Living for War: The Collin War Chronicles

by W. C. Hoffman

  “Careful through the door,” Collin said to Tiny.

  “Got it.”

  They made their way down the hall to the green door. It stood open, with Brady just inside waiting for them.

  “Anyone?” Brady’s eyes pleaded with him.

  Tiny stepped inside, effortlessly cradling the girl. “Just her,” he said, glancing down at the child. She appeared to be no more difficult for him to carry than a small package.

  “My God ...” Brady breathed. Then, his face hardened and his teeth clenched. “There will be justice.”

  “Yes, there will be. But first, let’s focus on the folks who survived. There will be time to mourn the dead later. Right now we need to make sure these people don’t join them.” Collin put a hand on his son’s shoulder and met his eyes.

  “Right.” Brady nodded.

  “Where’s Julie?” Collin asked.

  “She tending to the wounded.” Brady motioned behind him.

  Collin turned to Tiny, but the big man was already making his way past them to find her. The girl was in dire need of aid.

  The lights behind them flickered. Smoke began to filter into the space they stood in and heat was rushing in. Collin frowned and realized the only light they had was coming in through the large metal door. “Anyone see a light switch? We need lights.”

  There was some fumbling in the dark as they attempted to locate a switch. After a few moments, there was a snap and a dull buzz as fluorescent lights came on overhead. Rushing back to the door, Collin closed it to block the heat and smoke.

  Looking around, Collin quickly realized they must be inside the dam. The dampness, the noise, the industrial look of the area, it all fit the little he’d seen of the structure. Collin walked down the short hall and looked into the two connecting rooms. One was empty and held a good deal of the survivors. They huddled together, many of them sitting on the floor.

  “We’re safe now. You can relax while we look around and find a way out,” Collin said. He went to the next room in the short hallway.

  Inside the next room, Collin saw a map of the United States on the wall. The map had green leaves drawn on it. He recognized it right away as the same green leaf icon that was on the side of the HAGS choppers and their medical boxes.

  “What is this all about?” Julie asked.

  He turned to look at her. “I’m not sure. But I think I know how we can find a way out.” Collin began to take the map down. “How is the girl?”

  “Right, that’s why I’m here. We need to get her to the hospital. Her burns require sterilization and treatment that I cannot perform on site.” Julie watched as he folded the map.

  “Okay, we’ll find a way.” Collin gave Julie a nod. “Brady.”

  Brady stood in the doorway. He looked at his father. “Yeah?”

  “Is Hannah or Ketan down here? Did they survive the fire?”

  “Actually, I’m not sure. I kind of lost track of everyone other than you and Tiny.” Brady’s faced flushed with embarrassment. “I’ll go look.”

  “We need to get to the hospital,” Julie reminded him. She turned and went back to treating her patients.

  “You heard the doc. We search for a way out.” Collin stuffed the map into his pocket, gave the room another quick glance, and walked out. He made a mental note to ask Koby about this place.

  At the end of the short hall was another green door. Collin unlocked it, and he and Tiny went in search of an exit. Once through the door, it was readily apparent they were indeed inside the dam. He wasn’t exactly sure how it was possible. How and why would the theater be connected to the dam? It made no sense.

  “Do you have any idea where we are located?” Tiny asked. His voice echoed in the concrete hallway.

  Collin nodded. “As strange as it is, we’re inside part of the structure that makes up Goshen Dam.”

  Tiny tilted his head and gave him a questioning look. Collin shrugged and shook his head. “No idea.”

  The hallway was long and straight. Without light they were going to get lost. He reached for his flashlight, but when he clicked it on nothing happened.

  “Damn it. I can’t see anything. Batteries are dead. Let’s check the walls for a light switch,” Collin said, giving the flashlight a frustrated shake before clipping it back to his belt and running his hands over the concrete surface of the wall.

  Several long, frustrating minutes later, the lights flickered on. Collin turned around and saw Tiny had found the switch. Now they could get on with the search for the exit.

