“Still got it,” Jergensen chuckled, sounding like an evil villain from a superhero movie. She looked upward at the scavengers staring down in gape-mouthed disbelief. Randy suspected many of them were new to the Colony. “Let that be a lesson to anyone who wants to leave us. No one leaves the Colony. There’s too much at stake here to serve your own selfish interests.” Jergensen caught her breath, and her raspy breathing sounded monstrous over the intercom.
“Why not let people leave, you might ask? I’ll tell you why. Because anyone who leaves the Colony is against the Colony, and I won’t stand for that.” The woman’s voice had gotten so rough that it was difficult to understand her, and she was losing strength, too. “I’ll let you all get back to dinner now. Long live the Colony.”
The people standing at the window repeated the mantra, almost as one. “Long live the Colony.”
“All right,” Odom shouted. “Show’s over. Back to dinner.”
Randy exchanged a glance with Jenny. Tears rimmed her eyes, so he put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed, turning her away from the grisly scene down on the tarmac.
Tricia was standing right behind them in a clean pair of fatigues with her hands clasped behind her back. Her eyes moved back and forth between Randy and Jenny.
“Hi, Tricia.” Randy couldn’t hide his surprise.
“Colonel Jergensen wants to see you,” the corporal said, coldly. “She’s going to take a minute to settle in her office, so you’ve got some time to finish your dinner.”
“What’s all this about?” he asked as fear settled into his stomach like sour milk.
“Better just eat.” Tricia stepped aside to allow the twins to go back to their table.
Chapter 35
Randy and Jenny Tucker, Indianapolis, Indiana
“What did we do wrong?” Randy walked beside the long-striding corporal. The woman kept her mouth clamped shut, her eyes pinned straight ahead.
She led them through one of the terminal stores, out the employee entrance, and along a hallway to a set of stairs. They took the stairs down and entered a luggage bay that stretched for a hundred yards beneath the terminal, sealed off from the outside world. Tents and tarps stretched across the massive space, and hundreds of soldiers milled around.
A few of them looked up and pointed as the trio moved around the outside of the barracks. Snickers, comments, and dark looks followed. Randy’s paper-thin pajamas and paper slippers made him feel even more vulnerable. He might as well be naked.
What made him most angry was that these men and women were supposed to be protecting the citizens of the Colony and making them feel safe. So, why should he feel vulnerable in their midst?
“Keep your eyes to yourself and just keep walking,” Tricia hissed out of one side of her mouth, and she kept her expression stoic and hard.
“If we did something wrong, just tell us—”
“Shut up,” Tricia said with an icy glance.
Randy noticed Jenny stared straight ahead and payed no attention to the soldiers. He followed her lead, ignoring the looks and whispers. Across the chamber, they came to a door that led into a section of office desks and meeting rooms. It was where the Colony’s administration functions took place. More soldiers lingered, though they oversaw books and ledgers and piles of notes.
Randy figured they were in charge of inventory, shift scheduling, and other logistical tasks. The looks from these soldiers were far less hostile. Some of them even seemed sympathetic to the twins’ plight as Tricia led them between the rows of desks and chairs to the very back.
Two soldiers armed with rifles stood guard at the main office door. Tricia nodded to them, and one opened the door for them to enter.
Randy and Jenny followed the corporal inside, coming to stand in a large office divided down the middle with a piece of fiberglass sheeting. On the other side, Colonel Jergensen sat slumped in a chair with a small end table on either side of her. There was a bottle of water, a box of tissues, bottles of over-the-counter medication, and her pistol. The colonel had stripped off her protective gear and wore a pair of soft white cotton pants and a white T-shirt.
Her hair was still wet from being decontaminated and washed, slicked back on her head in a dark yellow swath.
“Pardon me for being so informal.” Her voice came through a tiny speaker resting on a table in front of the glass on the twins’ side. Colonel Jergensen gestured to a pair of chairs positioned in front of the speaker.
