The reference to Arlo’s training and military expertise penetrated his rage slightly. He backed up a step but didn’t lower the revolver.
“It had to be a Ma Deuce…an M2,” he said. “It’s a fifty caliber machine gun powerful enough to chew up any commercial vehicle and more than a few of the ones used by the military.”
Arturo pushed forward, sensing he was getting through to the man. “Well, there you go. We know that now. Just like we know that they have a defensive wall with several feet of dirt piled up against it. Our rifle fire was completely useless against that. All they had to do was keep their heads down and wait for that monster gun to target them from one of those towers. We didn’t know any of that, Lieutenant. Yeah, it cost us some lives but, as you certainly know, war does that. It was an expensive lesson, but it bought us the information we need for when we hit them for real. Am I right?”
The bunched flesh between Arlo’s eyes stayed that way for another minute or so while the man continued quietly digesting everything that Arturo said. The knot between his brows eventually relaxed, and the big Smith & Wesson lowered until it was pointing at the asphalt parking surface. He rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck.
“There won’t be any additional hits against those people.” He looked back at Barrett. “We’re pulling out. Those crazy bastards up on that hill are your problem now. We’re out.”
“And do what?” Lobo yelled, making certain that the soldiers in the lot heard him. “You think they’re going to just ignore what you’ve been doing?” He pointed in the direction of Dragon’s Lair. “If you pull out now they will wait until you’re far enough away, then come down and wipe me and my people out.”
Arlo started walking back in Barrett’s direction. “Not my problem!”
Lobo shouted louder; “It will be, Arlo. Once they take me and my people out, you think they’re going to just let you continue your rape and pillage routine? Hell no! They’ll gather together more and more survivors and one day you’ll wake up to find a blade at your throat.”
Arlo swiveled his head around and noted the interest that his soldiers were taking in what the gang leader had to say.
Lobo saw it too and pushed forward with his point. “None of this will last, soldier boy. You leave these guys breathing behind you, and they’ll come for you and all of these people you have playing army with. They’ll break you. The way of life we’ve both been living under? That will all change. No more taking a woman regardless of how she feels about it. No more free liquor, food or anything else you want. You and your mutts will be scratching in the dirt with hoes and shovels, praying the weather holds long enough so you can grow a spoonful of corn and beans. You think your people will continue to follow you when it comes to that?”
Arlo wanted to shoot the man more now than at any other time, but he could see the expressions on the faces of his people, especially the men. They all followed Arlo because he provided what they wanted without having to work for it. They were a gang now, pure and simple and their power had always been in the fact that they had the people and the weapons to take what they wanted. Arlo knew that some of his people were already on the verge of taking off on their own. Every man or woman he lost weakened his hold on the remains of his command.
The former lieutenant spat and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. He retrieved a pill bottle from a shirt pocket and shook out two capsules, swallowing them dry. The burns on his legs were torturing him with pain, and he just wanted to find a dark place and lie down. But he couldn’t. He saw the soldiers in the parking lot. They weren’t looking to him to respond to Lobo; their heads were all turned to Barrett.
The ex-officer walked up to Barrett who was still leaning against the truck. He had put his sidearm away now and seemed to be studying the two gang bangers. He got close enough so the others couldn’t hear them.
“So what do you think?” Arlo asked. “Before you were advocating pulling out and heading on. Still feel that way?”
Barrett slipped the cap off of his head and scratched his scalp. Even with the world in its current shape, the younger man still managed to keep his haircut ‘high and tight.’ When Arlo got close to him, he stood up straight and assumed the parade rest position, which was required when an officer approached one of enlisted status.
“It depends on what you’re asking, LT. If you’re asking what I would do, I’d go back to our original mandate. We could head out and put about a hundred miles between us and those people at the top of that hill. Then we could put a stop to the outlaw stuff and go back to serving the people of this country. Recover some of our lost pride.”
“Lost pride?” Arlo almost spat the words. “I seem to remember your face at mealtimes. You haven’t exactly been starving yourself out of concern for the poor citizens.”
The younger man returned his gaze with no hint of fear or intimidation. He nodded slowly. “Yep, LT, you’re right. When we were doing the right thing, we had some hungry nights. I joined right in with everyone else when I got hungry enough. I agreed that we had to eat and that we were owed some consideration for the service and protection we were providing to the citizens. Then one day I looked around and realized that we had let ourselves go too far. There were buses full of women being held against their will like livestock and men being gunned down because they were trying to save their wives from rape and humiliation.”
He inclined his head in the direction of the hilltop stronghold. “Don’t you get it, LT? Those people are the good guys, not us, not anymore. We let our worst instincts take us over. I’ve stuck it out this long because of the affection and loyalty I have to our people.” The younger man looked over at the other soldiers gathered outside the hotel. “I’ll let you in on a secret, LT. Right now I wish I was up there with that group of crazy people, puttin’ everything on the line to do what’s right.”
