by Ellis, Tara
Grace whined, and thinking she was about to run after her, Danny looked back, prepared to tell her canine companion to stay. However, Grace was standing with her head cocked and was looking up at the sky, instead of at Danny.
“What is it, girl?” Sam cooed, also looking up.
Squinting, Danny raised a hand to block the sun and then gasped when something resembling a giant, dinosaur-age dragonfly flew in low over the treetops.
“It’s an old Huey!” Sam shouted, slowly getting to his feet. Grace barked and ran in circles, unsure of how to react to the unknown creature.
“How is this possible?” Danny asked, watching as it passed overhead and continued toward the town of Monida and the shelter.
“I suspected some of the military aircraft might have survived the EMP,” Sam said, also watching in awe. “But it’s still pretty amazing to see one, isn’t it?”
Nodding, Danny was startled by the surge of euphoria she experienced simply from the sight of the helicopter. It gave her hope, as well as a physical pain at the reminder of all that was lost. So much had been taken for granted. Everything from running water, to flushing toilets, and all of the tiny, small, seemingly insignificant things that made life more comfortable and easier. It wasn’t easy anymore. They had to fight for everything, and cherish the small accomplishments.
Danny’s emotions went through a wild range in the few seconds that the aircraft was over them, and by the time it began to hover in the distance, she was feeling contempt. What was happening to them wasn’t right, and she was going to make sure that Tom and Ethan finished out the journey with them.
“I’ll be back,” she called without turning around, and began to jog down Interstate 15. Whoever was on that helicopter had to be involved in the inspection, and therefore was also likely to have a role in Ethan’s plan.
Pacing herself, it took less than ten minutes to get close enough to see the roadblock and the two guards. They were distracted by the helicopter that had just landed, as well as what looked like some activity inside, not far from them. Danny took advantage of it by edging as close as she dared before sneaking into the shelter of the trees. From there, she was able to work her way up next to the fencing.
A crude barbed-wire barrier had been constructed, extending a good hundred feet from either side of the gate. At that point it turned into a combination of wood, cyclone fencing, original barbed-wire fencing, and even some buildings that were connected by the conglomeration. It was impossible for the soldiers to police the whole perimeter adequately with the crew they had. It was primarily watched over by three different sentries. One was on top of the only two-story building in town, while two others were in lookouts on the hillside, where they watched with binoculars. Danny had managed to figure that out on her own while working with the other refugees the day before. It would be risky, though not impossible, for her to sneak in. But…did she even want to?
While she thought she could get inside, Danny had no idea how it would benefit them. She wouldn’t be able to walk freely about. She could simply tell the guards she’d changed her mind, or forgotten something, except then she could lose the chance to leave again if something happened.
Danny didn’t like being so indecisive. Normally, she quickly made up her mind and then acted without hesitation. She had to, in her line of work. Waffling was what led to mistakes and got people hurt.
“I’ll wait,” she whispered out loud in an effort to convince herself she was confident in the decision.
Danny stood half-hidden behind a pine tree, mere feet from the fencing. She had a clear line-of-sight of Main Street, so when the door to the police department opened, she immediately saw the movement.
Dillinger was the first to emerge, with Tom following close behind. Her breath catching, Danny moved closer to the gate, trying to get a better look at Tom’s face. He seemed…complacent. Confused, she watched as the two men stopped on the steps and stood talking to each other. Tom was nodding, and then didn’t hesitate to take the hand Dillinger offered, shaking it enthusiastically.
Frowning, Danny tried to make sense of it. Had they been wrong? Did Dillinger keep his word and just let Tom go? Feeling like a bit of a fool for all the cloak-and-dagger antics, but also greatly relieved, she moved out of the trees and walked the rest of the way to the gate.
Danny got within ten feet before one of the guards noticed her. The young man’s expression of alarm quickly changed to relief when he saw who it was. “Danny, what are you doing back? I thought you’d be a few miles away by now.”
