by Christa Lynn
“I saw you leave and watched you walk up along the river, but then you disappeared and when I saw the vultures, I thought …” She bursts into tears.
“Shh, it’s okay. It wasn’t me. It’s over. Let’s go get ready for bed. I saw some books in the closet, we can find one and read it together. Deal?”
“Deal.”
Kane
“That was one crazy storm last night,” Joel says as we dig through backpacks for food. Walt shows up like he promised with a slab of pork over his shoulder.
“Where’d you get that?” I ask.
“Had one last pig left, didn’t figure we could take her with us so …”
“Awesome, let’s get a fire going out back and we can grill her up. Protein will be good for us; give us the energy we need to get back home.
“How’s he doin’?” Walk asks, nudging his head toward the man we found in the bunker last night.
“He’s stable. I expect he’ll wake up soon and we can figure out who he is. But until then, we’ll call him Frank. That sounds a lot better than ‘the man’.”
“Sure thing, I’ll get the fire rolling. You got a lighter?”
I give him a blank stare, and he rolls off in laughter. “No, I reckon not.” He shakes his head as he walks outside. I make one more run-through Jo’s room and the rest of the house before heading outside. The smell of roasted pork fills the air. It’s so strong we’re going to attract bad things.
“We need to hurry, that smell is going to bring out more wolves,” Abe says,
“Or more Heretics.”
“Almost done,” Walt says. We pack up the rest of what we brought and get “Frank” strapped to Lady, face down and his head cocked to the side. It’s probably not the best position for him to be in, but it’s the safest way to strap him on. We sure as hell can’t carry him home.
Lance hobbles in, the old piece of wood still being used as a splint. “You wanna try and walk or should we throw your ass up on Lady behind Frank?”
“Frank?” he asks.
“Yeah, we’ve named the guy found in the bunker. Calling him ‘the man in the bunker’ was just too much.” I snicker.
“I’ll walk. Abe found some other pieces of wood outside I can use as a cane, or crutches. Just take it slow and don’t leave me.”
“You know I won’t do that, but we may have to take the main road back; the woods are too unpredictable and rocky. If Lady gets spooked again, she’ll take off with Frank on her back,” I say as I shove a bite of grilled pork into my mouth, the flavor exploding on my tongue. “Holy fuck, that’s good. Reminds me of family barbecues,” I say, smacking my lips and sucking the grease off my fingers.
We get armed up and head back toward the main road and back through the town square. Walt and Joel head up the rear, Abe is out front, and I’ve got Lady. We’re moving slow as to not draw attention to ourselves, but so far the coast has been clear. I don’t expect it to remain that way as we approach the bridge. “Let’s head off-road to get around the bridge, then cross the river and hit the road on the other side. We’ll just have to take our chances with Frank,” I say as I start to lead Lady off of the road. We travel downhill to the river bed. “Wow, I didn’t realize we were this close,” I say as I scan the area.
There’s no bridge here, so we have to wade through the water. We go slowly as the rapids are pretty strong through here, but as we get to the other side, a group of birds flies rapidly up and over the trees, as if they’ve been scared off. We stop suddenly and raise our guns, panning the area ready to shoot who ever or whatever is there.
We move slowly and then we hear loud footsteps, multiple footsteps, as if there is a group running in the opposite direction. All our eyes are focused on the direction of the noise. “Stay here,” I say as I hand Lady’s rein to Abe. I deftly dip into the thick brush and watch for any sudden movements. I hear the footsteps again, this time closer, along with a whinny.
“Corndog? Is that you?” I whisper as the chocolate thoroughbred comes into my sights. “Hey, big guy! You made it!” I say as he strolls up to me, his head bobbing up and down in excitement. He looks a little dirty and skinned up, but he looks okay. “Sorry, guy. I didn’t mean to leave you behind, boy, but I sure am glad to see you,” I say, rubbing his neck. “Let’s get you home. You okay to have Lance on you?” I say, though he’ll have to ride bareback as his saddle and reins are gone. I scan the ground to see if they’re lying anywhere, but I don’t find them. We originally crossed a few miles upstream, so I imagine they’re either up there or washed away.
