Killswitch Chronicles- The Complete Anthology

by G. R. Carter

  Without another word, he offered the way up the stone sidewalk towards a large set of double doors.

  Chapter Five

  Mt. Horab Assembly Building

  The Night after the Battle for Kaskaskia

  The path was well lit, illuminated with actual flames burning behind smoky glass in tall lampposts. Oliver took a deep breath and led the way, watching as gray clad soldiers with the rose patch opened the doors in front of him. Trying to muster his best captain’s strut, he nodded to each of the men, finding himself in a long marble hallway. Rich real wood paneling extended to an ornately painted vault ceiling.

  “We had to do some renovation after those gangs I told you about. They tried to burn this place down, just being ornery and evil. The Electors decided to make this our symbol of rebirth. ‘Born again,’ you might say,” Huffman whispered in his ear with a mischievous chuckle. Together they walked into a large meeting room, dominated by a rectangular maple-colored conference table. Oliver took a quick measure of the people who stood as he walked in. He was trying to get a handle on the makeup of the group when he realized they weren’t standing for him, but for Huffman. Every set of eyes locked on the Senior Elector, awaiting his acknowledgement. He made a walk around the table, shaking each person’s hand with a smile and quick word. Oliver noticed he acknowledged each guard also: some with a wink, others with a slap on the shoulder, always with a smile that was warmly reciprocated.

  Huffman completed the circuit and returned to Oliver, offering him a seat of soft leather. The conference table was surrounded by chairs identical to his, clearly salvaged from a college meeting room or corporate boardroom, and everything in the tidy room seemed to be a perfect match. Paintings of heroic deeds filled the walls, mostly of what appeared to be 18th-century military engagements, and a few ancient-looking religious figures Oliver didn’t recognize. Huffman sat at the head of the table, just to Oliver’s right, while everyone else took their own seat just a fraction of a second behind their leader.

  Trying not to make direct eye contact, but eager not to look down in shame, Oliver used his peripheral vision to gauge the people staring at him. He was surprised to see women at the table, and men of varied appearance. They were all dressed in a similar fashion to Huffman: dark-colored sport coats or dresses, white collared shirts. The men wore beards, but most men did in the post-Reset world. He did notice all the ladies except one wore a delicate sort of covering over the crown of their head. Twelve people were seated all together including Huffman and himself. Most were about the same age with the youngest appearing early thirties and the rest topping perhaps mid-fifties. Older folks hadn’t made it through the past few years, not even in places that tried to keep them safe instead of regarding them as deadweight.

  Any ARK Citizen he ever met in the City would have had fine jewelry, clothes, shoes and even makeup. And no respectable meeting room in the infamous City supper clubs was complete without bottles of bourbon and wine, and usually fine cigars as well. Oliver looked around the outside of this room: no drink tables or servers waiting on the Electors hand and foot. Just a few soldiers standing at loose attention, occasionally coming over to offer a glass of water to one of their leaders. His own fingers twitched, wishing for the reassuring company of his old pipe—for the first time since his capture he realized he didn’t have it.

  “Brothers and sisters,” Huffman started. “I want to thank you all for leaving your homes to come to the Table at this late hour. Your dedication to the Elect is evident once again. You do God, your family and your people a great service.” Genuine smiles and nods were returned to Huffman. Everyone seemed to lean in a little closer now. Clearly Oliver’s presence was a huge deal and they wanted information.

  “As you were all briefed this afternoon, a tragic incident took place on the river. Apparently, a misunderstanding between our brave men and women and a squadron of ARK ships led by Captain Oliver here,” Huffman said. He sensed Oliver’s tension, then corrected himself. “That’s right, I’m sorry, Captain Oliver, you were second-in-command to Captain, uh, Lovell, is that correct?”

  “Yes, Elector Huffman,” Oliver replied in his most compliant tone. “We were a couple of miles apart but on the same mission.”

  “Thank you, Captain. Again, I’d like to express regret that your Captain Lovell perished in the incident, may God have mercy on his soul,” Huffman said while crossing himself, an act replicated by everyone else in the room.

