by Ryan King
“They took everything?” asked Joshua.
“What they could,” answered Billy. “The rest they doused in fuel and set alight. There was a huge fireball that burned for several days. Thankfully, they took all the ammo and explosives instead of burning it. People in the area had to come and put the fire out before it burned the forests and fields around there. If not for the fire, it probably would have been longer before anyone knew.”
“People said they saw a tall blond fellow leading them,” said Susan. “There’s been rumors of a new military leader down there. Someone capable and ruthless. They call him Reaper.”
“Tall and blond, you say?” said Conrad, looking at Joshua expectantly.
“So, if I understand correctly,” said Billy, “your government is trying to discover if Huntsville is a threat to you.”
“That’s about right,” answered Joshua.
“And what if you decide it is? What then?”
“That’s for the leaders to decide,” said Joshua. “I just gather information.”
“Well, if there is to be another war,” said Billy, pouring himself another cup of chicory, “tell your leaders not to just expect to come through our lands or get our support for nothing. We’re allies, but that only goes so far.”
A rider raced up and stared at them meaningfully.
“Yes, Don?” said Billy.
“We found some people we think you’re going to want to talk to. The prophetess especially. One of them knows about a government bunker like the one she came from in North Dakota.”
Billy looked at him in exasperation and cut his eyes to Joshua and Conrad.
Don seemed to notice the visitors for the first time. “Oh, sorry.”
“I’d love to hear what they have to say,” said Conrad.
“Me too,” said Joshua.
Billy sighed. “Bring them here.”
Within a few minutes, a small dark woman, a serious man, and a black giant were escorted up to them.
“Holy sasquatch,” said Conrad, staring at Trailer.
“Look who’s talking,” answered Trailer, glaring back at him.
“Welcome, I am Billy Fox, Chief of the Creek Nation.” Billy turned to the others. “This is Susan, my advisor, and Joshua and Conrad, two visitors from the JP.”
“The JP?” said Simon. “That’s where we’re trying to go.”
“First things first,” said Billy. “Tell us your story and start with who you are.”
They each introduced themselves, and Simon then told them about the bunker and the people there. Simon told them how he knew about the bunker and Cheyenne Mountain. He described their situation and the need to find a new home before the fuel ran out.
“He said they have lots more rifles like this,” said Don, holding up Simon’s assault rifle.
“Is that true?” asked Billy.
Simon nodded. “Not just rifles. Everything.”
“Where is it?” asked Joshua.
“Don’t answer that,” said Trailer. “Remember how to negotiate.”
“Maybe you should stay out of this,” Conrad told Trailer.
“Maybe I should,” Trailer answered, leaning forward on his cudgel, “but I won’t.”
Joshua stared at them each in turn. “So you’re looking for a new home for about twenty people and, in exchange, you’ll let us have what’s in your bunker?”
“Twenty-two,” said Simon. “The deal has to include Jessica and Trailer as well.”
Jessica turned to him in surprise and put her hand on his arm.
“That’s mighty kind,” said Trailer. “I’ll need to check out the nightlife there before making a final decision.”
“Why not come live with us?” said Billy Fox.
“What?” asked Simon and Joshua at the same time.
“Why limit your options?” asked Billy. “We can give you a new home as well. Offer us the same deal.”
“Now just wait a minute,” said Joshua. “What are you trying to do here?”
“What are you trying to do?” asked Billy. “You are our guests sitting on Creek land talking to Creek prisoners.”
“Is that what we are?” asked Jessica.
“Are you threatening us?” asked Conrad.
“Everyone!” yelled Susan loudly. “Let’s all relax and talk this through. I’d like to propose a compromise.”
“Sure,” said Joshua.
Billy Fox nodded.
“Why don’t we leave the choice up to our guests, but...we agree ahead of time that no matter what the decision is, we will split everything evenly. It sounds like there is plenty for everyone…assuming their story is true. Also, you’re going to probably need the Creek to help you transport everything anyway. You’re not going to get an eight millimeter mortar’s base plate a hundred miles on a ten speed.”
Conrad whistled. “Look who knows her artillery.”
“I was a military officer,” Susan said, glaring at Conrad. She turned to Joshua. “What do you say? I think it’s more than fair.”
Joshua looked at Conrad, who shrugged. He turned back to Billy and Susan. “I’m not really in a position to obligate my government to anything.”
“You better be,” said Billy, “or we’ll take it all.”
Joshua sighed. “Okay then, I guess we’ve got a deal.”
“Okay,” said Billy, nodding.
“If we’re done with all the haggling,” said Jessica, “I for one want to go to the JP.”
Simon looked at her for a second. “Me and my people as well.”
“Can I do both?” asked Trailer. “I am a guide, after all. It would really make things easier for me.”
Billy shook his head and sighed. “Sure.”
“Really?” asked Trailer, smiling. “I was just joking. I didn’t expect you to agree. Does that mean I’m a Creek now?”
“We should all go together to Simon’s bunker as soon as possible,” Billy said, ignoring the big man. “It sounds like those people there would be in a very dire situation the minute the fuel goes bad.”