Randy glanced at his sister and then stepped over to the chair on the left. Jenny joined him, and he took a moment to study the colonel. Her cheeks looked sunken and extraordinarily pale. Dark flecks peppered her nose and lips, and he detected more flecks in the whites of her eyes. Her lungs struggled to breathe, sounding shallow and raspy.
“You were right when Corporal Ames brought you in,” Jergensen said with a faint wave. “I’m sick. And I had this glass erected as soon as I realized it, because I wanted to make sure I didn’t infect anyone else in the colony. My detractors would call me a crazed lunatic, but does protecting the people of the Colony sound crazy?”
Randy cleared his throat and spoke up. “I’ve heard no one detracting.”
“There have been a few,” Jergensen smiled, “but they aren’t around anymore.”
He feared taking his eyes off the woman or causing a slight. He swallowed and nodded that he understood what that meant, especially after witnessing what happened to Polly and Stan.
“Can you believe I’ve made it ten days?” Jergensen went on. “Most people only make it three or four, you know? Hell, I might even beat it if I hang in there.”
“I hope you do, ma’am,” Jenny said with complete innocence.
The colonel chuckled and shook her head weakly. “You two are cute. You remind me of my kids. I had twins myself.”
“That’s awesome,” Randy said, then he threw in the joke he always used. “We’ve been twins our whole lives.”
The colonel stared at him for a moment before a wide smile broke out on her lips. She chuckled and laughed harder, clutching her chest with a pained face. “Sorry, it hurts to laugh.”
“My bad,” Randy said, horrified he’d caused her pain. He changed the subject. “Where are your kids now?”
“They didn’t make it,” she said as her pained expression faded. “But it’s good to be reminded of them. Yes, very good.”
The woman seemed to get lost in some memory, and her eyes drifted up to stare above the twins and Corporal Ames.
As the seconds ticked on, Randy grew impatient, and the anxiety started to eat away at him. He shifted in his chair, saying, “Ma’am, are we in some kind of trouble?”
Jenny gave him a swift kick in the leg as Jergensen’s eyes fell to him.
“Not at all,” the colonel focused her attention. “I just wanted to commend you on leading your scavenging teams. If I don’t beat this thing,” she gestured at her face, “the Colony will need strong leadership. It’s young people like yourselves who will lead the way.”
“Thank you so much, ma’am,” Jenny said. “We appreciate that.”
“You’re welcome,” the colonel replied. “And I’ll give you two days off and an extra ration for all your help. There are some vouchers sitting there on the table.”
Two red tickets sat beneath the speaker, and Randy reached out and took them. He’d seen other people in the Colony use them, receiving a double ration of dinner, even dessert. Randy was taken aback by Jergensen’s kindness and relieved she’d not shot them for some transgression.
The colonel read the surprise and confusion on his face. “I know things can sometimes appear harsh and unforgiving here. But it is for the better.”
Tricia cleared her throat, and the twins took that as a signal to leave. They stood up and thanked the colonel before they followed Tricia out of the room and between the rows of office desks.
“That was insane, right?” Randy asked his sister in a hushed tone, and he handed her a voucher as t
hey left the office section and stepped into the soldiers’ barracks.
Tricia turned, blocking them from the soldiers’ view. “Put those away,” she said, and the twins stuck the tags into their pockets.
“Sorry,” he said, his face blushing red as they fell in behind Tricia and walked back to the stairwell. It could have been his imagination, but he felt more eyes on them and heard harsher whispers.
Once they hit the stairwell, Randy expected to receive a talking to from the corporal. However, Tricia took two steps at a time and reached the first landing in a snap. She peered through the square window in the door at the hallway on that side.
“What are you doing?” he asked, confused.
“Looking for a clear path back,” she said, then she pulled open the door and waved them through.
“Clear from what—?”
Odom and two of his cronies stepped from rooms on either side of the hall and blocked their path. Tricia pushed between the twins and took up a protective position in front of them.
