?” Brent asked.

  “I’m from Oregon, but I was living in the Philippines. That’s where I met David.”

  “How did you get to the airport?”

  “I flew, of course. I had a choice to come over on a boat, but those were full. They added me at the last minute. I guess it explains why I couldn’t be a homesteader.”

  “And what’s your mission here? If you aren’t a homesteader, as you keep saying.”

  “I drive heavy equipment. When my assigned burn zone was done, it was going to be my job to level out all the rubble. Guys like me prepare it for the next wave of rebuilders, and the final wave of colonists.”

  Carter ran his hand over his bald head. “Damn. You people are cold as shit. That’s my home you’re talking about paving over.”

  The prisoner must have seen a bad look in Carter’s eyes and held up his hands defensively. “I’m done with all that, I swear. I’m an American, too.”

  “An American?” Brent asked sadly. The others bristled at the man’s obvious attempt to curry favor, but he let it slide for the moment. He went through a few more questions, but it descended into a rote formality. The enemy soldier was happy to give up what he knew in exchange for the promise of safety. They learned a bit more about the layout of the Amarillo airport, the number of aircraft probably knocked out, and the overall mission in the area.

  The sun shone brightly on the field by the time they finished grilling the guy. They’d asked about the David character, his base in NORAD, and what they might expect if they went to meet him. The guy didn’t know much about the top level of their invasion effort, but he was pleasant and forthcoming about spilling what he knew. However, as time dragged on, and Brent ran out of questions, he was forced to admit he had a dirty job to do. They couldn’t risk the guy wouldn’t change his mind and go warn his old friends.

  Brent recalled the discussion with Trish about how one side had to want victory more than the other, and he was about to go all-in for his seven-person rebellion. He took the man behind the brightly-painted Cadillacs, promising that’s where he’d be let go.

  Dammit straight to hell. I’d forgotten how much war sucks.

  Minot Air Base, ND

  Ted aimed the motorcycle between the two giraffe-drones that were powered down. Since the machines were no longer moving, they were
effectively two goalposts to aim for as he sped across the grassy field.

  “We’re going through!” he shouted over the sound of the motors, knowing Meechum probably wouldn’t hear him on the other bike. He glanced over at his niece. She hung on while tapping the tablet wedged between her and the driver. Whatever she was doing, it was giving them a chance.

  A robot horse appeared nearby, with its chain gun apparatus sticking up from its back, but it appeared frozen, like the giraffes. Elsewhere, the sounds of machine guns chattered.

  “Stay low!” he yelled to Emily.

  The motorcycle rumbled through the defensive cordon, which was also close to the dead end of a paved road heading west. He guided the bike out of the grass, onto the concrete, and hit the throttle.

  Meechum wasn’t far behind.

  Looking back, several of the horse-drones were unleashing streams of machine gun fire, but it appeared as if a few of them were fighting against a larger group still closing in. Ted glanced over to Kyla, who was smiling impishly.

  He pointed behind them, then pointed at her. “You did that?” he mouthed.

  She gave him a thumbs-up.

  There was no time for celebration, however. They were riding two motorcycles across the flattest state in the union. The air base fell behind them, but knee-high grasslands and endless wheat fields surrounded the other three directions. Any competent Air Force pilot would zero in on them in about ten seconds. The jets previously parked on the airstrip had to be somewhere up there.

  Ted accelerated. He took at close look at the Victory Hammer 8-ball bike he was on, noting how the speedometer went all the way up to 200 miles per hour. He intended to test every bit of that, but when he hit 120, he could barely withstand the wind blasting his chest, and his eyes were nearly sealed shut by the onrush of air. He glanced over to Meechum and found her lagging behind.

  Damn.

  He came back down to match her speed, which was a little over 100 on the speedometer. Emily gripped him tighter. “Where are we going?” she asked.

  “West!” he shouted.

  The entire base was probably gearing up to look for them. He was convinced of that. Their ultimate goal was to the south, in Colorado, but he planned on going into Montana before making the turn in the proper direction. If they could put some miles between them and the pursuit before they really got started, it would give them a better chance of escape. However, much to his surprise, the land dipped ahead of him.

  They cruised into a low valley filled with clumps of trees, and a large, meandering body of water. It looked more like a swamp than a river, with gravel roads going off into the woods to the north and south.

  He chose to keep going west, over a berm running from one side of the marsh to the other—a span about a half-mile. If they could get to the other side, he planned to detour into the woods. They might be able to lose them that way.

  “Oh, crap,” he said to Emily as he slowed.

  At the very end of the berm, the road ended at a gap where a bridge had been removed. The slow-moving river flowed to the south through the fifty-foot opening.

  Ted and Meechum were forced to stop their bikes. Behind them, beyond the length of the berm and a few trees, he once again imagined a pursuit force hunting them down. Minot Air Base was only five miles back there.

  “I could use suggestions,” he stated dryly.

  Emily hopped off and ran to the edge. The reeds and water were only a few feet below the level of the road, and she seemed to walk back and forth, studying the water.

  Kyla came over with her tablet in hand. “Uncle Ted! I almost blew it. I tried turning the drones off, but someone came in behind me and restored them in seconds. I figured out there’s a maintenance mode. The robots take five minutes to run through the cycle, which can’t be interrupted.”

