by Saxon Andrew
“You never went out in the daylight. You moved slowly and listened for anything that might be another human moving around. Families would work together and cover one of them who would go out and rummage through the debris for any remaining canned food or animals. The only animals still alive in the blasted cities were rats. They would attack humans in swarms or end up eating their own young. Truth be told, a lot of humans were forced to turn to cannibalism. You learned to go after anything that you could eat. It became a survival instinct that drove all of those still alive.”
“What about those that were alone?”
“You waited for someone to reveal themselves and you plotted an ambush for the next night. If there were more than one, you ran and found another area to scavenge. Humanity did not have much longer to live on the planet. The devastation was complete and it was just a matter of time before humans became extinct.”
“Hotah!”
Carrie and Harvey looked at the cliff and saw Enapay coming down a rope. “Something must have happened!” Carrie nodded and they ran to the cliff to meet Enapay.
“What happened?”
“Our attack was a success. We hit sixteen of them after they came out of the forest but they started firing those red beams continuously at the tree line.”
“Was any one hit?”
“Mato was barely missed by a beam and his foot is still tingling. He’s able to use the leg. The raiders went back to their cave. They didn’t continue their march.”
Harvey looked at Enapay, “That doesn’t sound like normal tactics.”
“I really expected them to continue their advance but they didn’t. I sent the others to follow them back to their cave. They’ll notify us if anything happens.”
Harvey’s eyes narrowed and he blew out a breath. Carrie looked at him, “What are you thinking?”
“I suspect we are going to have to go after them on their ground. This could end up being a standoff if we’re forced to try and take the cave.”
“There’s no way to go into that entrance without being hit by a beam.”
“We’re going to wait for Andy to get here. He’ll decide what we’re going to do. You should fly back to the community and tell him what’s going on.”
Carrie looked up at the top of the cliff and shook her head, “I’ll need to bring the glider down; the winds are too strong up there to try and fly it away.”
Harvey looked at Enapay, “Go up and bring the glider down.”
“I can do it.”
“I’m not saying you can’t; I just want you at full strength to make the trip. Now be quiet and follow my orders.” Carrie pursed her lips together and nodded. She didn’t require any help, but Harvey was the boss.
• • •
The raiders arrived back at their cave and Dernzak saw them and ran out to meet them. He saw that the wounded being carried on stretchers that had been made and he looked at Rison, “What happened?”
“We were attacked when we came out of a forest. Someone shot arrows at us from behind.”
“And you didn’t see them?”
“You know how good our senses are but none of us saw anything in that forest. We fired out beams and didn’t find a trace of any human body as we moved back through the trees.” Rison paused, “I think we know what happened to the fourteen scouts.” Dernzak shook his head and Rison said, “What are we going to do?”
“They know about us and set up an ambush. We can’t wait for them to come here and attack us. Get all but fifty of the men out here and have them arm themselves with two hand beams each. We will fire the beams at everything in front of us as we move through the forests. We have to see what kind of threat we’re facing. Have the men fill pouches with food and water and be ready to leave within the hour.”
“What about those we’re leaving behind?”
“Everyone will stay in the cave and not open it for anyone but us. They know the code.” Rison nodded and ran off to the cave entrance. Rison looked at the wounded and saw that three of the eight were dead. He lowered his head and felt his anger grow.
• • •
The scouts looked down on the gathering and saw the three hundred and twenty five men forming up into ranks. They followed them along the top of the cliff until they entered the first forest. When the men in the ranks began firing the red beams ahead of them they knew another sneak attack was out of the question. Chatan said, “We should go and join the others.” The scouts started running ahead of the men below. Those beams had a much longer range than an arrow. Even hiding in the trees close to the river was going to be extremely dangerous.
• • •
Carrie arrived at the community as Andy was forming up two hundred archers between the walls. She glided in yelling Andy’s name and he turned and knew she was flying in. She landed twenty yards from the gathering and tore off her skull cap. Andy rushed over to her and she said, “The attackers turned and went back to their cave. They didn’t continue their advance.”
“How far north is Harvey’s group?”
“About ten miles.”
“We’re going to join him. I want you to fly another pouch of hand beams to him and tell him to wait for our arrival.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Whatever I have to, Carrie.”
Carrie stared in Andy’s eyes and saw the barely restrained rage in his eyes. She nodded and watched Andy turn and tell everyone to gather so she would teach them how to use the hand beams. She hated with a passion that this weapon from the future was now being used in this world from the past. An hour later the archers began climbing to the top of the cliff and Carrie lifted and headed north. She kept replaying Linnae’s death over and over in her mind and something began to trouble her. She was missing something and she couldn’t determine what it was.
• • •
She arrived at Harvey’s location and glided down to the clearing and saw Harvey come out of the trees near the river. She untied the two pouches and handed them to Harvey, “Andy wants everyone to have two of these.”
Harvey nodded and handed them to Akira to take and distribute. “What is he going to do?”
“He’s coming over the cliff with two hundred archers.”
Harvey nodded and looked up at the cliff top, “We need to take your glider up and wait for him there.”
