Another howl soared through the air, followed by something surprising. A cough. It was the sound of a human coughing. And then a laugh.
We looked at each other again. Whoever they were, they weren’t afraid to make sound in the darkness, unlike Infinity and me. We stared at each other for a long time. Finally I broke the silence with my whisper.
“What do we do?”
I could see Infinity’s silhouette in the darkness and she didn’t move, so I could tell she was thinking. When the howls began, the first thing I had wished for was a campfire. Now I was glad we didn’t have one. The real question was who was out there, and whether they knew where we were.
“We have the advantage of a high spot,” she whispered back to me. “We lie still at the edge and look to see what we can see. If they’re coming toward us, I guess we run.”
“Run?” I repeated hoarsely. “Run where?”
Infinity shrugged and I cringed. I was liking this plan less and less.
We pulled away from our sleeping bags and slid on our bellies to the edge of the plateau where we’d camped. We looked out at the grassy slope toward the river and the forest on the other side. I tried to control my breathing so that I wouldn’t make any more noise than necessary and watched the area below.
For a long few minutes we saw nothing. Even the howling had stopped. Then Infinity pulled at my sleeve and pointed to our left at the edge of trees two hundred yards away. I saw dark shapes coming out of the trees, some looking like people standing up, while others moved on four limbs, like animals. One capered around as if it were a monkey. I watched as they left the trees and counted, ten, then fifteen, and finally nineteen figures.
“Friend or foe?” I whispered.
In response, one of them threw back his head and howled again, and two others responded in kind. One of the figures standing up made a gesture and others unhooked those on all fours from a line of some sort. Immediately, six of the shapes on all four came galloping across the grass in our direction. They covered the open ground with amazing speed. The others trotted behind.
“I don’t think they’re friends,” Infinity muttered, and slid back to the camp, away from the edge. I followed.
“What do we do?” I asked.
“We run.”
I started to stuff my sleeping bag into my backpack, but Infinity stopped me.
“Leave it. Run,” she hissed.
I watched as she ran off the hilltop in the opposite direction from the howling figures. I hesitated, then ran after her.
The hill had been surrounded by low green grass in the direction we had arrived from. But the backside of the hilltop was covered by scrub brush with sharp spines that came up to our waist. It was one thing to wade through the brush during the daytime, but to do it in almost total darkness while being chased was unnerving. More than once I found myself at a dead end, surrounded by heavy brush and small trees that I couldn’t get through, and had to back up and try again. After ten minutes of wading through the brush, I realized that I’d lost Infinity.
“Finn!” I hissed. “Finn!”
“Over here,” she said. I followed her voice to the left and discovered that she was standing on a levee with a raised trail that must have been used for irrigation at one time. I climbed to the top and saw only darkness on the other side.
“Thank goodness we’re out of those bushes,” I said quietly.
I was rewarded with the sound of howling again, back in the direction we’d come from, and much closer this time. Infinity shoved me and we began running again.
It was a lot easier going on the top of the levee, but a full day of hiking in our condition had worn me out. I ran as fast and as far as I could, but soon I knew I was exhausted. I looked ahead of me and saw Finn’s feet scuffling along as well. We would have to come up with another plan before they caught us.
Infinity slowed to a stop, and I stopped too. I looked ahead of us. The irrigation canal that we’d been following disappeared, the dike we were standing on dropping below our feet. Beyond, about 20 feet away, we saw that it continued. But we’d have to climb down the embankment, mixed with dirt, boulders and broken concrete, and then back up the other side.
“Finn,” I gasped. “I can’t do it. Just let them take me back to the camp.”
“I don’t think those are soldiers,” Infinity said through heavy breathing. “I think those are the crazies Flo talked about. I’m not sure what they would do with us.”
“Crazies?” I echoed. “I don’t want to know. Come on, let’s go.”
I climbed down the broken embankment with Infinity at my heels. When I got to the bottom, I saw that a small road was off to our right. Beyond that was a small sign that read: “Despond, Tenn. Pop. 322.”
“This way,” I said over my shoulder, and stumbled down the road toward the small town.
It wasn’t much of a town. Harmony had been a wide place in the road; this one didn’t even merit a wide place. What it did have was water.
The road took us up a rise, and then down the other side into a small valley. At the bottom of the hill, in the valley, was what was left of Despond. The town, as far as we could tell, had been abandoned long ago, mostly because the town’s dam had broken and flooded the valley. The road we were on dropped down into the town center and disappeared into water. I didn’t hesitate as water met road, but began wading into the darkness.
“Ellie, wait,” Infinity said. “Are you sure about this?”
I turned, but kept walking.
“I’m sure,” I said. “Those things on all fours were tracking us. Nothing, not even a bloodhound can track you over water.”
Infinity was unsure, but she followed me anyway. I pushed through the water, which grew deeper and deeper as we pushed forward. Eventually we were swimming with broad breaststrokes in the darkness. We were about 50 yards out into the water when Infinity hissed behind me. I stopped swimming and tried to be quiet, turning back to look in the direction we had come.