  “I also lost three men aboard my own boat, Elector Huffman.”

  “My God have mercy on their souls,” the entire room said in unison, once again crossing themselves.

  “And one of ours will not make it through the night, Captain Oliver. Do you also mourn for him? Or for his pregnant wife? Or for his unborn child who will never know the brave man his father was?” The voice came from the end of the Table, one of the younger-looking men who seemed uncomfortable in his coat and button-down shirt. Oliver recognized the eyes. The man was, or had been, a soldier, someone who had seen the horrors of close combat and didn’t wish to again. Not like some who lived for the noise and chaos; that was a different set of eyes all together.

  “Captain Oliver, I’d like to introduce you to Elector John Bolin. Elector Bolin, I was going to wait a little to begin questioning. But one of your gifts is the ability to get to the point,” Huffman replied with a tired smile. “I suppose this is the 800-pound gorilla in the room, isn’t it? You’d all like to know why this incident happened, from Captain Oliver’s point of view.”

  Bolin nodded and Huffman turned to wave in someone from the back corner of the room, a man Oliver hadn’t noticed until just now. The Electors stood as the mystery man walked to the Table. He was tall, at least six feet or a little more. The athletic build said he was a soldier of some kind, but the face said he was a leader, though he appeared younger than most in the room. He had a crisp uniform, a sort of leaf and stalk camouflage pattern immediately recognizable to anyone in this part of the world: the markings of the Red Hawk Republic. Silver wings on the lapel told another story, as did the bright red hawk symbol on the opposite side. He was a pilot, one of the Raptor or Talon drivers who were the envy of any ground-bound serviceman, even those who loved the water. The only thing Oliver didn’t recognize was the green and silver cord wrapping around his left shoulder.

  “Captain Oliver, my name is Samuel Hamilton. I am the commander of the air forces of the Red Hawk Republic and brother to the Founder of the Republic Alex Hamilton.” Oliver gulped a little and nodded.

  Hamilton relaxed his face into a smile. “Please be at ease, Captain. I was here on other business, so Elector Huffman gave me the honor of joining these fine men and women at the Table.” Just like everyone in ARK, Oliver had heard stories about the Hamilton brothers but never dreamed he would meet either of them. The post-Reset world was much smaller than the old one, but while that meant you were more likely to meet your own leader, the lack of communication and transportation meant it was highly unlikely to meet many people from outside your walls. Today, Oliver had managed to meet leaders of two sovereign nations.

  Hamilton continued. “Elector Huffman asked me to sit in and act as your advocate, a counsel, let’s say. Because the Republic is allied to both Mt. Horab and to ARK, he hoped that I would be witness to a fair and open fact-finding process. Do you agree to participate in such a process, Captain?”

  “Do I have a choice?” Oliver asked.

  Murmurs and chuckles broke the ice of the room. “I’m afraid you don’t in this instance,” Sam said warmly. “But I can make note of your objection if you wish. Mt. Horab is an old and dear friend of the Republic. But they are still an independent people. Alex and I can merely make requests; the Electors will make their own decisions.”

  “I have nothing to hide, Mr. Hamilton. I will answer any and all questions to the best of my ability,” Oliver replied.

  “I suspected as much, Captain. You strike me as a man of honor. I understand you thou
ght first of your men this afternoon, and that tells me a lot. I’ll be standing right over here in the corner, I’ll only interject on your request or on Elector Huffman’s,” he said, then stepped back to his original spot.

  Oliver sighed, trying to exhale the tempest churning in his stomach. This morning had started so simple. A straightforward mission to scare some bad guys off of ARK’s river. Now he sat in front of a group of people who looked at him as the devil incarnate; apparently in so much trouble he needed a member of the ruling family of the most powerful country in the known world to look after his interests. This was going to be a long night.

  *****

  Through the night, the statements and questions kept repeating, but each person at the Elector’s Table seemed to be required to have their say. Some were friendlier to him than others.