“Why? What do you think he’s going to do?”
“I suspect he’ll have a way for us to attack them with the least amount of danger. We should see what he has to say as soon as he arrives.”
“He should be here in less than two hours.”
“Then we need to get moving.” Harvey assisted Carrie in folding the glider and sliding the tubes into each other. He took the glider and put it over his shoulder and started up the cliff. Carrie started to complain but knew it was wasted breath. She grabbed a rope and helped him lift the glider to the top of the cliff. She took out the hooks and cut a hole with her cutter to hold the glider just below the top of the cliff. She sat down and waited for Andy to arrive. A few moments later, Chatan joined them. Harvey looked at him and he said, “I need to be here to answer any of his questions.” Harvey smiled and nodded. They sat in silence contemplating what was coming until Andy arrived an hour and fifteen minutes later.
Andy saw the three sitting on the path and ran ahead of the archers. Harvey and Carrie stood moved forward to meet him, “What’s the situation?”
“The raiders are moving this way but are taking their time moving through the forests. They’re hitting everything with the hand beams as they move forward.”
“Are they leaving a rear guard?”
Harvey turned to Chatan and he said, “No, it appears they don’t think anything will be left living after they pass.”
“How many forests do they have to pass to arrive here?”
Chatan thought for a moment, “Three.”
“We need to move over the cliff to the last one and wait for them to pass.”
Harvey looked at Andy, “What are you planning?”
“We’ll have all our archers go down the ropes into the forest they’ve cleared and follow them to the clearing. They will wait until they are out of the trees and look for my signal.”
Harvey and Carrie both said at the same time, “What Signal?”
Andy lowered his eyebrows and said, “I’m going to go down to the clearing two hundred yards in front of their advance and step out to meet them after they’re out of the trees. If I raise my hand over my head and lower it, open fire on them with every hand beam you have.”
Carrie looked at Andy, “I won’t let you go down there alone.”
“I didn’t intend for you to stay up here; you will go with me. However, you will remain in your camosuit. I might need you to interpret for me.”
“Andy, everyone in my time spoke English; I don’t know how or when but it was the language used by everyone. The accent might be different but you’ll be able to understand it.”
“Carrie, you can hit a target two hundred yards away, can’t you?”
Carrie shrugged and said, “I guess.”
“Linnae told me you could and I believe her. I might need you if any of them try to run toward us.”
Harvey shook his head, “Andy, that’s too dangerous.”
“Not really.”
“How can you say that?”
“Look, the range of the hand beam is about a hundred and fifty yards, right?” Harvey and Chatan looked at Carrie and she nodded. If I’m two hundred yards away from them, they won’t be able to hit me; it will also keep their focus to the front so our archers can move forward and have a clear shot at them from behind. If they stop for a moment before they continue their advance it will also give us the time we need to form up behind them. Just make sure everyone knows the importance of being silent as they move forward.”
Carrie looked at Andy, “Why are you doing this?”
Andy looked at Carrie and smiled, “I want a good view of them when we kill them.” Carrie, Harvey, and Chatan saw the gleam in Andy’s eyes and knew he was haunted by Linnae’s ghost. “We need to hurry up and get to the last forest before they emerge.”
Harvey looked at Chatan and knew there was no way to make Andy change his mind, “Go and get the archers up here.”
Chatan grabbed a rope and disappeared down the cliff wall. Andy turned and joined the arriving archers and walked forward with them. Carrie watched him go and knew there was going to be a bloodbath and there was nothing that could be done to stop it. She looked at the glider hanging below the edge of the cliff and decided to leave it. She needed to stay near Andy; he was close to losing it.
• • •
The archers arrived at the forest as the raiders were entering it. Harvey led them to the clearing behind the forest and archers went down the ropes and followed the three hundred and twenty five as they advanced. Andy and Carrie went down the ropes into the clearing in front of the forest and walked two hundred yards away from the tree line. Andy took off his camo suit and pushed it into his pouch. He walked over to the cliff wall and sat down. Carrie sat down beside him, “Are you sure about this?”
“I am.”
“You could have watched them die from behind.”
“I have to see their faces.” Carrie nodded and then realized Andy couldn’t see her without a skull cap. She sat and waited for the raiders to come out of the forest. She wished she couldn’t see his expression. It was ugly.
• • •
Dernzak led his men through the forest and Rison came over and said, “We were attacked at the last forest we went through; I would have thought we would be attacked there.”
“Perhaps we killed all the attackers with our beams.”
“Dernzak, you know a beam won’t destroy the entire body; if they were there, we would have seen it.”
“Just make sure everyone stays sharp. We’re going to be moving out of this forest in another hundred yards; I can see the clearing ahead.”
“I’ll have the men to continue firing at the tree line on our right flank once we emerge.”
“That would be good.”
• • •
Dernzak exited the forest and the men following him emerged a moment later. They moved ten yards and then Dernzak saw a man walk out from the cliff wall in front of him. He held up his hand the men behind him stopped. He watched the man dressed in a blue and white uniform move into the center of the clearing and stop. He faced Dernzak and crossed his arms. Rison came running over and said, “I don’t like this. He has a bow on his shoulder.”