In the darkness, I saw motion on the hillside we had come down. And I heard grunting and a little splashing. Then as we watched, other figures topped the hillside and followed the tracking figures. Then there was the sound of low voices.
“They’re out there. I can smell them.”
“Yeah, young ones. Ew-wee.”
“Pretty girls,” one of them said in a loud voice. “Pretty girls, won’t you come out and play?” The voice was followed by coarse laughter.
“Aw, come on, sweet things,” another one said. “I got something to show you.”
I tried hard to keep from making noise, and I was close enough to see Finn’s face. She wanted badly to scream at the men behind us. But somehow she’d learned how to hold her tongue, especially if it meant saving our lives.
We treaded water silently for a long while, realizing that they couldn’t see us. They knew we were close, but couldn’t tell where we were. And after a few minutes that began to piss them off. One began screaming, and then another. Finally their anger led them to fire their guns.
We watched as flames came from the rifles that were fired into the air. They were a lot closer to us than I’d thought, and I realized that sooner or later, they would begin shooting in our direction. Infinity had the same thought, and she grabbed my sleeve. Together, we swam to the back side of a rooftop that was nearby, our splashes covered by the gunfire.
We climbed onto the rooftop and rested against the wooden shingles, the night air filled with the sound of gunfire. We were both exhausted, but neither one of us could sleep. At least that’s what I thought.
When morning broke, we were still perched on the wooden rooftop. I woke up with the rising sun in my face, my legs still partially in the water. I looked up to see Infinity sitting on the roof a little higher on the incline. She smiled at me and gestured above us. I looked and saw a tower and a large cross on the top.
We had been saved by a church.
“I think it’s time to go,” Infinity whispere
d to me. “With the sun up, they’ll be able to find us.”
I nodded, sad to leave our sanctuary, but I knew Finn was right. She quietly waded into the water, and I followed her until we were both swimming again. I followed her, keeping the church between us and the men that were looking for us on the shore. I wasn’t even curious about what the men were doing. I just wanted to get as much distance as I could between us and them.
After about another 50 yards or so, Infinity stopped being worried about making noise and swam normally. The valley stretched from north to south, and I saw the road climb out of the water in the west. I gestured toward it, but Infinity shook her head.
“We’ve got to get back to the river,” she said. “That’s where Evangelist said he’d meet us.”
“Evangelist didn’t show last night,” I said. “What makes you think he’ll show up at all?”
“If he doesn’t, we’re pretty much screwed. But I think our best chance is the river.”
“But the road goes west….” I whined.
“And that’s what the demons will expect us to take. No, we follow the water to the south and find the river.”
I sighed, but agreed.
We continued swimming for a long time, and my arms grew heavier and heavier. Finally, when it seemed I couldn’t take another stroke, my foot touched the bottom.
“Hey, it’s shallower here,” I said.
Infinity nodded, then pointed to a clump of dead trees by the water.
“Over there.”
I pulled myself out of the water and threw myself down for a long minute to rest. When I’d taken my minute, I joined Infinity, who stood at the edge of the trees, looking in the direction we were headed. I realized that we were on a small island.
“Which direction now?” I asked.
“Downstream,” she said, still staring.
“Uh, Finn?”
“Yeah?”
“Look.” I pointed at a small wooden shingle similar to those that had been on the church roof. Instead of floating downstream, it swirled in the water beside our small island, never leaving.
“Which way is downstream?” Back to ToC
8. the lunatic fringe
DAMIEN: EASTERN TENNESSEE: DAY 715
I don’t know what I thought would happen when the revolution came. For years, Dad had filled my head—and those of his students—with tales from the American and French revolutions; stories of blood and death, yes, but mostly stories of courageous men who stood up to tyranny and made a new nation. That’s what he had been preaching to me; privately, of course. Even though this was the United States of America—or was—one could still get in trouble by saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.
Dad was politically active in those last days before the Event. He knew the right people. Dad was always like that. He always knew which side of the toast the butter was on. Somehow he knew that great things, frightening things were about to happen in our world, and he took advantage of that knowledge.
Looking back at it, I realized that his foreknowledge and ability to get in with the right crowd made all the difference in our survival. I was an officer—a lieutenant—and had people salute me every day, which still was hard to get used to. But the Old Man was none other than Colonel Apollyon, the Angel of Death.
After the Eastern Seaboard went down, we all moved to Ohio. Dayton, Ohio, to be exact. That’s where I spent most of my time, usually doing a little clerical work and as little as possible while avoiding the brass that came through on occasion. Dayton wasn’t Baltimore, but it was OK, especially since they had restored power, indoor plumbing and even an occasional movie at the local theater. While Dad traveled a lot, I was the official go-fer. My collar said I was a lieutenant, but real soldiers knew—just as I knew—that the closest I had ever been to a firefight was seeing jets fly over or watching a John Wayne movie.