  “The question on the table is, why did your men open fire on our ships, Captain?” Elector John Bolin asked again.

  “I gave the order, Elector. I believed we had spotted pirates. The same ones who had attacked our settlement in Prairie de Rocher. It never crossed my mind someone else would be there,” Oliver answered. He watched a couple of the Electors look at each other. They didn’t know we had a settlement there. I’ve got to watch my mouth, he scolded himself.

  “Is it the belief of ARK that they own the entire South Flow?” one of the female Electors asked.

  “I’m sorry, ma’am, what do you mean by ‘South Flow?’”

  “The river system, Captain. The big river and all of her tributaries. Has ARK now declared itself to be sovereign of the shipping lanes?” she clarified.

  Oliver paused, still hesitant from releasing information on the settlement. “I can’t speak for ARK leadership, ma’am. As one of your soldiers told me this afternoon, that’s above my pay grade. But my orders have been to rid the river systems of all pirates and outlaws. I believe such a task benefits all civilized folks.”

  “Pirates or ARK, nothing in between?” Bolin asked. “The only activity on the river is nefarious?”

  “I don’t take your meaning, Elector Bolin.”

  “Did it ever cross your mind that someone else may be using the river to make a living? Say, a family that can’t find safety on land because of ditchers, so takes to the water to fish and live? Are they pirates?”

  “I would say no, sir. But I’ve never come across such a situation.”

  “How long have you been on this part of the river, Captain?”

  “Only a couple of weeks, sir. My crew and I have been north of the City—ARK City, I mean—up as far as Hannibal doing the same work. That area is essentially pacified, so we were sent down south to join Captain Lovell and continue his work.”

  “You might be going back north soon,” Huffman broke in, with a concerned glance over at Hamilton who simply nodded. Oliver didn’t know what to make of the comment, but assumed it couldn’t be good.

  “Am I to believe that you had no knowledge that Captain Lovell’s ship and others have destroyed several settlements of independent people? Settlements that wouldn’t cede to ARK rules? Settlements like the one at Prairie de Rocher, which was wiped out to make room for yours?” Bolin said, his voice rising with each word until booming throughout the room.

  Oliver found himself speechless, jaw open at the accusation. For the first time since the questioning began, Sam Hamilton stepped up to the table. “Elector Bolin, we just uncovered these accusations less than a week ago. I’m not saying I don’t believe it, but can we wait for the Diamantes to make a formal reply to our request?”

  “Commandant Hamilton. You and Alex are our oldest and dearest friends. Without the help of the Republic, Mt. Horab wouldn’t be here today,” Huffman cut in. “But I fear your relationship with ARK clouds your vision of what they are capable of.”

  “What do you mean, Elector Huffman? What are you suggesting?” Hamilton asked.

  “Come now, Sam,” Huffman said, dropping formalities. “You know what their family was before the Tribulation.”

  Oliver felt himself edge up on his seat. Rumors had always swirled about who and what the Diamante family were before the electronic world failed. It was considered very bad manners to talk about it in ARK circles, as though history had begun on the day of the Reset. He got the impression there were about to be some serious secrets revealed.

  “A lot of people did things before the Tribulation they now regret, and are happy to have the second chance they have now to do the right thing,” Hamilton replied, probably alluding to Huffman’s own past. “Without question a lot of us have done things since then we wish we could take back.”

  “I know you regret what ARK did in Springfield.”

  “Of course. But Alex and I were a part of that, Bill. We thought it would be the right thing to do, getting revenge for our people. We said it was to keep the ditchers from ever attacking us again, but in our hearts, we wanted payback,” Hamilton said. He didn’t seem remorseful; clearly, he had made his peace with it.

  “Yes, but neither of you ever gave such an order again, did you? After you saw what you had wrought. When you vanquished your foes in New America, you offered generous peace terms. You let their people retain not only their lives and farms, but their dignity,” Huffman countered.

