As he reentered the track, he continued making his passes, although this time a lot slower, taking out as many of the creatures as he could. The field expedient scythes, initially pretty sharp, were now dulling out, and were now nowhere near as effective as in the beginning. That was okay. Mowing down slabs had just been a bonus. What he’d really wanted, was to just keep drawing them in for the grand finale.
After about an hour, he noticed the slabs had finally stopped filling into the track area, which was okay since he was almost completely out of room to keep making passes at them, anyway. Happy his toy had held up as well as it did, he was almost saddened by what he had to do next. The first thing he did was run by the entrance to the track and grab a rope at the side of the long tunnel that he’d led the slabs through. As he tugged the rope, a large metal gate dropped down and sealed off the passageway. He then slowly pulled the Jeep up to the grandstand side of the track and parked it at the only opening left into the stands. The rest of the stands had all been barricaded off from access by whatever he could find lying around the area, be it trash dumpsters or metal railings taken from the box office area. He slid out though the passenger door and made his way up the stairs, only looking back to make sure none of the slabs were following. As he got to the top of the steps, he turned back and started to finish the countdown he’d been doing in his head, out loud, “… three ... two ... one.” And then the device that was mirroring his count in the rear of the Jeep exploded, with the resulting mayhem and the fire it caused, steering the oncoming slabs away from following him, and keeping the bulk of the rest confined to the tracks. Happy with the execution, he turned and disappeared into the building at the top of the outdoor grandstands.
As he entered the press booth in the grandstand luxury suite area again, he looked down onto the very crowded field and smiled while he lit the last of the cigars he was carrying. He then walked over to a marble countertop and poured himself a glass of Kentucky Bourbon. As the warm liquid burned going down, he took a seat at a large multi-buttoned control panel. Some cords from the crude looking device ran out of the room and disappeared down the hall, while others ran over to a bank of car batteries in the corner giving it power. He looked down at the board and placed his finger on the button with a large number one above it.
He took one more sip of the bourbon and pushed the button.
A loud explosion was heard above his head, right before a large ball of green fire shot down past the window and onto the dirt track before it exploded again in a blinding flash, streaming green sparks all across the field and filling the whole of it with a gray smoky fog. With the strong wind blowing across the field, it only took a few seconds for it to clear, and he could see the destroyed bodies of several slabs where the green ball had exploded. He looked out the window of the press booth and eyed the more than one hundred tubes he had strapped to the roof edge pointing down onto the field and smiled. The fireworks he’d found in the warehouse were supposed to be used originally for one of the largest fireworks displays in the country, but today they were going to serve another purpose.
He sat back down and with no hesitation pushed the button for number two. Again, the explosion from above preceded the flaming projectiles shooting past the window before landing squarely in the middle of the unaware slabs below. As the smoke cleared, Hutch launched two more fireworks and enjoyed watching the ensuing display. He then propped his feet up on the ledge in front of him while finishing off the bourbon.
For the next hour, Hutch enjoyed the most elaborate private fireworks show in history. As the smoke was clearing from the grand finale, he looked out onto a scorched and burning field that had previously been the sight of the most popular horse race in the world. He saw slabs on fire, some still whole, but most in pieces from the force of the explosions going off at such close range. He did, however, see several dozen undamaged and still walking around the track trying to get away from the stench of their fallen brethren. Not willing to leave any alive to possibly hurt another human being, he pulled the rifle up that had been sitting beside him, and decided he needed to get in some target practice, anyway. He zeroed in with the scope and fired the first shot from almost two hundred yards away and scored a direct hit in the back of the head of one of the slabs. Before that one completely dropped, he fired another round, and again hit his mark. With a couple of reloads and only two missed shots, he quickly mopped up the remaining slabs. After a thorough scan revealed no more movement, he slung the rifle over his shoulder and headed down to his van.
Pleased that everything had gone great during the last two stops, Hutch, as he looked over at the empty seat next to him, reminded himself just how quickly things could go bad. He cranked up the van, pulled his map out from the visor above his head, and placed an X over the circle in Kentucky. He studied the map for a few minutes, looking at different routes to take to his next stop, before he gently folded it back up and returned it to its place under the visor. As he pulled away, he caught himself whistling a favorite tune of his “… on the road again” while leaving the smoldering racetrack.
Chapter 22
Hope passed the note over to Hunter. Hunter looked down at it, and immediately balled it up and tossed it into his mouth before swallowing. “We do have a bigger problem,” he stated as he sat down next to Morgan.
“What the hell was on the note?” Morgan asked quietly.
“It said, we are hostages of the children. They won’t let you leave alive,” Hunter whispered into Morgan’s ear.
“Why is that a bigger problem?”
“For starters, have you ever won an argument with a younger child, especially when they hold all the power?”
What he said sank in on Morgan, and the gravity of the situation became clear. She looked over at Hope for some sign that she had a plan to get them out of here. Hope didn’t give her much relief, though, as she looked just as perplexed as Morgan did.
Hunter leaned forward and called the girls in close. “Just follow my lead when they come back. We have to play this cool, and I’m just the person to handle this.”
