by Angela White
"I'm fairly sure we can stay on top of the cars all the way, but we'd be up to our knees by that point," David remarked, clearly not liking his own idea.
Alexa looked at Billy. "Anchoring points?"
"A metal post. No way to know how sturdy it is after all this time."
"Show me."
Without being told, the snipers followed, never allowing themselves to be split up or out of sight. They moved from shadowy branch to damp ground and back carefully. If anyone came, they would see only five and begin their plans with a dangerous underestimate that could cost them the battle.
Alexa's eyes went over the softly shimmering sea of submerged railcars, agreeing with David's choice. The water they needed was there. Now, they had to get to it.
"Daniel, tell us why this plan won't work."
His words were fast. "It'll be easier to show."
Alexa gave her approval, pleased with his methods. "As you would."
Daniel drew his Colt first and then handed the end of his waist-rope to Alexa, making the rookies take an uneasy glance around to verify that what the others were doing, what they should be. No one else had moved and the new men turned back to see Daniel climb up onto the first roof.
The murky liquid rippled outward gently and all of them were relieved to see the huge car not shift under his weight. Daniel moved forward and the metal groaned in protest, but held.
"Movement, twenty yards to the right."
Daniel stopped at Mark's call from the trees, waiting.
"Fifteen yards."
The rookies tensed, now understanding Daniel was putting himself in danger to teach them something important.
"Ten."
They both wanted to call it off now, but already knew Alexa wouldn't allow it.
"Five and comin' fast."
Daniel began to ease back carefully, keeping his eyes on the churning waves they could all see.
"Three...two...now!”
A greenish gold shadow leapt from the water, sending dark droplets spraying, and Daniel jerked back to let it sail by.
As it went over the railcar, clearing it easily, they all saw it snap hungrily at the fighter with a mouth full of spike-like teeth.
"Three more, on your left."
Daniel moved quickly from the car and watched the faces of the new men as the show began.
The three amphibians leapt from the water at nearly the same time and were met by the first, taking a second try. Teeth lunged like darts, and blood sprayed as all four hit the water.
"Did it have legs?"
"What the hell..."
The questions were stopped by a noise that brought images of water rushing, and then there was movement everywhere.
Large, fishlike grasshoppers were jumping out of the muddy brown water, jaws clamping down on anything in reach, and each vicious snap triggered another rush of predators to the disturbance.
Large fish snatched the scaled hoppers in mid-flight and then even bigger carp swallowed those. The surface was alive with carnage, the hungry animals were frenzied, and Alexa moved her men back to the cover of the thicker trees.
The noise went on for a long time, and while they waited, the woman pulled things from her pockets and placed them on the damp ground. Not sure if the hoppers could survive on land, the males watched alertly.
By the time the water was deceptively still again, Alexa had slip-knotted a length of rope that was nearly a hundred feet long. To one end, she had attached a clever pulley system that could be placed around a tree for more leverage. There was no going into the water, so they would have to pull the railcars out of it instead... but by themselves?
"Billy, Daniel. Find a Mule."
It was a rare thing for Alexa to allow the group to be split for any length of time, but question her, they did not.
"In the far back corner, there are drums of kerosene. We'll need them all."
The rookies moved that way without waiting to be told, and Alexa sent Mark after them before turning to the blacksmith. "We have to clear these tracks, up to the first switchover plate. I'll pry, you guard."
For the next hour, there was only the sound of their work and a jungle of unnatural creatures watching. These animals stayed back, afraid of the woman and her fighters, but they whispered to each other and to the winds. Man had returned.
4
Luckily, the Mule was near the changeover points and still on solid ground. Once the tracks were cleared, and the plates manually forced open, five of them carried drums to the waiting engine. Kerosene was really only number one diesel fuel, and with the way it had been stored, it should still be usable. It wouldn't work as well or for as long, but it should buy them enough power to move the sunken goods.
Alexa pried the cap off the Mule's front end, glad to see no pockets of water resting on the bottom of the tank. There wasn't much fuel left, but the fumes were harsh, and all of them stayed upwind as they carefully poured the drums of kerosene into the tank. It was only half full when they were done .
Alexa waved Billy forward. "You drive. We'll ride."
Billy quickly pulled himself up into the huge transport machine. Used for hauling railcars around the station, the Mule was basically half an engine car with twice the amount of pulling power - perfect for their needs.
Billy turned the key that he found in the ignition, but there was no response. He nodded to Daniel. "Give us a spark."
The biker pulled a very compact charger from beneath his cloak, glad he'd chosen not to leave it when they lightened their weight before crossing the golden bridge. He hooked it up easily, and a minute later, the yellow diesel engine light on the dash flickered to life.
"... oldies but goodies, folks and we're gonna play them..."
Billy hit the button, ejecting the cassette with a frown. Who the hell put a tape player in a Mule? You'd never be able to hear it, even at that volume. The light on the console went out, telling him the engine was warmed up, and he pushed the button with braced ears.