“And we might not be able to get in and get the goodies once the power goes out,” grumbled Conrad.
“We still have a mission,” said Joshua, looking at Conrad. “Huntsville?”
“I’d say that’s on hold for now,” said Billy. “You can always check it out when you get back...unless you’re okay with us going to the bunker without you.”
Joshua hesitated before finally answering. “No, Huntsville can wait.”
“Okay,” said Billy, “I suggest everyone leave first thing tomorrow for Mississippi.”
“I’m not going back there,” said Jessica. “You all can go if you want, but not me.”
“I have to send some of my men north anyway to report this,” said Joshua. “You can go with them if you want. You’ll be safe.”
The girl nodded to him gratefully.
“What about you, big man?” said Conrad, looking at Trailer. “What are your plans?”
Trailer smiled. “I think I’ll ride this out. It’s starting to get interesting. Besides, I bet they got new clothes in that bunker in even my size.”
Everyone agreed and moved away to plan for their various trips.
Billy Fox turned to Susan. “I knew Chicoca was right about you.”
She hardly heard him. It was visions she had seen in the smoke that kept haunting her mind.
Chapter 18- Innocence
Nathan burst through the front door of their home in New Harvest. He had managed to find someone with a functioning vehicle willing to drive him. Even so, it had been nearly two hours to get home since he had talked to his mother.
“Where is she?” he asked.
His mother and Alexandra looked at him with blank faces.
“Is she in there?” he asked, pointing towards their bedroom. When they didn’t answer, he began moving in that direction.
His mother stepped in front of him. “Son.”
“Just let me see her, please.�
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She dropped her head and stepped aside. Nathan walked into the bedroom they had shared since surviving the trek back home from Maryland.
Bethany lay there. Still and lifeless. Somehow beautiful even in death but obviously not there anymore.
“No.” Nathan backed away, shaking his head.
His mother put her hand on his shoulder. “Son, you need to—”
He slapped her hand away angrily. “Don’t touch me!”
Nathan strode through the house and out the front door. He walked down to the waterfront and just stood there, staring out over the water. It felt as if a weight pressed on his chest and he couldn’t catch his breath.
Nathan remembered how they first met and the birth of each child. Their wedding day and when they would lose their first baby, Caleb, together. All the deployments and hardships and worry and loss they had been through together and how they had loved each other. Their last conversation started playing itself in his head. He remembered how she had asked for his company and his comfort—hell, simply his presence—and he had dismissed her. His wife and friend, who he had counted on for most of his life, who had never let him down, had died without him. Because of what? Vanity? Self-importance? Putting others before his family?
He drew in breath and screamed as loud as he could out over the water. Drawing in breath, he did it again and felt like he could now breathe. Nathan sank down to his knees and cried.
His mother’s arms were suddenly around him, and he didn’t push her away this time. They cried together and held each other for a very long time.
Finally, his mother said, “I know it’s hard, but you need to go in and say goodbye to her.”
Nathan shook his head. “I don’t know how.”
“Yes, you do,” she said, pulling him towards the house. “I’ll be with you. Come on.”
He walked carefully into the house and then their room. Even in the time that he had been away, she had seemed to diminish and no longer had that essence of residual vitality. She now looked dead. It was the body of his beloved wife, but it wasn’t her. Bethany was no longer with them. Just a stack of inert mass: decaying muscle, organs, and bones.
His Bethany was gone.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “Not just for this, but for everything. I’m so sorry.” He wanted to cry again but found that he couldn’t.
He turned to his mother. “Did she suffer?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think so. She was in and out of consciousness and delirium most of the time.”
“Did she say anything?”
“She said plenty of things.”
Nathan closed his eyes and breathed deeply. “Did she say anything for me?”
His mother took his hands in both of hers. “She said, ‘Tell Nathan to take care of the family.’”
“That’s all?”
His mother nodded.
Nathan turned to find Alexandra holding a sleeping River. She handed the baby over to Nathan, who took her gently.
He gazed down into the sleeping innocent face. Some of the pain and emptiness slipped away as he held his daughter.
What is it about babies and little things that call out to our hearts? he wondered. He stared and realized it was their innocence. Innocence in all its forms is beautiful to us. It is the purest form of beauty and goodness. That is why it should be protected.
“I’m here for you,” he whispered to River. “I’ll always be here for you. I promise.”
His mother pulled the sheet up to cover Bethany’s face.
Part II
Approaching Night
Chapter 1 – The Monster
The last week had been a nightmare for Erik Sessions. Who would have thought things could be worse than the problems they were already experiencing…before Vincent Lacert.
You caused this, he thought and pushed the thought away. Not because it wasn’t true, but because it wouldn’t help them at this point.
Vincent Lacert is a monster, he found himself thinking with surprise. I invited a monster to take over.
But he took great pains to hide those thoughts. It was imperative for their survival, as he saw it, that Vincent believed he was a cowed dog. Which he was most of the time, he admitted, but he did have his moments.