He stabbed a finger in Lobo’s direction. “That man is bat shit crazy. Worse than that, he’s evil crazy, and he’s using us to his benefit.” The non-com sighed deeply and paused before speaking again. “But he’s right about leaving them behind us. If we continue what we’ve been doing, they’ll eventually come after us again. That’s what good guys do.” He smiled sadly. “That’s what I would have done at one time.”
Barrett relaxed his posture and leaned against the truck again. “You have to make the call here, Lieutenant. If you decide to take another run at the hilltop people, I’ll go along because I think my experience can keep some of our people alive, but I want you to know this; if we get our asses handed to us again, I’m out, and I won’t be alone. Some others will be going with me.”
And there it was. Barrett had just admitted he was contemplating desertion and mutiny. Arlo was astute enough to have noticed the respect Barrett received from many of the ex-soldiers. If he walked away now, he would probably take half of Arlo’s army with him. Maybe more. That was unacceptable.
So; Barrett had to go. It was a simple decision, and Arlo had no guilt over making it. Perversely, Barrett had just forced his hand and decided for him. Arlo needed to have his second-in-command killed off, and things like that happened in war.
✽✽✽
“Movement!” I shouted the word so that the Major could hear me. I was sitting at the drone monitoring table, operating one of the helo-drones. Pepper was beside me handling the second one, and Dwayne was overseeing the recharging of the fixed-wing. He had brought it in when it started to run low, and we had put the other two up to keep watch on the enemy. They had mostly stayed in their respective hideouts for the last two days, but now we were seeing signs of activity.
“What’s happening, Virgil?” The Major was bent over at the waist, examining the display on my laptop.
I pointed at the image of two trucks. “They’re on Herndon Avenue heading our way.”
Pops arrived, and I pointed out the same thing to him.
We all watched silently as the two trucks reached Academy Avenue and turned north.
“
Can you enlarge the image?” Pops asked.
I fiddled with the camera controls until the picture of the two trucks grew larger. There were two brand new Chevy four-door pickups on the screen, probably recently pilfered from our local dealership. One was white, the other blue. The cabins were occupied with five people each, and the beds were showing six people in one, five in the other. All of them were armed, of course.”
The major pointed at one of the occupants of the truck bed. “What is he carrying? Can you make it out?”
I twisted the focus knob and brought the image in closer. “It looks like one of those rocket launcher things,” I said. “One of their people had one when they tried to overcome us with the armored trucks. I took him out before he could hit us with it.”
We continued to watch the drone feed. The trucks reached the gate to our driveway and continued past it.
“Where are they going?” Pepper was leaning over and watching like the rest of us. Her question was rhetorical since the answer was unknown and no one answered it.
Some two miles north of our main gate, the trucks slowed and pulled over to the side of the road. The people exited the vehicles and started pulling on backpacks and load-bearing vests. While this was going on, three Ragers blundered out of the bushes on the east side of the road and dashed toward them. The infected were quickly shot down, and several of the people on the video feed celebrated with high fives.
When everyone had donned their equipment, they all started hiking eastward, leaving only the two drivers back at the trucks. I pulled back the focus to a more extended range, and we could see what they were doing.
“Flanking maneuver,” the Major said simply. He put a hand on my shoulder. “Virgil. Let Dwayne take over for you. Come with me.”
Dwayne took my seat, and I gave Pepper a squeeze on her arm. Mona was sitting behind her, learning how to operate the drone by watching her. I tousled her hair playfully, and she swiped at me with one arm. Pepper and I were both becoming fond of the young girl.
We all met in the kitchen on the main floor. Pops passed out bottles of water from the fridge to everyone. I wondered why the heck I was there since I had no previous military service. The Major had called together all of the ex-service people we had with us. Marcus served time in the National Guard, and he brought with him four veterans. Before we brought those people up the hill, we had four with military experience and then when Isaac came on board that gave us five.
“Buck, I need you to take ten bodies and set up on our northern approach. Whether those people from the two trucks actually intend to attack us or are just there to divide our forces, they have to be watched.”
Buck had his chin in his hand and his brow furrowed. “I can do that, Major, but that will leave you kind of light if we get a full push from the west.” He pointed to Isaac. “The sergeant there was an Army Ranger and anti-incursion defense is right up his alley. If I had him, two other combat vets and one of our M-240s I can guarantee you none of those fake-assed soldiers will get close to Dragon’s Lair.”
After a brief moment, the retired officer nodded. “Done. That still leaves us with the other M-240 and the two fifties, not to mention the grenade launchers.” He beckoned with his head toward the tall black woman that had come in with Marcus. “Take Dee here with you. She put in her time in the sandbox. Marcus, do you have anyone in mind who would also be good in this type of effort?”
Marcus grinned. “Yeah, me!”
“I think your people need you up here,” he replied. “They are used to following you.”
“They’ll listen to George.” He stood and folded his arms. “I’ve been in combat before, guys. I want to do this.”
“That works for me,” said the Major. “Tell your people what’s happening and let them know that your brother is taking the reins.” He leaned against the breakfast bar and took a swig from his water bottle. “Okay, that only leaves a person to handle the M-240.” He turned to look at me.
