Madison laughed.
“C’mon, you know what I mean.” Logan rested a hand on Harper’s shoulder.
“Bad enough she’s going with us outside town. I won’t leave her totally helpless. She went to the range with me and Dad all the time… just never loved shooting enough to do competitions. This is the same type of pistol she used before. Hell, I didn’t love shooting either, but it made Dad so happy.”
“You didn’t hate it.” Madison smiled.
“No… I didn’t hate it. Yeah, I enjoyed it even, but it wouldn’t have broken my heart to stop.”
Madison lowered her arms to her sides once Harper finished securing the gun belt around her waist. “I won’t touch it except for an extreme situation.”
“What’s an extreme situation to you?” asked Logan.
Harper headed off down the hall.
Madison rushed after her. “A bad guy or bear finds my hiding place and no one is able to stop them from hurting me.”
Logan grumbled, but followed.
They headed down Hilltop and back to the militia HQ. To avoid having to explain to Walter why Madison carried a handgun, she waited outside while Logan went to requisition a rifle for the search party.
While they waited for him to return, Deacon exited the building. Predictably, the sight of Madison wearing a holster attracted his attention, so he walked over. “’Sup with the kid packin’ heat?”
“Mental health day.” Harper sighed, then explained the situation regarding Cliff not being home in the morning. “We’re going to look for them. Walter said I should bring a few people for backup. Speaking of which, you’re basically half the militia…”
Deacon laughed. “Yeah, I’ll go along. Not sure it’s a good idea to bring the little one though.”
“I’m not that little. And I have to help our dad. He’s been there for us.”
Logan emerged from the HQ building carrying an AK47 and wearing a black hip bag he didn’t have before, probably containing a spare magazine or two. “All set. By the way, Walter said Madison should stay at the center of the group and take cover if anything happens.”
Crap. Harper’s face burned hot the same way it did when Cliff nabbed her for shoplifting at fourteen. He’s seriously not storming out here and yelling at me? Guess he thinks it’s fairly safe. She exhaled. We’re not going far from town.
She hurried north up Route 74, propelled by worry.
Ken Zhang, Leigh Preston, and Darnell Buck staffed the bus barrier at the big intersection where Lewis Ridge Road crossed the highway. Harper paused there long enough to explain the search party. She didn’t expect any of them to join, owing to the need to keep up defenses at the buses, but Leigh decided to go with them, probably to help protect Madison.
“You sure?” asked Harper. “Don’t you need to stay here?”
“Technically, I ought to, but this M-16 doesn’t have a scope.” Leigh patted her rifle. “Mostly here to help out if the snipers can’t pick off threats before they get too close… or if someone who looks harmless pulls a weapon after approaching to talk. Help is an air-horn away. You need at least one more body along, especially if you’re going to bring Maddie.”
Madison’s expression gave off guilt and hesitation, but she didn’t change her mind.
Neither Darnell nor Ken looked terribly keen on the idea of bringing a kid out on a ‘long patrol,’ but they both knew her well enough to understand what Harper hoped to do in regard to her sister’s mental health.
Before she changed her mind and started a long argument with Madison, Harper thanked Leigh for coming, and started down Route 74. Though hazy, the sky promised reasonably clear weather for a search party.
Please don’t be too bad a scene. If he’s dead, let me find him before she sees him.
16
Helping Dad
They headed north along Evergreen Parkway, also known as Route 74.
Harper barely glanced to the right at her usual patrol area as they passed it. A little bit north of the residential neighborhood sat a small shopping center in front of a fire station and an elementary school farther in from the road. As best she knew, no one had been in any of those buildings since the initial scavenging the militia carried out before she arrived in Evergreen.
Not far past the shopping center, Route 74 became a pair of bridges spanning a shallow valley. A formerly nice two-tone brown and beige building stood beside the nearer of two lakes to the right. Minutes after crossing the bridge, they reached the intersection with Squaw Pass Road. At the corner on the right stood a long three-story building resembling a huge alpine ski lodge. She assumed it to be a former hotel until noticing a tattered blue banner hanging on the banister of the second story porch closest to the highway: ‘Saint Anthony Health Center.’ Another sign on the north-facing side read ‘Tuscany Tavern.’
