by T A Williams
Ben
A low rumbling began in the far distance and echoed throughout the empty city. The rumbling became louder and louder and soon a convoy of Chinese Humvees appeared in the distance. It wasn’t the first time these Humvees had made their way down this road. Shortly after taking over the city the Chinese had begun to strike out from their main base, and this meant shipping supplies from one place to the other. This road had become one of their main supply routes. Ben sat back from the window, making sure to keep his distance. The convoy consisted of one Humvee in the front and another in the back, both with men on top manning a machine gun. In the middle of the convoy were three large transport trucks.
Ben wasn’t sure what he had wanted prior to the power going out. He had been content with living in his own little fantasy world. Alec was considered the man of the house, Ally was the girl and Joseph was the baby. He had never really fit in, not that he had really wanted to. He had always been ok doing his own thing. All of that would have changed one day. He would have had to find his own place at some point and he wasn’t sure what route he would have taken. That choice had ultimately been taken from him, along with his family, when the world went black. Some of the soldiers believed it was the Chinese that caused the power to go out. That they had hit them and then waited for the country to fall into chaos before they swept in and took everything over. Some of the other soldiers didn’t believe that; they thought the Chinese were simply taking advantage of the situation. Ben didn’t care. He didn’t care who caused the power to go out, he just knew it had. He didn’t care why the Chinese had invaded their country, he just knew they were there.
The convoy crested the hill and began to make its way down the street toward them. Ben looked over his gun, confirmed the magazine was in tight, confirmed he had spare magazines close at hand and then clicked off the safety. The why and how of things might be important to others but it didn’t change where he was now.
As the convoys passed directly under their window the street exploded. The first of their charges hit the Humvee in the very front. The middle of the vehicle disappeared into a fiery ball with the first explosion. The second and last explosion took out the Humvee traveling in the very rear. The force of the blasts caused some of the nearby windows to shatter but Ben had already shattered his. He swung around to the window and as the soldiers began to pile out of the transports he opened fire along with the rest of the soldiers. Some were on the same floor as him, others were across the street, and Reaper and Ghost were on the street where they had activated the charges. The shockwave of the explosions had disoriented the enemy soldiers. Some of them merely stumbled along the street, making for easy targets. The same could be said for the injured ones. The ones that still had their wits about them and managed to get out of the killing zone were taken out by either Reaper or Ghost. In less than a minute it was all over. The once-empty street was now filled with fiery wreckage and bloodied bodies.
Ben reloaded his gun and headed out of the building toward their rendezvous point. As he stepped out of his building and onto the sidewalk he noticed a single snowflake fall from above and hit the ground in front of him. Several more soon followed. He looked from the snowflakes to the burning wreckage not far away. It didn’t matter to him why they came to New York, it didn’t even matter to him why they had come down this very street, all that mattered was that they were now nothing more than additional ruins to decorate this city. Ben turned from the area and trotted toward safety.
The first battle in the new war had been won.
Ally
Ally smiled and did everything she could to bite back a laugh. Coby, on the other hand, was laughing so hard he was crying. Adam rode ahead of them and was dangling sideways off the saddle, bouncing all the way. Coby continued to giggle and hid his face in the back of Dena, who much to Ally’s surprise, also had a small smile on her face. Adam continued to slide further and further until he fell out of the saddle and flopped onto the ground, causing Coby to let out a squeal of joy. Adam’s horse walked a few more feet and then stopped.
“Daddy, you’re dumb,” Coby said as he tried to catch his breath.
Adam straightened his glasses and looked up with a goofy smile on his face. “I told you I forgot how to ride a horse.” He got up, dusted himself off and then walked over to his horse. The man put his foot in the stirrup and pulled himself halfway up, where he just stopped and pretended he didn’t know what to do next.
“Dad!” Coby squealed.
Ally watched as Dena looked off in the distance and the small smile crumbled away. “Adam, we need to go. We’re wasting time.”
Adam’s smile also disappeared but was replaced by a forced one. “Of course.”
“But we were having fun, Mom,” Coby grumbled.
“We’re nearly there,” Dena said and spurred her horse forward.
They moved ahead, still avoiding the main highway, but they still kept within sight of it. It made following the map easier.
“Hey Ally,” Coby said as her horse pulled up alongside him.
“What’s up?” Ally asked, slightly surprised the boy was talking to her. The boy hadn’t said more than a few words to her since the incident with Spence.
“Did you like going to school?”
Ally thought back and it felt like a different lifetime. Now when she thought about school she thought about all the useful supplies she could probably find there. But she dug further back and memories of recess and playing with her friends began to surface. “Yeah, I used to like it a lot.”
Coby wrinkled up his nose. “Really? You liked school? You’re weird.”
She laughed. “I’m not weird. You didn’t like playing with your friends?”
“Yeah, but I could play with them at home. I didn’t need to go to school to play with them.”
“Now Coby, don’t say that, you used to like going to school to learn,” Dena said, glancing back at him.