I caught his meaning and glanced at Pops. He had a strained look on his face but was keeping silent. I hesitated to say anything just in case I was mistaking the Major’s intentions.
He dispelled that suspicion by speaking to me directly. “Virgil, I’ve watched you operate that weapon. You handle it as well as Buck does, and he’ll be busy directing the efforts of his team.” His head turned slightly, so he could address Pops. “Keeping us safe from a flanking attack is vital to the survival of all of us. I’ve given the matter thought, and this arrangement makes sense. They’ll install him in a high-ground, protected position where he can support the other members of the team as they do what they need to do.” He sighed and raised his eyebrows. “But if you don’t think…”
“I agree with your assessment, Major. Virgil is the best choice for the job.”
I felt myself going into a state of confusion where my fear of being out of the compound during an attack was wrestling with my fierce sense of pride that the Major and my Pops had selected me as being the best man for the job. I didn’t have time to examine the matter further because the Major had us all sit at the table. He remained standing so we could all see him.
“I’ll tell you how I see this whole thing, and I want you all to tell me if it appears that I’m overlooking anything.” He stood straight and put both hands behind his back. “There are a couple of ways this next phase could go down. One: They could just get the guys to the north in position then try to storm us from both directions at the same time. I hope that is their plan. I have no qualms about the ability of Buck’s team to handle the incursion from the north.
The second way I see it would be them settling into a siege and trying to weaken us with probing attacks. They could keep us under surveillance, sneaking around at night and trying to find weak spots in our defenses. They can keep us awake for days by sending teams in to fire a few shots then melt away. After a while, our people would be worn out and more apt to make a mistake. That would be the time they would make their main push against us, a drive led by that damned tank of theirs.” He sat at the table with us and addressed Buck. “Did you see anything on that Stryker besides the fifty cal?”
“I was close to it, and I didn’t see anything but the two fifties, one on each vehicle. Now we crippled the other Stryker, but I have no idea whether they were able to salvage the other M2. They may have two of them mounted to the surviving tank. That, plus the thick armor on that thing is going to be a problem.”
I raised my hand like I was in school, then felt subconscious and lowered it. “Can our fifty caliber guns defeat that Stryker? I mean, they ripped up those armored trucks fairly easily.”
Buck answered. “It all depends, Virg. The first Strykers were found to be light on what they had expected in terms of protective armor. Over the years, the armor has been changed and reinforced. Some of them have had a ceramic coating applied to them which has proven more effective in protecting their crews. A few other upgrades to the skin of the vehicles have been approved through the years, each change making them tougher and more difficult to defeat. The thing is…this is the Army. It takes years to get things done. Also, we don’t know where this particular vehicle came from. If it was a National Guard unit, the chances are smaller that it would have been up-armored.” He shrugged. “We just don’t know.”
I looked around at the other faces in the kitchen and asked the question we all wanted to know. “So…we just have to wait until it’s coming at us? Don’t we have any fallback plans in case worst come to worst?”
The Major let his eyes fall to the tabletop for a second, then raised them again. “We have some pretty good military minds here in Dragon’s Lair, not to mention you and your father. I think we’ll have two or three days in which to come up with a few alternatives.” He rapped the table with his knuckles and stood. “But for right now, Buck, we need your team out there protecting our northern flank. Try to set up near the fuel pumps so you can protect them from sabotage. I’ll be sending all of our vehicles out
there to top off, just in case.”
I stood to walk out, and Pops intercepted me. He stood silent while everyone else left; then he opened the freezer and pulled out two ice cream sandwiches. He handed one to me and ripped off the wrapper on his before taking a big bite.
“We used to have one of these every night while watching television, remember?” He asked with a grin after swallowing.
I felt a bit uneasy because I knew the other members of my new team would be waiting for me, but I also saw the expression on my father’s face.
“Yep,” I answered. “And you believed that I never noticed you sneaking out a second one on your way to your room at night.”
He grinned a little wider and even looked a bit guilty. “To be honest, I had myself convinced that I needed a second one because I was an adult and you were just a growing boy.” He chewed a second bite and took a step closer so he could put a hand on my shoulder. “I swear, son, you’re almost as tall as I am now. I’m still better looking, of course, but that’s because your genes have been diluted with those of your mother.”
Pops and I frequently made jokes at her expense; it was just another way we handled her abandonment of us.
“Don’t let the fact that Sharon, a real live girl, is actually talking to you give you the impression that you’re handsome, Pops. There are twenty or thirty men on this hilltop, and most of them already have wives or girlfriends. Besides me, there are only two or three single men left, and I already have a girlfriend. That means it was basically between you and Dr. Tashnizi and I heard she agonized for days before deciding on you.”
We shared a laugh, and I looked at my wristwatch.
“Oh, right,” he said, your people are waiting on you.” He reached out both hands and drew me in for a quick hug and a hair tousle. “You take care of yourself out there, Virgil.” He took a bite of his ice cream and turned away quickly. I did the same.
Virgil's War- The Diseased World Page 35