  “Thanks to guidance from the Bishops of the Domicile. The Church was there to guide our path, like it does yours.”

  “Our brothers in the Green and Silver helped, no doubt, but ultimately it was you who made the decision. Your heart told you right and wrong,” Huffman said.

  Oliver watched in fascination at the two leaders discussing past sins as though no one else was in the room. Many a late-night discussion must have been shared to allow such a frank discussion without any apparent animosity.

  “With respect, Bill, I feel like we’re off on a tangent. We’re not here to discuss the Hamilton family, we’re here to get an account from the Captain,” Hamilton said.

  “Forgive me, Sam. Allow me one more question. Where do you think you learned your morals, the difference between right and wrong? And don’t say the Church, folks will think you’re pandering to the crowd,” Huffman said with his smile.

  “Mom and Dad. Uncle Clark, too.”

  “And what did they all do before the Tribulation? For a living, I mean?”

  “That’s two questions, Elector,” Hamilton replied, returning the smile. “And you already know the answers. Farmer, nurse and sheriff.”

  “Think on it. If those influences of your youth helped make you the man you are today, would reason not dictate the family of Tony Diamante made him who he is today?”

  Hamilton said nothing, simply stared at Huffman, stone-faced. Then he turned to look at each of the Electors seated at the table. “Brothers and sisters, I was going to wait and speak with Elector Huffman about this later, but it seems the time has come for each of us to lay their cards on the table. I came here today to warn you of intelligence the Republic received about an imminent invasion by the jihadists of the Northern Caliphate. This information is reliable. Enough so that Alex believes it to be actionable.”

  Hamilton let the news sink in and the murmurs subside from the Table. “Alex has called for a summit of all the free peoples to be held in one week’s time. As a central location, he has instructed Governor Olsen to prepare to receive everyone in Mt. Vernon. Now I know that many of you have issues with Grand Shawnee, or at least with Eric himself. Alex understands and intends to address that. Furthermore, I am going to give him a full debriefing on what has occurred here. I’m sure he’ll want to get Elector Huffman and Premier Diamante together to discuss this bad blood that’s brewing.

  Sam locked on to each person at the table, hawk-like eyes not threatening but with clear intent. “With your agreement, I’d like to take Captain Oliver with me back to Aronia Point, have him meet with Alex and Bek in person. Our sister Essie is landing here in the morning. She’s as much part of this city as she is part of us now,” Sam said, eyes resting on his
future brother-in-law John Bolin. “She can act as our liaison while I’m gone. I’ve taught her everything I know when it comes to air attack tactics. She’s better and more patient with students than I am. Your new pilots will be better off with her for a while.”

  He turned to face Senior Elector Huffman. “Bill, I’ve got your written statement about all this, signed by every Elector here, which will carry more weight with my brother than just about any other worldly document…except maybe the Declaration of Independence or the Articles of the Okaw,” Sam said.

  Huffman nodded. “I’ve got no objection to you taking him, Sam. Might prove good faith to ARK that he’s in your hands instead of ours.”

  “We’ll see about that,” he chuckled. He turned back to those gathered around the Table. “Brothers and sisters, we love you all. Truly respect you. If we can prove what you have alleged, it’s going to be a difficult conversation with ARK. I suggest we all pray to the Creator for guidance. The approaching storm seems to get bigger every day.”

  Chapter Six

  Grand Tower Island

  Mississippi River

  Two days after the Battle of Kaskaskia

  “Lash this last barge to the post, then let’s get everyone in to warm up,” the dock boss called out. Levi Marshall grabbed the inches thick rope, threw the end over one shoulder, and began to lean into the pull. He gave a heave, then felt more men jump in behind him. The dock winch strained to bring the barge’s nose around, giving slack to the line as the men brought it in. The rope joined with chains and cables to make the giant floating rectangle another segment of the metal jigsaw puzzle they had spent the last three weeks putting together. With everything secure, Levi stretched his back, taking in a deep breath and wiping sweat from his forehead, feeling sweaty and chilled at the same time in damp cool air.