Doing her best to give a flirtatious smile, Danny played with a long strand of dark hair that had come loose from her ponytail. “I saw the helicopter and thought maybe something big had happened. Did stuff start working again? Are we all going to be saved?”
The female guard rolled her eyes, while her male partner smiled at Danny. “Nah, it’s just some hot-shot master sergeant from the Marines who was sent here to spy on us,” the soldier offered, relaxing his stance. “You sure you don’t want to stay? Hey, where’s your friend?”
Danny was thinking up a feasible explanation when an odd sound filled the silence left when the helicopter was shut down. The two guards exchanged a questioning look with her before turning back to Main Street. Tom and Dillinger were now in the middle of the road, and Danny could see a very large man with two other soldiers approaching them. They were coming from where the helicopter landed, behind the buildings, and were just rounding the corner of the police station when everyone froze.
The sound was emanating from the direction of the men’s barracks, and getting louder. A pounding that was as much in the ground as the air. Danny saw Tom step away from Dillinger, his whole demeanor changing as he dropped into a crouch. It was then that the first horse exploded out into the street, rearing its head and neighing at the man standing in its way.
The large man and his soldiers leapt up onto the porch of the police station, giving the horse room to flee across the road and disappear. It was closely followed by several others, and Danny didn’t recognize any of them. Then, a very distinct, pure white mare lunged out and stopped when Tom called out to her.
“What the—” the soldier next to Danny exhaled and she couldn’t help but smile. Sitting straight in his saddle on Tango and handling the spirited horse like a pro, was Ethan, leading the rest of their horses on lead ropes behind him.
“Ethan!” a man was shouting, running after him and flailing his arms frantically. “Ethan, stop! What are you doing?”
Ethan ignored the young soldier and continued his path out into the middle of the road, stopping in front of Dillinger. Tom had already taken control of Lilly by grabbing her lead rope and was looking back and forth between Ethan, Dillinger, and the man from the helicopter, standing up on the porch.
“We’re leaving!” Ethan shouted.
To Danny’s horror, Dillinger pulled out his sidearm while issuing an order at the same time. “Shoot him!”
Tom was a blur of motion as he lunged at the corporal, grabbed his gun arm, and wrestled him to the ground. Danny hadn’t even taken a breath, and the man she’d been flirting with was frozen by indecision. The other soldier, however, had no problem carrying out the order and was raising her rifle.
Without thinking, Danny leapt forward, grabbing at the weapon and forcing it upward at the same time that it erupted with gunfire. The trained soldier was stronger than Danny and she easily ripped it from her grip, slamming it back into Danny’s forehead before leveling it again at her target.
“No!” Danny wailed while stumbling backward. Before a second burst of gunfire could be deployed, a booming voice drowned out everything.
“Belay that order!”
Danny wiped the blood from her eyes and looked up from where she’d fallen to see the giant of a man get right in Dillinger’s face. “You have some explaining to do, Corporal!”
Chapter 21
TOM
FEMA Shelter M3, Monida, Montana
<
br /> “It’s good to have you on board.” Dillinger paused on the front steps of the police station and turned with his hand extended.
It took all of Tom’s resolve not to look at the corporal’s hand like a snake, and instead accepted it in an extra-firm grasp. He didn’t think his ploy to be released immediately would ever work. However, Corporal Dillinger was more than happy to oblige. That was, with some conditions. In exchange for not rotting in the cell for an indeterminate amount of time, Tom had to sign up, forget about returning home, and put on a good show for whoever flew in on the helicopter.
“I’ll arrange for the paperwork to be drawn up and we’ll swear both you and Ethan in later today,” Dillinger was saying.
Tom was having a hard time focusing. Aside from a small glass of water the night before, he hadn’t had anything to eat or drink since he’d been arrested. The lack of food and sleep amplified the lingering concussion symptoms. Instead of trying to form an acceptable response, Tom simply nodded in agreement.
