Killswitch Chronicles- The Complete Anthology

by G. R. Carter

  “Inside, boys,” Levi gave a shout. “Got to take a load off ‘fore the bossman changes his mind.” He gave a wink and smile to his crew leader, a good man willing to have a joke with his boys, or tote a line when a hand was needed.

  The men filed into the River Belle, an old gambling boat serving a second life as their onsite living quarters. Once-fancy carpet and wallpaper looked worn and faded, defeated not only by working men unconcerned by their muddy boots, but also by the constant humidity of the river. An outsider would have noticed the smell of hard labor mixed with the decay of old plywood. Levi’s crew didn’t. They were happy to have a place to get in out of the elements, a place with a full-time cook providing three squares and hot coffee. Short and tall, young and old, but all tough as nails. Wiry men unafraid to put themselves between the crushing weight of metal barges, where one wrong step could sweep you under the merciless current that pulled and pushed at every creation of man.

  Most here were once refugees, loyal to the rose and sword because Mt. Horab gave them a place to be, a place to earn an honest living where they knew their loved ones would be safe. History bore out the Elector’s willingness to take care of folks; even the families of those who lost their lives out here to the dangerous tasks. Some spent a project or two out on the edges of the frontier, then rotated back into town for a turn at another job. Militia duty for some—everyone had to put in at least one stint of that. Crew bosses like Levi, and project foremen like his superior officer, stayed with their projects. They seldom made it back to town, most not having much to go back for. They lived for the job, to see one more project complete, one more time the flag of Mt. Horab raised up over a shelter for soldiers and civilians alike.

  Levi gave a friendly finger to a group of Stewards, gray-clad soldiers in from guard duty out in the same elements. He liked most of them, some crewed with him on and off. The hardest part for some of the Stewards was to resist laying their rifles down and jumping in to lend a hand. Chief Stewards made it their mission to keep it from happening that way; an offense to Levi until nearly learning the hard way what happened if ditchers came at them and no one had a weapon in hand. That had been a tight spot, all hand-to-hand fighting, which put two of his men in the hospital and that particular project two weeks behind. After that, the Chief Stewards didn’t have to do the correcting, Levi took care of it himself.

  “All that standing around wear you out, soldier boys?” he poked as he walked by.

  “Yah, you all is making us a little tired with watching, Mr. Levi,” one of the men said back. Nigerian, if Levi remembered right, a man who had floated down the river all the way from the North Country—an 8x8 raft carrying him and his four kids, the wife having not made it due to illness. Each man here had such a story. The frontier was terrifying if facing it alone, few made it through the dying times after the Tribulation. But with a crew, with a group of men of like mind, the frontier was just a beast to be tamed. No one was scared anymore; once you made it through Hell on earth, with the righteous belief the Creator was on your side, the bogeyman in the woods was scared of you.

  “How goes the project, Levi? Looks like you guys are about ready to push off for the next settlement?” the Chief Steward asked.

  Levi nodded. “Another couple of days, Chief. Our land crew is finishing the concrete pilings in the middle of the island, they already have the pier complete. They’ll start to put up the crew quarters and the guard stations right away. We get those done, reckon we can move on to the next.”

  “Seems like you cut a couple of days off each time you do one of these, Levi. Get too good they gonna make you a bossman, eh?”

  “Old Man River is an unpredictable sort, Chief. I’ll let others have the work of figuring out the wheres and whys, I’ll stick to the hows. By the way, how are the guests doing?” Levi asked.

  The Chief shook his head. “Makes me nervous having ARK men around. These seem like a decent sort, I suppose. Not like those Peacekeepers or the river agents they send about. Just don’t like havin’ to look after their equipment, too. What happens if the river comes up, or those big boats break away from the dock? Don’t like bein’ responsible for nothin’ ain’t mine. Er, well, ours, I mean.”

  “For sure that includes those people’s people, eh?”

  “For sure. But they’re comfortable. Got ‘em a deck a cards and plenty of grub, hanging out down below. Electors don’t want them up top getting too good a look at what we’re up to. Figure we’ll get them turned back over to ARK soon as a deal is struck,” the Chief said.