Hope wanted to slap the arrogance out of him, but something about his grin told her he really thought his plan would work.
It didn’t take long before he was given a chance to put his plan in motion as they heard footsteps coming down the hall and the lock on the door being taken off. When the door opened, he found both Trip and the man he had left with standing in the opening. As Trip walked in, Hunter jumped up and walked over to greet him with a hug. Trip almost stopped Hunter since it was so out of character for him, but he complied with the hug, anyway. As Hunter wrapped his arms around him, the girls both chimed in with sounds of elation that he was safe and okay, as they caught on to Hunter’s action, making enough noise to allow him to whisper something in Trip’s ear.
Hunter released Trip and then turned to the man standing behind him. “Listen up. I don’t know what your plans are for us, but we don’t want to stay here. We have a place to get to that’s safe and away from all you damn old farts that have ruined this world. We just want to get away from you and live our own lives. So, let us get our gear, and we will be on our way.”
The man stood in stunned silence at Hunter’s outburst while he tried to come up with a suitable comeback. “Well, I will take your request into consideration and get back to you soon,” he finally said before he turned and walked back out the door.
As the door shut and locked, Trip turned and looked at the girls, who were actually trying not to laugh because of the complete shock on Trip’s face. “What the hell just happened? Somebody, please tell me y’all didn’t hit your head that hard.”
Hunter pulled Trip out of earshot and gave him the quick version of everything they knew. Then he asked Trip what had been said to him outside of the room.
After Trip had caught them up on everything the man he only knew as Adam had said to him, he sat down and recapped everything he’d seen outside, to give them a clear picture of what
they were facing.
Hope paid considerable attention to the details and asked a lot of specific questions to get a better idea of what she could do to plan their escape. After hearing everything, she started to tell them how they should, and with ease, be able to overthrow the five or six kids that were out there if they just followed her lead when the doors opened again. Unfortunately, she didn’t get to finish telling them the whole plan, as she heard approaching footsteps heading back their way.
The door opened and the young man who had rescued Trip entered without anything covering his face; immediately, the quartet of captives saw that he couldn’t be any older than any of them, maybe not even as old.
He looked down at the four prisoners for a minute. “My name is Jeremy, and I’m in charge here. I would like your company outside, so that we can talk in a more civilized location.” He extended his arm towards the door, gesturing for them to come.
As Hope moved out into the hallway, she was greeted by the sight of almost forty armed people. Some were wearing full Army tactical gear, and some were in regular hunting fatigues. The ones whose faces she could see didn’t look to be any older than their early teens, while a couple of them appeared to be her age or a little older. She followed Jeremy to the end of the long hallway, past an empty wall where lockers used to be mounted, but for which only a silhouette remained from being painted around for decades. As they passed several classrooms on the way, she saw the missing lockers being used as barricades for the windows in the rooms. As they entered into a room in the center of the building, she found a war room set up and a few more battle-dressed people waiting for her and her friends.
Jeremy offered them each a seat with the four chairs facing a large desk in the center of the room with a large hand-drawn map on it, with a lot of circles and x’s marked all over. They took their seats and waited for Jeremy to start.
“I’m sorry for the trickery earlier, but we had to get a feel for who you were and if we could trust you. You see, we’re in control here. This was our school before the plague broke out. Initially, we were holed up in here with other survivors from the town. But after a while, a lot of them took off or were killed by the plague. We stayed behind because this was our home and we didn’t want to go anywhere else. We knew that the cause of this was some government experiment gone bad and decided it was time for us kids to take back control. The adults always said they knew what was best for us, but when it came down to it, they were the ones that caused this mess. They had to pay for what they did, so the ones who didn’t escape when we took the school over were put to work for us. After your little outburst back there, we knew you had the same thinking as us.”
Hunter quickly spoke before the others could ruin their chance at surviving this situation. “You have got to be kidding me,” he started, giving Jeremy a momentary sense that he’d been wrong about them. “This is exactly what we wanted to do back home in Florida, but we didn’t have the support of the others in our group. We saw what the almighty intelligence of our parents and their like had done to the world and wanted no part in taking orders from them anymore. So, when the opportunity presented itself, we bolted in a stolen plane and were heading for an old cabin my family owned in the Rockies near Denver. This was the type of place we wanted to create.”
“I’m glad you found us,” Jeremy said. “Even if it was by accident. And it was by accident, I take it. You didn’t intentionally crash here, did you?”
“No, we had engine failure, and this was the first place we saw that we could land. The rest you know,” Hunter said as he tried to gauge if his lie was working. “By the way, where are we, anyway?”
“You are in Hutchinson, Kansas. At first, I thought maybe it was a trick, but after observing you, I quickly changed my mind. And after checking the downed plane, we found a bullet hole in the bottom of your engine that convinced us it was all by accident that you ended up here. Do you know how you got a bullet hole in your engine?”
“That’s news to me, unless someone shot at us while we were flying low to avoid some turbulence a ways back.” Hunter glared over at Hope.