Coby rolled his eyes and they continued traveling in silence for a few minutes. Finally the curiosity got the better of her.
“Why did you ask?”
Coby shrugged his shoulders. “Just because. I didn’t use to like school but I kind of miss it. Does that make me weird?”
“No,” Ally said. “I still think you are weird but not because of that.”
Coby smiled and laid his head on Dena’s back.
The sound of vehicles in the distance made their way to them. Ally looked back and could see a line of Humvees in the distance. They were on a hill that overlooked the highway and it was unlikely that whoever was driving the vehicles would notice them; regardless, they led the horses farther away from the highway and stopped.
“How many are there?” Coby asked.
No one answered. Instead they waited until the Humvees got closer and then they could make out five driving in single file, heading toward the coast. Ally strained her eyes but couldn’t make out any markings on the Humvees, she wasn’t sure if they were the good guys or the bad soldiers. She sat on her horse watching as the Humvees traveled down the road and was about to turn away when there was a loud shriek and the middle Humvee exploded into a ball of fire. Her horse reared up and it was all Ally could do to stay on its back. The reins dug into her hands as she clutched onto them for dear life and just as her horse began to calm down there was another shriek, followed by another explosion. Tiger whimpered for a split second then began barking down toward where all the noise was coming from.
“Jesus, what is happening?” Adam yelled.
Ally pulled her horse around and looked back to the road. All but one of the Humvees was nothing more than burning wreckage; the last one was speeding down the roadway as quick as it could. Something in the sky caught her eye and she watched as what appeared to be a giant radio-controlled airplane dove down and then pulled up quickly. Seconds later the last Humvee exploded.
“A drone,” Adam explained breathlessly.
“We’ve got to get out of sight,” Dena s
aid as she turned her horse around and spurred it toward the woods. Adam followed quickly behind.
Ally stared down at the burning wreckage and knew that no one could have survived that. She looked back to the sky and it was clear. The drone had disappeared from view.
“Ally, get out of sight!” Dena screamed, followed quickly by a bark from Tiger.
Ally turned her horse around and they sprinted toward the safety of the woods.
Ben
Ben sat against the cold wall bundled in every stitch of clothing he owned, watching as his breath came out in bone-white plumes. Winter was upon them and the city was frozen over. Snow covered everything and the wind was cold enough to steal the air from your very lungs. All of the soldiers sat in this room bundled up but still shivering. They were at war and being searched for so a fire was out of the question. They could either light a fire and wait for a missile to come screaming into their building or not light a fire and freeze to death. They had chosen to freeze to death.
Reaper walked past and tossed him a quarter of a ration. It was meager but Ben still scooped it up and bit into the hard protein bar. They had hit up every listed supply drop in the nearby area but they were still running low on food. They spent more time hunting and searching for food then they did fighting back against the Chinese. Hunger had become a much more pressing enemy. Despite that they had still managed to bring the fight to the Chinese. After they destroyed the supply convoy they had hit another on that same road a week later. After that the Chinese began randomly sending helicopters along with the convoys or sending additional Humvees. They were patient, though, and waited for them to send out a convoy without the extra help. When they did they hit that one as well. If it hadn’t been for the harsh winter coming so soon they would still be disrupting the supply lines.
Ohio came over and sat next to Ben. “You mind?”
“’Course not,” Ben said, scooting over. Ohio was older than him by a handful of years but Ben was the more experienced soldier. Together they still didn’t even add up to a quarter of the experience the rest of Reaper’s soldiers had. With that said, though, Ohio had begun to hold his own, even more so than Ty, who still bristled at being given orders at times.
“We had some tough winters back home,” Ohio started as he wrapped a blanket around him, “but I don’t ever remember anything like this. Feels like my damn bones are frozen.”
“Want me to make you some hot chocolate?” Ben joked.
“Oh man. I’m not too proud to say that there aren’t many things I wouldn’t do for a mug of that.”
Ben laughed and tried to suppress a shiver. “How are you holding up?”
“It’s nice taking the fight to those…fuckers,” Ohio said.
“No injuries?” They all had bumps and bruises but it was the open wounds they had to be careful about. All it took was a single cut from one of the broken pieces of rebar lying about to get infected and they would be done.
“Nope, healthy as a fox.”
“Is that a saying where you come from?”
Ohio thought about it for a moment. “I don’t think that’s a saying anywhere.”
“For good reason,” Ben said and gave him a playful nudge.
Reaper walked back into the room. “Ben, you got a moment?”
Ben got up slowly as his muscles struggled to wake up and give him the strength. As soon as his body left the warm area he had created a cold wind found its way through his layers of clothing. He hated the winter. Reaper was in a window-less room in the interior of the building with a single candle on a table. He was huddled over a map of the city.
He looked up as Ben entered the room, then went back to his map. “Little chilly, huh?”
“You could say that,” Ben said as it felt like his teeth were going to start chattering.
Reaper continued studying the map for a few more moments and for a second Ben thought he might have been mistaken and the man didn’t want to talk to him. Finally the man scooted the map to the side and sat down in a nearby chair.