  “What about the boats, Chief? Seems like we’ll be turning those over at the same time?”

  “Yup, got a couple of our navy boys crawling all over those tugs right now, making good notes. Might be something useful to be learned, I reckon. One of them is pretty torn up, the other seems just fine. That Captain they took back to Mt. Horab with them turned it over to us that way.”

  Levi slid into a booth featuring fraying vinyl and warping laminate, joining a part of his crew already chowing on the ham and eggs served up by a man in a greasy apron. He said a quick and private blessing over the food, crossed himself, and then proceeded to devour the entire plate. A hot cup of Aronia coffee washed it down; he’d have a rich beer with the night’s supper. Some in Mt. Horab were against drinking beer or wine, but Levi was certainly not one of them. Drinking water out here around the river could get a little dicey sometimes, so fermentation was considered a blessing and not a curse to the workers.

  “Levi?” a voice called from the door. “Levi, would you mind taking a look at a little problem we got out here?” The man looking in from the doorway was the bossman of the land crew. He was a smart guy, structural engineer or some such before the Tribulation. More educated on theory than on practice, but man enough to admit when he didn’t know something.

  “Sure thing, Mr. Cooper. And don’t apologize for botherin’ me at a meal. Best to get out of this room before the digestion process starts around these two-legged hogs!” Levi said, gulping down the bitter sweet coffee and dodging a piece of bread chucked at him by the jeering table full of men.

  Just for fun, he grabbed a piece of ham off one of their plates and ate it with a grin, then ducked out the door following Cooper.

  The two men chatted about problems on the walk out to the job site, discussing what might be the cause and potential solutions. Levi inspected the tall concrete towers being formed up by wood, noticing extra rebar laid into the concrete. “Making this one extra tough, Mr. Cooper? Seems like a bit overdone?”

  “Well, this area does tend to flood, Levi. You know how mean that current can get. But I take your meaning. Seems like the Electors want us to build this one to withstand more than just the acts of nature,” Cooper replied.

  “I never thought about that. I’m so busy thinking about how to beat back the river I forget that others might have ill intentions,” Levi replied.

  Cooper nodded, then turned back and looked at the plans laid out on a table made of plywood and saw horses. “That’s why your floating ports are so important. Your teams work with the river, mine work against it. “These,” he pointed to the concrete pilings behind him, “are the future. Your barges are what we need in the present. The Electors aim to push us up river a piece.” He pointed at the papers in front of them. “I wanted you to see this. I talked to your bossman about it earlier today and he wanted you to have a look, too.”

  Levi stared down at a detailed map of the river system, finding his own location and then working out from there. Small rose and sword emblems appeared at various places all along the Southern Flow, both on the main channel and on the numerous tributaries feeding in. In fact, every river or stream navigable by small vessels held the emblem. He whistled through his teeth, pulling off the tattered CAT tractor hat he wore and ran his fingers through his thick hair.

  “Guess job security is a good thing, eh, Mr. Cooper?”

  “Ambitious to say the least, Levi. We’ve got thr
ee of these permanent stations built, well two and this one. I need your help figuring out two things. First, how many men would we need to complete all of these in two years? And where should we start first? Not saying you and I have the final call, but the Electors will listen to our suggestions.”

  “Why not ask my bossman, Mr. Cooper? He’s a sharp cookie, got a good mind for the big picture.”

  “The Electors have requested that he come back to town. They want to reinforce Mt. Horab’s defenses. They seem to think ARK working down the South Flow towards us is no accident. No friends of ours, those mobsters. This thing happening between our boats and theirs might mean the bad blood between us comes to a boil,” Cooper said.

  “I’ll help best I can, Mr. Cooper. But figure my new bossman should be the one makes the final calls, eh? When’s he goin’ to be here from town?”

  Cooper looked at Levi with a little grin. “Sorry, Levi. I know you’re not going to like this, but your number’s been called. You’re the new bossman. Welcome to upper management.”