“What do you want, Odom?” Tricia said, working her jaw back and forth.
Randy was bigger than all three of the young men, though they were all armed with pistols. Thankfully, Tricia was, too.
“We just want your ticket vouchers,” Odom said, putting his hand out. “We know you’ve got some.”
“They got the vouchers from Jergensen.” Tricia challenged them with her tone, and her right hand grazed the pistol at her side.
“I don’t care,” Odom said. “All ticket vouchers get turned in to me. That’s the new rule.”
“That’s your rule, Odom,” Tricia kept her tone hard. “I don’t live by your rules. I live by Jergensen’s.”
Heart racing, Randy stepped to Tricia’s side. “Unless you plan to shoot us in cold blood here in the hallway, you should try to take them from us. I volunteer to go first.”
Odom’s tough expression dwindled slightly. He looked left and right for support, and his friends squeezed closer, hands falling to their weapons. Odom sneered. “I can turn this into a bloodbath, hick. I’ve done it before.”
Randy stiffened at the remark, and he wanted to grab Odom around the throat and pummel him, soldier or not.
“He’s serious.” Tricia put her hand on Randy’s chest and pushed him back a step, though her eyes never left Odom. “What he really needs to do is worry about Jergensen finding out about his little scam.”
“Her days are numbered,” Odom said, lowering his hand. “You know that, right? And we’ll own this place soon. It might be a good idea to bat for the winning side.”
“Taggert won’t allow—”
“Taggert paid you back his favor, and now you’ve got no more cards to play.” Odom grinned and raised his hand with a shake. “Now, hand over the vouchers.”
Tricia stared at Odom for a moment before she spoke over her shoulder. “Do it.”
“But—”
“They will shoot you, Randy,” Tricia said with an indifferent shrug. “And I won’t be able to stop them.”
Jenny dug her voucher out of her pocket and placed it in Odom’s hand.
“See, your sister knows how to bat for the right team,” Odom said. He pushed his palm toward Randy. “That’s going to take her places in the new organization. But what about you? Are you going to play along?”
His blood raced with blind rage and fear at the mention of his sister. The two emotions fed on one another until his jaw locked tight.
“What do we care who runs this place?” Jenny said, half turning to Randy. “As long as we’re at the top of the chain, right?”
Randy glared at the soldiers, each in turn. They were all Odom clones with their close-cropped haircuts and fatigues. They even wore the same holier-than-though expressions on their faces. And as much as he wanted to go off on them, he’d learned a lot in the past couple of weeks. Sometimes, to win a war you had to lose a few battles. If he kept pressing things, he’d get nowhere. And he might even get them killed.
“Right,” Randy said, making a show of deflating and giving up. He frowned as he dug into his pocket, pulled out his voucher, and placed it in Odom’s hand.
“There, isn’t that better?” The soldier closed his hand around the vouchers and stuffed them into his pocket. With a smile, he started backing away. “And you get to live. So, it works out for everyone.”
Tricia and the twins watched as the trio of soldiers turned and broke into boisterous laughter, strolling to the end of the hallway and disappearing into the terminal through one of the back doors.
“What’s going on here?” He turned and kicked the wall. “We thought Jergensen was in charge.”
“She’s still in charge,” Tricia said, her jaw still working back. “But everyone knows she’s on borrowed time. She should have been dead days ago.”
“Who will be in charge after her?” Jenny asked.
“There are two groups forming,” Tricia replied, turning and leaning against the wall. “Taggert is one guy people like. The other is Odom.”
“Who do you think it will be?” Randy asked.
“Taggert is the better man, but Odom is ahead of the game with his fingers in everyone’s business. As you’re painfully aware, he steals vouchers from Jergensen’s people and redistributes them to his own favorites. Mostly the young men in the outfit. That’s how he buys their loyalty. If he takes over, it will be tougher on everyone, especially us girls.”
Randy shook his head. “Odom said Taggert paid back the favor he owed you. Was that for us?”