Corndog follows me and I keep my hand on his neck. We’ve got a little extra rope with us that Lance pulled out of the bunker, so we can at least keep him close. We step out of the tree line and Abe is standing there with his gun at attention. “Don’t shoot, Abe.” I smile as Corndog appears beside me.
“Corndog?” he asks, lowering his gun and walking toward us.
“Yeah, he made it. His saddle is gone, but we can use some of that rope Lance brought up from the bunker as a makeshift rein.”
“I’ll get it,” Abe says as he turns back toward the other guys. Corndog and I keep walking and make it to the other guys who are standing at attention.
“Relax, guys, I found my old friend,” I say, patting Corndog on the neck, his head bobbing and a happy whinny exiting his throat. “I knew we’d find him; I was just afraid we would have found him dead,” I admit.
Abe comes back with the rope and drags it over Corndog’s head, securing it the best he can. “Lance, can you ride bareback?”
“Yeah,” he says, hobbling over with his makeshift cane.
“Up you go,” Abe says as he bends over for Lance to climb up his back and he makes it up on Corndogs back.
“Now we can move faster,” I say as we start to walk back toward the river so we can cross. Abe crosses first and makes sure the coast is clear before Joel leads Lady across, then Walt leads Lance across, all safely. I bring up the rear, but something isn’t right, I can feel it in my gut. “You guys go on ahead, see if you can find that white house we stopped at the other night and hunker down. I’ll be behind shortly,” I say as I turn my back the way we came and stand quietly.
“No way in hell, Kane,” Abe says as approaches behind me, having already waded through the river back to this side. “Remember our football coach preaching that ‘there is no I in team’?” He laughs.
“Now is not the time to be nostalgic, Abe.” I smirk.
“Nostalgic? This, coming from the guy who named his horse after his favorite food at the Oklahoma State Fair?” He laughs.
“Point taken,” I respond, defeated. “Okay then, let’s go. Anything that might be behind us is going to catch up to us anyway, so we might as well be together when that happens.”
“Look, you’re our fearless leader,” Abe begins sarcastically. “If we don’t stand behind you—”
“Then you better get out from in front of me.” I follow, both of us chuckling quietly before crossing the river and hiking up to find the other men. We make our way through the thick brush and I hear commotion ahead. As we crest the opening in the woods, I see the other men standing on guard, their guns pulled and holding tight, aimed at something we can’t see.
Abe and I stop and watch, but after a few seconds the guys lower their weapons and move forward. I whistle softly, like a bird, and Lance motions them to stop, before we continue and meet up. “What were you guys about to shoot?” I ask, patting old Corndog on the hip.
“Not sure, probably an animal,” Joel says.
“Right, well let’s get moving, I’d like to be back to the compound before dark,” I say as I lead Corndog along with Lance on his back. “Hold on, Lance. I may pull him to a trot so we can move faster.”
“Kane, we don’t need to be wearing ourselves out running through the woods, we need our strength in case something comes up,” Abe says, always the wise one. He keeps me grounded and puts me in my place when I need it. I’m tired of li
ving this way, and I’m ready to get back to normal, whatever that might be in the future.
I effectively ignore him, too, though, I do listen. The others may think I don’t pay him any attention, but Abe knows. Abe always knows. He walks up beside me and whispers, “You’re ready to get back to Jo, I know. But do you plan to tell her we went to her old farm? And do you honestly expect her to not be pissed that you didn’t take her with you?”
“Oh, I’ll tell her. And she’ll be pissed, but she’ll get over it after I fuck her senseless.”
“You think she’s going to let you take advantage of her, after all she’s been through? Come on, Kane, you know better than that.”
“I won’t do anything she won’t let me, trust me. I have her under my thumb already and she will be mine.”
“Don’t hold your breath, Kane, she seems to be pretty smitten with Emma.” He chuckles. “And I can’t blame her after the way men have treated her for so long. I expect when the war is over, this country will be full of lesbians.”
