“Geronimo is worthy of trust, just so long as another man doesn’t deserve it more. Alas, our paths must now diverge, and not in a way that will be so profitable for you.”
Geronimo’s armed men crowded around. They were outnumbered three to one.
They had no chance.
“Hands off the weapons!” Geronimo bellowed. “Off!”
The twins and Aaron eyed Bill, who relaxed and nodded his head. The others followed suit. The armed men moved forward and cautiously removed their weapons.
Ronnie raised his hands above his head. “There’s a special place in hell for those who turn on their brothers.”
Geronimo trained his pistol on Ronnie. “A fool doesn’t take advantage of a situation when it’s presented to him.”
“What situation?” Bill said.
“A band of wanted men – and women – who so willingly wandered into his little community. A band wanted by the military. A little negotiation can go a long way in such a situation.”
Bill spat. “I hope you got a good price for us. You’re going to be repaying it with interest when you reach hell.”
Geronimo chuckled. “Hell will be too crowded before long.”
Katie shook her head. “I don’t understand this. You shot at the military. You killed them. Why are you handing us over to them now?”
“That was before Geronimo knew what their offer was. So many things can change when a piece of information is shared, no?”
Bill spoke through gritted teeth. “They’ll betray you the moment your back is turned.”
“Then it’s a good thing the great Geronimo never turns his back!”
“Except on his friends.”
Geronimo sneered and jabbed his pistol in Bill’s gut. “An opportunity presented itself. You would have done the same thing if you were me.”
“I’m glad to disappoint you.”
“Taking care of a community of our size takes resources, resources that get harder and harder to find every day.”
“We don’t have any resources.”
“No. But they do.”
The soldiers rounded the hillock and climbed up from the riverbanks where they’d been hiding. Rifles aimed at their chests, ready to open fire at a moment’s notice. Only once they had surrounded both Bill and Geronimo’s men did they part and let a trio of men step forward.
The man in the middle was the leader. He was taller than the others and even if he didn’t carry the markings of a captain on his shoulders, Katie could tell by his bearing that he was a man used to being listened to. The big cheese.
The men on either side of him couldn’t have looked more different. One was young and handsome with a square jaw. The other was short, with dark hair and pale complexion.
“At last we meet,” the captain said. He extended a hand to Bill. “I’m Captain Burgess. We’ve been tracking you for quite some time.”
Bill’s eyes were alive with fire. “You’re the arsehole who blew up my house.”
“No, you’re the arsehole who blew up your house. We merely attempted to break into it.” His eyes turned cold as steel. “And murdered six of my men.”
“It’s a crime to defend your property now?”
“No, but it is a crime to steal the government’s property.”
Bill’s eyes drifted from the captain to the man on either side of him. “Come again?”
The man who visited them the night they were attacked – the man who called himself Laurie – glanced from Bill to Katie and the others. He must have seen the same expression on all their faces. Shock and confusion.
Burgess was blind to it. “It’s no good denying your crimes.” He stepped so close to Bill that their noses almost touched. “We’ve come to issue justice.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Burgess smirked. “Come now. The bike trail led to your house, virtually right to your front door. You’re honestly going to claim they had nothing to do with you?”
“I heard engines a few nights back but I never had a part in whatever it is you think is so important.”
“I’m afraid I don’t believe you.”
He might not but by the sudden activity of Laurie’s eyes, she thought he might be harbouring some doubts.
“What about you?” Katie said. “What do you believe?”
Burgess and Bill, surprised at the interruption, turned to who she was speaking to. He might not be able to help, but it didn’t hurt to throw a little spanner in the works.
Laurie’s expression turned cold and as easy to read as Egyptian hieroglyphics.
“Is your real name even Laurie?” Katie said. “Did you come to our home so you could lie about us to your captain?”
His expression didn’t break. But Katie knew just the right button to push.
“You’re meant to protect us from this kind of injustice,” she said. “You’re a disgrace to that uniform.”
That one landed. A muscle spasmed in the corner of one eye.
Burgess turned on his heel. “We’ve no time for this. Tag and bag ‘em. We’re heading home.”
54
Bill’s team was split in two. Half rode in the back of one UTV, the other half in another. Two armed soldiers sat in the shielded cockpit. The wind whipped about Katie’s face and swirled her hair around her head like a halo. She ducked down behind the cockpit. At least it was warmer there.
Darryl sat slumped in the corner. “After everything we’ve been through, I can’t believe we’re heading back now.”
“We’re not heading ‘back’ anywhere,” Katie said. “We’re heading to whatever they call home.”
She turned to Camden. He looked a beaten, broken mess. A far cry from the daredevil he’d been from such a young age.
“Where do you think they’ll take us?” she said.
Camden didn’t look up. “To home base, or HQ, whatever they’ve got set up. Whatever it is, it’s not going to end well for us.”
