“Mama’s callin’, captain,” Thomas quipped with the football in his hand.
“He’s got the ball,” Evan told the other troops. “Kick his ass for me.”
Thomas regretted opening his mouth. They were relentless against him after the continued to play. Evan picked up his sweat soaked shirt from the bleacher and headed to the tent. Inside waited his formal army uniform that August found for him.
“Wow, would you look at that,” Evan said of the uniform.
“Can’t believe you’re wearing that, can you?” Sarah asked.
“I honestly can’t. It blows my mind where we all are today.”
“Mark would be proud of you,” Sarah said.
“That uniform looks cooler than daddy’s,” Tracy said.
Evan and Sarah both looked at Tracy with concern.
“I don’t like police uniforms,” Tracy said.
“Tracy,” Sarah said. “Your dad died wearing that uniform.”
“That’s why I don’t like it,” Tracy countered.
“She has a point,” Evan said.
The tent fell silently for a little while. Evan put on the uniform when Sarah and Tracy gave him some privacy. It had silver-colored captain bars embroidered on a blue background on the rank sash. He noticed August had kept some of the achievement pins on the left-hand side of the chest.
“Knock, knock,” August said from the entrance.
“Come on in, August.”
“Holy crap,” August said once she saw Evan in uniform. “You are gorgeous in that thing.”
Evan gave her a smirk. August was wearing a female version of the uniform.
‘You look just as fine in yours,’ Evan thought.
“Those accommodations that I left on your uniform say you’ve accomplished certain things,” August said.
“Like,” Evan asked.
“This one here is for conduct. I have the same one. This one states you have led people during conflict. You, of all people, deserve that.”
“Thank you,” Evan said.
“You are twice the man your sister said you were, if not better,” August said. “Those men and women under you will grow to adore you. Wait, there’s something missing.”
The last part seemed to be a signal. Tracy walked in with a grin on her face.
“Hold out your hand, Uncle Evan,” Tracy said.
She placed into his hand a small name badge. It was silver with the name ‘Carter’ on it.
“Daddy use to wear it,” Tracy said. “It’s yours now, for your uniform.”
Evan knelt down to hug his niece.
“Thank you, sweetie,” Evan said.
He let Tracy place the badge on his pocket flap.
Eric walked in with Sarah and Marcus.
“Looking sharp, Evan,” Eric said.
“Thanks, Eric,” Eric replied.
“He’ll be here soon,” Eric told Sarah and the captains. “The troops are getting ready after their game. They did a number on Lieutenant Richardson.”
“We’ve decided we’re going to give him safe haven,” Sarah said. “That’s if he shows remorse for the brutality he inflicted on all those people.”
“Lieutenant Greene says he’s struggling with it,” Evan said. “He assured me that Arthur isn’t the kind of man who’d knowingly hurt Americans.”
Cameron came into the tent.
“He’s incoming,” Cameron said. “He’s a few miles out yet, but he’ll hit the first checkpoint on Chrysler within minutes.”
“Thanks bud,” Evan said.
“Who the hell are you, and what have you done to Evan Carter?” Cameron said jokingly.
“I ate him,” Evan replied.
“You look good, brother,” Cameron said.
They all left the tent to wait for the colonel. It was a tense wait. Eric had spent nearly the first week killing men like Arthur Hummsfeld. Those men were simply unremorseful for their acts of genocide.
“Evan,” Eric said in a whisper. Evan looked at the general. “I really hope this guy comes through.”
“If he does, he should step away,” Evan replied in just above a whisper. “He needs to go. He needs to live the rest of his life away from this. Not in the militia.”
“You truly feel that way?” Eric asked.
“Yeah, think about it,” Evan said. “If he continues to live this life, he may slip. He carries a mental burden that will likely eat away at him.”
Eric appeared to think over Evan’s words.
“Ok, we’ll work with that,” Eric said.
When the colonel arrived, he came in a fully armored Humvee with a gunnery station. The Humvee was flanked on all sides by smaller civilian vehicles. The vehicles came to a stop after driving to the opposite side of the stadium.