“Maybe so, but as men, we need to make sure the affected women learn that the Mercs aren’t the bad guys. It’s the Heretics that fucked up this country and took over like mad men. How they can believe this country is better off with women being raped for the sole purpose of having babies, I’ll never know. But it’s not for me to try and figure that out, it’s up to me and my men to bring this country back to where it once was. It’s not going to happen overnight, as we already know, but I will not give up without a fight. In fact, our next trip is to Brampton,” I say.
“Brampton? Why?” Abe asks.
“I’m going to shut it down and get those women and any children out of there. We have room on the compound, and we can build more shelters for them, get them out of there and get rid of the assholes who run that place.”
“You do realize there’s more than one clinic, right?”
“Yeah, and I’ll take them down one by one, if I have to,” I say starting to get agitated with Abe. “And you’re either with me or you aren’t, but that’s how it’s going to go down. And you also realize we aren’t the only Mercs out here, right? I’m going to figure out a way to get us all together, join up like the old Army, and blast in there and shut it down,” I say, bucking my chest and flexing my fists. “Those bastards are going down, once and for all, and we’re taking the US back. You with me?” I ask, an angry look on my face
“You know I am, let’s get back and I can send some of my men out to round up others, fill them in on our plans. We set a date and we meet up at the gates of Brampton, then charge the motherfucker and kill any man who gets in our way.”
“Good man, let’s go,” I say as we march forward. We walk for a long time, passing the old shed that we crashed in on our way to Arrow’s Crossing, and my legs are starting to feel the strain. I stop and run my fingers through my hair and glance up at the sky. “We’re not going to make it by dark. We need to find a place to rest up and eat, then head back out at first light,” I say, scanning the area looking for some place inconspicuous to bed down, but there’s nothing.
“How far back was that old shed?” I ask Abe.
“’Bout a mile,” he groans, bending at the waist and rubbing his knees. I look at Walt and Joel, and they’re both sweating and dirty, and I know for sure now we have to stop. “Let’s head back toward the shed and then settle for the evening,” I say as I see the despair in the old man’s eyes. “Walt, I’m gonna put you on behind Lance, you look like you’re about to fall out,” I say.
“Yeah, these old bones ain’t used to this kinda activity,” he says, relief crossing his face.
“Scoot up, Lance,” I say as I bend over for Walt to use my back as a ladder, Abe helping to hoist him up onto Corndog. Abe gets him settled and I walk over to Lady and check on Frank. As I shift him, he stirs, attempting to roll to his side. “Easy, man, you’re on a horse. You roll too far, you’re on the ground,” I say, the man stopping.
His eyes bat open, and he tries to focus on his surroundings, quickly figuring out he’s not in the bunker anymore. “What the …” he says, his eyes clenching shut and pain rolling over his face.
“Welcome back, man,” I say. “I’m Kane, you’ve been out for a day or so.”
He groans. “What happened?”
“Not sure, we found you in a bunker back a few miles. Try not to move much, I think you’ve got some broken ribs.”
“Yeah, I can feel them.” He cringes, trying to sit up. His face is bruised and his bottom lip is fattened up and scabbed, but his brown eyes are brighter than I expected they would be. He slowly manages to sit up, his arm quickly wrapping around his side. “Fuck,” he groans.
“Who did this to you?” I ask, knowing the answer.
“Those fuckers that started this damned war, that’s who,” he answers angrily. “Fucking Heretics.”
“Yeah, that’s what I figured.” Then it dawns on him that he’s not alone. His eyes fix on Walt and his eyes get angry. “What is it?” I ask, turning to look at Walt.
Walt’s eyes cut down and he looks away. “What aren’t you telling me, Walt?” I ask, not afraid to leave him out here in the woods if he’s double crossed us.
“He stood back and watched,” Frank says.
“You saw me?” Walt asks.
“Yeah, fucker. Why didn’t you stop them?” he asks, trying to get off the horse.
“Easy, Frank, stay on the horse,” I say, but he manages to climb down and limps over to Walt, who’s still on the back of Corndog. Lance grabs his gun and points it at Frank, and Frank stops and eyes Walt.