So I was pretty surprised when Dad called me into his mobile HQ. It was a refurbished motor home, painted camouflage green with armor plating on the sides. The van was located in the Wal-Mart parking lot, with lots of military vehicles coming and going around the HQ. I stepped up to the two Asian soldiers who stood outside the entryway, responded when they saluted, and then gave one of them the written command I’d received. He read it briefly and nodded. He then opened the door and I climbed up the steps into the RV.
Dad was on the phone, as usual. Regular cell phone service had just recently come back for this part of the country, but use was monitored and restricted to the military. Dad sat at his desk in the back of the RV, barking out orders in Chinese. Most of the occupation forces already spoke English, but I suspect he was using his limited mastery of Mandarin to prove a point. I had to admit that he had picked it up pretty fast, and it was impressive.
He barked out one more statement, then hung up. He sat there staring at a map in front of him, for a long minute, apparently unaware that I was standing in front of him, waiting.
“Dad, you asked for me….”
“Stand at attention, lieutenant,” he said, his voice edgy. He continued staring at the map for another long moment, while I snapped to attention. Finally he looked up at me.
“And I told you to never call me Dad again,” he growled. “We can’t afford to show any sort of favoritism here. The Coalition is watching us. Be aware of that. We are in a precarious position here, and whether we succeed or fail depends on how they perceive us.”
I stood at attention, not acknowledging his statement, but recognizing the truth in it.
“Now,” he said, his voice softening. “I have a job for you.” He gestured for me to come closer and showed me a map of the Eastern United States that was spread out in front of him.
“I just received word that the General has plans for your little friend Infinity Richards. Remember her?”
I bit my lip and nodded. That was two years ago, and was part of many bad memories that I had tried to put behind me.
“She’s at that camp in Tennessee, isn’t she?” I asked, almost stammering.
“That’s where we left her, yes,” he responded, and I waited for the inevitable But that was to follow. “But she and her friend Ellie escaped with the help of an outside source, probably someone left over from Secret Service, or one of the National Guardsmen in the area. I suspect that they are headed west to join her father.”
“But…I thought she was drugged and under guard,” I said, shaking my head. “How could this happen?”
“That’s what I want you to find out,” he said, straightening up. “I am sending you to eastern Tennessee to talk to her friends there, find out where she went and to recapture her.”
Confused, I nodded.
“I know you haven’t done anything like this before, but you know her better than anyone else at my command. I am sending you with a squad of crack troops—Chinese—and an interrogator. Report back to me when you find out anything.”
He paused and looked out the window.
“Camp Zion is out there, and with it, her father. If we can use her to leverage her father, then we might have a weapon to end this war once and for all.”
I stared at my father for a long moment before snapping off a salute and heading out the door. Back to ToC
9. water, water everywhere
ELLIE: EASTERN TENNESSEE: DAY 715
“Still think leaving the backpacks behind was a good idea?” I stared at Finn sitting on the other side of our small island. The only thing we had was the wet clothes on our backs, and the fog and the chill didn’t show any signs of letting us dry out.
“Maybe…maybe we should build a fire,” Infinity said, her teeth chattering as much as mine.
“Not a good idea,” I said, shaking my head. “Those crazies are still looking for us. If they see the smoke or smell the campfire, they’ll be over here. Besides—.” I gestured around us. “Do you see any dry wood here?”
The island we had found was only about 20 feet across, and consisted of some dead cattails and one r
otten tree. I had already tried to gather up some wood from the tree and found that that whole trunk and its branches were waterlogged. Around us, the fog clung to us like a wet blanket.
I looked over at Finn, who sat at the water’s edge, her knees pulled up to her chest, her arms wrapped around herself, shivering. I shook my head and walked over to her. I sat on the ground behind her and wrapped my arms and legs around her.
“Don’t get the wrong idea here,” I murmured. “Just sharing some body warmth.”
“Thanks,” she whispered. I snuggled up to her and after a moment felt warmer. Her shivering started to die down, so I suspected she was warming up too.
Infinity and I stared off at the water and fog around us. Finally she smiled and laughed quietly.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
“Us,” she said. “Remember those days when we were afraid to eat chocolate cake because it would make us gain a few pounds? Well I wish I had those few pounds to keep me warm right now.”
“Pounds?” I responded. “I’d rather have the chocolate cake.”
We both laughed at that, and began to try to relax. After snuggling together for a little longer, I got up and walked around the island again.
“The island seems to get smaller every time I walk around it,” I said.
“You’re just bored,” Finn said. “This fog’ll clear soon enough, and then we’ll head west again.”
“West?” I echoed. “With what? It was scary when we had full packs and an armed Secret Service agent to protect us. Now we’ve got nothing. We can’t feed ourselves or even dry off our clothes!”
“Where else can we go?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” I said. “How about back to that town where the nice woman fed us the possum burger.”
“You do realize that the soldiers will come to that town eventually, looking for us.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. We can at least hide. There’s food there. And it’s dry.”
“But Evangelist—.”
“Forget about Evangelist,” I said. “He left us alone. We have to do what we need to to survive.”
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