  “Nice job,” Collin said.

  Brady emerged from the hallway that eventually led back to the theater. He waved his hand at Collin. “Hey, I found Hannah.”

  The young woman emerged from behind Brady and started toward Collin. She walked slowly and limped slightly. Hannah’s head was scorched; half of it was red and bald, burnt to the scalp. Her remaining hair was messier than when he found her in the barn, and her face was smeared with soot. Lines in the soot where tears had tracked down her face revealed her loss. Collin’s heart sank at the realization.

  “Are you okay?” Collin asked softly. Something must have happened to Ketan. It was clear she was in more than just physical pain.

  Hannah waved her hand, dismissing the question. She wiped her eyes and took a deep breath. “Brady said you had some questions.”

  “Yeah, I do.” Collin pulled out the map and slowly unfolded it. Looking over at Brady, he said, “Get everyone up and ready. Move them out here for now and as we make progress toward an exit we’ll bring everyone along with us.”

  Brady nodded and disappeared down the hall.

  “I’ll go help with the girl,” Tiny said.

  Collin nodded and refocused on the map and Hannah. “So, we found this in one of the rooms. It has all of these symbols on it. I know it means HAGS, but what do the icons mark?”

  Hannah’s eyes grew wide. “I’m surprised you found this. They’re supposed to be secured in a safe place.”

  “What’s it telling us?”

  “Each of the icons marks the location of a survivor colony. Only the agents on the ground in that area and the higher level managers know the details, like the exact population of each colony. Even so, it’s still very useful to know. The map is for agents to know where the other locations are in case they need to evacuate. I suppose this was Logan’s map?” Hannah asked.

  Brady and Tiny began to lead people out into the larger hallway. Once again, Tiny carried the girl.

  “Hard to say. I’m not sure Logan ever came here, but I’m confident Mac had only rarely been inside the dam, if ever. So, it could be theirs, or it could have been Pastor Pendell’s,” Collin said. Then he muttered, “Only the saved will be saved.”

  “What’s that?” Hannah asked.

  “Hmm?” Collin glanced at her, confused. “Oh, nothing.” He thought about Pendell’s favorite saying and wondered what relevance, if any, it had to the map. Shaking his head he said, “Let’s get out of here. I’m ready for some fresh air.”

  Hannah grimaced as if he’d said something painful. She didn’t say anything, but she nodded her smoldered head.

  “You can wait here if you’d like,” Collin said. He gestured for her to go sit with the others. Hannah nodded again and silently walked near her new friends and took a seat against the wall.

  It took them nearly twenty minutes to find a way out of the building. A rush of fresh air washed over Collin as he finally opened a door to the outside world. The maze of hallways looked nearly identical and none of them had much experience inside.

  “Thank goodness,” said an old lady behind Collin.

  Tiny stepped out, carrying the young girl. Julie led him down the steps to a path. “Collin, unlock the gate.” Julie waved at him.

  A tall chain link fence topped by razor wire encircled the area around the door they emerged from. There was a gate with a large padlock on it.

  Collin looked down at the keys in his hand, let out a sigh, a
nd strode forward to unlock the final barrier in their race to freedom. He looked toward the theater. Although a thicket of trees obscured it, he could still see blackness marring the sky above the building as the inferno undoubtedly continued to rage.

  It was a total loss in both lives and material. Collin shook his head. Goshen was hard pressed to stand up to HAGS before the fire, now ... Collin glanced over his shoulder at the people filing out of the building. They’d be lucky if they could mount a real challenge to the company that sought to rule their lives.

  Collin unlocked the gate and stepped aside while Julie and Tiny rushed the girl to the remnants of the hospital. Two structures had been devastated since he’d made the fateful decision to welcome in his son’s Vipers. He knew he’d done the right thing by bringing them into the fold, but he feared he made a terrible mistake in the execution of it.

  “We need to get people over to the theater to contain the fire,” Brady said to Collin as he peeled off from the crowd and stood beside him.