“Look,” Walt says. “I’ve been a coward for many years, and way too old to fight against men that are obviously stronger than me. I was out of ammo and had no way to fight back, we would have both ended up dead.”
Frank looks defeated, but he clenches his fists and turns to me. “You want a guy like this on your side?”
“He’s an old man, Frank.”
“And why do you keep calling me Frank?” he asks, he soft brown eyes now dark with anger.
“You were unconscious, we named you Frank so we didn’t keep calling you ‘the man we found in the bunker.’” I chuckle. “What’s your name?”
“Henry,” he says, turning back toward Walt. “I’ll be watching you, old man.”
Walt nods, though I believe both of them are harmless. I don’t expect Henry will be fighting anytime soon, “Okay, let’s get back to that shelter and rest up and eat.”
“Shelter?” Henry asks.
“Yeah, there’s an old abandoned shack about a mile back. Let’s head back and hunker down, then we’ll head out at first light,” I say, grabbing Corndog’s reins. “Hop back on Lady, or walk, I don’t care.”
“I’ll walk,” he says, though if smoke could come from his ears, we’d see it. But he’s going to learn fast who’s in charge, and it ain’t him. He’s new, and until we know more about him, I don’t trust him. I don’t even trust Walt or Joel yet, but so far, they’ve not crossed me. Well, except Walt when he stepped on my fingers, but he didn’t know who we were then, so I can’t blame him. I know he’s got a spark in him when he needs one, so I think he’ll be fine.
Slowly, but surely, we make it back to the old shed before the sun goes down, but barely. I hate that we didn’t make it back to the compound before dark, but we’re not far and can make it by lunch time tomorrow. We just have to cross the highway and get back to the riverbed, then make our way downstream.
I unpack the supplies and toss each man a can of stew and a spoon, passing around the manual can opener to unseal the lids. “I miss electric can openers,” Joel says, scowling as he tries to open his can.
“I miss electricity in general,” Abe responds, waiting patiently for the can opener.
“I miss hot water,” Walt says quietly.
“Well, you’ll have that at the compound,” I say, watching Walt’s eyes light up.
“You’ve got hot water?”
�
��Yes, sir, that was one of the first things we got done. We don’t have much, and it takes a while to re-heat, but you’ll be able to take a hot shower.”
“Holy shit,” he whispers.
“I miss cable TV,” Lance says. “Or movies in general.”
“Yeah, I hear you. There’s a lot we all miss, but one day we’ll get it all back. We’ve got to take down the Heretics first, once and for all. Then as a country we have to get our shit together and maybe the rest of the world will help us rebuild.”
“Yeah, after all of the years the US helped everyone else, they sure did turn their back on us,” Henry says after being quiet for the mile hike back to the cabin.
“I guess they figured we destroyed ourselves, which we did,” I say. “Now it’s time to win the war and win back the respect of the rest of the world. We will no longer be a third world country, and we won’t ever go back. Once we pull ourselves out of this, we’ll be able to move on.”
“What’s your plan?” Henry asks.
“Next trip is taking on Brampton,” I say, and he drops his head. “What do you know about that place?” I ask, Henry obviously knowing more than he’s letting on.
“I’ve been there, it’s a horrible place.”
“Why were you there?” I ask, but he shrugs his shoulders.
“A group of us were looking for a place to bunk down and came across the sprawling compound by accident. We didn’t know what it was at the time, but we were brought in and welcomed, as strange as that sounds.”
It doesn’t sound strange at all, because those clinics are run by Heretics. “They were recruiting you to build their army,” I say. Henry nods.
“Took us a while to figure out the place was run by the very men that started the war, we were just boys. The higher ups were mean and violent, and terrorized us young boys into believing that they were the good guys. That we belonged with them.” He pauses. “The war hadn’t been going on long, and all we were doing was looking for other survivors, a safe place to stay. They took us in, gave us food and shelter. Taught us to fight and shoot, then they sent us deep inside the compound to find a mate,” he says and shivers. “They marched these women out, naked and cold. Told us to pick one and get them pregnant at whatever costs.”
