The Changing Earth Series (Book 3): The Walls of Freedom

by Hathaway, Sara F.

  “You didn’t talk to them, did you?” Erika wondered, starting to feel there was a big problem coming.

  “Just listen!” Star demanded, knowing the urgency of their situation. “We did talk to them. They thought we were mercs. We found out Major Cole Virgis is the commander out here and then when we were leaving we saw military trucks headed towards the town.”

  “What? Oh great.” Erika knew there was something coming.

  “The radio has been informing them about us. The message explains that we are murdering thieves and shouldn’t be protected,” Star concluded, grabbing a bowl of stew for herself.

  “Lets get packed up,” Vince concluded. “We can get some distance between us and them before daylight hits.”

  “I agree,” Erika said, packing up their gear. “How about you, Daniel? You ready for some early morning walking?”

  “Sure,” Daniel replied positively.

  It warmed Erika’s heart to hear his cheery voice again and see his energy returning.

  “Did you get enough to eat, guys?” Erika asked before she began packing their provisions.

  “Sure did, Mom,” Dex said, rinsing his bowl.

  Erika noticed how deep his voice was getting and how much taller than her he was growing.

  “Good, let’s wear the thermal cloaks,” Erika added as she and Vince hoisted their packs and grabbed their guns.

  “What about those dogs?” Daniel wondered fearfully as they exited the cliff camp.

  “I’d rather take my chances with them over my chances with those soldiers, Danny. Come on, big bro will watch out for you,” Dex reassured him.

  Chapter 17

  The family stepped out into the dark expanse. Erika noticed there wasn’t much cover to conceal them; the darkness was their only advantage. After a good night’s rest and food, Erika and Vince covered ground quickly. Dex and Star brought up the rear today with Daniel because they had not had time to rest. Even though they were tired, their bodies were young and they felt the pressure of the mercs driving their footsteps. Erika saw the town of Gerlach in the distance as the morning sun shed its first official rays of light in the east.

  “We need to find some place to hide for the day,” Erika urged Vince.

  “I know,” Vince agreed, but the land was flat and seemed void of depressions. They were now passing right by Gerlach. It was far off on the eastern horizon and a small shed stood between them and the town.

  “How about there?” Dex said, dragging his feet along.

  “No way, Dex. Way too obvious,” Star corrected.

  “Look over there, though,” Erika said, pointing to a nice crevasse through the dirt. “We can hide over there and keep our eyes on the shed.”

  “Let’s do it,” Vince agreed.

  Once camp was set up, they tucked Star and Dex into the back so they could sleep.

  “Mom?” Daniel requested.

  “What, baby?” Erika replied with her eyes plastered on Gerlach and the shed.

  “Could I please do a little painting?” Daniel queried. “I know it’s not perfect timing, but I would really love to.”

  Erika’s first reaction was to deny his request, but she knew how short life could be and if the boy wanted to pass time painting then why the heck not, she thought.

  “Sure, buddy, but lets only take out a couple of colors so we can pack up quickly if we need to,” Erika retorted cheerfully.

  “Okay!” Daniel exclaimed, grabbing a small piece of paper from his pack and two small jars of paint.

  Erika and Vince chatted quietly as they sat with their rifles and watched for activity. Before too long they saw trucks emerge from Gerlach and drive towards the shed. Erika had her eyes glued to the binoculars.

  “There he is,” she commented to Vince.

  “Cole? He came out here?” Vince wondered. “Let me see.”

  “Okay, but get down. They are looking out this way,” Erika added.

  Vince took the binoculars and gazed out to the distance.

  “Oh crap, you’re right. That’s Cole’s baby-face for sure,” Vince agreed.

  “Why Cole? Why is he out here? Is it just a coincidence that we met him on our first rescue mission? And remember the way he was so relentless with his questioning about our story? Is that why they chose him to hunt us?” Erika was full of questions.

  “I don’t know, baby, and I’m certainly not going to go ask him,” Vince teased. “It is kind of strange, though. He seemed like an okay guy then, just really curious.”