“Yeah, he told Odom to back off you two for a couple of days.”
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“I kinda did,” Tricia grinned as the hard countenance she’d been carrying around all week fell away. “Otherwise you two would have started off on the wrong foot.” She shrugged and gave Randy an affectionate glance. “I thought you were too cool for that. I’d do it again, too.”
Knowing Tricia might do dubious things to get her way in the camp turned his stomach, but he couldn’t keep the question from bursting out. “Yeah, but what favor did you do for Taggert?”
Tricia rolled her eyes and scoffed. “Don’t worry. It’s not what you think. I’d put a bullet in his head and mine before I let something like that happen.”
Randy looked away, embarrassed that he’d even thought it.
“So, what are you going to do when Jergensen dies?” Jenny asked.
“No clue,” Tricia sighed. “Jergensen values our scavengers, and so does Taggert. But Odom and his soldiers hate the scavengers for getting rewards. They don’t think it’s fair. If they get their way, the scavengers will be slaves to the soldiers. I can’t see anything good coming from that. I guess I’d side with Taggert, but he’s only in charge of a small command.”
“That’s it,” Randy told Jenny with sudden finality. “We’re getting out of here.”
“Randy!” Jenny hissed, turning to him with a shocked look.
“What did you say?” Tricia’s eyes grew wary and cold once more.
“We’re getting the hell out of here.” His tone was flat and final as he stared the corporal down.
“We are one, you and I,” Tricia whispered, raising off the wall. “To leave the Colony, you must die.”
“Stop, Randy,” Jenny insisted, putting her arm between her brother and the corporal.
When her brother kept staring, Jenny shoved her leg between the two, and then her entire body, separating them like she was peeling the backing off two-sided tape. Jenny gripped Randy’s jaw to get his attention. They stared into each other’s eyes and engaged in a battle of sibling wills. Seeing he wouldn’t back down, Jenny turned to face Tricia with her arms folded across her chest.
“Like you said, it’ll get insane around here when Jergensen dies,” Jenny addressed the corporal. “Where do you suppose that’s going to leave us?
“And we’d make a great team,” Randy added with a reinforcing nod.
Tricia narrow
ed her eyes. “A great team for what?”
“Let’s just say an opportunity has presented itself to us,” Jenny said. “And we can get out of here, for good. But we’ve no clue what’s on the other side.”
Tricia held Jenny’s gaze before her eyes shifted to Randy, her jaw working back and forth as she digested what they were hinting at.
Without waiting for her to respond, he added, “We just need to know one thing. Will you be ready when the time comes?”
A tense moment passed before Tricia backed away from the twins, her hazel eyes giving no clue to what lay within her heart and mind. Would she turn them in to Jergensen and have them shot out on the tarmac? Would she join them?
Tricia abruptly turned away, strolling slowly down the hall. “Even though Odom got your vouchers, you can still take two days off,” she said in a dull tone.
“No thanks,” Randy said, his heart torn with what might be an uncertain victory. “You think we want to be stuck in the terminal with them for two days? We’d rather be out scavenging.”
Chapter 36
Bishop Shields, Ft. Collins, Colorado
The woman woke up, groaning as her head rolled back and forth in dazed confusion. Bishop had positioned her on a kitchen chair with her hands tied behind her back. He stepped back and picked up a bottle of water from the basement floor. He twisted off the cap and held it out to the woman, though she only stared.
“Where am I?” she mumbled, and her eyes rolled up to him.
“In the decontamination area of my basement.” Bishop glanced around at the plastic chamber, then he put the water bottle to her lips and tilted it back, allowing a bit of moisture to slide down her chin. “You’re my prisoner.”
“Are you going to do weird stuff to me?”
Bishop chuckled. “I don’t think so. Now, drink.”
The woman nodded faintly, and he tried again with the bottle. She took a long sip and swallowed with a smack of her lips. “Thank you. How long was I out?”
Spore Series | Book 2 | Choke Page 21