  “You’re right,” Collin said. Spotting one of the Eagles, he stepped forward and grabbed the woman’s arm. “Run ahead and get a crew working on containing the fire. We don’t want it to spread and wipe out the whole town.”

  She blinked at him for a moment, but nodded and took off running.

  “I counted only forty-two survivors of the ones who attended,” Brady said. “Heavy losses. We have to find Mac and his crew.”

  Collin clenched his jaw. Through angry teeth he said, “We will. I guarantee it.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  By the time Collin and Brady made it back to the theater, the volunteer fire department was already well under way suppressing the inferno. Roughly ten people were fighting to keep the flames from spreading to the other buildings.

  Their water wagon was near the corner of the building connected to a hose that led down to the river so they could draw up water. Two men stood atop the wagon, pumping furiously on a seesaw-like pumping mechanism. Another hose led to the firemen who were dousing the flames.

  Despite being volunteers and saddled with archaic technology Collin immediately thought Koby had devised; they were doing a brilliant job of protecting Goshen. On the wagon, he noticed a stack of buckets and it gave him an idea.

  Looking around, Collin spotted the Eagle he’d sent to make sure the fire crew was on it. He jogged over to her and thanked her for the help.

  “Where’s the fire captain?” he shouted above the noise of the burning building. She pointed in the direction she’d seen him. “Thanks again.”

  He found the captain and asked if they could setup a bucket brigade, or do something to help. The captain was grateful for the assistance since many of his firemen were missing, presumably victims of the very fire the rest of them were putting out.

  Collin and Brady gathered up as many volunteers as they could and set up two lines. One line would bring full buckets up from the river, passing them to each person, while the other would pass the empty buckets back down. When the first line tired out, they could switch directions.

  Bucket after bucket raced up the line and was splashed atop the crumbling building. The roof fell in long before they started and only one corner of the wall remained standing. At first it didn’t look like the buckets of water were having any effect. Slowly but surely, they began to see the flames dampen and shrink back from the soaked wood.

  Heat radiated off the building’s carcass like a miniature sun. It wasn’t long before Collin shouted for the buckets to move in the opposite direction. Everyone was sweating, breathing heavy, and tired, yet they all kept working. Collin got the feeling they were all working through the emotional pain of their loss. While their eyes may be dry and determined, their bodies wept tears of sweat for their kin.

  Long hours passed before the flames were doused and the embers snuffed out. Inevitable hot spots remained, so the volunteer firefighters stayed while the captain thanked the rest of the volunteers led by Collin and Brady.

  “Thank you all for your help. We couldn’t have done it without you,” he said.

  “Our pleasure. Please let me know as soon as possible what your investigation uncovers,” Collin said to the captain. Turning to the rest of the citizens he said, “Thank you all. Like the captain said, your help was invaluable. Please go home, rest, recover, and remember your loved ones. Justice will be served, I promise you.”

  Murmurs of agreement and thanks rose and fell. Everyone was exhausted, and it was evident on the faces around Collin. The crowd began to disperse and he began to walk home, knowing he would have to return in the daylight to sort things out.

  Brady walked beside Collin. “How are we going to prevent tragedies like this in the future?”

  Collin had been wondering that himself. Until they captured or killed Mac and his crew, any large meeting would be at risk. “Postpone any large meetings or hold them outdoors, post guards, and ask everyone to arm themselves and report suspicious behavior. Until Mac is locked up or dead, we run the risk of more attacks. Still, our trip to Missoula is critical and we shouldn’t delay it.”

  They walked in silence for a few minutes. As they approached Collin’s house, Brady slowed. Collin glanced at him. “Please come inside. We still have a lot to discuss. There is more than enough room if you and Hunter would like to stay here tonight. It would be nice to spend some time with him, even if it is just to remind me there is still good in the world.”

  “Great and get teased for living with my parents,” Brady said. He realized he said parents plural and the humor fell flat. “Anyway, yeah, I’ll come in for a while. Hunter is still with the sitter you suggested. Probably sleeping by now.”