It had been only a few days since Vincent’s coup. Erik had heard rumors of executions but didn’t know if they were real or not. He suspected they were. Vincent had not been acting when he came into his office that day with the body bag and mop bucket. Tensions were high when Vincent explained to him the problem with his several dozen tactical nuclear weapons. They wouldn’t go boom, and he needed to find a way to make them operable again.
“Of course I will help,” Erik had told him. “I’ll put my best people on it.”
And he had. People he could trust. They had determined that it would be a relatively minor affair to fix the bombs. The intricate firing mechanisms based on multiple safety procedures was missing, but it would be simple enough to design a rudimentary explosive trigger to start the catastrophic chain reaction.
“That’s not what we’re here to do,” Erik had told them in a whisper, even though they were alone. “We can’t allow that madman to get his hands on a nuclear bomb. We need to render them all permanently inoperable. Then, we need to give our very best acting performance and explain why they were already too far damaged to fix. Everyone understand?”
They did. Now it was time to play their parts. He had given them three days and that time was up.
Vincent sent a soldier to get Erik from his office, who escorted him to Laboratory 5A. It was actually more like a very sterile airplane hangar with lots of work benches and sophisticated machinery. Twenty-three tables sat in the middle of the hanger, and on each of them rested a dissected tactical nuke.
Turning from one of the tables as Erik walked in, Vincent pointed an angry finger at him. He looked calm, but his lips were tight and his eyes flashed even icier blue than normal.
“This is not what I expected,” he said, his voice rising. “This is not what I wanted.”
“What’s wrong?” asked Erik as innocently as he could.
“What’s wrong?” Vincent pointed at the host of pale-faced scientists and engineers around him. “They’re telling me none of these can be made to work again.”
“Is that true?” Erik asked them, and they nodded.
Erik sighed and shook his head. “Nuclear devices are sensitive. It doesn’t surprise me that they couldn’t be repaired. They’re not made to be messed with once assembled.”
“You told me you would put your best people on this.”
“I did. These are the best of the best.”
“Really?” Vincent walked over and grabbed a small thin man by the lapel of his jacket. He dragged the man to stand near the nuclear carcass on the nearest table. “Tell me exactly what it was that you did. Tell me why it is impossible to make it work. Use small words for an idiot like me.”
The man tried, but there was a reason Einstein wasn’t a Hollywood star except for the hair. The technician stammered and kept looking at Erik for help.
“Come on,” said Erik, stepping forward. “You’re scaring the snot out of him. He can hardly even talk.”
“Don’t move!” yelled Vincent, pointing at Erik.
Erik heard shuffling around him and turned to find there were soldiers in the corners of the room. This is not good.
Vincent stared at him, hard. He then looked at the other scientists around the room. He noticed the tight faces that kept coming back to Erik. He saw the beads of sweat rolling down faces in the cool hangar.
“You have good cause to be scared,” Vincent whispered to the man in his grasp. “I’m not fond of my people failing me. That really makes me angry, but there is something that is far worse. Something that I simply cannot tolerate. Do you know what that is?”
The man shook his head.
“Disloyalty,” Vincent said while looking at Erik. He then turned to gaze ar
ound the room. “I’m going to give all of you one chance to tell the truth. There will only be one, and the consequences for lying to me will be dire. Not just for you, but for your families.”
“Vince,” said Erik, stepping forward, “what are you doing?”
“My name is not Vince!” he yelled at Erik, stopping the man in his tracks.
He turned back to the scientist in his grasp and pulled the knife from his belt. He laid it casually just beneath the man’s left eye. The small figure began to tremble and whimper.
“Nod up and down for yes and left to right for no,” said Vincent, looked at the scientists gathered around him. “Anyone who doesn’t answer, or hesitates in answering, will lose an eye. Everyone understand?”
Twenty heads went up and down.
“Did Erik Sessions tell you to sabotage these bombs?”
No one answered immediately.
Vincent pressed the edge of the knife under the man’s eye and he screamed. “Yes! Yes, he did!” He pushed the sobbing man to the floor and looked around at the scientists meaningfully.
They all began to slowly and shamefully nod.
Vincent turned to Erik and shook his head in astonishment. “Why?”
“Why? Why would I not provide a crazy madman two dozen nuclear weapons? Isn’t it obvious?”
Vincent pointed his knife towards the outside. “The world is already trashed. What’s a few more nukes matter? I might not even use them.”
“You would use them,” Erik said. “Your type can’t help themselves.”
“That’s true,” said Vincent with a smile. He looked around the room, and his eyes settled on a thick insulated cable about an inch thick and six feet long. Each end contained a metal coupler. Vincent pulled it off a rack and walked towards Erik.
The director began to back away but bumped into several soldiers. They grabbed his arms and held him in place.
Vincent swept the remnants of a tactical nuke roughly onto the floor. “Right here’s fine,” he told the soldiers. “Tie him down.”
Erik struggled as they bent him over the table and tied his wrists to the far edge of the table and his legs to the supports nearest him.