  “Yeah, but that’s when we were on the same side,” Erika reflected.

  “True,” Vince concurred. “What do you think we should do?”

  “I think we should hide and wait for night again,” Erika suggested. “There’s no way we can move now without getting spotted.”

  They sat there watching the movement in the distance. The team searching the area pulled back to Gerlach. Vince and Erika always kept their eyes on the town to see if the trucks would leave before nightfall.

  “I’m surprised it’s just that one team,” Erika pondered. “If those guys Star and Dex ran into told the soldiers about the encounter, they would know we are in the area. You’d think they’d bring in air support to look for us.”

  “I really hate to admit it, but you’re right,” Vince agreed. “Maybe they can’t expend the resources on it.”

  “Yeah, but they have a team out driving around looking,” Erika interjected.

  “True, but trucks take a whole lot less gasoline than helicopters,” Vince countered.

  “Fair enough,” Erika concurred.

  The sun had passed midday when Star came slowly crawling up to them.

  “Hello, baby girl,” Vince greeted her.

  “Sleep well?” Erika questioned.

  “Oh yeah, feeling tip-top,” Star answered. “You guys should go get some rest before night falls.”

  “It’s okay, been a pretty slow day,” Erika added.

  “I bet,” Star chuckled, “Seen anything out there?”

  “Yup, Cole and his team scouted the shed and this side of Gerlach early this morning but we haven’t seen anything for a while,” Erika explained.

  “Shhhh...listen,” Vince commanded suddenly.

  There was the sound of engines in the distance. The three of them watched the trucks leave Gerlach, headed north where Erika and her family needed to go.

  “Crap, now what?” Erika wondered, relaxing and sitting up.

  Vince and Erika headed back to the depression they were camped in, leaving Star on watch. Tears formed in Erika’s eyes as she caught sight of Dexter sitting with Daniel marveling at the painting he had created. They laughed quietly, their eyes twinkling with joy. She felt the deepest love for her family and her passion to succeed was renewed. She squeezed Vince’s hand and saw the same warmth in his eyes as he watched his boys.

  “I love you, baby,” Vince declared, holding her tightly.

  “I love you too, Vince,” Erika agreed. “We have to make it. We have to do this, for them. They deserve a chance at a real life.”

  “Mom! Dad!” Daniel exclaimed, seeing his parents were headed his way.

  Dexter immediately hushed the small boy. His energy was almost totally restored.

  “Hey, guys,” Erika and Vince declared in hushed voices.

  “How’s things?” Dex wondered.

  “Look at my picture!” Daniel interrupted, holding up the piece of paper.

  He had drawn the Statue of Liberty that now lay at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

  “Wow, that’s cool,” Vince said.

  “Because she was the symbol of freedom, not just for landowners but for all Americans, right, Mom?” Daniel chirped.

  “That’s right, buddy,” Vince agreed for Erika, watching her choke back tears.

  “Mom, Dad,” Star announced to get their attention. “That guy we met, Mac, is out by the shed calling for Private Johnson and Smith.”

  “Who’s that?” Erika
wondered.

  “That’s what we told him our names were,” Star admitted, blushing.

  “Smith and Johnson? That’s the best you could come up with?” Vince chuckled.

  “We were on the spot, Dad,” Dexter defended Star.

  “We’ve got eyes on you,” Erika said. “Why don’t you guys head down the ravine a ways and then pop up and approach from the south. Maybe he can help us.”

  “Did he seem like he would?” Vince asked Star.

  “He was really skeptical about us being mercs, but he didn’t seem like a bad guy,” Star admitted. “He’s really handy. Like their fix-it guy.”

  “They probably wouldn’t want to lose him,” Erika interjected. “Could be another reason to trust him.”

  “I don’t know,” Vince was conflicted. “People now-a-days...”

  “I know, Vince,” Erika interrupted. “They are hard to trust, but we’ve been doing pretty well lately. Plus, we can cover their every step and Star and Dex are capable fighters.”