Oh… it’s a shopping center. Weird they made it look like a giant log cabin.
She headed left, retracing the route Cliff and Roy would’ve taken last night after dark.
Squaw Pass road followed a low spot among the hills. The hilly terrain on both sides stretched for miles. trees occasionally dotted the landscape, but the woods remained far enough off the road not to make her worry too much about danger hiding among them. Plenty of open land between the road and woods made an ambush unlikely, though a lone wacko lying in wait with a sniper rifle could be an issue.
As Walter suggested, the group arranged themselves protectively around Madison. Harper, walking at the lead, occasionally looked back to make sure her kid sister handled leaving town okay. Madison appeared calm, though her eyes couldn’t get any wider. She didn’t swing her arms much while walking, and kept looking around—pretty much the way she used to act crossing parking lots at night before the war. Fortunately, she didn’t make any move to reach for the Beretta on her belt, almost behaving as if she’d forgotten entirely about having it.
She’s afraid of bad guys but not freaking out.
They followed Squaw Pass Road for a little over an hour, finding no trace of Cliff, Roy, or anyone else alive or dead. Gradually, the wide-open spaces on either side of the road closed in. To the right of the highway, the ground fell into a treacherous downhill slope. On the left, an equally steep incline covered in dense trees came within mere feet from the edge of the paving. The narrow, straight trunks had no branches close to the ground, making them useless as hiding places. They provided some cover, but in the daylight, anyone could see thirty feet or so deep into the forest up the hill. Unless they had on a bush suit, anyone lurking in the woods would be obvious.
The road curved gently to the left, leading into a sharper rightward bend where the forest on either side became much thicker. A piece of spent 5.56 rifle brass sat on the pavement ahead near the center of the ninety-degree curve. Harper stopped short about twenty paces from it. The brass could’ve come from Cliff’s rifle, but tons of people had AR-15s or M-16s, not exactly a rare ammunition.
Still sorta shiny. It hasn’t been there long.
She froze still, moving only her eyes to scan the woods on either side of the curve. The shadowy forms of people in hooded jackets trying to stand still lurked amid the dense foliage—three on the left up the hill, two on the right. As best as she could, she tried to act as if she didn’t notice them. If any of the people in hiding had rifles, they kept them pointed down, hidden behind trees or perhaps laid flat on the ground. The two on the downhill side had a mild disadvantage of lower ground, far enough away from the road their heads sat below the level of the pavement. To the left, the three had roughly twenty-five feet of fairly steep, overgrown hill to cover before reaching flat road. Despite having an elevated position, their footing looked far from stable. They wouldn’t be able to charge or move out of their cover fast without a high chance of falling.
“Three left, two right,” whispered Harper.
Deacon, Logan, and Sadie aimed their rifles into the woods. Madison dove to the ground on her belly, right on the cent
er paint line. Harper pivoted to aim at the people on the right.
“Not looking for a fight,” called Harper. “What are your intentions?”
“Easy,” said a man from the uphill side. “Just defending our territory.”
Harper risked a quick glance toward the voice. Two of the three figures she’d spotted crouching on up the hill stood before descending to the road, grabbing trees on their way to steady themselves. One man made no effort to move. She redirected her focus to the men to her right. Both eased themselves upright before walking up the hill. Neither had rifles, though she didn’t trust them not to be hiding handguns or knives under their Army coats.
Who wears coats in August?
Still, as they didn’t point weapons at her, she lowered her aim. She also didn’t trust them, so she lowered it only a little.
“Defending your territory?” asked Deacon. “By laying an ambush?”
“Just observing. I’m Bill,” said a thirtysomething dude in serious need of personal grooming. “What are you folks up to?”
“One still hiding,” whispered Leigh. “Watching him.”
“Looking for some friends who went missing.” Logan pointed his rifle at the trees. “Few bullet holes in the woods there look pretty new.”
Harper flicked a glance at the lighter brown spot on the trunk. Dammit. I should have seen those.