“Attention!” Marcus yelled.
A line of soldiers stood on each side of the sidewalk. They placed their rifles on their right shoulders with a clatter. It was a great display.
On one side of the sidewalk, Eric stood. On each side, two captains stood with him. Cameron stood next to Sarah, with Tracy in front of her. Byron joined Arthur on his right side. They walked toward the welcoming congregation before them. Arthur glanced at the soldiers on each side. He also looked at the tower behind Eric’s party where Gina sat.
‘He’s not wearing a uniform,’ Evan thought. ‘Why is Byron in one?’
Arthur walked with a long stride until he stood in front of Eric. He extended his hand for Eric to take it. After Eric showed some civility toward Arthur, the colonel shook his captain’s hands.
Evan released a sigh of relief. He wasn’t sure if Eric had a secret motive to kill the colonel right then. Evan figured Eric was a better man than that, and he was right.
Arthur hugged August. He appeared relieved that she was there.
“About time we got to meet,” Arthur said. He seemed rather jovial from the start. “Leading a shitload of those lifeless bastards takes a lot of time and patience, but they’re in their new home.”
“I’m rather shocked you decided to do that,” Eric said.
“Something has to be done about that guy,” Arthur said.
“You mean Joseph,” Eric asked.
“Yeah, that guy. I know you all think I’m in his boat. I can assure you that I am not.”
“We’ll give you the benefit of a doubt,” Eric stated.
“You’re a general?” Arthur asked as looked over Eric’s uniform.
“I’m the chief commander of the New Detroit Militia,” Eric replied.
“Very interesting,” Byron said. “Does that mean you abandoned the army?”
“It’s more like they abandoned us,” Sarah said. “Eric serves the people who need protection. We have a community of survivors who just want to hide from this world.”
“And people like Joseph Spelasky,” Eric said.
“I’m dropping out of this race,” Arthur said. “I need out, and I ask for refuge.”
“I thought so,” Evan said.
Eric glanced at Evan.
“Byron will take my place,” Arthur said. “I leave all that I have left of a command to you, General.”
Arthur held out his hand to shake Eric’s. As soon as the two hands met, Arthur’s head violently jerked sideways unnaturally. He then had a blank look on his face before he fell to the ground. Blood started to gush from a bullet’s entry wound. Evan grabbed Eric and Sarah to pull them behind a Humvee that was parked behind the line of soldiers. Soldiers dashed into defensive positions.
“Where did that shot come from?” Eric yelled.
Evan forced himself to look at the back of Arthur’s head. He looked across the road in the direction he thought the bullet may have come from.
“Eric, there,” Evan said. He pointed at an apartment complex across the road.
“Everyone go!” Eric said.
Soldiers scrambled into the Humvees. They drove in the direction Evan pointed to. With the chaos, Joseph hoped down off a balcony in a
soldier’s uniform. He ran among the troops to act as if he was searching for a shooter. He raised his gun to shoot at an invisible target. After he squeezed his trigger, he called out for the other’s attention.
“I think I got something,” Joseph yelled. He pointed in the opposite direction he wanted to go. When the other dozen soldiers in the area went to investigate, he made his move to escape.
After a few hours of searching, the troops realized they lost the shooter. Some recalled a man who shot at something, then tricked them into going after nothing.
Byron was devastated. He sat by the colonel’s body for some time after the search was called off. Two medics took the body back to Selfridge to be buried. Evan sat against the tent’s back wall next to Byron, who was clearly distraught.
“This is on that captain,” Eric said. “That son of a bitch is good.”
“How did he get by all those shamblers?” August asked.
“His men were there, but maybe he wasn’t,” Eric said.
“He’s cut off from his men?” Eric asked. “Byron, I need you t answer me. Were his men still in Flint?”
“Yes,” Byron said. “He’s not with his men. He has one man with him.”
“How many are in Flint?” Eric asked.