  Chapter Seven

  Heimat Aronia Point

  Personal Residence of Founder Alex and Rebekah Hamilton

  Red Hawk Republic – Okaw Province

  Five Days after the Battle for Kaskaskia

  “I guess it’s all been pretty overwhelming for you. Not exactly where you thought you’d be when you left port?” Sam Hamilton said over roaring engines.

  Oliver didn’t bother to answer the obvious. His voice was hoarse; he’d nearly used it up trying to speak over the noise of the flight. He looked out the window at the landscape spread out below. One large building dominated the surrounding fields, with a half a dozen other building of various sizes evenly spaced throughout the rest of the grounds. Row after row of some sort of bush reached out to the surrounding woods, which in turn also surrounded a long narrow body of water that twisted and turned past his vision.

  Sam guided the twin-engine plane to line up with a strip of asphalt below. Oliver had expected to take a train to Red Hawk Territory, or maybe a quick ferry ride across the river and then a truck ride north. But Sam Hamilton was a pilot and the thought of doing anything but flying to their destination was inconceivable. Oliver had never been in a plane before today. The view was indescribable, as was the terror of takeoff and the idea of landing. Sam simply smiled and steered the plane, gently correcting the controls until the first bounce of the landing gear onto terra firma.

  “Welcome to Aronia Point, Captain Oliver. You are now a guest of the Founder of the Red Hawk Republic, both of them.” Oliver could tell there was a private joke by the wider smile. Sam taxied the plane to a resting spot near a large metal building painted bright white with a large green and silver shield painted on it.

  “What’s the shield symbol, Mr. Hamilton? I thought you Red Hawks painted that screaming chicken emblem on everything. There’s rumors you all are born with a hawk-shaped birthmark,” Oliver said. He was feeling a little irritated from the flight, the medication and the constant dull pain. Frankly, he was tired of being shuffled around like a trophy, also.

  Sam didn’t bite on the insult. “We were the Okaw Valley Self Defense Cooperative before we were the Red Hawk Republic, Captain. And please, call me Sam. We save the formality for official business. This is just a visit among friends.”

  Unfolding themselves from the tight confines of the plane, they were met by a bustling crew of men and women. All were dressed in coveralls with the same camouflage pattern that Sam wore, and all had the green shield with a silver outline over their left breast. Hugs and handshakes told Oliver that these were long-term acquaintances and probably not just servants like those employed at an ARK Citizen’s Townhouse. These people seemed more like friends reuniting. Sam made introductions, though the only name Oliver seemed to remember was Steinbrink, having been repeated multiple times throughout the crowd. Oliver felt strangely comfortable here, getting nods of appreciation and respect when his position was described, another contrast to how a prisoner might be treated in ARK territory.

  Together they were escorted up a long stone path toward the large building Oliver had spotted from the plane. The place seemed more impressive now, less like a building complex and more like the grand residence of an estate. Beautiful stained-glass windows surrounded a two-story brick and stone entrance, which consisted of solid wood doors, once again sporting the green and silver shields. All around the walkway and the foundation were plants and trees, fully shaped though not blooming this time of the year.

  A tall man with a cane and an eyepatch stood in the open entryway, flanked by two of the largest dogs Oliver had ever seen. Both animals sat rigid, at attention and sizing him up for potential threats. Each had a long-tapered nose and large ears, a head the size of a small horse’s and paws resembling that of a bear. Oliver nearly choked at the size of the shoulders, as broad as a full-grown man even without the bushy brown-and-white fur. One looked up at the tall man, as if to ask what needed to be done to the unwelcome visitor. Subconsciously, his master reached down and scratched the beast’s ears. The dog seemed satisfied, and went back to just observing.

  “Sammy!”

  “Hello, big brother. Great to see you up and around!” Sam grabbed his older brother in a bear hug that nearly knocked them both off balance.

  “Bek finally took my chair away, made me get up and walk across the room to get to my beer.”

  “She always knew how to get the best out of you. AJ let me introduce you to someone. This is Captain Liam Oliver, Ranking Squadron Officer, naval forces of ARK,” Sam said.

  “Founder Hamilton, it’s a very real honor to meet you, sir,” Oliver stammered. “I’ve heard so much about you and Commandant Hamilton, this seems quite surreal to meet you.”