They reached the road and Dillinger stopped and faced the direction where the helicopter landed, apparently waiting to meet the entourage. “I’ll be needing you to ride out with some of my men over the next few days, to some of the outlying farms,” he said, barely glancing over at Tom. “You’ve come at a good time. I can use your ranching expertise on how best to handle the cattle.”
“Cattle?” Tom didn’t like where the conversation was headed.
“Of course.” Dillinger waved a hand at the structures around them. “We’ll be getting a lot more refugees, soon. How do you think we’re going to keep them all fed? MREs and fish from the lake will only go so far. We have to look at long-term sustainability. That’s where you come in.”
Tom’s cheeks reddened and he looked around, hoping to spot Ethan or Danny. If they had some sort of plan, they’d better implement it soon, because there was no way he’d help the man requisition any farms.
“Is that going to be a problem?” Dillinger was staring at him, his jaw clenched.
“Whatever you want,” Tom said non-committedly. “I’d like to see Ethan and Danny. Tell them what I’ve agreed to myself.”
Dillinger tsked and then squinted up at the sky. “Well, Tom, Ethan is busy at the moment with his morning duties. He’s really taken to the enlisted regimen. A fine boy you’ve got there. As far as Danny and Sam, unfortunately they didn’t feel the same as you and your son. They left this morning.”
Confused, Tom frowned and turned away from the corporal. It didn’t make sense. Why would Danny and Sam leave? They didn’t even say goodbye.
“Ah, there’s Sergeant Campbell,” Dillinger announced.
Tom looked up and saw one of the largest men he’d ever seen walking around the corner of the building. The two other soldiers with him were small in comparison. The sergeant was at least six foot five, and easily over two hundred and fifty pounds of muscle. His square jaw looked just as solid as the rest of him and without even seeing his eyes, Tom had no doubt why Corporal Dillinger was intimidated by him.
Before they were close enough for introductions, a sound Tom was familiar with rose from somewhere nearby. While everyone else looked around in confusion, Tom smiled. He had no idea what Ethan was doing, but his son was definitely responsible if there was a stampede in the camp. Stepping away from Dillinger, he dropped to a crouch and prepared to move quickly.
An unfamiliar horse was the first to leap out into the road, reeling when she encountered the people standing here. The sergeant and his men jumped onto the porch, giving the horse an open route, and she took it, but was closely followed by several others.
Among the newcomers was a solid white mare. “Lilly!” Tom called before whistling for her. The fact that she responded was another testimony to the horse’s intelligence and bond she had with Tom.
As Tom captured Lilly’s lead rope and got her under control, Ethan made an impressive entrance on Tango, the black-and-white gelding rearing up in front of Dillinger as if he were challenging the corporal himself.
“We’re leaving!” Ethan shouted at the corporal. He was holding the lead ropes for the rest of their horses, all of them saddled and laden with their gear. Tom was impressed with his son’s resourcefulness, although concerned with how Dillinger was going to react. He wasn’t someone they could strongarm into compliance. If this was all of Ethan’s plan, it probably wasn’t going to work.
There was a moment of silence as Dillinger stared up at Ethan, never wavering from where he stood. Slowly, almost casually, he pulled out his sidearm. Without raising it, he issued an order to the rest of the men. “Shoot him!”
At the first sight of the gun, Tom was already moving. He slammed into Dillinger while he was still commanding the soldiers to kill his son. They hit the ground as a burst of rapid gunfire exploded nearby, causing them both to freeze.
“Belay that order!”
Tom had managed to get a hand around Dillinger’s throat and he would have squeezed, except that he was suddenly grabbed roughly by both arms and yanked backwards. He rolled once and sprang into a crouch, ready to defend himself, only to see that the sergeant had turned away from him and was lifting the corporal to his feet.
Holding Dillinger by the front of his shirt, Campbell glared down at him. “You have some explaining to do, Corporal!”