  “Perfect time for the wind to change,” Vince muttered worriedly. “What if they sent the trucks as a decoy and Mac out because he’s a familiar face to the kids?”

  Erika thought on it for a moment and it seemed the kids were stirring on his words as well. In the silence they heard a clap of thunder in the distance. West had not been a direction they were focused on today and great big clouds were on the approach.

  “You know what, Vince? You’re right,” Erika declared. The words of her mentor, Sergeant Bennet, echoed through her head, Make the MOSTTT of the situation. What is your mission, operation, tactics, tools and techniques? “We are headed north, we can get there ourselves, we have all the supplies we need, so we should go with an isolationist strategy until we get there. There’s no reason to risk it, right?” Erika thought out loud.

  The wheels churned in the minds of her family members.

  “You’re right, Mom. Why risk it?” Dexter concluded, heading back to sit with Daniel.

  Vince, Erika and Star took turns with the binoculars watching Mac call into the distance. Rain started to pour down and finally he gave up. Star slunk away as well to go make food for the family. They waited the rest of the day out in the security of the small cliff.

  Chapter 18

  As night fell the family was ready to move again. A few white bark pines dotted the sparse countryside. Shrouding their bodies in their cloaks, they slowly moved from one location to another.

  The howling of dogs in the distance haunted their movements and the knowledge that somewhere out there Cole waited with his soldiers preyed heavily on their nerves. The rain poured down relentlessly and made deep ridges through the desert.

  His strength returning, Daniel was in good spirits. He found running from hiding spot to hiding spot a fun game that he took joy in playing.

  Dexter and Star were almost always on point now, honing their skills of stealthily slinking through the countryside. They were the guides, ever-vigilant of the dangers ahead. At night they developed a system of communication through a clicking sound like crickets hiding in the sparse grass.

  Heightened nerves alerted Dexter to the silhouettes shadowing them in the night. He clicked to Star, indicating at least three animals, but it was hard to tell one silhouette from another. The raggedy pack of animals closed the distance and circled them until Dexter and Star were corralled into a group alongside their parents. The rain shadowed the animals further and dripped off their hoods.

  “We can’t fire our guns,” Vince whispered, “If those soldiers are anywhere near us they’ll hear it for sure.”

  “Close combat it is, then,” Star replied softly.

  “Yeah, with dogs,” Dexter said nervously.

  “Everybody make a circle around Daniel. Let’s make our stand here,” Erika concluded.

  They rallied around Daniel. As Erika slid out her knife, she heard a dog yelp and drop to the ground. Dexter’s throwing knife had met its mark. The other animals closed the circle and growled intensely at them, as if angered by their companion’s death.

  “Here we go!” Vince yelled as a German Shepherd mix broke from the circle and attacked. Vince caught the animal in the air and slid his knife into the animal’s neck as another mutt broke formation and went for Star’s legs. Dexter launched another knife, wounding the animal’s back legs and sending it whimpering into the darkness. While Dexter’s focus moved from his sister to the dog that was launching at his back, Erika grabbed the animal by the nape of its neck and shoved her knife into its eye. Erika’s movement to rescue Dexter had opened a hole, revealing Daniel, and the circling hounds took advantage immediately. A huge Rottweiler mix flew out of the circle, aimed directly for Daniel, but Vince leapt in front of its teeth as the animal bit down. Vince pulled the dog towards his chest as its teeth sank deeper into his arm. Staring eye to eye with the fierce animal, Vince sank his knife deep into its throat, twisted it around and pulled it out. The animal sputtered to its death. The rest of the pack started to retreat and Dex’s throwing knife met one more mark as they retreated into the night.

  “Oh my God! Are you okay, Vince?” Erika screamed, running over to him.

  “I’ll live,” Vince declared, cradling his arm.

  Daniel had sat down, crying and completely freaked out by the encounter. Star came over to hold Daniel while Dexter went to retrieve his knives. Drops continued to drench them as Erika peeled Vince’s shirt back to reveal the teeth marks and shredded skin.

  “Let’s just wrap it loose for now, get a camp set up and then we can do it right.” Erika was laser focused.