“Well, we’ve talked, and based upon your answers here, decided we wanted to extend an offer for you to stay here. I’m satisfied with the answers you gave. It will be on a trial basis, but if you show that you can be useful and follow our rules, it can become permanent. We are extremely safe in here, and with your weapons added to our supply, we can hold off a small army, if need be. What do you say? Now keep in mind, though, you are also free to leave. But you will be doing so without your gear or weapons, just so you know.”
“Well, even before the ultimatum, I would have voted to stay here. Like I said, this is the type of place where we wanted to be.” Hunter looked over to his friends.
“Does he speak for all of you?” Jeremy asked the rest of group.
Hope spoke first, “I’m in. Got nowhere else to be right now.”
“Me, too,” Trip and Morgan answered simultaneously.
“Good. My man Bryant will take you up to your new room and let you get some rest. You probably need it after the day you’ve just had. We can talk tomorrow about what you can do around here to help, and I will clue you in on the others we have to defend this place from.” Jeremy motioned for Bryant to take them away.
“Cool, man.” Hunter got up to follow Bryant out. “Thanks for the hospitality.”
They were led upstairs to a small unused classroom that had a couple of cots and mattresses thrown into it, but nothing else. It looked like the room hadn’t been touched in a long time, and the musty smell of mildew was almost overpowering. As Hunter looked around, Bryant could tell his displeasure with the accommodations.
“It’s better than sleeping outside, and once you get it spiffed, it won’t be so bad. I’ll send up some supplies in a bit to help you clean it up some. As for clothes, we should be able to round up some that fit most of you. But we might have trouble finding anything for your girlfriend.” Bryant looked at Hope’s size.
Morgan grabbed Hope by the arm to keep her from strangling Bryant, which seemed to work, as Hope was already getting ready to move towards him.
“I appreciate it, man. We’ll make this work for us, you bet.” Hunter turned around to again inspect their living quarters.
As Bryant turned to leave them behind, he shut the door and locked it. “Jeremy’s orders, sorry.”
“Well, sweetie, which bed do you want?” Hunter said, barely able to keep a straight face.
“Don’t ever call me that again. I will knock those grinning teeth out of your mouth,” Hope said with a very serious look on her face.
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t resist. Well, anyway, we are out of the fire now. But I don’t have a plan for what to do next. We need to get our guns and supplies back and get the hell out of this loony bin.” Hunter kicked a mattress across the floor, stirring up dust everywhere.
“I’ve got to ask, how did you know what to say back in the room that would get us on their side?” Hope questioned.
“I picked it up from the note and the attitude the kids had. I figured we had us a Lord of the Flies thing going on. At first, anyway, but now after chatting with Jeremy, it’s gone Children of the Corn.” Hunter plopped down on the mattress, kicking up even more dust. “I’m betting the others they are so guarded against are the escaped adults. I could be wrong, but probably not.”
“I gotta say, I’m impressed. I didn’t take you for the literate type, at least not ones without pictures.” Hope moved her cot across to the far side of the room.
“You just might be surprised by what I know. Now let’s get some rest. I’ve a feeling we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow. G’night, sweetie.” Hunter rolled over, still chuckling.
Hope was about ready to get up and make good on her promise when Trip leaned over and whispered, “Him and Benjy had a similar experience last year. Same scenario up in the Carolina’s. He just figured it out faster this time. Last time, they actually ha
d him in front of a firing squad before he was saved by Benjy.”
Hope smiled and looked over at the smug Hunter, still chuckling like a school girl, thinking he got one over on her. She leaned down, grabbed a book at her feet, then tossed it in the air, having it land flat with a loud smack on the floor next to Hunter’s head. As she watched him jump to his feet, she started to chuckle as she stretched out and tried to get comfortable on the cot that was too short for her to completely fit on.
Chapter 23
It had been three days since Hope had taken off, and David still hadn’t stopped fuming about her lie. Since she’d left, he’d been spending time busy in the makeshift garage Benjy had given him to work on the Devastator. After their escape in the hurricane, it had sustained a bit of damage from the winds and a run in with a few hordes of slabs, so he had taken his anger and channeled it into fixing up his baby.
Renee had spent the better part of the last three days covering all the chores that were normally split amongst everyone at the camp. At first she wasn’t mad about Hope leaving, but she hadn’t been able to sit down and relax any since, especially with David holed up in the garage. She was on the verge of a nervous breakdown, especially since for the last hour she had been shadowed by Melinda talking her head off as she tried to finish up the dishes from the morning breakfast.
Finally having enough of the chattering little girl, Renee had finally snapped, “You need to go and find something else to do. NOW!”
She then watched as Melinda—who hadn’t even detected her anger, just bounced away down the hall, talking to herself the entire way. “Ugh, what did I do to deserve this?”
She was putting the last dish away when she heard Patch calling her name from the living room. “Hold on,” she yelled back, but he kept calling her over and over until she couldn’t take it anymore. She slammed the door on the cabinet and stomped into the living room, with the full intention of giving Patch a lesson on patience.
Juggernaut (Humanity's Hope Book 2) Page 11
