“That’s the thing, Sir… we have no idea if it’s still there and it’s probably a very small airfield. It’s basically going to be like threading a needle in the dark with both hands tied behind my back.”
Sutherland swallowed. And now we die, he thought.
“Well… Avery… I have complete faith in you. If you don’t mind, I’m just going to close my eyes and see if I can catch a quick nap.”
“Sir?”
“Avery… I’m trying to sleep.”
Sutherland really hoped his cool exterior inspired the performance of a lifetime in the young man because he didn’t know what else to do… they didn’t exactly have any other options.
He wasn’t able to actually fall asleep, but Sutherland focused on keeping his breathing even and his eyes closed. The flight seemed smooth and Avery seemed to be keeping his cool.
Sutherland wasn’t sure what it was, but he felt like the sound of the engines was getting quieter… but he knew it was entirely possible he was just being paranoid and was getting used to their low drone.
“Sir?”
Sutherland opened his eyes and stretched his hands above his head in an attempt to support his story of sleeping.
“Yes, Avery?”
“We… we have a problem.”
Sutherland suddenly realized the engines were completely silent. He looked out the cockpit toward the wing and could see the propeller slowing to point where it was almost stopped.
“Are you telling me we are out of fuel?”
“Sir… it would seem so.”
“How… how far are we from the airstrip?”
Avery looked down at the dials and then turned his head to Sutherland.
“A couple of miles… I think. We should be able to just coast and land.”
Sutherland sighed. He wished they had a real pilot, but at the same time Avery had done brilliantly so far and he didn’t want to start doubting the young man.
“What can I do to help?”
“Well… there’s a lake just on the other side of the airstrip. If you could look for it that would help. I… I need to focus on keeping us in the air.”
Sutherland got out of his seat and leaned forward until his face was pressed up against the cold windscreen. He squinted, trying to see just a little farther. Sutherland spotted something… the moon was reflecting off of it and it sure looked like a lake, but he waited for a minute before he said anything, trying to be absolutely sure.
“There it is… the lake.”
Avery looked away from the controls for a second and made visual confirmation of the lake.
“Yep… that should be it.”
Sutherland sat back down in his seat and strapped in. The lake wasn’t far off and he knew the men would have heard the engines shut off so there was no reason for him to go tell them.
Avery dipped the nose of the plane and Sutherland was able to see the lake even better, but he didn’t see a runway anywhere near it.
“Are you sure there’s a runway?”
“Nope.”
Sutherland closed his eyes and started to pray. He had lost some of his faith in God the second his phone call with Cynthia had been cut off, so his prayer was to some power greater than himself. Please… let me, and my men, live through this. There are people depending on us… and I want to see my wife again, he thought.
He opened his eyes again and looked out the window just in time to see what looked like tarmac just below them. Sutherland glanced over at Avery, who had sweat pouring off his face as he attempted to wrestle the old plane into submission.
The plane slammed into the tarmac far too hard and Sutherland held his breath, waiting for the plane to be ripped to shreds. It didn’t happen.
“Sir?”
“Avery?”
“I… I broke off the landing gear.”
His admission was followed by a horrible scraping noise as the plane slid along the tarmac with no sign of slowing down. Sutherland looked up and saw what looked to be the end of the tarmac… beyond it was a field and then what he could only guess were houses. He just hoped they stopped in the field because otherwise it was going to get messy rather quickly.
The plane slid off the end of the runway and slammed into the grainy soil of the field, eventually coming to a complete stop some fifty feet from the end of the runway.
Sutherland looked over at Avery, who looked like he was only half alive and he put his hand on the young man’s shoulder.
“You did good… you saved all our lives.”
Avery nodded, clearly still in a complete state of shock.
“Are you alright?” Sutherland said.
“Yeah… I… I think so.”
Sutherland patted his shoulder again and got out of his seat. It was a good feeling to be on the ground, even though he knew it meant they would have to find some other means of reaching their destination. Sutherland went into the cabin to check on his men who were already getting their gear together.
“Is everyone alright?”
The men nodded and none spoke up.
“Sir?”
Sutherland turned his attention to the man with the map.
“Yes?”
“What…what should we do about Gomez?”
They both turned to the still body of the man who had been killed at the airport in Minneapolis.
“We take his body with us. I think there are some houses a few hundred feet ahead. We need to find somewhere safe… somewhere not so in the open and get some rest. It’s been one hell of a night and there’s no point in doing anything until the sun rises.”
A few of the men nodded as they gathered the last of their gear and checked their rifles. One of the men opened the door and they piled out, the last two taking the body of Gomez between them. Sutherland glanced over his shoulder, to see if Avery was behind him, and he followed his men out of the plane.