  “You figured that out while on the motorcycle?” he asked with both surprise and pride.

  “Yeah. The tablet is super intuitive. It’s the complete opposite of the coding inside the defense systems, which are old and crusty.”

  “Like me,” he laughed.

  “Yeah, like you,” she said with a wry smile. “I also disabled the beacons on these bikes, but I can’t say how long that will last. These guys are really fighting back.”

  “So they can’t track us at this moment?” he asked.

  “Correct.”

  He smiled. “Awesome work, young lady!”

  Emily waved him over. “I was hoping we could push the bikes across the river, but it isn’t shallow enough.”

  Ted studied the area. Knowing nothing about North Dakota, it was hard to draw conclusions from the small slice of the valley he could see, but he figured they’d have a lot better chance of survival if they stuck around the river and got into the trees. However, enemy forces were looking for a pair of motorcycles. If he ditched them, his team could blend into the landscape.

  The motorbikes were very nice, so throwing them away was difficult, but safety was his priority, not getting cool stuff. If they did manage to avoid detection, there were a million other vehicles they could borrow. He told himself not to get attached to any equipment.

  “We’re going on foot,” he said.

  “What? Why?” Kyla asked, still happy from her programming victories.

  “We have to get into cover. This place might have the only trees we find in this whole state. It will give us a chance…”

  “We should ditch the bikes if they’re being tracked,” Meechum suggested.

  “Push them in,” he advised, pointing to the end of the road.

  Each bike had two saddlebags. One was crammed with what looked like cleaning gear for the flamer, and the other contained a sleeping bag and some of the previous riders’ personal effects. That was a major score, since they had no other supplies. He’d left his prized backpack and rifles in the stolen car at the grocery store, figuring they’d be back through there. After pulling out everything useful, they watched in silence as the metal hogs disappeared into the murky stream.

  “Kyla, you have to ditch the tablet, too.” He nodded to the black device in her hand.

  Kyla was crestfallen. “We can see all the enemy movements with this. We can tap into their systems. With time, I might even be able to access their mainframe.”

  Ted understood her reluctance. “But you said it yourself: they can track it. We have to ditch every piece of tech that belongs to these rebooter assholes—I’m not calling them rebels.”

  “Yeah, you’re right. I thought this was over. I thought we were home free.”

  “We are. We know what we have to do to beat them. We’ll find a way to communicate with the outside, share what we know about the remaining defense infrastructure, and hopefully they’ll send an ICBM from a submarine right through the front doors of David’s NORAD base. If they can’t, we’ll walk in and take it out ourselves. We’ll be home free after doing all that, and after a short swim.” He pointed across the river.

  All three women groaned, though Emily was the loudest. It surprised him to such an extent that he had to turn to face her.

  She chuckled in a good-natured way. “I bet you could get us into a lake even if we were in Death Valley. You should know, Major, that the President of the United States is tired of getting soaked.”

  It wasn’t his first choice, either, but abandoning the bikes and crossing the river was the unexpected thing to do. The men and women operating the pursuit back at Minot would spend their time looking for two impossible-to-miss motorcycles driving the open highways. They wouldn’t waste time searching reed ponds and streamside forests without good cause.

  He rose to her challenge. “Look at the bright side. You’ll need another set of clothes. I don’t know about you guys, but I’d like to wear anything besides the uniform of the enemy.”

  “Amen,” Meechum replied. “If I’m killed, I don’t want to be seen in this thing.”

  Ted brightened. “Hey, that’s the nice thing about this war. They’re here
to kill us no matter what we’re wearing, so we might as well be comfortable.” If Emily happened to find another nice dress, instead of the unflattering black jumpsuit, he wouldn’t complain.

  Eyes on the prize, Ted.

  “Come on, I’ll lead,” he said, to prod Emily. “Keep your pistols above the water, if you can. The sleeping bags, too.”

  “Last person across has to sleep in the weeds,” Emily taunted, seemingly unable to give Ted the last word. “The winners get the comfy bags!”

  It was the middle of the day, but he intended to hunker down in the woods until tomorrow. Meechum was injured, Kyla had a neck wound, and the pair of them had been on watch all night. They needed to rest. The group had won a major victory, but as a fighting force, they were all at the breaking point. Still, Ted never himself pushed harder than to get across the river first.

  He already planned to give his sleeping bag to the president. If anyone asked, he’d say it was because she was his commander-in-chief.

  But he knew the truth.

  CHAPTER 29

  The Odd Place

  Deogee woke up and sniffed for the expected smell of kibble. Melissa always gave her a big bowl before she went out jogging in her bright yellow, and tasty, running shoes. Today, however, there was no kibble smell.

  I had a puppy dream.

  The wolf in her immediately went into a guarded posture. Not only were the expected scents not there, but she didn’t recognize where she was, either. However, her memory came back a little. She thought Melissa was gone. Her outer pieces of fur had been left somewhere…in leafy bushes. There were no leafy bushes anywhere in sight. She was inside an unfamiliar house.

  She barked. “Where am I?”

  “Where are we?” Biscuit replied from close by, as if reminding her she wasn’t alone.

  Deogee nosed the other dog appreciatively, and her memory came rushing back. Melissa was indeed gone. So was her other friend, the human who dressed funny and was called Sister Rose. The fire had gotten her at the Bad Place.