Dernzak had already seen the bow and tried to decide what to do. He stared at the man and then raised his arms over his head with the hand beams in his hands. He turned and lowered his arms and handed Rison both hand beams. “What are you doing?”
“I want to see if he’ll tell me why he’s attacking us. Keep the men here and tell them to not do anything stupid.”
“What would stupid look like?”
“I suspect you know the answer to that.” Dernzak raised his hands over his head and started walking forward.
• • •
Andy saw the man dressed in grey start moving toward him. His rage was close to taking him but he was forced to admit the man had big ones to come toward him. He had to see the bow. Carrie was more surprised than Andy. She knew the man was from her time and everything she knew about survival was shoot first and question later. This man was not following the behaviors of his time.
• • •
Dernzak walked up to within fifteen feet of the man and heard him say, “That’s far enough.” Dernzak stopped and the man said, “You and everyone you brought with you is about to die.”
Dernzak saw the anger on the young man’s face and he shook his head, “Why are you attacking us?”
Andy’s rage was instant, “You killed my wife and four innocent women. You are going to pay for your crime!”
“We haven’t killed anyone?”
“Fourteen of you came to our community and killed them in cold blood.”
“That’s not possible; our scouts were ordered to communicate with any one they found.”
Suddenly, Carrie understood what she had been missing and her heart went into her throat. She saw Andy start to raise his arm and she rushed forward and wrapped her arms around him pinning his arms. She started yelling, “He’s right, Andy. He’s right.” Andy was past hearing and fought to get an arm free. Carrie screamed, “I was there, Andy! I saw it happen. They didn’t fire first.” Dernzak heard the voice but didn’t see anyone. He saw the man struggling to lift his arms and saw part of his arms weren’t visible. Then he heard, “ANDY, LINNAE FIRED FIRST AND KILLED TWO OF THEM. THEY WERE COMING TO TALK.”
Andy stopped struggling and looked to his right. Carrie ripped off her skull cap and said, “I was overhead and saw them come around the wall and start walking toward Linnae and the women. They were easily inside the beam’s range but they didn’t fire. One of them raised his hand and Linnae fired two arrows killing two of them. The other two fired in self-defense. This is all a mistake.”
Dernzak saw the woman’s head appear and knew these people had a way of becoming invisible. He saw the man turn his head and look at him with a rage that was beyond anything he had ever seen. The man raised his head and screamed a scream that had to come from the primordial part of his soul. His scream ended and he fell to the ground and held his head in his hands. The woman tore open a shirt and pulled it off her arms. She put her hands out to her sided and pushed her palms toward the ground. She looked at Dernzak and said, “If you want to live, you will do exactly what I say; do you understand?” Dernzak nodded. “I have six hundred hand beams trained on your men from behind. If they make any threatening move, they will die.”
“You have the accent of my time.”
“I come from your time. However, this is going to snowball out of control if you don’t go back and get all your men to put their hand beams
on the ground and follow you back to this spot. Do you understand?”
“How were you able to get hand beams?”
“Do you want to stand here and ask questions or do you want to see your men die?” Carrie pulled a hand beam out of her pouch and showed it to Dernzak. His eyes widened and she said, “I am also capable of opening the door to these weapons.”
Dernzak turned and walked back toward his men. He knew she was telling the truth; he could see it in her eyes. He arrived at the front ranks and Rison ran up. Dernzak pushed him aside and said in a loud voice, “I am going to give you orders and you will obey them without question.”
Rison stood up and said, “What’s going on?”
Dernak quietly said, “I’m going to try and prevent all of us being killed.” He looked at his men and said, “Put every hand beam you have on the ground at your feet.” The men started looking at each other and Dernzak yelled, “YOU WILL DO IT NOW!!!” Rison stared at Dernzak and saw the fear in his eyes. He took the four hand beams he was holding and put them on the ground. He looked at the men and nodded. They all put their hand beams at their feet. Dernzak watched them and said, “Rison, lead the men out to those two and stop ten yards from them. I’m going to stay here and make sure no one picks up a weapon. Rison turned and started walking towards Andy and Carrie. Dernzak watched the men move out and made sure no one bent down. After they had moved away from the hand beams, Dernzak raised his hands over his head and yelled, “We intend you no harm.” He turned and walked forward to join his men.
Arashi looked at Harvey. Harvey raised a hand and moved it forward. The long line of archers followed the men out into the clearing. They picked up every hand beam as they passed.
• • •
Carrie saw the men moving toward them and she knelt down to Andy, “I need you, Andy. I need your wisdom, I need your strength, I desperately need you. Please, please, don’t leave me now.”
Andy took in a deep breath and blew it forcefully out. He took his head out of his hands and stood up. Carrie took his hand and looked up at him. He looked down at her, “Why didn’t you tell me you saw it?”
“I didn’t want to relive it. I still see it in my nightmares. But that is really the way it happened.”