“Get the occasional bear or mountain lion out this way. Decent eats.” Bill chuckled.
Those hits are pretty high up the trunks to have been shooting at animals. She squeezed the Mossberg’s pistol grip a little tighter imagining a black bear coming out of nowhere. Bears do stand up on two legs sometimes, right?
The two men coming up the downhill side reached the edge of the road. Both wore similar, relatively thin olive drab Army style coats and fatigue pants. They also appeared about a year overdue for a shave.
“Can’t say I have.” Bill shrugged. “Not many people out this way lately.”
“If the road’s so empty, why are you hiding here?” asked Harper. “Kinda implies you saw us coming and planned to ambush when we got close enough.”
“Nah, we’re just a bunch of survivalists trying to get by.” Bill ogled Harper’s chest. “You all got a place to sleep?”
“We do.” Deacon stepped closer to Bill. “Mind where ya be starin’.”
Bill held his hands up, flashing an insincere grin. “Heh. Sorry. Been a while since we had a lady around.” He flicked his right hand forward into a pointing gesture at Deacon. “No trouble, big man.”
A second later, Leigh fired into the woods. A man’s wail of agony followed.
Chaos erupted.
The four ‘survivalists’ on the road all sprang into motion at the same time.
Bill lunged to grab Harper
Man Two pulled a handgun from his coat pocket.
Man Three (on the downhill side) drew a machete and charged Logan.
Man Four (also on the downhill side) rushed at Leigh from behind her.
Gun! Harper aimed for the narrowing gap between Bill and Deacon, squeezing off a shot at the last second. Man Two ate a face-load of buckshot. His pistol went flying as he crumpled over backward. Bill’s lunge at her ended to Deacon walloping the butt of his rifle across the man’s jaw. Logan hastily ripped a burst of automatic fire at the machete-wielding man running at him, barely controlling his AK-47, which spat the last two bullets almost straight up. Man Four abruptly changed course, grabbing Harper from behind instead of pouncing on Leigh. He seized her in a bear hug, squeezing her arms into her sides and picking her up off her feet. She kicked around and thrashed to no avail. Leigh fired twice more at the screaming man up the hill in the trees.
“Let go of her!” shouted Madison. “I mean it.”
The guy holding Harper spun, swinging her around.
Deacon’s gun went off behind her, likely ending Bill.
Madison stood in the middle of the road, holding the Beretta in a two-handed grip, legs wide like a rookie Hollywood cop on her first day.
Harper couldn’t move her arms or maneuver the Mossberg. She let go with one hand, hammering her fist into his balls—but he had a Kevlar cup or something under his pants. The harder she hit him, the more he seemed amused by her struggling. She switched tactics and rammed the heel of her hiking shoe into his shin.
He grunted, stumbling to the side. “Do that again and I’m gonna—”
Madison spun to her right, firing a single shot into the trees on the downhill side.
A man yowled in pain.
Harper caught a brief glimpse of a guy in a ghillie suit, right arm up over his head. Blood sprayed from his elbow. A throwing hatchet tumbled from his raised hand, falling to the ground behind him with a dull thump. Deacon one-hand grabbed the guy holding Harper around the neck. The man squeezed her so hard in a desperate attempt to save himself from Deacon, she expected a rib or two to crack any second. A shot rang out from far up the hill an instant before the high-pitched ping of a bullet ricocheting off the road came from way too close. Madison shrieked and darted to cover on the downhill. Logan fired twice at the man who tried to throw the hatchet, finishing him off. Madison hit the dirt behind some trees, out of sight below the road. Harper wobbled around as Deacon tried to peel the man off her. Another shot came from high left. The bullet whistled past Harper’s head, far too close for comfort.
They’re trying to kill Deacon but leave me alive… oh shit.
Fueled by terror at ending up someone’s pet, Harper thrashed in a wild frenzy, loosening the man’s grip around her.
Leigh fired a rapid barrage up the hill. A male voice grunted an instant before another body came tumbling down the incline.
A sickening crack came from behind Harper’s head; the arms wrapped around her went limp. She clenched her jaw tight and shoved her way free. Deacon flung the dead guy to the road.