Katie looked at the other vehicles in their convoy. A pair of vehicles packed with armed soldiers in front, and another pair behind. It was enough to make her sick. They stood zero chance of causing much mayhem, even less chance of escape. The only way they could get away was if they ran into a blockade of vehicles caused by the EMP. The soldiers would be forced to take action and push the vehicles aside.
That would be their chance to escape.
“Listen, you guys,” Katie said. “I’ve got an idea of how we can get out of this–”
Camden shook his head. “Katie, don’t.”
“I’m serious. If we just wait until–”
“Katie. Enough!” Camden’s eyes burned with fire. “We’ve had enough of your ideas. If you hadn’t kept going on about heading to the lodge, we’d all be tucked up in the castle right now enjoying a cup of hot chocolate beside the fire. Instead, we’re out here freezing our nuts off.”
Katie jammed a finger in her stupid brother’s face. “One, Geronimo would have sold us out to the military anyway, no matter what we said or did. Two, since when do we give up? We’re Walkers. We don’t give up. Not ever. Don’t you remember what Dad caught us? The moment you give up–”
“–you’re dead. But look where we are, Katie. Do you honestly think we’re going to figure a way out of here? Grandfather didn’t see it coming, and neither did anyone else. It’s about time you stopped acting like the leader because you’re not. Every time we come up against a problem, we fail. We’re not getting out of this. No chance.”
Her brother’s will was broken. A shell of the boy their father had taught them to be. She leaned in close to him.
“There is always zero chance if we don’t try,” she said. “We can get out of this, and we can get back to the lodge, but only if we try.”
Camden turned his head away from her. He was always the softer sibling, always the one who gave in first to their father’s demanding trials. She used to think it was because he wanted her to feel good about herself, to succee
d instead of him winning all the time. It might have started that way but then she started to always win.
She wasn’t stronger than him or even smarter but she possessed the unshakeable will to never give up, no matter how hard their father pushed them – mostly because she couldn’t face letting their father win. It was never about beating her brother. She never felt like she was competing against him.
The hardest opponent you’ll ever come across is yourself, their father always said.
Katie took it to heart. Her brother appeared to take it as a sleight. You have to compete against yourself because you’ll never beat your sister. It was hard to understand but it was apparently how he felt. She took a seat beside him.
“I’m sorry things haven’t worked out as smoothly as we hoped they would,” she said. “I didn’t expect it to be as hard as this.”
“Dad always said travelling would be hard.”
“But he never stopped telling us to keep moving. To keep going until we got somewhere safe. In the end, he knew he wasn’t going to see the apocalypse. He built the lodge for us. For you and me. So we would be warm and safe and have food and water, and weapons to protect ourselves with.” Katie extended her hand to her brother. “We’re in this together, right?”
Camden looked at her, smiled, and then took her hand. “In it together.”
Katie bent down conspiratorially. “All right, here’s my idea. I don’t think these bozos want to kill us. If they think we’re terrorists, they’ll question us or maybe even torture us.”
Darryl whimpered.
“But that’s not going to happen because we’ll be away from here before they can do anything to us.”
“How?” Camden said. “We’re on the back of a truck heading about sixty miles an hour.”
“Forty,” Katie said. “Maybe less.”
Darryl glanced over the side at the blurry tarmac whizzing past. “Looks a lot faster than that to me.”
It probably is but you don’t know it. “We won’t be going at this speed the whole time. Eventually, we’re going to slow down. There will be a blockage or a flood or a bunch of cars that people left by the side of the road. When that happens, we’ll jump out and run.”
“I’m not sure I like this idea,” Darryl said, unable to take his eyes off the blurry road below.
“They’ll chase us,” Camden said. “And they’ll probably catch us too.”
Katie nodded. “They will. But they don’t know these woods the way we do. They’ll have to divide up their force to catch us. That makes it easier for those who didn’t escape to try again. There aren’t many soldiers here. They’ll get stretched out too thin–”
“Watch out!”
It was the passenger in the cockpit who shouted.
Something travelled so fast Katie only caught it in her peripheries; a thin streak of light that zoomed under the first truck in their convoy. Half a dozen men leapt out of it just as the rocket exploded and slapped the truck aside, flipping it end over end. It landed in the middle of the road.
There weren’t many weapons that could do that to a truck that weighed a ton or more. A grenade, maybe. Or a rocket.
The next truck slammed on its brakes and swerved around the burning truck.
Another streak of light hissed, darting forward.
The men hopped out just as the second rocket struck the truck. Two men burst into flames, screaming as they dropped to the verge and rolled.
Then the gunfire started.
The bullets zipped past Katie’s ears and slammed into their UTV.
“Get out and run!” Katie bellowed. “Run!”
Darryl clamped his hands over his ears. “Where?”
“Anywhere but here!”
They hopped out.
The armed soldier in the front seat pointed his rifle at them. “Stay where you are! Get back on the truck now! Now!”
Not wanting a bullet in the back, they held their hands up, automatically leaning to one side to avoid the gunfire.