The engine belched out only a small cloud of smoke in protest before the Mule roared to life hungrily. In the distance, those odd, nervous creatures watching them fled for dens and sentries. The Mother would have to be told. Man was not allowed to be here!
It took them almost an hour to move the Mule into position. They had to run it over two other sets of tracks, and it made all of them, including the woman, worry silently whether there would be enough fuel left to pull the railcars out.
It was hot, sweaty work to get the ends attached, and they had to use Alexa's pulley system to close the last five feet because of a dip in the tracks. The rails hadn't split, but they were close as the weight of the Mule rolled across them to be locked into place.
The men on duty kept their eyes sweeping continuously for trouble. As long as they'd been here now, making this much noise, anyone could be nearby, waiting for them to do all the work before trying to take it from Alexa's hands. Edward stopped a grin at that thought, and then sent his attention back to the watch. He'd like to see someone try. As annoyed as she was with how long this was taking, few would stand a chance.
"All right. Slow jerks forward until it breaks loose, and then slow and steady over the shifting debris."
Until, not if. There was no doubt for the woman that it would move, and because of her belief, the males were also sure of it. If Alexa said it, then it must be so. She'd proven herself over and over on their trek.
The biker signaled he was ready, and the others moved back.
Alexa drew her Colts, eyes on the water. When her men did the same, she grunted in satisfaction. "Jacob, stay with Billy."
The preacher pulled himself up onto the footrails of the loudly idling engine.
She sent David to the other side. "Stay with them."
It was an order they took well, expressions indicating that nothing would happen to the driver while they were watching.
Alexa circled a finger in the air, and Billy opened up the throttle, giving a single
, vicious jerk.
The engine shot forward against the taut ropes, sending a jarring vibration down the length of every car, and then out into the center of the water.
Oddly muted, metal noises came to them as debris shifted, and then there was only the engine for a count of five and the calmly rippling water while Billy waited for her call to go again. Alexa spun a finger.
Billy gave another hard pull, eyes watching in the mirror as the violent shudder spread into the muddy water. Debris was moving under the surface. Floating freely to see air for the first time in half a decade, the brackish water around the cars began to brighten as the bottom silt moved.
"Here they come. Movement from all sides," Mark called. Alexa gave the motion to pull it again.
"There's something big about fifty yards center. Huge."
Edward sounded nervous, and Alexa took a few steps back to ease his concern as the third jerk's ripple sent more movement through the water.
There was a dull thudding noise from the railcars, and the woman indicated through the window. "Pull them out now."
Billy increased the power and let the Mule do its job without holding back. It lunged forward, straining, and the sounds of groaning metal overpowered the noise of the engine.
Water ripples swelled as more debris floated to the top, and the Mule lunged again, sending another shudder through the water.
"Five yards. Get set."
The Mule strained, engine growing louder, and a horrendous noise made the rookies wince as the railcars began to inch forward.
Then the air was moving too, and the men all struggled not to open fire until she did.
The hoppers were flying onto the moving railcars, covering them while trying to bite the train into submission. They attacked the lead car repeatedly, hitting each other in the process as more and more of the mutated insects joined the offensive.
The railcars were moving slowly now, inches at a time, sending heavy sprays over the area and lifting the surface of the water in an endless fall of mud and debris.
The hoppers clung to the cars, each one covered as it slid from the angry waves, and Alexa fell back further, pacing the Mule. The people hadn't been noticed yet, the furious mutations intent on the moving cars, and another disturbance in the water drew attention.
This one was a huge swell that pushed up and out to the left of the emerging railcars. The seven fighters had time to register bulging, intelligent eyes, and then the creature was back under the ripples. What the hell?
There was no time for more as the railcars began to roll easier, faster, bringing hundreds of the sharp-toothed mutations onto the land. The hoppers looked as wrong as they felt, and the fighters watched their large, clumsy jumps with outrage and twitchy trigger fingers. Such abominations offended them all, and grips tightened on guns, eager for Alexa to call it.
The slight movement of their hands drew buggy eyes toward them, and the warriors braced as they were spotted. Nearly two hundred of the hungry hoppers were out of the churning waves now, with more lunging for each car as it rose from the flooded land.
Near the waterline, another large ripple began. Drawn by the noise and vibrations, the amphibian moved uneasily onto land for the first time since the war.
Enormous and always hungry, the toad immediately began snapping up the chaotic hoppers as they dropped from the cars. Hoppers squealed in terror and rage and the mutations further away turned back at the cries. Then they attacked!
The fighters watched in amazement as the hoppers began to jump on the toad, their sharp teeth drawing croaks of pain as blood and poison hit the air.
It was brutal, and the warriors followed Alexa as she backed further into the shadows of the trees, but none of their eyes left the battle. If the hoppers lost, Alexa would be next, her senior men were sure. She wouldn't allow a threat like that to live unopposed.
The toad was being driven back into the water, its barbed tongue doing little damage against so many. Blood sprayed again as one of the reptile's eyes was scooped out by a furious mouth, and the men felt Alexa relax when the squirming, chirping mass fell below the churning water. Without its sight, the threat wasn't so great that she would have to step in.