  “Mom, look, aren’t they cute,” Dexter said running up.

  “Yeah, real cute. Look at your father’s arm,” she replied, eyeballing two small puppies in Dexter’s arms. “Where did they come from?”

  “That last dog I killed must have been their momma. I found them with her,” Dexter answered, softly cradling the puppies.

  “They have to go and we have to get camp set up,” Erika commanded, concerned only for her husband’s safety.

  “But Mom, they are so cute,” Dexter said. He had already bent down for Daniel and Star to examine the animals. “And they’ll die out here all alone in this rain.”

  “We can’t take them,” Erika answered, not wanting to engage in an argument right now.

  “I don’t want them to die, Mom,” Daniel chimed in, holding one of the small puppies. It licked his face and Daniel chuckled. Daniel’s fear had totally melted away.

  Erika had always had dogs in her past. Right up until the time the soldiers took them to the “happy camp” and all her animals had been taken from her. Why not? she thought, screw the government rules.

  “Okay...okay,” she acquiesced to the children. “Lets just get camp set up so we can get this wound cleaned quick,” she urged, finishing an initial wrap on Vince’s arm.

  “They better not get in the way,” Vince declared, hoisting his pack back onto his shoulders.

  They moved on until they found another small cliff hidden in a grove of trees. The forest was getting thicker now and the desert landscape was giving way. Sheltered from the rain, Erika rinsed Vince’s wound with clean water before she carefully used tweezers to pick out any pieces of cloth that were left in the interior. She didn’t want to stitch any of the gashes because she was aware that the wound would need to drain to prevent infection.

  Star reluctantly left to go on watch while the boys played with the puppies. She mixed up a small bowl of milk for them before she left and the boys laughed as they watched the tiny tongues lap up the milk and then proceed to get it all over themselves.

  “So,” Erika said, sitting down by the small fire hidden in the ground. “What are you going to name them?”

  “If we get to name them, then that means we get to keep them, right, Mom?” Dexter said coming over to hug her.

  “Yes, we’ll keep them,” Erika declared sarcastically, soaking up the young man’s love. She exchanged an amused
look with Vince.

  “I want to name this one Killer!” Daniel declared, holding up the small Rottweiler dog.

  “No, that one is mine!” Dexter commanded his brother. “And I want to name him Trucker.”

  “Trucker? Why Trucker?” Vince asked, sitting down by the fire with a cup of water.

  “Because he’s been trucking around the countryside. I don’t know...I like that name,” Dexter defended.

  “Trucker it is, then. How about the other one?” Vince pondered.

  “How about Blacky?” Daniel giggled.

  “How about Jack because his relative jacked you up, babe,” Erika suggested, looking at Vince’s arm.

  Vince laughed, wincing at the pain it caused, “Jack it is, then,”

  “Trucker and Jack,” Dexter repeated. “I like those names.”

  The family slept through the day, taking turns on watch and repairing the holes the dogs had put in their cloaks. They used duct tape over the stitching to help keep the heat trapped inside and not visible to thermal technology.

  Erika was out on watch, peering north as the sun dipped on the horizon. Looking steadily into the distance, she saw a great wall rising beyond the tree line.

  “How is it looking?” Vince questioned, slowly creeping up behind her.

  “It looks like a wall,” Erika muttered.

  “What? Let me see,” Vince demanded, reaching out for the binoculars.

  Erika handed them to him and took a peek at his arm while he used the other arm to confirm her comment.

  “Sure does...one hell of a wall and Cole too,” Vince continued.

  “What? Let me see,” Erika said, taking the binoculars back from him. “Oh crap,” Erika exclaimed, watching the truck drive along the wall loaded with soldiers. “What are we going to do now?”

  “I don’t know. We have to find a way around it. Maybe we can go back down to the ocean,” Vince suggested.

  “Maybe,” Erika agreed. “But we’ll be in the radiation zone again,”

  “We have all the iodide that Sam gave us,” Vince added.

  “I know, I just hate the idea of exposing ourselves and the kids to it again,” Erika countered.