“Twenty maybe,” Byron said. “He’s suffered a lot of attrition. He’s had a lot more desertions than Arthur. They are going to starve in there.”
“Don’t they know how to destroy shamblers?” August asked.
“Maybe they can kill a few at a time,” Byron said. “But they are running out of ammunition, and they don’t have many weapon choices. Leading those things on them will eventually kill them. They would do better taking a bullet than they would try and get out of there alive.”
“He could try and recruit,” Evan said. “Dammit, he should have been in there too.”
“We need to know where there might be other soldiers like him, Byron,” August said.
“The Saginaw camp’s platoon went to Lake Margrethe. He likely won’t get too many of them to join him. They are casting themselves away from the world.”
“We can’t take that chance,” Eric said. “How many people are there?”
“What are you planning on doing?” Sarah asked.
“They are condemned,” Eric said. “We need to make sure they stay out of this.”
“No more violence,” Sarah stated sharply.
“We’ll go there and see what’s going on,” Eric said. “They have to know we’re going to protect you all, no matter what.”
“He’s right,” Evan said. “Maybe we can convince them to keep Spelasky away.”
“Evan, you go,” Eric said. “You’re good at talking to people.”
Evan was rocked. He thought Sarah would have asked him to go instead of Eric.
“Cameron, will you go with me?” Evan asked.
“You don’t even need to ask, brother,” Cameron replied.
“I’m going to take Mandy too,” Evan said. “Sarah, can you watch Matt?”
“Of course,” Sarah said.
“Byron, do you want to come?” Evan asked.
“I will do whatever you want from me, as long as I’m the one that puts a bullet in Joseph’s head.”
Evan looked at Eric to get him to promise.
“It will be your bullet to end him,” Eric said.
Evan changed into his new camouflage. Matt leaned against his doorway while Evan prepped his rifle.
“I can’t go?” Matt asked.
“Not this time,” Evan said.
Matt appeared to mull over the words without looking like he was pouting.
“So, maybe when my hip gets better then,” Matt said.
“You’ll help me on missions against biters,” Evan replied. “Not against people who are in the military and hate survivors. I will not place you in front of cross hairs.”
“Fine,” Matt groaned. “Do you want to take the ‘Honor Blade’?”
Evan nodded at Matt with a smile. He knew the boy wanted to help.
“When I get back, we’ll finish your walls,” Evan said. “You got one full wall done by yourself. I’m impressed.”
“Thanks,” Matt said. “I’ll wait until you get back.”
“You could start organizing your collection,” Evan suggested. “I have an app on my phone that might work still. It lets you inventory things.”
“Sweet,” Matt said. “How long will you be gone?”
“Could be a few days,” Evan said. “We’re going a ways north. Sarah will watch over you while I’m gone. Make sure you keep helping Thomas with the vegetable gardens.”
“Yes sir,” Matt said.
Evan gathered his gear to leave. Before he got to the door, Matt hugged him tightly. Evan hugged him back. Matt gave him the blade after Evan opened the door.
“See you soon, Matt.”
“So you’re a captain,” Byron said. “When did that happen?”
“Not too long ago,” Evan replied. “I’m not used to it.”
“From a civilian to a captain,” Byron stated. Evan thought he heard Byron scoff.
Cameron drove the Humvee. Mandy sat reading a book with a small flashlight behind Evan. Gina sat between Byron and Mandy below the fifty caliber machine gun.
“Leave the talking to me,” Byron said. “I’m not so sure about these other civilians with us.”
“We can handle ourselves,” Cameron said.
“Unless they are screwing each other up there,” Mandy said. “You’d think they would lighten up on the whole civ-hating thing.”
“That whole mental image is nasty,” Gina said. “Thanks Mandy.”
“They’re human, aren’t they?” Mandy went on. “They’ll eventually want to have a family, but with the way things stand. They’ll have to share a few female soldiers? Yuck!”
“She has a valid point,” Evan said.
“I know she does,” Byron said. “Every one of the troops still under Arthur had that on their minds. He wasn’t going to deny them of that.”