Drawn, the other hoppers had mostly headed for the water as well, and when Billy brought the Mule to a jerky stop, only a few dozen green and gold mutations remained near them. Those few were moving slower now, bodies gasping, and they began to collapse.
"They can't take this air for long," Alexa explained. "They need to be around a water source."
Her voice was very low, but it still made two of the mutations twitch their way, and it was shocking to see how fast the woman killed them.
Her blades made only an unnoticed thud in the ground, both creatures dead before the hilts stopped moving. Clean shots that impaled, it was an unneeded, but still powerful thing for the rookies to see. She was more somehow, and it was a comfort during this newest horror.
Billy had stopped with the line of railcars well out of the water, but the group stayed still until not only the hoppers nearby were dead, but the surface of the water was still. It was impossible to know what sounds would draw the mutations back out.
The train cars were covered in mud. Brown water ran from them in large streams and the green and black silt was thick on the sides and top.
The Mule cut off, and the silence in its wake was deafening. They noted the stopping of the engine had no effect on the creatures lurking in the water, and they felt a bit easier as Alexa pulled a small tool from her belt and held it out to David. "Pick."
The blacksmith concentrated and moved only a few yards before pausing. The two cars he was eying looked the same to the other men, but there was little doubt he'd seen a sign the rest of them had missed when he pointed to one.
David chose the car with no debris blocking its lock and quickly slid the cutters from his belt against the slippery metal. It didn't want to give up its treasures, but the new man was used to working with unforgiving metals and the chains fell to the ground with a loud clank a moment later.
All eyes went to the water, waiting.
There was no response, and Alexa motioned Jacob and Billy forward to open the door. Water gushed out as they forced it back, thick and brown, and it rinsed the side enough for the others to see a logo - Ice Mountain.
The bottles and jugs were mostly undamaged and the fighters filled their canteens and watertight pouches happily. Their only displeasure came from having to leave so much behind. There was enough fresh water here to last them for months.
Alexa felt their concern, and her tone was thin. "It will serve others as well. Do not covet, my pets. Our needs have been met, and it is more than enough."
Chastened, their feeling of loss eased. When the woman began to get set for travel, her men followed. They'd gotten what they’d come for. Now, they had to get back out.
The rail yard shack was a one-room hut made of cheap wood that had warped in the onslaught of water. The light they’d seen was only an illusion caused by the glow of a sunray off of the metal roof of a railcar.
They moved around the crumbling shack carefully, ignoring the slight sounds that suggested someone might be lurking inside. The ghosts of the past were not to be disturbed unless you could pay the price for such a grievous error in judgment or such desperate need.
As they rounded the corner of the shack, Alexa stopped them, hand up in alert.
On the ground near the shacks broken window, was a body. Not a skeleton, this one was fresh and not mauled by hoppers. This one was missing a head, and the ground under the jean-clad woman was stiff with dried blood. Her skin was full of holes, the insects already dining, and Alexa sent her boots onward. A small cloud of gnats followed, and she stepped faster to leave them behind.
The ground gradually dried as they headed away from the station, and Alexa didn't call a break for lunch, instead having them eat on the move. There was enough on each of them for two full weeks, and even the soreness at th
e end of the day from the fresh weight would be a welcome price to pay.
Alexa moved them steadily north, not one to sit and wait for darkness so they could call the Ferryman, and the wilderness around them became a full jungle again soon after the railcars were out of sight.
It was lush; a thick oasis of green mixed with debris, and none of them spoke as they walked. The uncommon surroundings had them all a bit uneasy, and even Alexa flinched when an unfamiliar noise for any area, floated through the trees.
It was a sound none of them, not even the blonde, expected to hear. It was out of place and uncommon to any of the devastated towns they'd come through, but here, it was a shock - an omen.
"Waaa..."
The child's cry was miserable, piercing…and impossible to ignore.
Alexa paused, calculating blue eyes dazed as she concentrated.
Her men wondered if she would seek out the source to ensure the baby (it could only be that from the bewildered wails) had someone to care for it.
Alexa moved suddenly, tracking the noise, and her men followed contentedly. Apparently so.
"Waaa..."
It was pitiful, desperate, and the blonde's pace increased. It was as though she were being pulled, and the men stayed close as they spotted the outside wall of a small village.
Eleven
1
Laramie Estates had clearly been a secluded community even before the war.
Its design was round: eight buildings in a circle, connected by a high, stone wall with thin, narrowly arched doorways. A wide, brick walk made a neat oval turn to the center, where a community well sat, made of oddly colored stones, many with deep furrows. The rocks around the well were falling, crumbling into dusty debris that was spotted with white droppings.
Most of the small engineering village remained intact, even mud-splattered glass was still in most of the small windows, and yet, there was a feeling of horror that lurked heavily over the courtyard. Shadowy doorways greeted their passage as they entered, and each of the fighters had a hand resting on a holster.