The soldier pressed forward. “Get on the ground! Get on the ground no–”
The man’s neck exploded, dousing Darryl with blood. The soldier floundered and hit the road face first.
Katie bent down to scoop up his rifle. She had to pry his fingers open to release his grip. His fingers were still twitching. She took his pistol and handed it to her brother. “Here.”
Camden stood, unmoving, staring as the man’s blood pooled from his body.
“Darryl. Take this.” Katie extended the man’s hunting knife but Darryl only stared at the blood caking his hands. “Darryl!”
He didn’t respond.
Katie hissed through her teeth. She used the blade to slice the sheath free. Then she slid the blade into its new home and tucked it in the back of her trousers.
“Let’s go.” She led them off the road and into the trees.
They reached the edge and crouched.
“Who are those people?” Darryl said, panting for oxygen.
“I don’t know. Good guys, bad guys. I have no idea.” Katie peered through the rifle’s sight and moved from one soldier to another. She didn’t fire – she’d have no chance of protecting those behind her if more than one of the soldiers tried to take her out. She saw that the soldiers had the same idea they did and dispersed into the thick cover beyond the trees, firing over their shoulders at the men bursting through their ranks.
Katie next focused on the UTVs carrying the rest of their group. She picked out Aaron’s graceful long-legged stride and the others racing to keep up with him.
“What the hell?” Katie said.
“What?” Camden said.
“They’re running toward the attackers.”
“Are you sure?”
“Have a look.” Katie handed the rifle over.
“Well, I’ll be.” Camden fiddled with the dials. “What do you think that means?”
“It means, you kiddies ought to come with us.”
They spun around. Camden brought the rifle up.
The figure grabbed the barrel in a small hand and shoved it upwards at the sky. “Be careful with that thing.”
It was a deep voice and one that shocked them all.
“Owain?” Katie said.
“The one and only.”
“What on Earth are you doing here?”
55
The majority of Owain’s men were out combing the forest, searching for stragglers and survivors from their attack. Every few minutes, distant gunfire erupted and blew someone else away.
Camden stepped forward to wrap his arms around Hannah but she shied away, embarrassed. Katie was pleased to see Aaron and her grandfather were okay, but they appeared only to have eyes for Owain.
And what eyes. They blazed with white-hot fury.
“What the hell is going on here?” Bill said.
Owain held up his hands. “Sit down and I’ll explain everything.”
“You’d better start explaining or I’m going to punch you in the face, no matter how small you are.”
“Okay.” Owain waited for Bill to take a seat but he wouldn’t. Instead, he prowled up and down the small clearing at the side of the road like a caged tiger.
“It’s our fault you’re in this mess,” Owain said. “You got picked up because they thought quad bike tracks led to your house. They didn’t. They led to ours. Ever since that day when your house exploded, we’ve been on your trail. When they finally turned around and started heading in our direction, we sensed something was up.”
“We’re in this shit because of you?” Bill clenched his giant hands into fists. He looked about ready to deck the little man.
Owain did not attempt to defend himself. None of his men did either. “I realize you’re angry–”
“Angry? You don’t know what angry is! You put our lives in danger. All our lives. Give me a good reason why I shouldn’t rip your heart out right now.”
Owain licked his lips. “I can’t. And I deserve everything you
might do to me but we’re working for something bigger than ourselves–”
“Cut the horseshit. Every time they sent us abroad it was ‘for a bigger cause.’ You know what that bigger cause was? Money. We were expendable, laying down our lives so they could improve their bottom line. That’s what war has ever been about. Money, power, greed.”
“You’re not wrong. Then or now. People are the same no matter whether the power is on or not.” Owain let out a deep breath. “We broke into the government’s emergency supply depots because they were never going to give it to the people.”
“And how could you know that?” Bill’s anger didn’t dissipate but his curiosity was aroused.
“I’m on the ham radio all day. I’ve known for years where the supposedly secret locations of their emergency reserves were. If there’s one thing the government never fails to do, it’s keep a secret.” He risked a smile.
Bill didn’t return it.
“There’s a team of us, all over the country. We share information about things. Most of the time, not very important things if truth be told. After the EMP struck, this became the most important piece of information we possessed. The supplies in the silos aren’t enough for the whole country. The government always cuts corners when it can and hopes for the best. Then the EMP hit and everything changed.”
“The government planned to start doling out the food reserves to those that needed it. Nothing was getting in or out of the country any longer, so the population needs to eat something. But they didn’t open the reserves. They haven’t been sharing it out amongst the people. Instead, they locked them up tighter than a nun’s arsehole – pardon me, kids. They were locking it away and had no intention of distributing it to the population.”
He had grandfather’s attention now. “Why not?”
“When money doesn’t mean anything anymore, when having the upper hand in the world markets ceases to be what allows you to control people, what replaces it? And remember, there always needs to be something that grants people power, no matter which part of history you live in. The few always dominate the many.”
The answer popped into Katie’s head the moment Owain asked the question. “Food. Water.”
Cut Off (Book 2): Cut Throat Page 18