  “I told him to call me Sam,” Sam laughed.

  “And please call me Alex,” the Founder replied. “I have never really gotten used to ‘Founder’; still seems a title only fit for our father. Come in, both of you. Having you here will give me an excuse to sit down again. Please, follow me…and Captain Oliver, please don’t mind Tyr and Fen. They’re called Guardian dogs for a reason. My children crawl all over them and they don’t even raise a whimper. Just don’t try to kill anyone here and you’ll get along just fine,” he laughed. He waved an arm to show the way, then limped ahead himself, with a Guardian on each side.

  “How’s the leg, AJ?” Sam asked, throwing an arm around his brother’s side.

  “Not progressing as well as the shoulder. Stiff in this weather. By bells and fire, I don’t think autumn lasts long anymore!” Alex cursed in what Oliver guessed must be a Red Hawk oath.

  “No doubt about it. Celeste says there’s no question the growing season is getting shorter,” Sam replied. “We have to figure out a way to start growing crops to fit that situation.”

  “Ah, yes. How is my favorite sister-in-law? Been a month since I’ve seen her. Though she dutifully submits reports so vague she could be building a rocket ship and I wouldn’t know it. She assumes I can’t read between the lines! Anyway, I’m supposed to meet her in Shelbyville next week. Will you be able to stay, Sam?”

  “That depends on you, AJ. More like depends on what we need to hash out here. If not, I’m still going to fly over and see her after this,” Sam replied.

  Alex nodded in agreement. “Yes, I hoped you would. I keep you two apart for far too long, asking you to do the work I’m not capable of. I need to make sure you two spend more time together, otherwise I’m going to have to count on Essie and Lori to give this family more heirs!” There was a clever smile on his face even the eyepatch couldn’t hide.

  They arrived at a set of high-backed leather chairs, the seating platform slightly higher than typical and stuffed for maximum comfort. They were arranged in a pattern so each faced an immense stone fireplace. The mantle stretched at least ten feet across, empty save for a large intricate clock and the individual paintings of four children. The fire was already roaring, but Sam stopp
ed to poke at the flames anyway.

  Alex reached into his pocket, pulled out a leather pouch and handed it to Oliver. He opened it and felt his heart leap. Inside was a brand-new pipe, stashed on top of a large quantity of tobacco, finely cut and high quality if the aroma held true.

  “Go ahead, Captain Oliver. You smoking gives my brother the chance to light his also. That way if the real power behind the Founder’s Chair arrives home early he’s got cover for being a bad boy,” Sam laughed. “You wouldn’t believe the Quarters it cost him to get that tobacco from the Creeks.”

  Alex just shrugged and pulled out his own well-worn pouch, dipped the bowl in and tamped the overflowing leaf down with expertise. “Shawnee doesn’t grow it as well as Clarksville yet. Some things are worth the price.”

  Oliver duplicated the Founder’s action, then accepted Sam’s offer of a long match lit off the fire. He moved to do the same for Alex, then stopped. “You tell Bek I let you do this, I’ll deny it and tell her where you hide everything.”

  “Like she doesn’t already know,” he said with a wave of his hand. “I learned a long time ago she lets me think I’m being clever so I don’t actually work at being really clever.

  “You see, Captain Oliver,” Alex continued, drawing in the rich smoke, “people think that this is a big, powerful job. Being Founder of the Republic, I mean. They think all these servants cower at your feet, that everyone around you is terrified of your disappointment…your wrath.” He snickered, lighting the pipe again and puffing on it. “In reality, you’re just the one thing others can agree on. See, you bring people together by being something others rally against. Take for instance my loyal brother and my beautiful wife, always conspiring to keep me in this cage, out of the way so they can get the work of the Republic done.”

  Sam burst out laughing. “Captain, you’re being misled. There’s not a single thing that happens from Lafayette to Peoria to Evansville to Mt. Horab my brother doesn’t know about. He figured out he can sit in his office and read reports while the rest of us spend our nights sleeping on the ground. A plan that lets him avoid boring meetings about asset allocations and harvest quotas.”