Sutherland hung back and walked with Avery as they headed toward the row of houses at the far end of the field. He glanced over his shoulder at the plane… wondering how he and his men would be getting to the district four bunker… and then back to district one. It was a thought Sutherland knew was on the mind of every single one of his men and he knew they were all trying to not think about it.
The men raised their weapons to their shoulders as they approached the two lane road. There was a fence, an eight foot chain link, at the far end of the field. The lead soldier took a pair of wire cutters out of his gear and quickly cut a large enough hole for them to walk through. They crossed a small paved walking path and were standing on the other side of a two lane road from a row of houses.
“Let’s check that one out,” Sutherland said, pointing to a small single level home with an attached garage.
They approached it slowly, rifles raised as they advanced. Sutherland walked backward with his eyes on the road to make sure no one saw them. He was sure eventually someone would show up to check out the plane crash… it wasn’t exactly everyday something like that happened before the event, let alone after it.
The front door of the house had been kicked in and was only holding on by the bottom hinge. Two men put their rifles away, pulled out their pistols and a flashlight to quickly clear the house. They nodded when they came back to the porch, where the rest of the men were waiting, and Sutherland took one last look in the direction of the plane before urging the broken door to stay in place.
Chapter Thirty
“Anthony?”
There was a knock on his door and he sighed. He quietly got out of bed, glanced over at Beth, and walked toward the door. He took the key from his pocket, unlocked the door and opened it a crack.
Rick was standing on the other side of the door. He flashed Anthony a wicked smile and cheekily glanced into the room. Anthony stepped in front of him, nudged him aside and closed the door. He locked it and slid the key back in his pocket.
“What?”
“Well… it’s happened. There are people here.”
“Did you tell them to leave?”
Rick shrugged, turned and started walking down the hall. Anthony sighed and followed him.
“That’s the thing… they aren’t asking for anything.”
“Well, what the fuck do they want, then?” Anthony said.
“They want to join us.”
“What?”
They reached the front of the store before Rick could answer. Anthony stopped and looked at the three men standing on the other side of the barricaded doors. They were armed, each carrying a rifle, and there were large packs on the ground behind them.
“You sure they aren’t trying to rob us?” Anthony said.
“No, but hear out the one in the middle.”
“Where are Ned and Fred?”
“About forty feet behind us with their guns trained on these guys heads… just in case they are feeling stupid.”
“Well, they better not shoot me.”
Anthony walked up to the barricade and moved enough of it away to clear a path wide enough for him to walk through. He unlocked the door and pulled it open a few inches.
“What do you want?” Anthony said.
The guy in the middle, he was a shade taller than the other two and had a long scar down his left cheek.
“We ran into a guy yesterday. He said some guys took this store over and were holed up here.”
“Right… so what do you want?”
He glanced over his shoulder at his two friends. Anthony readied himself to hit the floor if they raised their weapons… he just hoped Ned and Fred were ready.
“Well, we want to join up with you.”
Anthony frowned. When he had thought up the plan to take over the store he didn’t even consider the idea that anyone would look to join them. He figured someone might try to rob them and take the store, but not seek to become part of the group.
“And why should we trust you?”
The man shrugged. He bent down and set his rifle on the ground. The two men behind him did the same. For a brief moment Anthony thought about getting out of the way and letting Ned and Fred shoot them. It would be cruel, but the safest option… not to mention they could always use more guns.
Anthony sighed and nodded. He wasn’t quite ready to trust them, but he was getting there.
“You don’t have any reason to trust us,” the man said. “We know how to fight and we’re ready to do whatever is necessary to survive… much like yourself.”
It didn’t make Anthony trust the man any more than he did before, but he nodded in response because it was a valid point. The more he thought about it the more sense it made to let them in. They could always use more men who could fight. It would mean they would burn through their food faster, but they would also be safer… not to mention they could conduct a few raids with enough firepower to get more supplies and not have to risk leaving the store undefended.
“Alright… assuming I trust you and let you and your men come in… what’s to say you don’t kill us in our sleep?”
The man took a deep breath and nodded. It was clear to Anthony they were on the same page.
“You keep our guns, our knives and our gear… lock it up, whatever. If and when you feel like you can trust us, you let us have it back.”
It was an interesting proposition and showed Anthony the man had complete faith they wouldn’t be harmed once they handed over their only means of defense.
“Fine. Leave it all outside.”
The three men stripped the rest of the gear off and left it on the ground. Anthony pushed the door open wider, retreated back through the barricade and let them through. The man with the scar extended his hand once they were inside.
“Steve.”
“Anthony.”
“I promise you we will make this worth your while. We have a few places… places I know of that are ripe for the picking, but we don’t have any transportation.”
“I like the way you think,” Anthony said. “Ned! Fred! Go get that gear and put it in the hall by my room.”
The twins popped out from behind displays and slung their rifles over their shoulders. Steve chuckled when he saw the twins.