“So maybe these soldiers up there will be ok looking at couple hotties,” Mandy quipped. “You’re hot too.”
“Thanks,” Cameron said. “I think.”
Evan saw Mandy mouth something about Cameron to Gina, who smirked. Evan smirked when he looked at Cameron.
“All of these abandoned cars heading back to Detroit,” Evan said as glints of metal wrapped in darkness drifted by on the other side of the interstate.
“All of those lost souls out in that darkness,” Cameron said. “Wandering around, looking for food, living in death.”
“We’ll never get rid of everyone of them,” Evan said.
“Has any of it hit you yet?” Cameron asked.
“I’ve accepted that Colleen and the kids are gone, and Mark,” Evan replied. “This is our life now.”
“There’s something we need to talk about,” Cameron said. “You know that my father is back, with my best friend.”
“They came back a few days ago,” Evan said.
“I never told you where they went,” Cameron said. “We have a lot of land out in Wyoming. The Talltree family is one of the richest Native American families in the country. We made a lot of money in making medicine for poorer hospitals. We made all kinds of medicine for pharmaceutical companies that were being choked by larger ones. War torn countries came to us. We made the medicine on that land.”
“Holy crap,” Gina said. “You were saying something about that in Kearney.”
“We have all of it here now,” Cameron said. “We don’t have a place to set it up.”
“Nikki also needs a hospital,” Evan said. “I’ve been thinking about that a lot. Tell you what, when we get back from this run, we’ll lead a few squads to clear out Beaumont Hospital. Harper is most likely gone. Beaumont is close enough to FW.”
“You’re willing to do that?” Cameron asked.
“Of course I am,” Evan said. “Don’t let this uniform fool you. Yo
u are my friend, and I’ll use my new job to do what’s right. We need that hospital.”
Cameron was speechless.
“Byron,” Evan said. “I’m also going to talk to Eric about giving you five squads from the reserves to cover the north side of Detroit.”
He wasn’t sure if Byron was listening or not. The man simply looked into the darkness outside the Humvee’s window. Evan thought Byron was thinking about Arthur. Evan looked back at Mandy, who gave him a soft smile.
An hour later, Mandy, Byron and Gina were asleep. Gina had slumped against Mandy, her head using Mandy’s shoulder as a pillow.
“You said your family was rich?” Evan asked. “What about the rest of the Sioux?”
“We were outcasts of the tribe because we decided to help white people, since my ancestor by the name “Connie.” Her real name was Afraid-of-Tall-Trees.
Evan laughed at the irony of the name.
“Nice play,” Evan said, still laughing.
“I have a good story about her if you’d like to hear it,” Cameron said.
“I would love to,” Evan said.
His decision to listen to the story awarded him more respect from Cameron.
Nearly a decade before the American civil war started, a group of white settlers got sick from a really bad case of the flu. Connie disregarded her father’s wishes to help them. Because of her, not a person was lost. Those people were forever grateful. The Sioux were furious. They threw her out of the tribe. Her father loved Connie more than anyone. He left with her. This left the tribe without a medicine man. Shortly after, the tribe was struck with a severe outbreak of small pox.”
“Talk about karma,” Evan said.
“It was definitely a message from Wakan Tanka. Connie and True-Breeze-in-the-Grass, her father, went with those settlers westward. The settlers found perfect land for themselves, but it was on Shoshone land. The settlers came up with a deal and they were allowed to stay. They started a building a small place where Riverton stands. Connie and True started to make medicine for the people who got sick, they helped deliver children, and they were welcome by the Shoshone.”
“They bought the land in Wyoming to continue their work,” Evan said. “You come from a long line of humanitarians. It sucks about the Sioux though.”
“We have support from the very small group of traditionalists. Sandra, who’s going to marry my friend, Steve, was the current head of AIM. We worked together for some time. I grew up resenting the others on the reservation. They didn’t want to help themselves, so we couldn’t help them.”
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