“Hey now,” said a man to the right in a saccharin tone. “You’re not going to shoot me, kid, are you?”
Harper whirled.
A second man in a crude ghillie suit made from a green poncho, duct tape, and tree branches, had gotten close enough undetected to grab Madison’s left ankle. It appeared he tried to drag her into his grip but she’d rolled onto her back and put the Beretta under his chin, causing a stalemate. The glint of a knife concealed in his other hand caught Harper’s eye.
Logan pointed his AK at the man. “Let go of her, now!”
Maddie! She couldn’t see her sister’s face, but the shaking hand proved the girl couldn’t kill a man.
Harper aimed at his head. “She won’t shoot you, but I will.”
The instant her little sister cringed away, Harper fired. The man’s face burst into a spray of blood. He collapsed, sliding down the hill. Madison curled up against a tree, refusing to look.
Logan blinked at Harper. “You shot him.”
“Guy had a knife behind his back. Didn’t want him to use it on Maddie.”
Deacon spat to the side. “Most likely would’a just held it to her neck to threaten us.”
“Still.” Harper frowned.
“I mean…” Logan pointed at the woods. “The guy was like three feet away from Maddie and you shot him.”
“Yeah. I know.” Harper flicked the Mossberg’s safety on and off repetitively. “It’s stupid, but I thought more about not wanting her to watch than firing over her. I had a clean shot.”
“Damn,” whispered Logan. “Clean to you and clean to me aren’t the same. Then again, I barely know what I’m doing with this thing.”
“Clear left,” said Sadie.
Harper scanned the downhill side. The only motion came from the dead man in the sad ghillie poncho continuing to roll-slide away. “Looks clear on the right.”
“What the ffff—,” Leigh scowled.
“You can say it.” Madison climbed back onto the road, faintly trembling. She glanced down at the Beretta, flicked the safety on, and re-holstered it. “I just watched like a bunch o
f men die and shot one of them. I don’t think hearing a bad word’s going to be worse than that.”
“Looks like you got that one.” Deacon clapped Logan on the shoulder while eyeing the corpse of the machete guy. “Six or seven times.”
“Didn’t realize it was on full auto.” Logan fiddled at the selector lever. “Sorry for wasting ammo.”
Harper glanced left at the first guy Leigh shot, the one who didn’t leave the trees when the others first revealed themselves. He’d tumbled to the bottom of the hill, face pressed to the road. Blood still poured liberally from a large bullet hole above his left eye. A flap of skin-covered skull, a foot or two of silvery hair still attached, hung off the side of the exit wound at the back of his head. Unlike the others, he looked to be at least fifty, maybe even sixty years old. Under his Army-green plastic rain poncho, he wore the filthy, stained polo shirt of a FedEx delivery driver. Blood-soaked bandages and a splint braced his left leg below the knee, suggesting he’d been injured recently. He probably didn’t move because it hurt too much.
Leigh climbed the hill into the trees.
“Where are you going?” asked Harper.
“Other guy dropped a rifle. Going after it. ‘Bill’—if that was really his name—gave the dude kissing the road a signal to shoot Deacon. Soon as he lifted the rifle, I aerated his skull.”
“Much obliged.” Deacon laughed, then patted Madison on the head. “Damn fine marksmanship, kid. Hittin’ the elbow like that. Careful though. Being fancy can get you killed.”
“I was aiming for his chest,” said Madison, her voice toneless. “But I guess I didn’t want to kill him.”
Harper brushed a hand over her sister’s head. “I don’t want to kill anyone, either. The world just keeps putting me in situations where I don’t have a choice. Are you okay?”
“Kinda,” said Madison. “I couldn’t do it. Not when the man was right there in front of me, looking at me.”
“Termite…” Harper gripped her sister by the shoulders, staring into her eyes. “Trust me, I know exactly how you feel. Taking a life isn’t a thing that’s supposed to be easy for people. I’m so glad you’re still normal enough to hesitate. I hope you never wind up being put in a situation where you have to take someone’s life. I… already broke that seal. Let me do it.”
Evergreen (Book 5): The Nuclear Frontier Page 14