“Just wanted to say that you all have done a good job since you joined up. I wasn’t expecting much but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t ready to be disappointed, but you haven’t killed yourselves or any of us.”
“Uh, thank you sir,” Ben said.
“Take a seat,” Reaper said, pointing toward a chair. Ben sat down and bundled himself up again. “I’ve seen the way Ty and Ohio look at you. They see you as a leader. You have the potential, you just need the experience and the drive. You hate these Ricers?”
Ben paused. He didn’t like them, but hate them? If he saw an enemy soldier he would shoot before they could; it was self-preservation. They were invading a country that wasn’t theirs, it was his.
Reaper shook his head once. “That’s what I’m talking about. These Ricers are intent on killing every single one of us if given the chance. If you don’t hate them then you won’t be able to do what you have to in order to stop them.”
“Why do I have to hate them to stop them?”
The man grunted. “How the fuck do you not hate them? They’re trying to take your home. They’re trying to kill you.”
“That is why I’m here fighting them. I won’t hesitate to shoot and kill them but I don’t think I need to hate them in order to do that.” Ben watched as Reaper’s face filled with disgust. “Look, my home was attacked, my father and little brother were killed-”
“And yet you still don’t fucking hate them Ricers?”
“Those Ricers weren’t the ones that did it.” Ben’s fist hit the table. “They were Americans. Our own people.”
Reaper shook his head again and sat back in his chair. “You know those Americans wouldn’t have had to do that if we hadn’t been under attack. Instead of sending the army to maintain order we have been fighting on both coasts for years. Your family’s death is on them.”
“My family’s death is on the people who pulled the trigger, no one else. I didn’t start robbing and killing people and neither did you.”
“Do you hate them?” Reaper asked. “The people who killed your family?”
Ben didn’t know what to say. The closest thing to hate he had ever felt were for the people who took his father and Joseph away, but did he hate them?”
The explosion rocked their entire building, knocking Ben out of his chair and sending a wave of heat throughout their entire room. Ben jumped to his feet and watched as Reaper’s eyes grew wide.
“We’re under attack, everyone get the fuc-”
Another explosion hit; this one felt like it hit farther up on the building but was still strong enough to nearly knock Ben off his feet again. Reaper had intentionally put them on the first floor so it would be easier to retreat. They had been much higher up on another building when the Chinese took the city and had barely survived that. Ben ran into the main room and all of the soldiers were busy gathering their supplies. He grabbed his bag and gun and by the time he was at the door both Ty and Ohio were flanking him.
“Let’s bolt, B,” Ty shouted.
They ran out of the building and just before they got outside there was a third explosion and this one sounded like it was a direct hit. A wave of dirt and debris rolled over them and for a moment it felt like he was blind. The sound of shouting and pain came from behind them.
“Shit,” Ben found himself saying. “Ty, Ohio, take up positions on the far sides of the building. You see someone coming, you lay down covering fire and make a run for it. Maybe we can lead them away.”
“The fuck are you doing?” Ty asked.
“Going up to help,” Ben didn’t wait for confirmation; he was already on his way up the stairs.
The dust had already begun to clear as Ben got to the door. Ghost came stumbling up, his lungs desperately trying to cough up the dust that had entered them. Ben grabbed him by the shoulder. “You all right?”
“I’m good; we gotta get out of here.”
As the last of the dust cleared he saw th
e rest of the soldiers starting to get on their feet and he also saw a large hole in the side of the wall, and behind that were two Humvees. Before he could say anything they opened fire. Ben dove to the ground as the walls behind him began to chip away from the relentless stream of gunfire. The sound filled the room and soon all he could hear was a distinct ringing but he could see and feel the force from the impacts. The soldiers began to crawl out past him and before Ben could turn to follow them he saw Reaper on the far side of the room holding his right leg, and his hand was covered in blood.
Ben grabbed the leg of one of the soldiers crawling past. Crimson turned to him and Ben tapped the top of his own head several times. Mason had taught him long ago that was the signal asking for covering fire. Crimson hesitated for just a moment, then she caught sight of Reaper on the far side of the room. She nodded, turned around and began to return fire. After a few seconds she was joined by another soldier and then another. Ben crawled through the debris toward Reaper who, despite the injury to his leg, was still firing blindly with a handgun. As Ben got within a few feet of Reaper the man finally noticed him and a look of surprise covered his face.
“Let’s go,” Ben said as he got to his feet behind cover, helped Reaper to his feet and let the man lean against him. Reaper wasn’t huge but he was thick and Ben knew he wasn’t going to be able to cross the open passage at anything quicker than a fast walk.
Reaper noticed the hesitation. “Don’t worry,” he yelled over the gunfire. “I’m in no mood to die today.”
Ben nodded and they took off across the opening. He glanced over within the first few steps and saw that one of the enemy Humvees was in flames, the other appeared unmanned. Ben saw a single soldier peeking out from behind it and shooting wildly. For a second he felt his body relax until he noticed the light in the distance getting closer and closer.