Tom looked around wildly, horrified that the shots fired had found their mark. His breath came out as a grunt of relief when he saw Ethan still seated on Tango, unscathed. There was movement to the north of them, and he turned to see one of the guards by the roadblock gesturing angrily at the other. Getting up slowly from the ground, her face bloody, was Danny. Tom knew he was somehow indebted to her for once again saving his son’s life. Turning back to the confrontation that could determine their fate, he resisted the urge to intervene too soon.
The leader of FEMA Shelter M3 didn’t miss a beat. Without actually resisting his superior officer, Dillinger instead took a step back and stood at attention. “Sir, this young man is attempting to steal our horses and break his father out of prison.”
“That’s a lie!” Tom shouted.
“Shut up!” Campbell bellowed at Tom and then pointed a finger at Ethan. “Get down off that horse, son.”
Ethan looked at his dad first and then begrudgingly complied, landing solidly on his feet close to where the sergeant stood. “I’m not stealing them. They’re our horses.”
“Is that true?” The sergeant directed the question to Dillinger. The man didn’t mince words and Tom appreciated that.
“These horses are the property of the United States government,” Dillinger intoned. “Turned in willingly at the time they accepted shelter.”
“He’s lying!” Tom insisted. His anger was winning out and he knew he was teetering on the edge of losing control again.
Campbell must have recognized it, because he abruptly stepped in between him and the corporal and gestured for Tom to take several steps back. “I’d like to know who you are and how you came to be here,” the sergeant said to Tom. “And I’m going to need you to do that in a manner that doesn’t end with me putting you in restraints.”
Tom stared up at the sergeant and then shook his head, a smile creeping onto his face. “I can live with that.” Gesturing to the horses and Ethan, he kept it as simple as possible. “My name is Thomas Miller, and this is my son, Ethan. We’re just trying to get home to my ranch in Mercy, Montana, and had to pass through here due to the roadblock. Two other people were traveling with us and one of them needed some medical care. We never planned on staying for more than a day and were never given any other options. When I found out they weren’t going to give us our horses back, I, um…got upset, and was thrown in jail. The only way Corporal Dillinger would let me out was if I agreed to enlist, convinced you I was here willingly, and then helped him steal cattle from the ranches around this valley.”
Dillinger grunted. “It’s all a matter of interpretation. However, I clearly notified Mr. Mille
r that his horses and property were being requisitioned. He was arrested after he assaulted me, which he just did, again.”
Sergeant Campbell crossed his arms over his broad chest. “Where are the civilian leaders for this town?”
When the corporal didn’t answer right away, Tom spoke up. “The mayor died during the flashpoint, but the sheriff is locked in the cell next to the one I was in. Apparently, it was because he didn’t agree with the tactics being used when they took over Monida and forced several families out of their homes.”
Corporal Dillinger stiffened. “Sir, I don’t need to stand here and defend myself for following orders. Especially not to a civilian.”
The sergeant looked from Tom to Dillinger, then to Ethan and the horses. “It would be in your best interest, Corporal, to remember why I’m here.”
Dillinger’s eyes narrowed slightly and his nostrils flared while his men stood awkwardly watching the exchange. “If you have any concerns, sir, then I encourage you to take it up with General Montgomery. His orders were explicit and I am carrying them out to the best of my ability.”
Campbell nodded. “Excellent idea! In fact, I’m on my way to the mountain to report directly to the general. I hope your confidence in interpreting his orders is as precise as you think. I’ll need access to everything and I’ll be gone in under two hours, so I certainly hope we don’t have any more…delays.”
Dillinger blanched. “Yes, sir. I’ll personally escort you.”
“And us?” Tom interjected. “I actually do understand following orders, Sergeant. We’ve been out there, on our own, since the flashpoint. We’ve seen what’s happening so I can say that I also understand why martial law is necessary and even taking what’s needed in order to save as many people as possible. But has it really taken less than two weeks for our own military to devolve to the point of stealing from kids and beating women to fan the ego of some zealot tucked away in the mountains?” Tom finished by pointing at Danny for emphasis. She was leaning against the barricade, watching intently, her face streaked with blood.