  Collin led the way up the steps. The board he’d been meaning to fix creaked as usual.

  “At some point we should get that fixed,” Brady said.

  “Yeah, I keep telling myself that, but things just keep popping up.” Collin sighed and opened the door.

  “Did you hear that Ketan didn’t make it?” Brady asked.

  Collin glanced at him and nodded. His heart ached for Hannah because he understood how she felt. “Hannah is toughing it out, though. She said the map marks the locations of known survivors. According to her, the map should have been locked up and probably belonged to Logan, but I think it was Pastor Pendell’s.”

  “Hmm.” Brady grunted. “Does it show Missoula having survivors like she suggested?”

  “Yes, it was one of the first things I checked. The map marks Missoula and several other locations across Montana, not to mention the other states,” Collin said, nodding. “There are a lot more locations marked than I would have guessed. Good ‘ole resilient Americans.”

  “God Bless the U.S.A.,” Brady said only half joking.

  Brady sat at the kitchen table and looked at the map they’d found.

  “You want something to drink?” Collin asked. He walked over and took out two glasses from the cupboard.

  “Water’s fine.”

  Collin filled the glasses with cold water from a pitcher he kept in the fridge. He set a glass beside Brady and sat at the table, watching his son inspecting the map.

  The front door thumped with a few quick knocks.

  “What now?” Collin asked with a sigh.

  Before he reached the door there was another round of knocks, insistent and loud. This time Collin’s hand found its way down to his sidearm as he approached the front entrance. He stalked to the door and opened it.

  “Yes?”

  The town’s fire captain stood before him, soot and sweat streaking his weary face. He shifted his weight and nodded at Collin. “Sorry to bother you, sir. But I found something I think you should see.”

  Collin looked behind the man to see if anyone else was around, but it appeared the captain had come alone. “Very well. Come in, captain. Head into the kitchen.”

  “Thank you.”

  The captain walked past Collin. Faint tracks of soot from the man’s boots marked the wood floor
and the kitchen tile. He slumped into the chair and reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out a few sheets of paper.

  “What have you got for me?” Collin asked as he sat down across from the man.

  Brady had already folded and put away the map before the captain entered. Collin shot him a subtle nod of thanks.

  “Care for a drink?” Brady asked.

  “That’d be great. My mouth feels like it’s full of ash,” the captain said. He looked at Collin and set the papers down on the table. “When we inspected the fire pump room, the entire suppression system appeared to be dry. The water main was turned off.”

  “Why would the sprinklers be turned off?”

  The captain shrugged. Brady handed him a glass of water.

  “Thank you.” The captain gulped down half of it.

  “What are the papers?” Brady asked.

  “These are the maintenance records for the last year. We keep up a fairly robust maintenance program here, thanks to Kobyashi’s support. Every few weeks or so we check the suppression system and alarms to make sure everything is working. As you can see on the last page, the most recent check was three days ago.” The captain motioned for Collin to flip the paper.

  Collin turned to the last page. His eyes widened in surprise.

  “Look at who was the last person to check the suppression system,” he said, handing the papers to Brady.

  Brady looked down at the list and cursed.

  The fire captain nodded. “Volunteer firefighter Calvin McIntosh.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  The next morning, Collin met Brady and Tiny outside of the theater. All of them stood staring at the smoldering pile that killed so many of their people. Water crashed in the background as it exited the bottom of the dam and flowed past.

  Near the sidewalk were a few bouquets of flowers, a tiny stuffed bear, and a short, white cross. Townsfolk had set out a memorial to their lost friends. The few mourners knelt nearby, praying.

  Tiny poked around the ashes where the front door would have been. Most of the smoke had died away, but the scent of charred wood was powerful. Collin watched as he stopped, bent over, and lifted something. Tiny held the door handles. They clinked together and glinted in the morning sun, still chained and held firm with a large padlock.