“You’re a smart man,” Steve said.
“I like to think so. Look, here’s the thing… this can work out well for both of us, as I’m sure you know. Don’t fuck us over and this will be good.”
“I agree.”
“Treat my men the way you would treat your own and don’t take anything that belongs to another man… if you and your boys can do that… well, I think we are going to live like kings.”
Steve smiled, slapped Anthony on the back and turned to his men.
“Come with me,” Rick said, “I’ll show you where everything is.”
Anthony watched as his three new men followed Rick toward the corner of the store that had become the sleeping quarters. He went back and locked the front door as Ned and Fred finished bringing in the last of the gear and replaced the barricade.
He was looking forward to seeing these places to raid Steve had mentioned… Rick, Ned and Fred had seemed a bit restless and it might do them some good to get out and let off some steam.
Anthony headed down the hall to his room and pulled the key from his pocket as a smiled crossed his face. Life is pretty fucking good, he thought.
Chapter Thirty-One
It had been a long night, most of the men were restless, and Sutherland hadn’t slept at all. As the first rays of light crested the horizon, they packed up and moved out of the house.
“Sir,” Avery said, “what’s the plan?”
Sutherland took one last look at the house that had been their camp overnight as they walked toward the road.
“We need to find some kind of transportation. How far away is the bunker?”
“I looked at the map quickly this morning… so I’m not exactly sure, but if I had to guess, I would say a little less than two hundred miles by road.”
They were closer than Sutherland had guessed, but two hundred miles might as well be a thousand if they couldn’t find some cars… not to mention they were up against the clock.
Before they departed Sutherland had briefed his men, telling them their first task was to find some transportation.
The men turned right at the main road and split up so half were covering the left side and half the right. Sutherland walked in the back on the left side and focused on watching behind them. The whole experience at the Minneapolis airport had put all the men on edge, which Sutherland knew wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
After walking for ten minutes the road curved to the left and it marked the end of the row of houses. Sutherland hadn’t seen any cars parked in front of the houses they passed and most of them looked as abandoned as the one they had spent the night in.
“Sir?”
Sutherland turned to Avery, who had crossed the street. The young man seemed so eager to help… and kind of reminded Sutherland of himself when he was younger, albeit he thought Avery was a hell of a lot crazier than he ever was.
“Yes?”
“I… I’m really sorry about crashing the plane last night, Sir.”
“No, you don’t need to apologize for that. You did the best you possibly could and you kept all of us alive and safe. That’s all I could have asked of you.”
Avery smiled and nodded. It was clear he was happy for the praise, but Sutherland could see it ran deeper… there was something about Avery that he really liked. Sutherland felt bad in that moment… he knew there were young men and women like Avery in each of the bunkers spread across the country.
That moment was what it took for Sutherland to realize the true error of his ways. He had been so focused on finding Cynthia and Nicole that he had forgotten the oath he took. He swore to defend the United States against all enemies… that was what he had devoted his life to. Sutherland realized that just because Section M had bastardized the country didn’t mean the people weren’t still Americans at heart.
Th
e road veered to the right and intersected with a four lane road. There were a few cars parked along the road, several with their doors still open. Sutherland shook his head at the sight… it was like people had just left their cars and ran.
“Sir?”
Sutherland turned to his right as one of the men approached.
“Yes?”
“It looks like there’s a school bus around that corner… permission to go check it out.”
Sutherland nodded. Avery tagged along with the man and they disappeared around the corner. The remainder of the men formed a rough circle with their weapons covering every possible assault angle. Sutherland had a sick feeling in his stomach… he wasn’t sure why, but he felt like something was wrong.
He let out a sigh when the silence of a still world was broken by the sound of an engine turning over. The men turned and watched as the faded yellow of a school bus came into view with Avery behind the wheel. Sutherland smiled at the young man as he parked the bus, opened the door and waited for the men to climb on.
Sutherland waited at the front until Avery closed the door. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure his men were seated and he nodded to Avery. They reached the edge of the small town in just a few minutes, still seeing not a living soul. Sutherland wondered if maybe everyone had fled to Pierre, or perhaps the government had evacuated people.
At the edge of town there was a gas station on their right. It looked as old as the neighborhood station just down the street from where Sutherland grew up. He tapped Avery on the shoulder and pointed toward the station. Avery took the cue, slowed the bus down and turned into the station.
“How much gas do we have Avery?” Sutherland said.
“A little over half a tank.”
“Any idea how far that’ll take us?”
“Eh… no… not really. I mean, given the weight and engine size of a school bus… I would say it won’t be enough.”
Sutherland nodded and turned around to face the men. He always hated asking highly trained soldiers to do what he considered to be menial tasks… it just didn’t sit right with him, but he knew they were going to need fuel.
EMP (The Districts Book 1) Page 15
